Johannes le Roux
Not a coach. An operator who coaches.
Entrepreneur Coach in Cape Town — Pitch Decks, Fundraising & Scaling
Pitch decks · Fundraising · Scaling out of South Africa
I've been involved in building six brands over the past decade — mostly by learning the hard way. Now coaching founders walking through the same.
- Get Lucky Golf · 2025
- The Duchess · 2016
- DOPE Drinks · 2019
What I've built
My Ventures.
What I offer is lived operator experience — the same hands that built and shipped the brands below. The path hasn't been linear, and most of what I've learned came the hard way.
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01 Golf-techGet Lucky Golf
Co-founder · 2025 — present
A golf-tech business running the Hole-in-One Challenge across 30+ premium South African courses. AI shot-tracing, video capture, R1m grand prize, Indwe Risk Services on as headline sponsor. Currently scaling globally from a South African base.
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02 BeverageThe Duchess
Founder · 2016
The world's first non-alcoholic gin & tonic — built brand-led from Cape Town in 2016. 20M units shipped across 10+ countries, 50%+ of revenue from export. Backed by ZX Ventures (AB InBev's VC arm) and an RMB-led consortium.
Read: the deck that raised → -
03 CannabisDOPE Drinks
Founder · 2019
Cannabis-infused beverage brand built for the US market — 5mg THC + 5mg CBD per can, micro-dosed for the cannabis-curious adult. Funded at Summit at Sea, launched at BevNET New York. Now shipping into 42 US states. "Born in Africa. Made in America."
Read: Cape Town to America → -
04 WineCape Spritz
Founder · 2022
A wine spritz built for Cape Town summers. Easy-drinking, low-alcohol, ready-to-pour. The proof point that ready-to-drink premium wine has a place on the SA shelf.
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05 RumSuncamino
Co-founder · 2017
Premium rum out of Cape Town with Caribbean roots. Built on what The Duchess had just taught me about premium spirits brand-building and getting onto international shelves. Now on the advisory board.
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06 BrandyBrannas Draught
Founder · 2012
A South African brandy brand — the first venture out of the gate. Where I learned how brand-led FMCG actually works: the trade, the pricing, the bottle on the shelf.
Read: the Brannas × KWV story →
By the numbers
Results,
not slogans.
Coaching is downstream of operating. These are the brands the coaching draws on.
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0
Multi-million-dollar brands built
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0+
Countries we've launched in
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0M
Units sold globally
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$0M
Raised across the brands
Coaching
Ways to
work together.
I keep engagements simple — three to five sessions with a clear deliverable, so you know what you're getting and what you walk out with.
- 01 30 min · once-off
Founder Clinic
Free
A short, no-fee call to figure out together whether coaching is the right move. Bring whatever you're working on — early-stage or scaling, polished or messy.
- 30 minutes of straight feedback on whatever's stuck
- A written 3-bullet next-steps note within 24 hours
- No obligation, no upsell at the call
For: First-time founders, or anyone weighing up whether 1:1 coaching is the right move at all.
- 02 3 sessions · 2 weeks
Pitch Deck Sprint
R15,000
We rebuild your deck from narrative up. You walk out with an investor-ready story you can defend.
- Three 60-min working sessions (Zoom or in-person Cape Town)
- Investor-ready deck (10–14 slides) — narrative, traction, ask
- Two rounds of async feedback on revisions
- Investor-shortlist guidance for your stage
For: Founders going into a pre-seed, seed, or angel round in the next 90 days.
- 03 2 sessions · 2 weeks
5-Year Cashflow Projection
R15,000
An investor-ready 5-year financial model built around your real numbers — COS, retailer margins, distribution costs, ops, and marketing budgets. The model that holds up to the questions that usually end the round.
- Two 60-min working sessions (Zoom or in-person Cape Town)
- A working 5-year P&L + cashflow + balance sheet model (Sheets / Excel)
- COS breakdown — raw materials, packaging, manufacturing
- Retailer margin layers — distributor, retailer, end consumer
- Distribution, OPEX, headcount, and marketing budgets tied to CAC
- Sensitivity analysis on the 3–5 drivers that matter
- Investor-ready summary slides
For: Founders going into a seed, angel, or Series A round who need a model that holds up to scrutiny — especially in FMCG, beverage, retail, or any business with real COS and channel margins.
