But sometimes, there are gaps in both experience and skills that can stand in the way of successful growth. Our panel of experts below have a strong depth of industry experience. They can help you to address these gaps whenever needed and support you to ensure that
- you avoid unnecessary and expensive mistakes and
- build a scalable organization right from the beginning.
Masters of Scale
Masters of Scale is a community of committed serial entrepreneurs (“Masters”) and Experts with a shared passion for high-impact entrepreneurship. We have proven experience in establishing, scaling, funding, and selling companies, with access to domestic and international networks for fundraising, sales, marketing, production, development, etc.
Vanessa Cox
The Preston Associates (TPA) is a leading Executive Coaching firm which develops individuals, teams and organisations internationally.
We know our clients want time and space to think. TPA Coaches excel at keeping it simple whilst being flexible to the most complex, critical and paradoxical issues. Our hand-picked team have business track records that allow us to be the best thinking partners for talented people.
We work with a range of businesses, from young vibrant start-ups, where we help develop founders into leaders, to established multinationals, wanting to remain agile and able to empower their people.
Today we have offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Dublin, New York, Shanghai and Beijing and have coaching capabilities in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin.
Your Business Buddies Point of Contact is Vanessa: The Preston Associates
Ranjana Kundu
Ranjana has 25+ years of corporate B2B sales and sales management experience in the technology space. She has worked for large multinationals like IBM and Ernst & Young and small to medium size IT companies such as CorVu.
She has also built her own consulting business in IT sales within the SME and startup sectors.
Ranjana brings value to startups that are focused on revenue growth. Her skill portfolio and areas of coaching include assistance in:
- Sales and marketing of software applications at board and C-level
- Building effective channels and resellers to expand internationally
- Building and managing sales and marketing teams
- Formulating sales & marketing strategies for IT providers
Dr. Ingo Schneider
Ingo is a startup lawyer with special focus on venture capital transactions. He counsels founders and technology companies from the very beginning, through financing rounds, the sale of the company, all the way to the cashing out of the founders and beyond. His clients are also business angels.
He has extensive knowledge in the blockchain field, particularly financial regulation.
Ingo studied law and business in Konstanz, Barcelona and Berlin (Freie Universität). He worked as research assistant at the institute of business, competition and regulation law of the Freie Universität Berlin and obtained his PhD there.
Roman Finke
Roman has been working in the startup environment since 2012, particularly in the areas of finance and controlling.
His expertise as a founding & managing partner of Torq Partners is to support startups holistically - from the development of the business case to the implementation of automated reporting as well as the analysis and optimization of processes.
As an expert, he has supported over 30 companies (from seed to grown-ups). His goal is to always develop growth-proof structures that allow founders to concentrate on the further development of the company.
He can also fall back on the extensive expertise of his team at Torq Partners.
Stefan Schütze
Stefan began his career at bmp AG in January 2000, where he experienced the ups and downs of the New Economy. In 2004, Stefan joined Finlab AG (formerly Altira Group) in Frankfurt as General Counsel, Member of the Board of Finlab and Managing Director of Heliad Equity Partners. Since 2018, Stefan is Managing Director of C3 Venture Capital.
Stefan, who is also admitted to the bar, has been responsible for the legal side of numerous financings, start-ups, fund investments, IPOs, mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, hirings, dismissals, etc.
In addition, Stefan holds a number of supervisory board and advisory board mandates. As a result, he possesses an atypical broad spectrum of legal expertise and experience that few other lawyers can match.
Olaf Günther
Olaf is a passionate Operations-Manager and Change Leader with 25 years professional experience in companies like Audi, Gillette, Procter&Gamble, Festo as well as startups like Harrys, Nüwiel and interim COO at zolar.
In crisis and/or pro-active strategic development, Olaf supports as a leadership and process coach, OPEX expert and in some instances serves as interim manager. His mission is to initiate the required changes and to achieve sustainable results.
Videesha Böckle
Videesha Boeckle has over a decade of experience in the areas of venture capital, corporate innovation and sales.
She has backed companies in the B2B space such as: Automation Hero, and Clarisights Inc. and worked with B2C companies such as GetYourGuide.
She has worked with a number of corporate LPs over the years at Redstone Digital and Signals Venture Capital in launching and growing investment vehicles with innovative business models in the venture capital industry.
Claudia Pelz
Whether in cooperation with corporates, SMEs or startups - Claudia is an enthusiastic project strategist and supports teams through different project scenarios and developments. What is important to her is sustained success and enthusiasm for the project.
Claudia studied Business Management in Berlin and London and worked in various positions at HP and Rolls-Royce. There she designed the service business area and managed international product developments as a Programme Executive.
Currently, Claudia supports SMEs and startups in alignment of their projects and PMOs, development of organizational structures and team design. The development of young (especially female) executives is close to her heart.
