How Mirko Novakovic Turned Cold Calls and 88 Flights into a Billion-Euro Track Record

Mirko Novakovic has a rare founder CV. In 2005 he built IT services firm Codecentric. In 2015 he co-founded application-monitoring company Instana, which was later acquired. And in 2023, together with Ben Blackmore, Miel Donkers, Marcel Birkner and Michele Mancioppi, he launched Dash0—an AI-driven observability platform that uses the OpenTelemetry standard to help developers trace software errors faster.

In a conversation with Gründerszene, Novakovic revealed the less glamorous engine behind his streak: brute-force visibility and old-school sales. “I tell people you have to work hard,” he said. “Most don’t get that.” This year alone he has boarded 88 flights, using every trip as a chance to bump into potential partners and customers at airports, meetups and conferences. If you only take one flight, he argues, you probably won’t meet anyone at the luggage carousel.

In his view, the phone remains the killer B2B tool at a time when emails increasingly go unanswered. His team’s cold calls follow a bottom-up path: speak first to the engineers and operators who will use the product daily, not to the decision-maker. The goal is intelligence about real pain points, not an immediate sale. And perseverance is everything. “You have to try 16 times,” Novakovic says, “and most people quit after five.”

The Sales Rules Behind Dash0: Why Novakovic’s Method Still Works in a Post-Email World

From ‘No One Answers Emails’ to ‘Pick Up the Phone’

Novakovic’s insistence on cold calling is a reaction to digital saturation. He notes that email outreach rates have cratered; many founders hide behind templates and hope. A phone call lasting 60–90 seconds, aiming only to secure a follow-up meeting, cuts through the noise. It also serves as a live product-discovery session: every “no” or dial tone reveals what the market is missing.

Why the Bottom-Up Approach Makes the Cold Call Less Cold

Instead of pitching executives, Novakovic teaches his team to recruit the people who would actually use Dash0. Those conversations uncover process bottlenecks and feature requests no RFP will tell you. By the time the buying committee gets involved, the internal champion has already validated the need—a pattern Novakovic credits with accelerating Instana’s early enterprise wins.

88 Flights and the Role of Stochastic Networking

The 88-flight tally is not a vanity metric; it is a deliberate strategy to manufacture luck. Novakovic frames it simply: if you rarely leave your desk, serendipitous encounters with CEOs at a baggage carousel are impossible. For him, constant travel and packed breakfast meetings are the brick-by-brick reality of B2B company-building, not a productivity hack.

Putting Novakovic’s Playbook to Work: A Realistic Guide for Founders

For founders wanting to adapt Novakovic’s approach without burning out, these concrete steps emerge directly from his experience:

  • Ignore email fatigue. Novakovic’s team finds response rates on cold emails negligible. Start with a 60- to 90-second phone call aimed solely at a follow-up meeting, not a product pitch.
  • Build a 16-touchpoint cadence. His rule of thumb is that you need double-digit contacts per prospect. If you stop after five, you leave the deal on the table. Automate reminders but keep the human follow-up.
  • Go bottom-up first. Phone the developers or operators who will use your product daily; their pain points form the most compelling argument when you eventually talk to the budget holder.
  • Travel to manufacture serendipity. While 88 flights may be extreme, in-person conferences, meetups and on-site visits are where Novakovic says random meetings turn into partnerships. If your budget permits, book those trips to create your own ‘carousel moments.’