I spent the last two decades (and counting) in the IT and Internet industry. Anchored in a broad education in economics and psychology at the University of Cologne/Germany, I founded and sold an Internet startup during the first dot-com boom; joined eBay in Europe in its early days, grew the computer & gaming category to $1BN in sales and later led eBay's Platform Solutions Group across Europe. I worked on mergers & acquisitions for the US multi-channel ecommerce provider ChannelAdvisor, founded a consulting practice working with startups across Europe on their strategy and internationalized them and co-founded an early stage venture capital fund. Recently I led Mozilla's innovation group Mozilla Labs and created Mozilla's global accelerator program WebFWD. I now build and grow the Mozilla movement as Mozilla's Director, Office of the Chair.
Craig Newmark (Craigslist) described me as "a social change maker to watch" and the leading German business publication WirtschaftsWoche voted me one of the most important Internet personalities in 2012.
I frequently speak about topics ranging from Open Innovation to entrepreneurship and at places such as TEDx and conferences around the world.
Here's a pretty complete list of my past jobs. You can also dig into my LinkedIn profile (where you also find a short bio if you need one) – and here are some pictures of me.
Role:
Director Office of the Chair
Country:
USA
Info:
Building and growing the Mozilla Movement
Role:
Director Open Innovation Group & WebFWD
Country:
USA
Info:
Mozilla's global Open Innovation Program & Accelerator
Role:
Venture Partner
Country:
Germany & UK
Info:
Early-Stage Venture Capital Fund & Venture Creation
Role:
Founder & Managing Partner
Country:
Germany & UK
Info:
Interim Management & Consulting Practice
Role:
Interim Manager Business Development Europe
Country:
UK
Info:
Open Source Media Player
Role:
Interim Country Manager Germany
Country:
Germany & UK
Info:
Fan-to-Fan Ticket Exchange & Marketplace
Role:
Co-Founder
Country:
Germany
Info:
Gallery for Modern Art
Role:
Founder & Managing Director
Country:
Germany
Info:
SaaS & Content Provider
Topic:
Changing the world with Open Source
San Jose, CA, 2012
Topic:
The Participation Culture
Orange County, CA, 2012
Topic:
Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Mountain View, CA, 2012
Topic:
Open Innovation
New York City, NY, 2012
Topic:
Networking
New York City, NY, 2012
Topic:
Changing the World
San Francisco, CA, 2012
Topic:
Platform Wars
San Francisco, CA, 2012
Topic:
Social Innovation Incubation
Brussels, Belgium, 2012
Topic:
Innovate in the Open
San Jose, CA, 2012
Topic:
To Product/Market Fit and Beyond
Palo Alto, CA, 2011
Topic:
Never Walk
Vienna, Austria, 2011
Topic:
David vs Goliath
Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2011
Topic:
Socially Responsible Investing
San Francisco, CA, 2011
Topic:
How to be successful in Open Source
Houston, TX, 2011
Topic:
Why App Stores are broken
Berkeley, CA, 2010
Topic:
Open Innovation at Mozilla
Mountain View, CA, 2010
In addition to my job I sit on the board of CASH Music, a non-profit that builds open source tools for musicians. I am a shareholder of deal united and Facebook and have formal advisor roles with the following organizations: LAUNCHub and Maana. Further I have informal advisory roles with numerous startups and mentor high potential individuals around the world.