About me & Contact

Experienced startup operator and active early stage investor
I live in Toronto & Hamburg.

Contact: my last name @gmail.com

Main expertise: working with entrepreneurs, growing startups and generating returns.
Main interest: Making our collective operating system, our economy, compatible to our home base, our planet.

• Since 2019, Mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, Oxford
• Since 2018, Digital Advisory Board, Lufthansa Innovation Hub
• Since 2016, Mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, Toronto
• Active Angel Investor in 15 AI companies in North America
  in industrial, health, finance
  (Wunder Mobility,  Kyndi, Darwin AI, GBatteries, Wondeur, Oncoustics full list at densityventures.com)
• 2014-2019, Founder, CEO FLIO, global airport app 
• 2010-2013, Founder & CEO 9flats.com vacation rental marketplace
• 2013 bought wimdu.com, largest competitor to airbnb. Sold to Wyndham hotels.
• 2006-2013, Founder, CEO, board member Qype.com, exited to Yelp.com
• 2010-2017, Co-founder, Chairman avocatostore.de, eco-marketplace, sold in 2017
• 2004-2005, COO DocMorris.com, turnaround of large mail order pharmacy.
• 2002-2003 Product Director Bild.de, turnaround of large online media.
• 1999-2001, Head of Northern Europe, lastminute.com, IPO 2000
• 1994-1998, various positions Bertelsmann, founded one of the first online travel agents (OTAs) in Germany

Interests…

(1) Startups: Since 1997, I have envisioned, invested in, built, restructured, exited, traded and mentored startups. If you believe that you can become an expert in anything in 10,000 hours, then I have slightly moved past that goal with more than 30,000 hours.

(2) Investing: – I invest in in public markets, in startups. I am a value investor at heart, not because it seems fashionable, but with long and hard training and sometimes painful learnings. In early stage investing, I focus on AI (machine learning). In 2016, the field was poorly understood, in 2019 it feels overhyped. I am an associate with the Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto and in Oxford. 

(3) Planet: My topic of my master thesis was the commercialisation of fuel cells, I co-founded the largest store for eco friendly fashion in Germany. I believe the climate crisis can be averted, but we are not on the right track. I strive to be part of the solution and not the problem.