From an investor’s and entrepreneur’s perspective, it is not so much about impact – ultimately, every company should positively impact society. Instead, it is more about profiting from the sustainable transformation of the economy, probably the biggest business opportunity of the century.
HOW DO WE WORK?
We will work with you for as long as and intensively as you wish, tailoring our approach to your requirements.
We can help you build your company on solid ground right from the start. We can support you and teach you the craft of company building. But it’s your company…and you are the ultimate decision maker.
The situation is quite similar to professional sports. Every athlete always has a personal coach to push him to explore his full potential. In contrast, founders have to bear the pain on their own. Rarely do they have a long-term partner to bounce their ideas off and coach them through this challenging process.
At Business Buddies, we aim to change that. We act as a supporter, networker, “ass-kicker” and sparring partner – but we promise to stay in our coaching zone.
As a partner, we will be demanding, supportive, motivating and provide constructive criticism. We will help to cope with setbacks and fears. Frequently, we will also challenge you and play the devil’s advocate. We will encourage you to make mistakes and learn from them, recover and continue. As Marc Andreessen once said:
“Along the way, all kinds of shit hits the fan over and over again.”
The goal is to build a successful business. There is no guarantee of this—quite the opposite. The risk of failure is always greater, as every statistic shows. But that doesn’t matter because it’s not a failure; it’s trying out something completely new. It can work, but it doesn’t have to. And as every child knows, life goes on, even when things don’t work out, and you’re lying on the floor. But then it usually goes straight back up again because you’re already down.
Dr. Marc Mogalle
Business BuddiesMarc has studied economics in Hannover and St. Gallen. Afterwards he completed a doctorate about Sustainable Development at the University of Oldenbourg and the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich and graduated with magna cum laude.
Just in time with the burst of the Internet Bubble, Marc started his career at innotech, a smaller VC where he learned the VC business from scratch, in particular all the things that can go wrong.
In 2004, he moved on to Finlab AG (before Altira Group) where he was involved in a number of investments, IPOs, mergers, trade sales and even fund investments, e.g. investments in RTT AG (acquired by Dassault Systèms) and blau.de (acquired by KPN) and fund-commitments in Creathor Ventures and Neuhaus Partners.
In 2007, Marc took the chance to participate in the set up of the AIG Sustainable Investment Group managing finally a €400m fund with focus on later stage cleantech investments.
Following the bail-out of AIG during the financial crisis, Marc switched sides and co-founded Zapitano, a social TV platform. He was responsible for the financing of Zapitano, legal, operations and HR.
Besides that, Marc acted as Venture Partner for Finlab AG and Heliad Equity Partners and was guest lecturer for Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the University of St. Gallen and TU Berlin.
Currently he is Coach at the Climate KIC Accelerator, Member of the Supervisory Board SleepZ AG (listed in the Prime Standard, German Stock Exchange), and runs also the Berlin Alumni chapter of the University of St. Gallen.
“A man must know what he wants and what he can do: For then he will show character and be able to create something of value.”
“Each has an inborn talent, but only in a few is that degree of toughness, endurance, and energy born and trained that he really becomes a talent, becomes what he is, that is, that he discharges it in works and actions.”