Category Archives: speaking

Events, speaking, startup

Pirate Summit 2011 – 2023

“It’s better to burn out
than it is to rust.
The king is gone,
but he’s not forgotten.”

Neil Young

Last week I attended (and finally it was the time to bring our oldest pirate in training too) the Last Burn of the PIRATE Summit, the startup event in Cologne, DE with the most special place in my – and many others’ – heart.

And thus it will be no more.

All sorts of emotions going through my mind about this having been the very last Pirate Summit. So amazing to finally catch up again – and especially awesome to finally see startup people from Tehran, Iran again here in Europe! And also so weird it was for the last time in this setting. It’s the end of an era for sure.

It was here, at the very first one in 2011 we introduced the world to Gauss – The People Magnet, the very first Social Discovery app for the iPhone:

Also this time, doing my miniscule part to help out by moderating the very last “Walk the Plank” pitch competition, being on stage again felt kinda full circle 2011 – 2023:

(The final “ARRR!” – Image by Dustin Preick – see more pictures from the event).

It was here in 2011 I got my German and European network of entrepreneurs and investors kick-started. Still some of my most cherished connections to date.

As one of my favourite songs goes; “Maybe it’s better to burn out, than fade away”… so let’s celebrate – and be happy and grateful that it happened (and kept it happening for so long!), not lament that it’s over – ARRR!

Forever grateful for the safe harbour Manuel Koelman, Till Ohrmann and the rest of the band of pirates managed to create (and maintain) for us over these many, many years.

This is going to leave a big hole in the region.
But that’s OK:
It’s the testament to what the Pirate Summit was, is, and forever will be;
Irreplaceable!

“My my, hey hey.

Rock and roll is here to stay.
It’s better to burn out than to fade away.

My my, hey hey.

Out of the blue and into the black.
They give you this, but you pay for that.
And once you’re gone you can never come back.
When you’re out of the blue and into the black.”

Neil Young
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corporate entrepreneurship, Education, entrepreneurship, innovation, speaking

Lean Innovation Masterclass @ “Innovation Valley Garzweiler” Kickoff

Honored to be invited to hold my “Lean Innovation Masterclass” teaser workshop at the “Innovation Valley Garzweiler“ kick-off event in the amazing Hugo Junkers Hangar in Mönchengladbach last week.

As you might know, Germany has decided to end using brown coal as an energy source – and that even faster than initially planned: 2030 instead of 2038 – and this will obviously have an effect, especially in the regions where they are depending on the coal, for cheap electricity to industry, a major source of employment, stability, and prosperity.

To help alleviate the transitional pain, public funds have been made available and regional projects have been formed to support the affected regions in many different ways.

One way is to support and stimulate innovation, to enable an environment that can facilitate the creation of new exciting opportunities for the industries of the future – a second industrial revolution if you will — for when the coal that powered the first industrial revolution and has been generating unprecedented prosperity (and unprecedented damage to the planet) comes to an end.

That’s where I and my company +ANDERSEN & ASSOCIATES come in; I was there to give a teaser overview of some of the methodologies anyone can use (startups as well as established industry) to create disruptive innovation at 50 (!) times faster (and with less resources) than previous methods – to inspire and also to showcase what is indeed possible today; what is actually actionable and teachable.

Special thanks to WFMG – Wirtschaftsförderung Mönchengladbach, Zenit GmbH, and Zweckverband LANDFOLGE Garzweiler for inviting me and to all of the very enthusiastic and motivated participants that came to my fully-booked workshops.

Looking forward to be of further service to the region going forwards!

(And yes, that is an actual original Junkers Ju 52 airplane inside the event location – Hugo Junkers was born in Rheydt in today’s Mönchengladbach.)

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corporate entrepreneurship, Education, speaking

Back helping corporate innovation ventures @ Bertelsmann Creativity Bootcamp 2020 in Berlin

Excited and honored to be invited back for the FIFTH year in a row to support Bertelsmann University at the Creativity Bootcamp in Berlin!

The Bertelsmann Creativity Bootcamp is a three day event that brings together employees from around the world that have great creative business ideas to work on them and present.

What I do is that I help them get ready to pitch management for buy-in with my Pitching Masterclass and by coaching the individual teams through the process of taking an idea into a plausible solution and business proposition.

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