Veljko Zdravkovic

📍 Berlin @ Vali - Entrepreneurship Hub at ESMT ⏯️ How do we build startup ecosystems? And Why doing it? Today i had the pleasure to talk in front of 60+ Aspiring entrepreneurs based in Albania & Bosnia and Herzegovina & Ukraine (https://lnkd.in/eNtrTPzN) I shared why ecosystems matter more than ever in today’s business world. Whether you’re a startup, academic, or corporate leader, thriving ecosystems create unparalleled opportunities for innovation and growth. Sharing my story in Silicon Valley and of course citing this quote: 💡 “Silicon Valley isn’t just a location—it’s a mindset.” - Reid Hoffman 📈 Take Boston as a case study: In 2007, it faced hurdles like limited VC funding, a lack of startup-friendly policies, and fragmented innovation efforts. Fast forward to 2016, it became the #1 life sciences ecosystem globally, generating $2.7 billion in matching private investment and 15,000 jobs! 🚀 ✨ What made this transformation possible? 1️⃣ Bridging Gaps: Programs to train talent, support early-stage startups, and foster collaboration across stakeholders. 2️⃣ Big Thinking: A $1 billion investment catalyzed academia, industry, and government collaboration. 3️⃣ Orchestrating Ecosystems: Strategic convening spaces and grant programs cultivated a shared vision. 🤝 The Takeaway: Building networks isn’t optional; it’s essential. Time all organizations and founders need to be strategic about building its ecosystems and it start by identifying its gaps. (see ecosystem paper Thriving Innovation Ecosystem Paper.pdf: https://lnkd.in/eefYSqhs) 🔗 How are you building your ecosystem? Let’s share strategies and stories below! ⬇️ Btw, great learning what you guys are doing better Baris Efe Cc: Blendi Shima Kerim Šabić Sanja Miovcic Ekrem Nurovic Armela Duka Sanja Miovcic Gerald Dogani Blendi Shima Kushtrim Shala Ned Lomigora Hannah Whitlow Emir Osmanspahić Elvir Bećirović Elton Kërçiku Danish Adeel Tea Aleksi Thanks for invitation Ron SIBB and great working with you Nicola Filzmoser

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🚀 Ready to kickstart your media automation with AIMEY? It’s easier than ever! 🌟 HOW FAST CAN I START WITH AIMEY? 1️⃣ Fill Out the Contact Form: Visit www.aimey.de/contact or click ‘start now’. After submitting the form, AIMEY will reach out to you soon. 2️⃣ Easy Setup: AIMEY will ask simple questions about your business, goals, website or shop, service or product to understand your needs. 3️⃣ Subscribe & Start: AIMEY will propose the right package for you to subscribe and start your first campaign - ready in minutes! 📧 Get in touch: [email protected] 🌐 Learn more: www.aimey.de Join the automation revolution with AIMEY, your AI agent for media automation! 🤖✨ #AI #MediaAutomation #AIMEY #ECHOMOTION #Innovation #BusinessGrowth #googleads #marketing #performancemarketing

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“𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀” - this alarming headline caught my attention yesterday in a newspaper I randomly found in my staircase. Numbers don't lie: Productivity gains in Germany have been diminishing since 2018 and maintaining the current level of economic performance is becoming increasingly difficult. The main reasons are: funding gap in innovation, lagging digitalization, aging population, rising public costs, energy transition challenges and debt dependency 'to function'... Germany is (still) failing to invest enough in its future. The article quotes historian Werner Plumpe who bluntly compares the current situation to late East Germany. He notes that the dynamic of rising public costs and declining productivity is similar to the economic inefficiency of former East Germany (GDR, known as DDR in Germany). The GDR survived largely due to cheap raw materials from the Soviet Union, drawing a parallel to Germany's current challenges without Russian resources. This places Germany in a "double dilemma" (rising costs and falling productivity) which reminds of the GDR's economic struggles. How can we increase productivity? The answer: only through innovation. Germany is living off its substance while only selectively creating new value. There is no funding lack - the Scholz government has access to the highest revenues in German history (even adjusted for inflation) - around one trillion euros from taxes and levies. Even under Merkel and Schäuble, state revenues were increasing! However, like previous governments, it has failed to allocate these funds to critical infrastructure and innovation, misleading the public by suggesting financial constraints. And here is the truth: Nearly half (!) of Germany’s funds are allocated to social spending and the public sector employs 5.5M people, who all rely on manual, highly inefficient processes with overlapping overheads. This results in extremely high operating costs for the political system. The historian doesn’t suggest getting rid of civil servants or reducing social spending (and me neither) but asks if Germany can still afford such a large state workforce. Is it better to keep expanding or rather work toward a smaller, more efficient government? In addition, the shortage of skilled workers will worsen as the boomer generation retires in 5 years... What can Germany learn from others? Scandinavia is an example of a balanced system where markets and private ownership (key drivers of innovation) are accepted but embedded in strong social policies. This approach creates a balance between economic dynamism and social integration - and this ensures that the costs and benefits are shared more evenly. We simply can't afford the misuse of tax payer's money on such a large scale anymore. Just like democracy, prosperity is earned, not given! Germany needs to finally make more smart investment decisions and heavily invest in a technology-driven infrastructure.

