David Parker

The digital #education #industry is going through a lot of changes, many due to the incredible technological advancements of #genAI. 🤖 It was fun to catch up with Tim Burnett ✨, who is a leading voice in the industry and has started the Test Community Network to provide a place where the ecosystem can share and exchange insights and talk about emerging trends. 🎉 It was a blast talking to Tim this morning together with my good friend and business partner Bernhard Waglechner. We briefly touched on the #digital #assessment #industry, new #trends in both #technology & #regulation, how Europe differs from other markets, such as the US, and how our solution - bizExaminer - fits into all of it. 🤓 Thanks Tim for having us, and for all you do for the ecosystem. 🙏

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Dirk Hoerig shares how he’s overcome near-death business moments to lead commercetools to Centaur status, all while balancing family life. “This is it, we’re not going to make it next month,” – Dirk Hörig and his team had this same thought over and over again between 2010 and 2014. So, how did they go from this to becoming one of Germany’s only Centaurs? Today, Dirk gives us a peek behind the scenes of his journey building the game-changing e-commerce platform. When asked about his top achievements, Dirk says “Number one, would be not messing up the big opportunity we had—seizing it and not screwing it up. Number two is raising three great kids while building a company. And number three is disrupting a whole category that didn’t even exist before.” From sharing stories from the early days, when they had to fight so hard to survive, to today where the company has undergone impressive growth and success – Dirk has learned to embrace the ups and downs with a cool head. Dirk also talks about what’s kept him grounded - from squeezing in surf workations with friends to traveling with his family and playing sports with his kids. Read on to find out how Dirk finds that sweet spot between work and life; finding a way to lead a fast-growing business without losing sight of what really matters.

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It was a pleasure to participate in the panel on Innovation for tomorrow's customer at the SCORE! conference for retail and e-commerce yesterday. Thank you Toni Kurz and Nicole Blum for the very interesting perspectives shared and Malte Polzin for moderating the discussion. Innovation is the future and the only way to not get stuck in the past! #score24 #innovation #ecommerce

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With 🎙Fabian Tausch and Florian Dostert I talked about one of my favourite topics: Value based pricing for B2B Saas companies (audio in Gernan). Value based pricing is the key to revenue growth and bottom line optimization. If you want to talk about your pricing challenges: hit me up.

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On the road to TOA Tech Open Air Berlin. Eager to meet entrepreneurs and learn about the future of tech, art and science. I am curious to discover how these companies are already applying ai to improve business processes or inventing new ones. What will Ai's impact mean for your business? #toaberlin #toa-berlin #automation #artificialtechnology

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🤩 I am happy to share another brilliant and inspirational piece of work of our dear client, Philine Prof. Freifrau von Sell, and for (also our client at OVERW8) KATHARINA HOVMAN, her sister and Hamburg-based cosmopolitan fashion brand. For each season, she creates the in the meanwhile famous "lookbooks" - a storytelling 3D way of representing the new collection and colour palette of the season. I look forward to discovering these little treasures each time. 💡🛠 Our job at o8, by the way, was to help turn the idea into a feasible tech solution for Shopify. Philine shared her idea of how she would actually envision representing the new collections online. At first, it looked like it couldn't be done... but nothing we would stop short of! 🤠 We held a 'powwow' about how we could enable this in Shopify's overall great but creative-wise pretty restricted real, then built her like a custom app so she could turn her vision into a 360° experience with audio, video, and well-structured copy. It was a one-off investment that now elevates the brand's story several times a year to a different level while not having to fiddle with the already existing tech-based. Clever, right? ;) 💡☕ Why not get yourself a cappuccino and enjoy - should you have South Africa on your travel shortlist, definitely check out Philine's insider tips (she and her husband have been living there several times, and she knows her way around). While at it, maybe you can also check out the Côte d'Azur lookbook or one of the other gems. #lifestylebrand #branding #martech #techsolution #clever #luxurybrand

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𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 & 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐓 🌍 – wyse Business Solutions GmbH makes your IT sustainable and future-proof! In times of growing environmental responsibility and rising energy costs, we all need smart, sustainable solutions to stay competitive. Green IT isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the key to long-term efficiency and cost savings.💡 🔋 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲-𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: Save on electricity costs and reduce your carbon footprint with modern, energy-optimized infrastructure. ☁️ 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: Leverage flexible, resource-efficient cloud solutions to reduce hardware costs while increasing flexibility. ♻️ 𝐄-𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: Adopt sustainable recycling processes to extend the lifecycle of your IT products and minimize environmental impact. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰: ➔ 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: A green IT strategy significantly lowers your operational costs over time. ➔ 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞: Sustainable businesses enjoy a reputation boost and build trust with customers and partners. ➔ 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞-𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠: Sustainability isn’t a trend – it’s a necessity for both success and the environment. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: Investing in green IT today means being a step ahead tomorrow – economically and ecologically. 🌱💡 At wyse Business Solutions GmbH, we have the right experts and partners on board to guide you toward sustainable IT. Together, we’ll develop tailor-made solutions for your business! What steps are you taking towards sustainable IT? www.wyse-business.com #IT #Sustainability #GreenIT #wyseBusiness ________________________ I’m Stefano, a passionate young entrepreneur with a love for innovation, and I’ll show you how to successfully implement technologies like AI in your business. Follow me and turn on the 🔔 to never miss valuable insights!

