Strategic Sparring Partner · Antwerp · Belgium
I'm Sofie — a freelance strategic sparring partner for growing B2B companies. I get into your business, see what's really there, and stay until the strategy becomes reality.
You've built something real. Clients come back. The team works hard. But what got you here won't get you there. The market shifts, the competition catches up, and the things that used to work just don't anymore.
You're too close to see the blind spots. Too busy to step back. And the options out there don't fit.
A big consultancy? Too expensive, too generic, too slow. A marketing agency? They need a brief you haven't written yet. A coach? You don't need motivation. You need someone who rolls up their sleeves.
"You need a sparring partner. Someone who gets it, gets in, and gets it done."— Then It Happens
What I Do
Every engagement starts the same way: I get into your business and observe what's actually happening. What comes next depends on what I find.
Delivering a great product or service is not enough to grow. You need to be crystal clear about what makes you different. Why customers choose you. Why they come back. I help you find that, own it, and build a strategy around your real strong points.
In a world of digital automation, your offer needs to be airtight. I look at what you're selling, who you're selling it to, and whether it's as clear and sharp as it could be. Then we make it fit — for your customers, your market, and your ambition.
A project that won't land. A team that's spinning its wheels. Knowledge that lives in one person's head. I come in to name the problem and move it.
And where AI can make a real difference — in efficiency, in quality, in staying ahead of the competition — I help to use and then implement it too. Not a theoretical roadmap. Hands-on, inside your business, until it works.
How I Work
I don't advise from the outside. I sit with your team, join the meetings, watch how things actually work. Not how you think they work.
No 50-page deck and a handshake. I stay until the strategy becomes reality. That's the deal.
No account managers. No intake forms. You work with me. I pick up the phone.
Corporate-grade thinking at human scale. Smart decisions. Fast moves. No overhead.
Inside a FTSE100 packaging company — from designer to innovation product manager.
Launched products with major FMCG players across Europe. Multi-million euro market opportunities identified.
No overhead. No junior consultants. You get Sofie — and thirty years of what she's learned.
About
I'm Sofie Vesschemoet. I spent 30 years inside a FTSE100 packaging company, working my way from designer to innovation product manager.
I've launched products with large FMCG players across multiple European countries. Multi-million opportunities taken from concept to market. I've built and led design teams across the Benelux. I've deployed customer journeys, value selling programmes, and e-commerce offers from zero.
And then I left. And realised the strategic tools I'd been using at corporate scale could help smaller businesses even more.
That's Then It Happens. One person. 30 years of experience. No overhead. Sharp thinking, and the perseverance to stay until it works.
Insights
Blind spots, growth blockers, and opportunities hiding in plain sight.
If your own customers struggle to articulate your value, your prospects never will. Here's what that gap costs — and how to close it.
There's a moment in every small B2B company where the founder's network stops being enough. What happens next is where I tend to find the real work.
Most of the businesses I work with have too many ideas and not enough focus. The hardest part isn't generating options — it's having the conviction to pick one.
No intake forms. No 3-week proposal process. Just a conversation. Tell me what's on your mind. If I can help, I'll tell you how. If I can't, I'll tell you that too.