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AI in Germany: From the lab to the field - an insider's view Germany is at the forefront of the vibrant world of artificial intelligence. But where is the real innovation taking place? Who are the pioneers and how can we keep our finger on the pulse of developments? Let's immerse ourselves in Germany's fascinating AI landscape. # The research giants At the heart of German AI research is the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). With locations from Kaiserslautern to Berlin, it is driving forward application-orientated AI research. But it is not alone: the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, with its specialised institutes such as IAIS and IKS, brings AI innovations directly to industry. And for those who want to delve deep into the fundamentals: The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen and Stuttgart researches the limits of what is possible in machine learning and robotics. # Knowledge hotspots and networking Knowledge is power, especially in AI. The Learning Systems platform brings experts together and regularly provides fresh insights into the world of AI. For anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the subject matter, the AI Campus offers free online courses - from the basics to specialised topics. And if you want to bridge the gap between theory and practice, the appliedAI initiative is a network of companies and start-ups that use AI in real life. # Pure practice: where AI comes to life Theory is good, practice is better. The AI Observatory meticulously monitors how AI is changing our working world and society. For those who love numbers: the Bitkom AI Monitor regularly provides surveys on the use of AI in German companies. And on the BMWi's AI map, you can find specific application examples - from the automotive industry to the healthcare sector. # For developers and inventors The real heroes of the AI revolution are the developers. The German AI Association represents their interests and offers a platform for dialogue. On GitHub Germany, you can find open-source projects and get involved yourself. And if you are looking for personal dialogue: There are meetup groups on AI and machine learning in almost every major city. This is where like-minded people meet, share experiences and forge new ideas. # Germany in the AI race The German government has recognised the signs of the times. The AI strategy aims to make Germany the leading AI location. 3 billion euros by 2025 - that's the promise. The AI Innovation Centre, which is intended to make medium-sized companies in particular fit for the future of AI, is putting this into practice. A vibrant scene with potential!!! Germany has a lot to offer when it comes to AI: first-class research, an active developer community and, increasingly, practical applications. The big challenge remains to bring research results into widespread use even faster and to get smaller companies in particular on board. #InnovationHub

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How to get 30M views on LinkedIn with ZERO investment We estimate that the #Nova111List gets on LinkedIn +30M views every year. We get already +10.000 applicants to the lists in the 3 markets where we have already launched it and reach +300 of the best companies to work for. To achieve these numbers, we invest the crazy amount of ZERO € in Marketing: it's all organic. We used to invest 4-5k€ per year on a PR agency, but not anymore. The number of views is an estimation because most of the content is generated by users (UGC) so we do not have the exact data. But that is part of the trict: LinkedIn favors personal accounts over company accounts by an important factor. So the Nova 111 List relies precisely on the posts of winners, each of them generating: - dozens of comments - hundreds of reactions - thousands of views On top of those, we get many more: - from our own accounts - from jury members - from winners' universities - from winners' employers So the key is to leverage precisely the quality and accounts of the fantastic talent we select to bring the create the list to make it super viral. This virality fuels back to enhance the personal brands of winners, creating a virtous circle where both Nova and them improve as the list gets more recognized. It also helps the employer brands of company partners, who position themselves as the best companies in their industry to work for. But how did we design this super viral growth and marketing campaign? 👉🏽 Learn all about it in our latest issue of #TalentFirst https://lnkd.in/dqktbVCS 👉🏽 Apply here to try to be part of this year's Nova 111 - we close applications this Sunday! https://lnkd.in/drW9Uiiy