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🎙️I recently had the pleasure of joining Max Ostermeier on his podcast, the Startcast Podcast. Max invited me to share my journey as a founder – from the very beginning to where we are today with MVP Factory. In our conversation, we delved into the lessons I've learned along the way, my perspective on startups and the mindset shift of Zebras vs Unicorns, founding in times of crisis, and some of the incredible projects like Yarded we're working on at MVP Factory.
 Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just curious about our journey with MVP Factory, listen in and share your thoughts with me. We covered a lot of ground, from the early challenges to the innovative solutions we're bringing to life today:
 🔹 The pivotal moments in my entrepreneurial journey 🔹 Insights on building and scaling startups  🔹 Behind-the-scenes stories from MVP Factory projects  🔹 How joining Ness Digital Engineering enables us to drive more innovation A big thank you to Max for the invitation, the great conversation, and your patience (it took us a while to find an appointment). I'm looking forward to part two ;) I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it! 🎧 Listen to the full episode here: ▶️Spotify | https://lnkd.in/ddhf9ywf ▶️Apple I https://lnkd.in/dFmBuVG5 #Startcast #Startups #MVPFactory #Innovation 

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I was delighted to join as a mentor for the second time, engaging with a new round of entrepreneurs and mentors. The presentations and direct feedback are always insightful, but the true highlight for me is the networking break and the Q&A sessions with the founders afterward. These interactions not only enrich the event but also provide unique opportunities to address the founders' specific needs and foster deeper connections. #startup #mentoring

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📰 My Cofounder is featured in two leading newspapers this morning!👏👏 My cofounder at Footprint Technologies, Carolin Kleinert, gave two interviews for #Sueddeutsche and #Tagesspiegel about a recent study of Startup-Verband that investigated the socio demographic background of #startup founders. It clearly proofs founders typically are originating from families with academic backgrounds or from parents who are entrepreneurs themselves. The majority - but not all of them. Carolin is a great example of this minority who also made it without academic parents or without entrepreneurial role-models within their core families. I am sharing a similar family background, both of my parents do neither have an academic education, nor are they entrepreneurs themselves. It is possible, but it needs more visibility and sharing of such positive examples, so that more and more #Arbeiterkinder are considering becoming entrepreneurs as a career option. This would be a benefit for themselves as well as for our society and economy! For that reason I am celebrating the two articles about Carolin's personal story! 😍 👏 👉 Please check the articles and share them! 🙏

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Day 4 of 10: 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗳𝘆 - Empowering E-Commerce Entrepreneurs The 𝗦𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 that became a 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. Shopify was a snowboarding site?! In 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟲, Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake, launched Shopify, a platform that began as an online snowboarding equipment store called Snowdevil. Dissatisfied with the e-commerce tools available, they built their own solution, which evolved into the Shopify we know today. Shopify’s journey is a classic startup success story, empowering over 𝟭.𝟳 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 businesses worldwide. Shopify faced its share of 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀: From integrating with ERP systems to streamlining repetitive tasks and driving traffic to stores. Yet, it emerged stronger, redefining the point of sale for e-commerce and enabling direct Amazon integration. Today, Shopify is a 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀, offering a suite of services that includes payments, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools. It’s a story of innovation, resilience, and the democratization of retail. #Shopify #ECommerce #Entrepreneurship #StartupStories #Day4

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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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🎙️ Listen in! Our Co-Founder Nico joins the Startup Insider Podcast to discuss: - The challenges PropTechs face in convincing the real estate sector to adopt SaaS solutions - The massive market opportunity in decarbonizing buildings - The technological hurdles in real estate and why AI is essential to overcoming them 🎧 Tune in to catch all the insights! 👀 #NetZero #RealEstate

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🌍 Excited to connect with fellow innovators and explore scalable business models. See you there! InnovaticGroup. Create the Future Now innovaticgroup.com #BornGlobalAcademy #GlobalExpansion #Innovation #Technology #Entrepreneurship #Investment #Networking #InnovaticGroup #BusinessGrowth #SustainableInnovation #BusinessAngels #VentureCapital #LPs #GPs #Innovation #DigitalRransformation #Digitalization #Startup #Scaleup

