corporate entrepreneurship, speaking, startup

Keynoting at the opening of the digiHUB Aachen

Keynoting @ opening of digiHUB Aachen

Recently I was honored and delighted to be invited to keynote the opening of the new digital HUB in Aachen, where I spoke about why and how corporations engage with startups (and sometimes vice versa).

As a known startup evangelist, the venue was perhaps the most fitting I’ve spoken at so far. The event was held in the digital church, a church converted to a coworking space!

I think it’s safe to say the opening sparked some interest… The digital church was packed!

That guy…

These were the slides I used:

Dr. Michael Bayer of IHK Aachen welcoming us to the opening of the digitalHUB Aachen – and what a location; The first coworking space in a church in Germany!

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Events, pitching, startup

The Rheinland Pitch Summer Finals 2017 is a success!

Bigger & better than ever

Yesterday saw the third ever Rheinland Pitch Summer Finals (the two previous finals were also spectacular).

And what an incredible finals it was; Once again supported by Digitale Stadt Düsseldorf and Marketing Club Düsseldorf, a record +1.300 people signed up pre-event, insuring a full house at the spectacular event location at Düsseldorf Airport DUS.

The Rheinland Pitch is Germany’s largest continuously running startup pitching event since 2013. It’s a monthly startup pitching event, where regional startups in all phases are invited to apply. . Our fantastic sponsors insures the event stays free for the startups and it’s free for the audience.

The selected startups (usually 7-12 per month) receive a full day of pitch coaching and help with their pitch decks for free (by me), pitching their results at the end of the day. From those pitches we select the three best to put on stage a week later, in the evening on the last Monday of the month, in front of an audience of press, media, investors, students, entrepreneurs and the general public that selects the best pitch by public voting.

Every six months, we have a best-of-the-best finals where the winners from the last preceding months are put on an even larger stage at an even larger event. At these events we also have an expert jury that counts for 50% of the votes.

We call this the Rheinland Pitch Summer & Winter Finals.

This guy was moderating…

Three best-of startups plus an additional wildcard were pitching…

The audience was engaged and entertained…

More information and images from the finals can be found on the Rheinland Pitch Facebook page.

And the winner is… MySchleppApp – an Uber for towing

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Events, startup

Moderating @ Hungarian E-Health Day DUS

Hungarian E-Health Day @ Factory Campus, Düsseldorf,
here with representatives from the Hungarian Consulate, sponsors and NRW.INVEST

Recently I was invited by the Hungarian Consulate in Düsseldorf to moderate their e-health themed startup and corporate innovation event, Hungarian E-Health Day.

That guy again…

The event saw a mix of German and Hungarian established companies sharing insights in the sector of health and data security together with new upcoming Hungarian startups pitching the audience.

And the winner is… The creators of an app to help people with attention deficit disorder

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