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Top 10 mistakes startups do: "I have an Idea" Having completed 5 years with Graypes GmbH this summer and accumulated over 30 years of collective experience in the startup ecosystem, I am sharing with you the top 10 mistakes that startups make. 🚩 The "I have an Idea" mistake ! Anyone can have an idea, a dream, or a vision. However, these are far from being a business, let alone a startup. You need to offer a solution to a significant problem, one that can be quantitatively and pragmatically measured in terms of: 💡 Reducing costs by a factor of 10 💡 Reducing time by a factor of 10 💡 Increasing user experience by a factor of 10 💰 A solution that addresses or creates a multibillion-dollar market. Do you have this kind of a solution (not just an idea)? Find a co-founder and join Graypes GmbH today ! (to be continued with more of the top 10 mistakes startups do)

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Can you believe that Google paid $2.7 billion to rehire an ex-employee? Actually yes, that's true ! Google paid $2.7 billion to rehire Al genius Noam Shazeer, who left after the company refused to release his bot. Shazeer, the co-author of a seminal research paper that ignited the Al boom, left Google in 2021 after the company refused to launch his chatbot. Google has now signed a $2.7 billion deal with Noam's startup, Character, and Shazeer has agreed to return to work for Google. #Google #AI #WhatsBuzzing #shazeer #noam #startup #new #tebp #thirdeyeblindproductions

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I'm not saying that he answers all your burning AI for sales questions.... But he definitely answers a lot of them! A new Episode dropping tomorrow with Entrepreneur, Physicist, and AI Outreach expert Konstantin Ristl. AI isn't the solver of all problems. It is a well-behaved digital assistant. We crave human connection and authenticity more than ever. Then why are we seeing so much blatant AI-generated outreach and posts? Find out how to use AI the right way to make your business development efforts more streamlined and effective, while keeping authenticity and generating true connections! #Podcast #AI #Sales #Outreach #SalesProcess #SummitChasersPodcast #DidIWriteThePostUsingAI? #YouWillNeverKnow #SummitSuccessFramework

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𝗨𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗻 🚀 : The Psychological Playbook for VCs and Startups, by Noa Matz and Ben Tytonovich 👥 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. While products and strategies evolve, the founding team is the constant driving force. 📊 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀. Traditional data-driven approaches struggle to capture the importance of the team. 🔎 𝗩𝗖𝘀, 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀. This lack of a framework creates a blindspot in evaluating founding teams. 🧠 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁. There's a need for a new approach that considers psychological factors. 🔑 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺. Understanding these factors is crucial for building successful startups. #BrainFood #TechCeo #Vcs

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When I first received the deal papers from my investors' lawyers, i spent reading and re-reading them and then discussing them again with my own lawyers some googling was also needed I think I understand most of it, but I'm sure there are intricacies that will come out only if, in th hopefully unlikely scenario, we have a dispute. In many cases I discussed several terms with our investors as well directly and often wondered about their motivations for those. They were very open about the stories of their past investments, scenarios etc. It gave a glimpse into how VCs operate their business, what their motivations are. I hope these learnings will help me in future when I communicate with them or ask for more funds from them and other investors. Reading deal documents is not just legally prudent, it is also a great way to learn about who are going to be your partners (with veto over many aspects) and also about yourself - some things would bother you and others wouldn't. I would say a would-be entrepreneur should get model deal documents off the internet or from another friend who is already and entrepreneur and study those. A lot of fog about what is a fundable business can be lifted once you know whys and hows of the funding process.

