Hello. I'm Christoph.
Having joined my first startup team in 1999 and run Angel-driven accelerator programs since 2010, I'm probably Germany's most active and experienced professional startup mentor and business angel. This ongoing experience "in the trenches" fuels my work with corporations, local government, and universities, in order to make it easier for people and organizations of any kind to verify, communicate and implement entrepreneurial ideas and solutions. Because digital entrepreneurship is the way to develop ourselves professionally, economically, and as a society.
Podcast: Angels of Deutschland
(In German) Angels of Deutschland is the leading German-language podcast about how and why to become and succeed as a private startup investor. The first season (2019-20) has 24 episodes about every aspect of identifying investment opportunities. The second season (2023-24) has in-depth interviews with industry experts about angel-investable new technology.
Mission: Angel in Residence
Since May 2024, I'm implementing a mission in the city of Mannheim (pop. 316.817). The idea is to work with the city's institutions, universities, economic development, and entrepreneurial ecosystem like a business angel would with a startup team. The concept of an "Angel in Residence" (AiR) is about founders and investors helping their hometowns, favourite institutions, or unis to profit from no-nonsense startup and entrepreneurship experience, replacing bureaucracy and expensive consultancy with mentorship.
Monthly Meetup Event: "Christoph's Feedback"
With some 1000 ideas pitched in over 150 sessions, "Feedback" is Europe's longest-running startup meetup. Since 2015, it has been a monthly "speed mentoring" event to show and tell your startup or product idea in order to get tough feedback BEFORE you begin to seriously put work and money into it. In addition, you'll get actionable advice on getting your startup VC-funded.
Methods: The Pitch Bridge
From the beginning, founders need to constantly convince audiences to support them - with money, attention, time. The Pitch Bridge is a surefire method to develop your first compelling pitch, tried and tested with hundreds of teams. Other methods I've published are about Getting Funded, obtaining your first qualified user feedback, corporate startup ecosystems, and more - contact me if you want to talk about or need support with these topics.
Ping me on LinkedIn.
“Christoph mentored me during both of my ventures and was of huge help, not only by offering his connections (both high in quality and quantity), but also by advising me and my team through the toughest of our decisions. ” - Darja Gutnick, Founder, bunch.ai