Few mentors understand the emotional and strategic dance of consumer startups quite like Sarah-Jane Kurtini.
A founder, storyteller, and positioning expert, Sarah-Jane brings a rare blend of heart and precision to her work, helping early-stage founders find the words, framing, and focus that make customers care.
Before joining Startmate as a mentor, Sarah-Jane spent a decade building Tinybeans, the online baby journal that grew from a bootstrapped family project in 2011 to an ASX-listed company with millions of users.
Along the way, she learned the hard way what happens when your positioning misses the mark and how transformational it can be when you nail it.
“We made a couple of positioning errors at Tinybeans,” she says. “That’s what got me obsessed with how to talk about what you do; the frameworks, the psychology of switching, and how to tell your story so it lands.”
Today, Sarah-Jane leads the Consumer Founder Stream in the Startmate Accelerator, guiding founders to define their value, craft stories that resonate, and build momentum from true customer understanding.
Why Sarah-Jane mentors early-stage founders
For Sarah-Jane, mentoring is both an act of giving back and a way of staying close to the magic of building from scratch.
“I work mostly with scale-ups now, helping them reposition after growth,” she says.
“But I missed early-stage energy; that raw, messy, figuring-it-out phase. Working with founders lets me give back a little, learn from them, and feel part of a team again.”
She’s also passionate about changing the narrative around who gets to be a founder.
“When I started, I was often the only woman in the room,” she recalls.
“Back then, it was all about having a technical co-founder, being full-time, 100-hour weeks. There was no flexibility. Now, there are so many ways to build, and I want to help founders lean into their version of success, not someone else’s playbook.”
Why founders need to talk to customers (and talk a lot)
If there’s one hill Sarah-Jane will die on, it’s this: talk to your customers.
“It sounds so obvious, right? But if you’re not speaking to them, how are you going to understand the problem you’re solving or the switch you’re asking them to make?”
That “switch” is central to her thinking, the moment a customer moves from one behaviour to another.
“They might be doing nothing, using spreadsheets, or relying on a competitor,” she explains.
“Each of those means something different for your messaging. You can’t persuade people to switch if you don’t understand what they’re switching from.”
She knows the power of proximity.
“At Tinybeans, my co-founder and I ran customer support ourselves for two years,” she says.
“We responded to every single email. It built a sixth sense for our users. You start to feel what matters to them.”
Her advice for founders in Startmate?
“Spend your days talking to customers, mentors, anyone who’ll give feedback. Build at night. You’ll absorb so much more wisdom that way.”
Start with a story, not slides
Sarah-Jane’s mantra is simple: start with story.
“Think ahead. Imagine yourself at Demo Day or pitching to investors. What’s the story you want to tell? Work backwards from that, and it will guide your strategy.”
She believes every founder should set their story early and keep iterating on it, replacing their own assumptions with real customer language over time.
“The best words to use are your customers’ own words,” she says.
“Once you’ve got a draft story, tweak it every time you hear a phrase that resonates. It’s a living document.”
It’s an approach she’s now formalised through Pitch Slap, a tool she built to help founders craft and test their positioning statements with brutal, honest feedback.
“People are often too nice when giving feedback,” she laughs. “Pitch Flap doesn’t sugarcoat it.”
What separates great founders from the rest
Sarah-Jane has seen hundreds of founders come through Accelerators, and says the best ones share two core traits: curiosity and adaptability.
“The best founders know how to take feedback without taking it personally,” she says.
“They listen, filter, and act. And they actually do what they say they’ll do.”
Execution, she adds, is half the battle.
“It’s not just about making decisions, it’s about testing them, reassessing, and being willing to change course when the evidence shifts.”
How to get the most out of the Startmate Accelerator
Sarah-Jane describes the Accelerator as “not for everyone, and that’s a good thing.”
“It’s for founders who want to move fast, immerse themselves in advice, and supercharge their learning,” she says.
“You’ll get access to incredible mentors and investors. But to get the most from it, you have to be open. You have to absorb, not just build.”
Her “hack” for the program echoes her own founder journey:
“Spend less time polishing, more time listening. Build later. The magic happens in the conversations.”
On building communities that last
Consumer founders often ask how to build community and Sarah-Jane’s answer turns conventional wisdom on its head.
“Be value-driven, not just values-driven,” she says. “Everyone talks about mission and purpose, but what’s the tangible value you’re giving your community? Start with that.”
A real community, she adds, isn’t just a place for feedback.
“If all you want is input, that’s a survey. A true community solves something meaningful for its members and when you lead with generosity, trust follows.”
Proving demand: the paid waitlist
Ask Sarah-Jane how to know if your customers really want what you’re building, and she won’t hesitate.
“What’s better than a waitlist? A paid waitlist.”
Even a small number of people putting down money, she argues, is a far stronger signal than hundreds of “I’ll buy it later” promises.
“It shows intent,” she says. “And intent beats interest every time.”
Why Sarah-Jane’s mentorship matters
Sarah-Jane’s superpower is helping founders translate what’s in their head into a story the world can understand.
She blends empathy with sharp strategic thinking, the kind of mentor who’ll challenge your assumptions while cheering you on.
“I don’t want founders to just take my word for it,” she says.
“Ask other mentors. Gather perspectives. The real skill is learning how to process feedback, what to take, what to leave, and how to make it your own.”
That, she says, is the magic of Startmate.
“You get access to people who’ve been through the chaos. We’ve made the mistakes so you can make different ones.”
Takeaways for founders
If you’re building a consumer startup, Sarah-Jane’s lessons are simple but powerful:
- Start with a story, it shapes your strategy.
- Talk to your customers constantly.
Understand the switch you’re asking them to make. - Build communities around value, not vanity.
- A smaller paid waitlist is worth more than a big one full of maybes.
And most of all:
“Don’t wait to have the perfect pitch,” Sarah-Jane says. “Get it out there, test it, and let your customers write the next draft.”
If you’re seeking world-class mentorship to fuel your founder journey. Check out the Accelerator.
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