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😱 German VCs are in deep trouble 😱 - at least according to a recent article in manager magazin. Let's dive into it... 🤿 🤔 The key narrative of the article stems from two arguments: 1️⃣ VC funds who started investing in 2020 and 2021 are underperforming funds raised in 2017-2019 (so called "vintages" in VC-language). 2️⃣ Since the performance of recent vintages is "bad", it is harder for VCs to raise new funds, competiton amongst funds is getting stronger and managers start getting at each others throat. Voilà, the industry is in crisis! 😱 💸 As proof they showed that the "share of VC funds who distributed capital back to investors" for vintages 2020 and 2021 is lower after 3, 4 and 5 years, compared to vintages 2017-2019. 😤 This analysis immediately triggered me, because I see two problems with it: 1) "Share of VC funds who distributed capital back to investors" is first of all a very "odd" KPI, because it does only measure the "fact" of distribution, and not the "amount". A more typical measure of success is the DPI-Ratio ("Distributions-to-paid-in-capital-ratio), which is an actual performance measure of the fund, or the IRR, the internal-rate-of-return, which does not take distributions into account but shows the actual value increase of the existing holdings of a fund. 2) The Second "problem" is the that the mentioned KPI neglects the "timing problem" of the different vintages. For example, macroeconomic effects like the Corona Pandemic or the War in Ukraine affect all funds, but if you compare the vintages, the effect comes in a very different "stage" of the life cycle of the fund. The data for the analysis comes from Carta, so I went back to the original source ( 🤓 ) and found this median IRR analysis for different vintages, that paints a much better picture in my perspective. It is true that the vintages 2021 and 2022 had a rough start due to the end of the corona-startup-hype and the start of the war in Ukraine. But IRRs are constantly picking up. It rather seems to me, that these funds started "in a dip" and are now coming out of it. To frame it positvely, they may have even made some "cheap" deals during the recent years, which may pay off in the next years 😉 . Remember: VC funds run for 10+2 years. So there is still time to create great value from the investments done in recent years. But what about the lower share of "pay-outs" that the #ManagerMagazin highlights? I think that this is actually due to a shift in the VC landscape in general. While earlier vintages have invested strongly in B2C and B2B software, "younger" vintages have done more #deeptech investments which takes more time to mature and quick exits are rare, which is not a bad thing. By the way: The article on Carta was actually titled "Despite a slow start, investors are optimistic about recent VC fund vintages" which is probably more accurate than the headline in #ManagerMagazin which titled "Earthquake in Berlins VC scene" 😂 Thoughts?

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“𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎”. - Jeff Bezos When meeting with VCs, founders often leave the conversation without fully knowing how the other side perceived their #startup, or what impression they made. 💡 That's precisely the purpose of Startup for Startup's Investors Office Hours: informal 1:1 meetings between founders and #investors, designed to offer genuine insights and feedback on pitches, fundraising strategy, and other key topics. Because as much as guessing games can be fun, getting some clarity right away is even better... Learn more: https://lnkd.in/djkVmD2x #startupforstartup #vc #officehours #earlystage #meetings #monday #tauventures

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I love the Germans ❤️ Some of their ways and analogies are mind boggling...I completely agree and to the western world might sound insane. Here are my 2 cents. Something shared in transparency and in full openess should not be a problem for the founders or anyone unless its laundered money through fictitious crypto :) But to look at what the Germans produce historically and today - products and services are far more superior than anyone in the world...by miles. They just don't boast on the face advertising like the west. Look at Nike and adidas you would have some of your answers......Or lets say perhaps BMW Group Montblanc HUGO BOSS SAP So their processes, delivery are intact and I don't think that's a bad thing to have. or yes one more - the language and how they pronounce things :) Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung is Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance in Deutch. Try doing it and you might just fall of your chair. Take a bow Deutschland. Feel free to agree to disagree. #Deutschland #marketing #venturecapital #startups #Germany

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Too many startups / investors are exploring the B2B opportunities with LLMs and not enough are exploring the consumer opportunities. This is the moment consumer founders have been waiting for - Michael Seibel #AIStartups #futureofAI #ConsumerTech #Techtrends #AIOppurtunity #Entrepreneurship WABI SABI COUNCIL

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Here's something lighthearted for you to send you off to your weekend: The ChatGPT iPhone app can transcribe and translate spoken Swiss German with passable accuracy, even though the language has no written form. It's actually quite impressive! To contrast this: This morning, I received a call from a local contractor speaking Swiss German that I couldn't answer. Thankfully, my phone's transcription feature was able to capture the voice mail, albeit not quite as impressively. With rumors of Apple introducing AI features to their iOS Operating System in the next few weeks, there's certainly... potential for improvement. Have you tried using voice features of the latest wave of AI apps yet?

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Let's catchup this Thursday, if you planning to tap into angel investing. I will detail out our accelerator track for angel investors as well as for anyone planning to work with startups in the near future.