- 04 5 sessions · 5 weeks
Founder Operating System
R25,000
A weekly cadence to pull you out of reactive mode. Strategy, ops, and the founder fatigue everyone pretends isn't there.
- Five weekly 60-min sessions
- 90-day operating cadence (weekly review template, decision log, founder calendar)
- Founder's Fatigue diagnostic + recovery plan
- WhatsApp access between sessions for live calls
For: Founders running 5–30 person teams who are working harder, not better.
- 05 8 sessions · 90 days
International Launch Playbook
R45,000
A 90-day engagement to take you from product–market fit at home to first three customers / distributors abroad.
- Eight working sessions across 90 days
- Market entry plan for one or two target countries
- Three written customer / distributor briefs
- Direct intros from my US / UK / EU network where relevant
- WhatsApp + Slack access through the full engagement
For: Founders with PMF in SA who want a deliberate, considered run at international expansion.
- 06 60 min · pay as you go
Custom Hourly
R2,500 / hour
Already know what you need? Book single hours of coaching or business consultancy for whatever sits outside the productised packages above.
- 60-min sessions, on demand
- Coaching, consulting, or sounding-board work — your call
- Notes / written follow-up where useful
- No package commitment
For: Founders I've worked with before, or anyone with a bounded one-off problem.
How it runs
Four steps,
start to deliverable.
Productised engagements remove the guesswork. You always know what's next.
- 01
Discovery
Free 30-min Founder Clinic. We test fit and figure out whether coaching is even the right move for you right now.
- 02
Scope
Calendar invite + a short pre-work brief land within one business day. The first paid session locks scope and deliverables.
- 03
Sessions
Weekly cadence by default. Zoom or in-person Cape Town. WhatsApp access between sessions on Founder OS and the Launch Playbook.
- 04
Deliverable
A finished pitch deck. A 90-day operating cadence. A market entry plan. Whatever the package promises — done, in your hands.
Journal
Field notes
from the road.
Long-form when the topic deserves it. Pitch decks, fundraising, scaling, the things nobody warns you about.
- Playbook 02 May 2026
The deck that raised — and the slides I'd cut now
A walkthrough of the pitch deck I used to bring ZX Ventures and RMB into The Duchess — slide by slide, with the three slides I'd remove if I were building it today.
Read post → - Field Notes 20 Apr 2026
Founder's Fatigue: the version nobody tells you about
Burnout in founders doesn't look like burnout. It looks like working harder, spending more, and slowly becoming the bottleneck of your own company. Three tells, drawn from being it twice.
Read post → - Playbook 08 Apr 2026
Cape Town to America: what actually changed when we crossed the border
DOPE Drinks launched DTC into 42 US states and retail in 7 from a standing start. Here's what translated, what didn't, and the three things I'd do differently next time.
Read post → - Field Notes 15 Mar 2026
When KWV put their name on our keg: the Brannas × KWV story
How a five-person SA brandy startup cut a partnership deal with a 100-year-old institution — and why distribution-by-association is one of the highest-leverage moves an early-stage founder can make.
Read post →
Talks & keynotes
Honest learnings
from real ventures.
Three signature talks based on lived operator experience. Conferences, accelerators, corporate offsites — South Africa and abroad.
- 01 90 min
How to build the perfect pitch deck
Many great ideas never launch because of a lack of funding. Over the past decade I've developed a formula for building pitch decks that actually attract investment. This talk teaches your audience how to build one.
- 02 60 min
Learnings from my business failures
There is more to learn from failure than success. In this talk I share some of my catastrophic failures in business and the key learnings — the ones I wish I'd known earlier.
- 03 60 min
Scaling brands globally
Some of my best entrepreneurial stories come from scaling South African brands internationally. This talk shares insights and cultural learnings from launching across America, Europe, and Australia.
Free · 30 minutes · No upsell
Book the
clinic.
30 minutes. No fee, no sales pitch. Bring the venture — early-stage or scaling, polished or messy. If it makes sense to keep going together, we'll figure that out as we go. If not, you'll still walk out with a clearer next step than when you walked in.