PE OperationsMarket & Strategy
- Years of operational leadership
- 20+Years of operational leadership
- to S&P Global
- Exitto S&P Global
- Post-merger integrations
- 4Post-merger integrations
- Lecturing
- UZH · AugsburgLecturing
Insights
What's on my mind
Perspectives from 20 years of B2B software, PE and fundraising.
Standpoints
Three principles, one thesis
For me, AI, regulation and growth belong together. Companies that think them together grow faster and safer. That holds for software companies as much as for established businesses that are making AI part of their core. From that follow three guiding principles: growth, speed, and defensibility.
Growth
Scaling mechanicsGrowth comes from the right mechanics. I start in the engine room.
Go-to-market, pricing, sales motion, and the economics behind them.
Articles on thisSpeed
AI across the companyBuild the guardrails, then drive fast. In exactly that order.
Governance as a speed lever. AI as a company-wide tool in engineering, service, and sales.
Articles on thisDefensibility
Defensible ScaleScale only counts when it is defensible: workflow, data, distribution.
Moats, workflow lock-in, and the investor lens on B2B software.
Articles on thisTrack record
Concrete roles, concrete companies.
- COOCREATEQ AG
- Managing Consultant (via E&P Consulting)Munich Re Group
- Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)enmacc GmbH
TALKS & TEACHING
Stage, Lecture Hall, Boardroom
TEACHING · FALL 2026
Applied AI Systems: Architecture, Integration and Scaling
Universität Zürich · Fall Semester 2026
Bachelor seminar on AI systems in practice: architecture, integration and scaling.
Seminar at the Institute of Informatics, University of Zurich, fall semester 2026. Students build AI systems in groups against practical assignments, covering architecture, integration and scalable operation.
Global Software Management
Universität Zürich · Fall Semester 2026
Operating standards, governance and AI delivery in globally distributed software teams.
Lecture in the MSc Informatics programme at the Institute of Informatics, University of Zurich, fall semester 2026. Distributed delivery, vendor management, AI in DevOps, IT governance and B2B SaaS delivery at scale.
UPCOMING
August 29, 2026
EIGENBAU: Build Your Own AI Tool in a Day
Convios GmbH · LechLoft, Landsberg am Lech · Workshop
A full day of building for executives: a tool for your own problem that runs by the evening.
October 14, 2026
Why the Next Five Years Will Decide Your Consulting Firm's Future
Scaliento · Söding bei Graz (AT) · Keynote
Standing still is not a strategy: how compliance consulting stays defensible in the AI era.
SELECTED TALKS
AI Agents, Vibe Coding and the EU AI Act
The Metals Trading and Price Reporting Marketplace of the Future
Digitalization in Logistics: People, Processes, Technology
Banking Challenges in a Digital, Connected World
Digital Transformation in Logistics: More Success through Collaboration
Digitalization between Service and Sales
References
Selected clients
ABOUT ME
Just do it. Now.
I'm an entrepreneur. That's what I've been in every mandate and every role, in startups, scale-ups, and corporates. The title changes. The mindset stays.
Getting on top of new topics fast, finding the screw in the gearbox and loosening it. That's what drives me. Growth gets less of a head start today than it did five years ago. Less room, more discipline, faster decisions. That's exactly when I get the call.
In the gliding club, the bricklayer flew with the professor, and they sat at the same table that evening. That's where I learned early that substance beats hierarchy. Today I fly actively, PPL(A) with night and seaplane ratings. When the horizon disappears, you rely on your instruments, structure, and training. That's how I run companies.
I've kept that technical depth through every phase and pass it on today at the University of Zurich.
Doctorate in information systems from the University of Augsburg, summa cum laude. Lecturer at the University of Zurich.
THESES
Nine pointed theses. Disagreement welcome.
From practice, sharpened in articles and conversations. Every thesis comes with a resolution, many with an article behind it. If you disagree, that's exactly what the button is for.
01
Everyone wants to go fast with AI. Building the road is somebody else's job, apparently.
Resolution
Productive AI use takes more than ambition and investor pressure: processes, data, guardrails. First the road, then the speed.
02
More sales pressure is the most expensive answer to a mechanics problem. The world doesn't need more sales slop.
Resolution
When positioning, pricing, and sales motion are off, more hunting only makes the damage faster. I start in the engine room.
03
Hiring three more hunters is the 2019 answer. The cheapest sales rep in 2026 is your product.
Resolution
Partners, product, and price beat direct sales more often than most plans admit. Three levers, tested in three mandates.
04
AI without context is like skiing in summer. You can, but you really don't have to.
Resolution
Without your own data and workflows, every model stays a party trick. Context is the slope.
05
AI is a tool, not a product. Your painter doesn't sell you the brush either.
Resolution
What gets paid for is the painted house. If all you sell is the brush, you're a commodity within six months.
06
Software that's just a pretty window onto someone else's data has an expiry date. MCP just moved it up.
Resolution
Open protocols talk to the data directly. The moat moves into workflow and data ownership, and valuations follow.
07
Go ahead, keep banning AI. Do you really think the kids don't know where the sweets are?
Resolution
Your team is using AI already, with or without approval. The only question is whether anyone is watching.
08
Nobody ever got fit from a gym membership alone. The ChatGPT license works the same way.
Resolution
70 percent of the value sits in reworking how people work. The license is the membership card. The training starts after.
09
No AI is going to steal your deal. The competitor who uses it more consistently will.
Resolution
It's a Red Queen race: standing still means falling behind. For software vendors, twice over.
Convios & Ventures
The thinking lives here. The execution is called Convios.
Both happen at the same desk: operational leadership roles and board work, AI adoption and software governance for B2B companies and their investors.
CONVIOS
My company · since 2006
Operational leadership roles as CEO, COO and CCO, board work, value creation and governance. For established B2B companies, software scale-ups, and their investors.
convios.com →ETHENIOS
Own B2B SaaS Venture
B2B SaaS platform for AI-powered compliance management. EU AI Act, DORA, ISO 27001 modeled as structured data. Built with own engineering team in India. Currently in development.
ethenios.ai →Teaching
University of Zurich · Augsburg
Lectureships on growth strategy and applied AI systems. Executive sparring via Convios.
convios.com →Contact
The shortest path is a conversation.
Feedback on an article, sparring, a concrete situation in your company: write to me, or book 30 minutes directly in my calendar.
Convios GmbH · Bischof-Riegg-Str. 19a · 86899 Landsberg am Lech · Germany