A real counterpart
for founders and owner-led businesses
Across brand, market and business architecture. Bringing structure, perspective and continuity to the parts of the business that do not resolve themselves.
WHY "REAL" MATTERS
AI can give you convincing answers. It does not see what is missing, what does not hold together or what will not hold up in practice. A real counterpart does.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Entrepreneurs challenging their assumptions
You are building or running a B2B business. You and your team are technically brilliant. You know your field. You know your products in detail, and you know there is a real demand for what you offer.Â
What tends to stay unresolved is everything that does not sit neatly in one place. Pricing. Portfolio structure. Which markets to focus on, and in what order. How to enter or grow the market. What the brand needs to carry. Where the positioning still lacks precision. Which partnerships make sense, and which do not.Â
These are rarely things to hand off. They sit too close to the business. They affect too many moving parts. And they need to be worked through in context. Not everything belongs with an agency. Not everything should be pushed into the team. And not everything is meant for your network.Â
This is where it makes a difference to have someone by your side who sees the bigger picture, understands your vision, stays close to the real work, and brings structure where things have started to blur.
WHAT WE DO
Crafting market excellence
31sieben works across brand and business architecture, where strategic direction, business structure and product-market fit need to be aligned.
Our work always stays close to your business and to the realities it operates in. It grows out of that context, not from a framework imposed on it.
Think things through
When something needs sorting, sharpening or challenging
Work things out
So that ideas, lines of thought and open ends become usable
Hold things together
Across positioning, portfolio, market approach, communications and all the parts in between
HOW WE WORK
Three ways to work together
All engagements are 1:1, direct and confidential.
STRATEGIC SPARRING
Strategic Sparring
For specific situations that need sorting, sharpening or challenging. Bookable on demand, without a fixed commitment. Best when something needs to be worked through properly before the next step is taken.
RETAINED ADVISORY
Retained Advisory
For ongoing work across brand, market and business architecture. A close working relationship with continuity, structure and a counterpart who stays across the wider picture. Best when things keep evolving across the business and should not be handled case by case.
INTERIM MANDATE
Interim Mandate
For defined phases or projects that need senior involvement from the brand and market side. Direct support for a clearly scoped period. Best when something needs to be shaped, carried forward and held together for a time.
WHY IT MATTERS
The value of continuity
1.
More coherence across the business
Things are less likely to drift apart when they are handled in relation, not one by one
2.
Less friction in the wrong places
Issues get addressed earlier, before they start affecting pricing, positioning, portfolio or market approach
3.
More continuity over time
Important lines do not disappear between meetings, projects or day-to-day pressure
4.
A stronger basis for what comes next
Not through abstract methods, but through ongoing work that stays close to the business
Iris Hauser
Founder & Strategic Advisor
ABOUT 31sieben
Strategic work, close to the business
31sieben is a boutique consulting focused on brand and business architecture.
Our business grew out of nearly two decades of work with companies whose products, services and capabilities carried real substance, but were not always easy to position, explain or connect to the market. This led across a wide range of sectors, e.g. lighting technology, composites and surface manufacturing, furniture, food analytics, photovoltaics, environmental technology and engineering.
Many of these were owner-led businesses. Technically outstanding, often operating at the edge of what is possible in their field, but with no clear way to build a commercial position around what they were capable of. The gap between their technical depth and the market impact is where we do our most consistent work.
Founded and led by Iris Hauser, 31sieben brings together strategic thinking with direct expertise in business development, sales and marketing, built across industries where the substance was always real but commercial traction rarely came by itself.
FAQs
Questions worth clarifying
A few things that are often asked before a conversation starts.
What does 31sieben actually do?
We are a direct, one to one sparring partner for founders, owners and executives, focused on brand and business architecture.
As a personal counterpart to the entrepreneur, we deal with all the parts that shape how a company succeeds in the market, how it is positioned, communicated, developed and made more resilient for the future. That includes strong customer centricity, business development, brand development, positioning, product market fit, portfolio structure and communication, always in close connection with the structure and direction of the business itself.
This is not team based consulting, not a workshop format and not broad management advice. It is direct, one to one, trust based collaboration with the entrepreneur. Flexible in timing and in the issues at hand.
Our role is to think through current issues together, challenge where needed, bring structure to what needs to connect, and stay closely involved in the development of the business.
Who do you work with?
We work with founders, owners and executives who carry real entrepreneurial responsibility. Usually with the one person behind the business who needs to think things through, make decisions and keep things moving.
Most of our clients are not looking for a large consulting setup or an agency to hand things off to. They are looking for a direct, trust based counterpart who stays close to the business and can deal with brand and business architecture in a serious, hands on way.
Many of them come from complex B2B environments, often with strong products, technical depth or highly specific offers. What matters to us is less the size of the company and more the substance of the business, the ambition behind it, and the willingness to engage seriously with what needs to be built, sharpened or developed.
What kind of businesses are the right fit?
We love working with businesses built on real expertise, particularly in technical and specialised B2B fields.
Surface technology, composites, environmental technology, agriculture, lighting and engineering are where we come from. What these industries share is depth, precision and the challenge of making something genuinely excellent understood and effective in the market. That is exactly what drives us.
Whether a business is at the beginning or has been established for decades makes no difference to us. What matters is the quality of what is there and the people behind it. We are at our best in direct exchange with entrepreneurs who have built something with real conviction and want to take it further. Large corporate structures with long chains of coordination are simply not where we belong.
Are you a classic agency or a traditional consultancy?
No. We are neither.
We do not operate like a classic agency with teams, handovers and delivery structures around a client. And we are not a traditional consultancy that stays at the level of concepts, presentations or detached recommendations.
We work in a much more direct setup. No team around the client, no handovers, no distance between recommendation and reality. Just direct exchange with the entrepreneur, close to the business, close to the actual decisions, and close enough to stay involved when things need to be thought through, challenged or moved forward.
How does a collaboration start?
Usually with a first conversation.
It is the simplest way to find out whether there is a real fit, in terms of the business itself, the issues on the table and the way of working together. We take the time to understand what is going on and whether we can bring real value to it.
If the answer is yes, the collaboration starts quite directly. No elaborate setup, no long onboarding phase and no unnecessary detours. Just a clear starting point and direct exchange from there. If that sounds like the right way to begin, we look forward to hearing from you.
Contact
If some of this has been left unresolved for too long, feel free to reach out by email, phone or LinkedIn.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Phone +49 176 22 063 263