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Is the retail giant REWE Group building Germany’s first food-superapp? 🛒📲 Rewe has always been a pioneer in digital offers and now expands its portfolio with investments and partnerships. Last month alone, 2 deals hit the news: 1️⃣ Rewe participated in Flink's new funding round of 150$mn valued at ~900$mn (down about 70% since its peak valuation). With this cash injection, Flink plans to break even in Q2 2025, apparently having reached operational profitability in selected markets already today. Also they plan to open 30 additional warehouses. 2️⃣ Lieferando and Rewe announced a partnership, providing access to 3000 SKUs of Rewe’s assortment via Lieferando’s app, delivered by Lieferando’s courier network. “Rewe Express” promises delivery times of 45 minutes, closing the gap between Rewe’s scheduled delivery and Flink’s ultrafast delivery. With the new offers, Rewe now ticks many boxes that I expect from a food-superapp, combining all things food, and beyond: ✅ Brick and mortar stores ✅ Click and collect ✅ Scheduled delivery ✅ Quick-commerce (via Flink and Lieferando) ✅ Offer promotions in app  ✅ Digital travel agency  ❌ The only piece missing is food delivery. Did you know that the Russian chains X5 and Magnit are also at the frontier of supermarket tech? ➡️ Magnit has integrated AI to monitor inventory at shelf level, ensuring products (including 5000 pharmacy SKUs) are always available for their 30 minute delivery & click and collect. ➡️ Meanwhile, X5 Group deploys smart shopping carts, automatically scanning products for a frictionless checkout. I’ve just talked about why the concept of the food-superapp is so appealing at a conference and will share the takeaways here, soon. 

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📢 The List of the 100 Family Offices in Germany For all startup founders in my network – here is something that can really help you. Sebastian Janus has put together an incredible list that will save you a lot of time and effort. It includes: ✅ Information about the Family Office ✅ Headquarters location ✅ Founder/Manager ✅ And much more… I know from my own experience how important such contacts are. This list is a real treasure. 📣 Startup founders, be sure to connect with Sebastian Janus. His knowledge in Financial, Private Equity, and Venture Capital is extremely valuable. Take the opportunity to learn from him and expand your network.

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🏆 We did it! Winning the first prize in the mobility category of the SZ-Summit award - and getting great inspiration on the subject: The world in transition - what to do? A big thank you to the UnternehmerTUM and Süddeutsche Zeitung for hosting us and the jury of Christine Heuwing, Dr. Frauke Goll, Jochen Engert, Matthias Ballweg, Ulrich Schäfer, Lisa Nienhaus and Jannis Brühl for seeing us at the forefront of #mobility innovation! It was a great honour for me to accept the award on behalf of the whole PULSETRAIN team! This kind of public recognition really motivates us every day to keep working hard and stay ahead! The summit not only celebrated innovation, but also highlights the broader challenges and opportunities for Europe's economy. 🚀 For those in a hurry, I will start with the conclusion: Europe has the ingredients for success! Exceptional talent, a culture of research and a strong academic foundation. But to realise this potential, we need to address the funding gap, foster a risk-taking mindset that starts in education and is nurtured in society, and build ecosystems that retain top talent. It's not just about creating start-ups - it's about creating future global leaders. If we rise to this challenge, Europe can solidify its position as a deep tech powerhouse. The time to act is now! 💰 We are underfunded! Our most important asset in the European Union, and in Germany in particular, is our talent pool: highly skilled and scientifically trained people. For Europe to truly innovate, we need to turn our talent into market-ready solutions, and that requires sustained investment. Helmut Schoenenberger highlighted that Europe needs to produce 5-10 new global market leaders every year to remain competitive with the US. The upside potential is already visible: All the trillion-dollar companies - Tesla, Amazon, Apple and others - are venture-backed, a testament to the critical role of risk capital in driving transformative innovation. Thomas Oehl pointed out that while there's reason to be optimistic about Europe's potential, scientific spin-offs - especially in hardware - remain critically underfunded. Vsquared Ventures, which just this year closed the largest deep-tech fund in Europe at €214 million, is helping to fill this gap. 👀 A mindset shift is needed! Hélène Huby drew a very precise parallel with the space industry, where the largest budgets are allocated to exploration. Innovation requires risk-taking, long-term thinking and a willingness to venture into uncharted territory. For Europe to lead, we need to embrace exploration as a core value, not only as a scientific endeavour, but also as a cultural and entrepreneurial one. Thomas Schulz pointed out, governments need to work hand in hand with industry to create an environment in which this talent can thrive and stay. We need to create compelling incentives through competitive salaries, supportive ecosystems and without overburdening taxes for workers and companies.

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Children shoe Subscription??🤯 50 years of #WMS 🎊 are an achievement and best time to discuss its future! Yesterday it was my pleasure to contribute to WMS‘ (German Children Shoe Association) anniversary with a keynote about innovation, AI and the opportunities for retailers and children shoe brands. Here are my main messages: 1️⃣ Consumers are expecting digital touch points and a portfolio of complementary services today 2️⃣ WMS Footprint App again doubled its number of downloads and tripled the numer of started measurements within 2024. 🥳 3️⃣ If you are not leveraging the benefits of AI you will lose - your competitors will definitely do - better be fast and profit from it. 4️⃣ Major trends of #circularity and usage instead of ownership point towards the first children shoe subscription: as soon as your child grows out of its current size, parents will receive the next fitting size of the same model. Looking forward who will be the first one to offer such or a similar model! 👏🤔🤯 There have been mixed reactions on my impulses in the audience from „yes, let’s start getting there“ to „Ohh No- I am sure this will never happen“. That is the goal of an inspirational keynote - opening up new spaces and explore them!🚀 The changing requirements of customers and the technical possibilities will push #innovation in shoe retail and almost all other businesses! The sooner you utilize it and contribute to it, the more successful you will be!

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