How many coaching hours to ask for.

Units, not hours.

A voucher for founder coaching does not say “hours”. It says units: a Unterrichtseinheitteaching unit is 45 minutes, so 60 units are 45 hours of coaching. The number is set by the Arbeitsagenturthe employment agency for each voucher, case by case. The agency’s own guidance names no standard; 40 to 60 units are common for founder coaching, and both smaller and larger vouchers exist. One-to-one sessions online are allowed as long as they are live, not recorded.

Who decides, and who gets asked.

Three people are involved. Your caseworker decides. The partner provider writes the offer, and the offer names the number of units. And you are asked, usually in the first appointment, how many you think you need. The number the agency works with is the one on the offer, so the useful thing is that you and the provider say the same number, with the same reason.

That is what the Fit Call is for: it ends with a written recommendation and a one-paragraph justification that goes on the provider’s offer. The guide below gets you to a first number before that.

Work out your starting point.

Four questions. The more that is still open about your idea, your plan, your business and your German admin, the more units you can justify.

1. Your idea

Concrete and tested with first customersConcrete, not yet testedStill an early idea

2. Business and financial plan

I have a draft with numbersI have notes, no numbersNothing yet

3. Type of business

Freelance or consulting serviceBusiness with products, staff, premises or investment

4. German admin and permits

I know my way aroundTax, insurance and registration are new to meI also need to clarify my residence permit

Answer all four to see your starting point.

How to say it.

When the caseworker asks, answer with the number and the reason, in one sentence. Not a request, not an apology, just an estimate with a why: “I think I need about 50 units, because I need support with validating my idea and writing the financial plan.” The guide above builds that sentence for you, in English and in German.

Two things to avoid. Do not ask for the minimum to seem modest; a plan that holds up in the expert review needs the hours it needs. And do not name a provider’s maximum as if it were yours; the caseworker knows the usual range and reads a round, justified number as the serious one.

If the voucher carries fewer units.

The agency may approve fewer units than asked. That is a decision, not a rejection; the coaching still happens, in a tighter program. Which pieces move into the sessions and which you do on your own with the templates is worked out in the first session. A second voucher for a follow-up measure is possible in principle, and discretionary like the first.