Alexander Braun
As an entrepreneur at heart, Alexander is the founder and CEO of digital strategy consultancy CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION HEROES, supporting corporate clients across all industries in their digital transformation.
Online from the very first days of the web in 1995, he has been active in building internet startups for 20+ years. From 2003 to 2007 he developed internet-based business models for the media industry holding management positions at Bertelsmann in London, Shanghai, and Toronto.
He is the author of books on Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots, Blockchain, Internet and the digital transformation of companies and business models.
Alexander holds a Master’s degree in Business and Economics from University of St. Gallen and completed executive education programs at INSEAD and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Magnus Aufschild
Magnus is a computer scientist and entrepreneur. Since the age of 15 he has been designing, developing, marketing and operating digital products and software solutions. He is knowledgeable in the digital industry’s first steps in areas such as affiliate marketing, SEO and SEM. Additionally, he has extensive experience in a variety of SaaS solutions.
Most recently, he built up the AI start-up SO1 and served as the CPO and managing director from its foundation to its sale to the Dax group Wirecard.
Marc Beermann
Marc is an expert in financing, scaling up and operations in mainly B2B companies in various sectors such as real estate,
food/agriculture, renewable energy and enterprise software.
Until recently, Marc was Chief Growth Officer of one of Europe’s fastest-growing real estate tech companies, Allthings GmbH, that he co-founded in 2015 and that is now active in 6 markets across Europe with a team of 100 employees.
As CGO he initiated and accelerated Allthings’ global growth in new markets and segments with current as well as new customers. In addition, he was responsible for fundraising and investor relations.
Marc learned his trade in the last 15 years as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, tech private equity investor at VM Capital, online marketing manager at Hewlett-Packard Europe and as four-time startup founder or executive.
Sönke Johannsen
Sönke has functional and leadership expertise in pharmaceutical & business Development, digital health, Marketing, Sales, Strategy/Innovation, having spent over 20 years experience in corporate and startup environments.
He has worked for 3 major Biopharmaceutical companies: Novo Nordisk, Schering, and Bayer in Germany, Mexico, Argentina, Switzerland and USA.
In addition, Sönke has also gained startup experience and is a proud, passionate and crazy owner of a manor house: La Dersentina
Till Erdmann
Till has worked for over 20 years as a life sciences strategy consultant, manager (Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Thermo Fisher Scientific) and founder (IDrug, Myelo Therapeutics, Treamid Therapeutics) with a focus on strategy development, fundraising, business development and general management.
Till supports as interim manager or part-time consultant in:
- Spin-off, company formation
- strategy development, business plan, team building, financial planning
- Financing from grants to venture capital
- Business development, due diligence, partnering
- (Non-lawyer) legal advice on start-ups, financing, partnering
- Tasks as Managing Director Chief Business Officer, Chief Financial Officer
In addition, Till participates as an angel investor in exciting life sciences start-up projects.
Christian Musfeldt
Andreas Stammnitz
Andreas has functional expertise in eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Digital Media and Strategy/Innovation, having spent over 15 years experience in corporate, startup and venture capital environments.
He has worked for three large B2B publishers: dfv media group (one of the largest specialist B2B media companies in Europe), Wolters Kluwer and Springer Nature (previously Bertelsmann).
Jeannette Mutzner
Jeannette helps individuals & teams to develop digital B2B sales strategies & social selling on LinkedIn to grow their B2B business by building sustainable relationships. She is also experienced in building up various B2B sales platforms, partnerships and communities. With her robust national and international network, she can help you to open doors.
Jeannette has studied Economics at the University of St.Gallen and has a Master in Finance from the London Business School. She combines many years of sales experience with digital marketing expertise, has profound knowledge of the national and international financial sector and other industries such as consulting, IT, medical sector and the food industry.
With JMutzner GmbH, she consults SMEs in sales, business development and positioning in the digital transformation.
Jonathan Gabler
Jonathan is a senior Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) expert and Director at BlockScience, the leading system engineering firm active in the DLT space. He supports startups and corporations in devising and implementing effective DLT strategies. As the Founder of Swiss Blockchain Think Tank Crypto Valley Society and Co-Founder of the University of St. Gallen Alumni Blockchain Club, he actively builds the «Crypto Valley» community in Switzerland.
In his previous career as a McKinsey consultant, Jonathan worked closely with senior leaders globally on strategic initiatives. He served as the CEO of AI Company Harimata where he spearheaded the road to market of the first game-based Autism detection instrument, which got accepted at the European Union Innovation Program Horizon 2020.
As a Board Member and Chief Digital Officer at Swiss Smart Metering Pioneer GWF, Jonathan spearheaded various digital initiatives and supported the R&D team in marketing complex measuring systems.