Work.
The work
We Found Waldo
Focus · Consumer Brands
We find
what you're missing.
Every consumer brand has a Waldo. A sweet spot hidden in what you already do. A channel that isn't pulling what it could. A proposition that worked in 2022 and today sits beside the market.
I look at your product, your market, your customer and your model. Not to confirm what you already know, but to find what you're walking past. Not an advisor who leaves a report, but an operator who stays until it sells.
My field: fashion, home & living, lifestyle. Consumer brands with retail, wholesale or D2C ambitions. Twenty years on both sides of the table: Puma, PVH, G-Star, HNST, my own concept store, and a B2B platform where 1,500 brands pitched to the same buyers.
Where it falls outside my field, I bring in the ecosystem. Specialists I put my name to. You have one point of contact.
The AI reality
"AI does what AI does well: the thinking, the data analysis, the models. I do what AI can't: call the right people, make the hard calls, and actually get it sold. That's the difference."
Who it's for
Consumer brands that need to make the next move.
Consumer brands between €0 and €20M in fashion, home, interior and lifestyle. Companies that sense there's more in them than comes out, and that notice growth is stalling. Whether you've grown from zero to your first millions or you've been established for years, the work is the same: finding what's being left on the table.
But you won't find a Waldo in a company too convinced it's right. Nothing changes there, and that's exactly why it stagnates.
Not everyone. The right ones.
Why.
How I look
We Found Waldo
Why your growth stalls
You know something is shifting. You just don't know what yet.
Revenue still comes in, slower than two years ago. Margins under pressure. And somewhere you know something fundamental is moving in your market that you don't yet have an answer to.
Three positions
Twenty years of consumer brands. Seen from three sides.
From above. On a B2B platform where more than 1,500 brands pitched to the same group of buyers.
From within. In corporates and scale-ups in fashion and lifestyle.
Right in the middle. As an entrepreneur with my own concept store.
In almost all of those brands I saw the same pattern. Pushing products outward, fighting for the biggest possible slice of the pie, and somewhere along the way losing the end consumer, the one who ultimately decides whether it sells or not.
One underlying pattern. A company grows as long as it stays ahead of the market, and stagnates the moment it starts chasing the market instead. In every consumer brand there then lies at least one revenue stream no one is taking: a channel left open, a proposition sitting just beside the market, a pricing structure leaking margin where no one is looking.
That it stays on the table is not a matter of talent, but of position. From the inside, it's almost impossible to see.
That's where Waldo comes in
Not advice, but an intervention. Not a report, but execution.
Finding a Waldo is my craft. Implementing it sometimes needs a specialist I'm not. For that I have an ecosystem of specialists I trust and bring to the table when the work calls for it. One point of contact. Broad firepower.
Not everyone. The right ones.
Book thirty minutes. One question: is there a Waldo in your company, and is it big enough to be worth it. You'll know the answer within the hour.
Real.
What it isn't
We Found Waldo
This is not
Slides that end up in a drawer.
A circle where we discuss our feelings.
Jargon that sounds more impressive than it is.
Dutch direct.
Belgian connecting.
Direct enough to name what's really going on. Connecting enough to actually get it done.
Not paper, but something that gets sold. And on we go.
Three.
How I work
We Found Waldo
Find. Build. Sustain.
Every engagement starts in the same place: proving the Waldo exists. What comes after depends on what I find. Sometimes the opportunity is in what you already have, sometimes in a new revenue stream that still needs building. You decide at each step, with the numbers on the table. Not a track you're locked into, but a direction where you choose each time whether you go on.
What it is
In every consumer brand there's at least one revenue stream no one is taking. In the Pilot I find it, and prove it exists. Not with a report, but by selling it. Real buyers, real signatures, numbers you can count. By the end you know what's in it and what it's worth. And yes, the answer can be no. Then you know that too, with the numbers to back it. That's worth twice as much, because it stops an investment you'd otherwise have made blind.
A low entry, half upfront. The rest I only earn once it's signed. My yes means something because my no exists.
