Toon Nagtegaal is ready to take TheNextPhase to the next phase.

The notably candid Dutchman behind the three-day workshop that makes entrepreneurs sweat, and occasionally cry, is developing a new program that would engage startups over a longer period. The idea is to help them transition off the starting blocks and into growth.

In the four years since TheNextPhase started, Nagtegaal and his partners have put about 100 companies through their intensive three-day workshop.

Participants meet in Halifax to look at every aspect of their business, with a particular focus on identifying the pain (problem) of potential clients because, as Nagtegaal stresses, if the entrepreneur is not solving a client’s pain, he doesn’t have a business.

 “On average, one company in every workshop realizes they don’t have a business case. The pain is not clear or their business model makes no sense in relation to the pain.”

Nagtegaal, a former venture capitalist, is known for his bluntness, and his current partner, David Crow of Toronto, is even franker. Not everyone appreciates their approach.

 “It’s not Canadian at all,” Nagtegaal said with a grin. “Maybe three or four participants have not been appreciative. But it’s the ugly baby syndrome; some people can’t deal with having an ugly baby.”

Most people leave the workshop fired up and enthusiastic, “but I can’t keep their fire going,” he said.

 “What they need to do next is execute. So I’m trying to add a new option that would run for six to 12 months where I’ll serve some companies in the execution phase as well.”

Execution is difficult because business plans are about testing assumptions, Nagtegaal said.

 “The plan is a set of assumptions, such as how many clients you’ll need to hit a sales target. You may hit that target because you have a great client, but you may not hit targets for client growth or employee productivity.”

Nagtegaal immigrated to Canada in 2003 and developed TheNextPhase a few years later along with entrepreneur Shawn Carver of Moncton. At the time, Nagtegaal was helping some Atlantic Canadian companies become investment-ready. He said that many companies don’t understand why they fail to find finance.

 “If you’re not prepared for growth, if you haven’t asked yourself all the nasty and difficult questions and assimilated your business into your mind as well as on paper, then you’re not well prepared.”

Before that, Nagtegaal worked with GrowthWorks Atlantic and then tried to set up a regional venture capital fund, but outside investors said they had not seen enough good companies come out of Atlantic Canada to justify a fund.

 “In the middle of the last decade, there was no arguing with that. But now we have a startup ecosystem, thanks to the work spearheaded by New Brunswick-based Gerry Pond and J. Curry of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and we have some great companies.”

Nagtegaal is committed to helping expand entrepreneurship in the region, although he thinks entrepreneurs are mostly born, not made.

 “Entrepreneurs must be extremely resilient and, this is a strange combination, self-confident and self-critical.

 “I don’t consider myself an entrepreneur. My dad inherited a company, but he wasn’t an entrepreneur. He suffered from it, and if the dad suffers, the family suffers. I know what it takes and how tough it is if you fail.”

Nagtegaal and his Dutch-born wife, Mariette Roodenburg, owner of Anderson Fine Art Photography Gallery in Lunenburg, have just relinquished their Dutch citizenship to become Canadian.

 “When people ask why I gave up my Dutch citizenship, I have a few explanations with which I tease Canadians,” he said. “These include finally being able to vote for Stephen Harper and being able to travel more easily to the U.S.

 “In reality, it is about practicality and the fact that this place has become home; I belong here now and want to be part of it.”

 Disclaimer: Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support startup companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies and individuals are featured in this column, nor do they review columns before they are published.