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🚀 Plato secured $6.5 million by Cherry Ventures to automate distribution ERPs with AI! A year and a half ago, Matthias, Oliver and I launched Plato to help companies like my own family business with one conviction: AI will transform the wholesale distribution industry. Therefore, we started to empower distribution sellers to unlock new growth opportunities and reduce manual tasks with 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 and 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Today, we’re at a pivotal moment as challenges like economic uncertainty, labor shortages, and the push for digitisation make this AI-driven efficiency shift inevitable. 💡📈 We are thrilled to announce our new partnership with Jasper, Filip, Maximilian and the rest of the 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 family 🍒. A special mention also goes to our incredible angel investors, who have supported Plato’s vision: Charlie Songhurst, Michael Haufler, Mario Götze, Florian Hans, Fabian Q. Veit, Benedikt S., Hanno Renner, Michael Wax, David Clarke, Julius Koehler, Eva Spannagl, Benedikt Sauter, Patrick Thelen, Dr. Leopold von Schlenk-Barnsdorf, Yash Zaveri, Dr. Maximilian Lude, Roxane Hassler, and many others. 🙏 This investment is a powerful vote of confidence and an incredible opportunity to drive sustainable transformation in the wholesale distribution sector. With this support, we’re poised to make long-term investments to bring our vision to life: 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝗥𝗣 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆. 📈 A huge thank you to the entire Plato team for your amazing work, Florian Kolf from Handelsblatt for sharing our story and all our customers of which some participated in the article such as Dr. Dirk Jandura, CFA (Obeta - Oskar Böttcher GmbH & Co.KG), Patrick Layer (LAYER-Grosshandel) and Joachim Jürgens (OMNILAB-LABORZENTRUM GmbH & Co. KG). The future of wholesale distribution starts now with 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 — 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼. 💪 With this funding, we’re expanding our AI capabilities and growing our team to help customers automate their sales processes. Ready to join the journey? Then please reach out and let’s transform an industry together! 🚚

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What you can learn from a website relaunch of Bild.de, the Porsche 911 and the Spitfire… My best experiences as an entrepreneur are about the speed of execution. As a mentor, I often add the most value by accelerating the speed of startups. Experience beats everything else, so I will share a couple of cases here. I might even do a mini-series. Case study (1): Relaunch of Bild.de more than 20 years ago. When I was asked to run content at Bild.de, the largest news website in Germany, the website had already been a year late with its relaunch. A multi-million Euro content management project with dozens of developers was late. There was pressure to launch the new version of the website as all new content and monetization hinged on it. Within 6 weeks of joining the company, I made the decision to launch the new design within the old content management system. The new content management system did not launch until a year later, but traffic and revenue increased immediately. How did we do it? We cut a dependency in a project plan. The new design was linked to the new content management system. This was just a connection within people's heads, not in reality. I observe this a lot. Everyone follows a Gantt chart*. If line 43 is finished, then start with line 44. Projects grow endlessly. I love ripping a Gantt chart apart. There is a second underlying truth to this: It often pays to change only one part of a new project and leave another part the same. In aviation, you can learn a lot by looking at historical war airplanes*. If there was too much change from one airplane to the next, it failed. New engine, old plane: works (compare the magical evolution of the Spitfire). The new plane and old engine: works A new plane with a new engine: nearly always failed. Porsche does this admirably well with the 911 series today. Every new 911 has the previous model's engine. Then, the same body will be relaunched with a new engine, like the current hybrid 992.2 that followed the original 992. * links in the first comment.

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I can spot awesome AI in the 2024 edition of the AI Landscape Vienna. With 200+ startups, 15+ unis & institutions, and 50+ ecosystem players... Vienna is home to many up-and-coming startups and globally active companies. If you look closer in the Sales & Marketing section under AI startups & companies, you'll see what I mean. 😎 Ok, Vienna is not necessarily the hotbed of AI in Europe. It might not be Paris, London, or the UK, but... We're great grounds for players from all over the world to meet up 🌍 When we hosted the official European TED on AI - TEDAI Vienna, 80 to 90% of the community was international. At involve.me, our customer base is filled with global players like Electronic Arts, Marriott & Bolt. I remember when I first arrived in Vienna... I thought I'd stay for a few years and move to Berlin. But 15 years later, I'm still here & growing. Humbled to have been able to witness the entrepreneurial side of Vienna grow as well. Looking forward to the next edition, Clemens Wasner! 🚀 #startups #artificialintelligence #Vienna #AI #TED #TEDAI #TEDAIVienna

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