Skills & Expertise
Core competencies and technical expertise developed through founding and leading technology companies
Core Competencies
Founding and Scaling
- Building companies from idea to market-ready products
- Vetting first hires, ensuring high talent density and strong cultural fit
- Setting up product and engineering processes that scale with the organization
- Managing board interactions, ensuring alignment between investors and leadership
Cross-functional Leadership
- Bridging conversations between engineers, product teams, GTM teams, C-level, board and investors
- Making teams work together effectively across functions and departments
- Introducing agile, lightweight processes that serve the team rather than hinder it
- Building trust through open communication and ensuring teams feel heard
Focus & Transparency
- Bringing clarity on short-term priorities vs. longer-term goals
- Ensuring teams work on the right priority, avoiding "everything is urgent and nothing gets done"
- Implementing transparent communication and decision-making processes
M&A Experience
- Navigating the M&A process from initial discussions to successful integration
- Ensuring smooth transition for team members during acquisition
- Preserving company culture and values through organizational changes
Leadership Philosophy
Balanced Perspective
I bring a strong balance of business and technical understanding, allowing me to effectively communicate with engineers, GTM teams, founders, board members, investors, and shareholders. This cross-functional perspective enables me to bridge gaps between technical and business considerations.
Lightweight Processes
I excel at implementing lightweight processes that foster collaboration without creating bureaucracy. My approach focuses on creating just enough structure to enable teams to work effectively while maintaining the agility needed for innovation and rapid adaptation.
Turnaround Expertise
I have experience in leading tough decisions, managing downscales, preserving high talent density, and restoring profitability in challenging situations. This includes making difficult but necessary decisions while maintaining team morale and organizational capabilities.
Skills
Leadership and Strategy
- AI transformation strategy and operating-model design
- Executive (ELT/SVP) leadership
- Startup founding and scaling
- M&A (sell-side and post-merger integration)
- Board and investor relations
- OKR design and operationalization
- Cross-functional leadership
- Innovation and change management
- Product management, Product-market fit
Generative and Agentic AI
- Anthropic Claude API/SDK, OpenAI API, AWS Bedrock
- Model Context Protocol (MCP)
- Agentic workflow design
- RAG, Knowledge graphs
- Prompt and context engineering
- AI evaluation
- AI autonomy charters
- LLM economics and token-spend management
AI Enablement and Training
- Curriculum design across maturity tiers from general fluency to functional AI and custom build
- AI Champions networks
- Hands-on AI clinics and learning circles
- LMS integration, adoption measurement
- AI-forwardness in hiring and performance management
AI-Assisted Engineering
- Claude Code
- OpenAI Codex
- v0, AWS Amplify
- Custom GPTs and Skills
- Devin, OpenClaw
Technical
- Python, Java, Spring Boot, Kubernetes, FastAPI, uv, ruff
- Google Cloud Platform, AWS
- Monitoring & observability
- Security & compliance (FedRAMP Li-SaaS)
- Networking (IP, IPv6, TCP, UDP, Routing, SNMP)
- Patent & IP management
Languages
- German (native)
- English (full professional proficiency)
Foundations
- Master of Science in Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich
- Software engineering and architecture
- Information security
- Systems design and optimization
- Intellectual property management
Advisory
I occasionally offer advisory services to select startups and organizations. If you're facing challenges in scaling your technical organization, aligning teams, or navigating growth transitions, feel free to reach out.