What it is
Sometimes the opportunity isn't in what you already do, but in what you no longer see. An organisation that loses contact with its end customer loses the revenue stream that would have come from it. No one inside finds it again, because everyone is running. Next Level restores that contact and builds what comes out of it. Not a plan on paper for you to execute yourself afterwards, but from plan to operation, until it runs. I do the first calls with you, I run alongside your team. Only once it really stands am I gone.
Why I can do this
I build this in fashion, home and lifestyle, where I know the buyers, the retailers and the pitfalls. Twenty years on both sides of the table. That's the difference between three months and three years.
How it runs
Month one we dig deeper and test the opportunity to the bone. At the end: go or no-go. If it's not big enough, you stop with one month's fee and an honest answer. Month two we build: proposition, revenue model, pricing, positioning, pitch-ready. Month three we go live, with your team at the table, because we build nothing we throw over the wall.
Two models
Shared. €9,000/mo × 3, plus 12% of the revenue the new stream brings in over the first 24 months. You only share in what wouldn't have existed without this engagement.
Fixed. €14,500/mo × 3. No revenue share. For those who'd rather pay upfront than share.
What it is
Building a new revenue stream is one thing. Keeping it sharp once I'm gone is another. The Brand Board is what keeps an engagement running after it stands. One day a month on-site, one call a month, unlimited Slack or WhatsApp for the short questions. Your external strategy voice without having to hire one full-time.
Who it's for
Founders who decide alone and want someone who truly knows their numbers. Directors who answer to a board and want a voice that isn't inside the organisation, and so dares to name what's no longer said internally. Between sessions I keep an eye on your market with AI, so every check-in is fed by something real, not gut feel.
Diane.
Diane Steinfort
We Found Waldo
The person behind
Diane.
Steinfort
Twenty years, three sides at once. From above, on a B2B platform with 1,500 brands all pitching to the same buyers. From within, at Puma, PVH and G-Star, the corporate machine, and at HNST, a startup that had to reinvent everything. And from the middle, four years as an entrepreneur in my own 340m² store, where I had to prove every single day that my proposition held.
That's why I see where a brand loses contact with its end customer, often before the founder notices it themselves.
Survived five reorganisations. Watched a few brilliant CEOs up close. And a few who proved that ego is the most expensive cost line that never shows up on the balance sheet.
Been there. Seen it. Built it. Lost it. Learned from all of it.
"The stupidest thing you can do, at any level of an organisation, is to stop questioning yourself. Political agendas are the most efficient way to waste talent and money."
That's why I choose startups, scale-ups and SMEs. No layers. No politics. Just people who want to build.
If you don't like where you are, move. You are not a tree.
Dutch by birth. Belgian by base. Direct enough to name what's really going on. Connecting enough to actually get it done.
Overview.
At a glance
We Found Waldo
At a glance.
Three ways, one line: find, build, sustain.
01
The Waldo Pilot
Four to six weeks. Diagnosis and test. The market decides.
Proof the Waldo exists, before you invest.
from€6,500+ result fee
02a
Next Level Waldo · Shared
Three months. A new revenue stream, built until it works.
You only share in what wouldn't exist without this engagement.
€9,000/mo +12%over 24 months
02b
Next Level Waldo · Fixed
Three months. A new revenue stream, built until it works.
No revenue share. Paid upfront.
investment€14,500/mo
03
The Brand Board
Recurring. One day a month + continuous access. Your external strategy voice.
Keeps sharp what's been built.
investment€2,500/mo
No hidden fees · No surprises · All prices excl. VAT
Next.
Contact
We Found Waldo
What's next
Time to
find your
Waldo.
You've read how I work, and seen what I do. If you've made it this far, there's something that won't let you go. A question, a doubt, an opportunity you don't want to leave on the table.
One conversation. 30 minutes. Free. No pitch. No obligation. Just to see whether there's a Waldo in your company waiting to be found.
You'll know the answer within the hour.
Not everyone. The right ones.