My first computer

Hello Internet

I’ve been online since 1992.

Start of my professional career

I began to work for an IT Systems Company in 1997 while I was still attending school. When clients increasingly asked for web design, e-commerce, and online marketing I was tasked with setting up this department. In early 2000 the company developed a toolkit to build websites, that was offered as SAAS (software as a service). The growth of the company was accelerated by three rounds of venture capital investments. I worked alongside the executive board, was involved in all parts of the organization, and became a constant in the shareholder and supervisory board meetings. It was a perfect learning environment for a future entrepreneur.

Speaker & lecturer

I enjoy speaking at leading industry events (e.g. Dmexco, Medientage Munich, or Mailingtage) and guest lecturing at several universities (e.g. Hochschule Macromedia, Martin-Luther-University Halle, or Rheinische Fachhochschule Cologne).

Conceptbakery

In 2002, I founded the digital marketing agency “conceptbakery” with my brother Klaus. Our goal was to build innovative bridges between our clients and their target audiences. We identified trends in the USA and built methods and ways to transfer this knowledge and experience to the European market. Our approach worked and we built a successful team and business in Germany and the USA. We were able to work for many great clients (such as Asahi, Bosch, Coca Cola, DEVK, E-Plus, Florette, Giovanni Rana, Henkel, ING, Jaguar / Land Rover, Karstadt, L’Oréal, Microsoft, NieWiederBohren, Orbico, Pernod Ricard, No-Q-Sorry;), Ravensburger, Stadtwerke Duesseldorf, Triodos Bank, Unicef, Vodafone, WDR, XELLA, Ytong, Z..., and more). After we established an international agency alliance, end of 2015 our business became part of Zone. We turned into shareholders and members of Zone’s senior management team.

Author

I wrote my first book in 2006. The title was "Guerilla Marketing – Online, Mobile & Crossmedia". The book was simultaneously published as a blog, e-book, and podcast. At that time this was an innovative way of publishing that created an unexpected level of attention. Since than I wrote the books "Facebook – Marketing among friends" (1. edition published in 2010, Bestseller), "Digital Marketing Evolution or Adverdies – who continues to run classic ads dies" (1. edition published in 2015), and several publications as co-author. My latest book, "Catch-42" is a novel about the most important technologies and challenges of our time. Learn more at www.catch-42.com.

Zone

At the beginning of 2016 conceptbakery officially became a part of Zone. I became CEO Germany and part of the Zone leadership team. Zone is a full service digital and customer experience agency with an international footprint and more than 250 experts in the fields of strategy, technology, content & experiences. We worked for clients such as Adidas, BMW, Canon, Deutsche Telekom, RTL, Thyssen Krupp, and more.

Cognizant

In October 2017 we successfully sold Zone to Cognizant, one of the leading digital businesses worldwide (listed on the NASDAQ, a Fortune 500 company). I had a key role in the integration process in Germany. I also became Cognizant’s testimonial for Customer Experience in Germany within an international marketing campaign (“Introducing the new face of CX”). The target: Sharpen the footprint of Cognizant Interactive as leading global digital agency network.

Creative reset

In 2019 I traveled the world with my wife and my two children. After months of quality and family time I started to wonder about my learnings from the past and my future ambitions. I visited creative hotspots around the world. I had interesting conversations with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and other inspiring leaders I met along our journey. The result is a new venture that combines all my passions in one place. Its setup meets all my current requirements and abilities.

Quovabiz

All of the above led to Quovabiz. True to the motto "never change a winning team" I founded the company again with my brother Klaus. Quovabiz is a Management Consultancy and Investment Company focusing on strategy, marketing and technology, based in Cologne (Germany) and Boulder (USA).