For tax accountancy firms

Start-up consultations that don't begin at zero

A pre-consultation briefing captures the business idea, intended legal form, revenue forecast and open questions before the founder sits down with you. The first meeting starts at the decisions — not the basics.

Create your briefing form
What gets asked?

~1 Termin saved, because the first meeting starts right at the decisions

How founder consultations run today

The founder arrives without key facts

"So what would you recommend — limited company or sole trader?" Without revenue forecast, capital needs and liability picture the question cannot be answered. The hour is spent just establishing the facts.

Explaining basics instead of advising

Small-business VAT exemption, trade vs. freelance status, accrual vs. cash accounting — every first meeting you explain the same concepts from scratch. The individual advice your expertise is paid for barely happens.

No numbers, no outcome

The meeting ends with: "Send me your revenue plan and we will take it from there." A second appointment becomes necessary, the founder loses momentum — and sometimes never comes back.

The briefing before the first meeting

  1. 1

    Set up the founder questionnaire once

    Business idea in their own words, planned start, trade or freelance, solo or team, first-year revenue and cost forecast, capital needs, side business or full-time, steps taken so far. The link goes out with the appointment confirmation.

  2. 2

    The founder thinks ahead of time

    One question per screen forces clarity: anyone typing their revenue forecast into the form has genuinely thought it through for the first time. Help texts briefly explain terms like the small-business VAT exemption — the level of the meeting rises automatically.

  3. 3

    You advise instead of collecting

    Before the meeting you read the briefing in five minutes and know: legal-form tendency, critical points, knowledge gaps. The conversation starts at the recommendation — the founder leaves with decisions instead of homework.

Built for start-up advisory

Conditional logic

Founding as a team? Shareholder questions appear. Side business? Employer topics appear. Every founder sees their path.

Calculator fields

Revenue minus costs right in the form — founders watch their first rough plan take shape as they type.

Draft saving

A revenue forecast deserves a night's sleep — the founder simply continues later.

AI generation in 30 seconds

Describe your start-up advisory — Questee drafts the questionnaire, you sharpen it.

E-mail notifications

Briefing received → you are notified and walk into the meeting prepared.

Hosted in Germany

Business ideas and financial plans stay GDPR-compliant on German servers — with an Art. 28 DPA.

One won founder engagement pays for years

Free to test (3 forms, 100 responses/month). Pro with unlimited forms, your own branding and AI included — €12/month, €9/month billed yearly.

Free

3 forms, 250 responses/month

Pro

Unlimited, 10,000 responses/month, AI included

View all plans

Questions on founder preparation

What should the founder briefing cover?
Six blocks: (1) business idea and target customers in their own words, (2) status — full-time or side business, planned start, steps taken, (3) type of activity — clues for trade vs. freelance, (4) numbers — year-one revenue and cost forecast, capital needs, private fixed costs, (5) team and liability, (6) the founder's open questions. With that, legal form, VAT exemption and registrations are immediately negotiable in the meeting.
Doesn't such a questionnaire overwhelm founders?
Not if it is well built: one question per screen, help texts for technical terms, estimate ranges instead of exact figures ("year-one revenue: under 22,000 / 22,000-50,000 / above"). Founders typically experience the briefing as the first value of your advice — it structures their own thinking before they have paid a euro.
Is it already tax advice if the form explains terms?
No — the help texts explain in general terms what, say, the small-business VAT exemption is, but make no recommendation. The individual assessment and every recommendation stay with you in the meeting. The form is data collection plus terminology — exactly the groundwork that makes your paid consultation more valuable.
Are the founder's business idea and financials protected?
Yes — business ideas are confidential, which is exactly why Questee hosts exclusively in Germany, with encrypted transfer, a tenant-isolated database and an Art. 28 GDPR DPA. You can cleanly evidence your statutory duty of confidentiality to the founder — a trust signal before the first meeting.
Why not a printable PDF questionnaire?
The PDF comes back handwritten, patchy or not at all — and it cannot branch: the solo freelancer gets the same company questions as the three-person team and gives up annoyed. The online briefing guides, validates required fields, calculates, and sits structured in your dashboard before the meeting.
Does the briefing also help with the engagement decision?
Considerably — you can tell before the meeting whether the engagement fits the firm: sector, scale, expectations. Unrealistic enquiries ("set up a company, but no budget for ongoing advice") surface early, letting you frame the meeting accordingly or refer on kindly.
Can I offer the briefing on my firm's website?
Yes — embedded right on your start-up advisory page or as a link in the appointment confirmation. Many firms make it a fixed process step: the appointment follows the completed briefing. That filters out the non-committal and raises the quality of every first meeting.

Your next founder meeting starts at the decisions

Set up the briefing, send it with the appointment confirmation, advise prepared. Start free, no contract.

Create your briefing now