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Community makes the difference.
TRIP is enriched by the valuable expertise and commitment of our community experts from various industries. These experts are not only mentors, but also door openers and pioneers for the TRIP Class. Through the exchange at our networking events, inputs within the workshops and individual experience sharing, they not only offer valuable industry knowledge, but can also pave the way to take innovation to the next level. Discover our inspiring community here and experience at TRIP how joint growth shapes the future.
We always have the great pleasure of being able to draw on the expertise of Juliane Keith in the area of corporate communications.
Since September 2020, Juliane Keith has been managing partner of Fachverlag Thüringen, which currently publishes three titles in its core business – Wirtschaftsspiegel Thüringen, WiYou.de and Karriereheimat. As successor to the publisher’s founder Jürgen Meier, she bears overall responsibility for the media company. Today, Wirtschaftsspiegel is a business magazine that informs and connects people in business, science and politics through reporting on research and development, innovations, as well as company and location development.
First-hand industry knowledge from experts: We are pleased to have Juliane Keith, among others publisher of Wirtschaftsspiegel Thüringen, on board as an expert for communication.
For the development of a sound financing strategy we may introduce Kevin Reeder, CEO of bm|t as Community Partner. In order to achieve the goal of investment readyness, a close cooperation with bm|t is of great advantage for TRIP Class.
As the investment company of the Free State of Thuringia, bm|t invests in innovative and growth-oriented companies with great future potential. Kevin Reeder is managing director of bm|t and has been a strong partner of TRIP since the beginning. After various positions in investment and investment management in Denver and Zurich, he worked as an investment manager for bm|t from 2013 to 2014 and is therefore very familiar with the startup scene in central Germany.
From 2014 until his return to bm|t in 2017, he also supported the management of the emerging company M-KOPA in East Africa. Kevin Reeder shares his learnings as well as his expertise in investments within TRIP.
Financing Strategies for Investment Cases: We are pleased to have Kevin Reeder on board as an expert in startup financing.
Develop your startup team with Stefan Kermas!
Behind every success are people. A well-functioning team is therefore the basis of every successful business model.
With Stefan Kermas we were able to win a team expert for TRIP. As a lawyer and competitive athlete, he supports teams and leaders in setting themselves up for success and effectively achieving their own goals. And he does this with his own approach and success principles from top-class sports.
His many years of experience around victories and defeats in the business and sports world make Stefan Kermas a valuable speaker for the TRIP Accelerator Program
Developing Successful Team Structures: We are pleased to have Stefan Kermas on board as an expert in team design.
From the very beginning, Michael Bätz from EY has been on board as a strong partner of TRIP. As the central contact for EY in the Thuringia/Saxony region and a member of the EY Startup Initiative, he is an expert in the local startup scene and for SMEs. As an advisor to innovative companies, he knows the answers to all relevant strategic, business, legal and financial questions in order to generate sustainable business success from groundbreaking concepts. For many years, Michael Bätz has been a sponsoring partner of the Investor Days Thuringia with EY and part of the selection jury.
Michael Bätze shares his concentrated expertise exclusively with the TRIP Class in two workshops on the topics of business model creation and strategy. They provide input on developing an innovative business model and work with the startups on aspects of long-term successful strategies for startups.
Taking the business model to the next level: We are happy to have Michael Bätz on board as an expert for Business Model Creation.
From founder to founder: Martha Wenzel, co-founder of E-TERRY, is always available to the TRIP community to share her experiences.
The startup builds autonomous field robots that guide farmers:in their journey to lighter and more sustainable agriculture. In 2019/20, E-TERRY participated in the first TRIP-Class and the team used the time to optimize the startup’s business model. In 2022, the founding followed and eventually bm|t joined as lead investor.
Co-Founder Martha Wenzel thus knows from personal experience the ups and downs of founding and the relevance of a strong network. In particular, as the success of E-TERRY shows, she is an expert in approaching investors.
Stefan Jahn is Senior Investment Manager at our sponsoring partner bm|t beteiligungsmanagement thüringen gmbh. The finance and accounting expert has already had a successful career as a banker and branch manager at Sparkasse Elbe-Elster and Thüringer Aufbaubank. He joined the bm|t investment team in October 2014 and shares his first-class expertise in corporate finance with a focus on private equity / venture capital. Since May 2020, he has also held the title “Certified Private Equity Analyst” from the TUM School of Management.
The meeting with Stefan Jahn will give you exclusive insights into the views and actions of the investor side. His experience and knowledge of venture deals and communication with VCs is of great added value for TRIP.
Become investment ready: We are happy to have Stefan Jahn on board as an expert for VC investments.
Susanne Trautmann is a go-to-market expert, co-author of the “B2B Marketing Handbook” and a LinkedIn Top B2B Marketing Voice.
With practical experience from over 15 years of B2B tech marketing, Susanne has developed the Marketing Canvas, a collaborative framework that simplifies the launch of innovative products and technologies.
Because through her own experiences, she knows the challenges of B2B marketing very well: Innovations don’t market themselves. They are communication-intensive and their added value often has to be made clear to the target group in the first place. For these conditions, Susanne Trautmann has developed the Marketing Canvas, a strategy model for marketers that can be ideally applied by startups.
Taking brand communication to the next level: We are happy to have Susanne Trautmann on board as an expert for B2B marketing.
Over the past 15 years, Sven Müller has been able to build up an enormous amount of knowledge in the venture capital market. In particular through his work as co-founder and former managing director of Rapid Venture Accounting GmbH. The “Reporting VC” software solution developed there supported venture capital and private equity companies in efficiently and effectively mapping their portfolios.
In addition, Sven Müller was a board member of auftakt for over 10 years. Gründerforum Ilmenau and initiated the VC CAMPUS at the TU Ilmenau.
His expertise in venture deals and communication with VCs from an investor’s perspective is a great asset for TRIP.
Developing a Deep Understanding of Investor Relations: We are happy to have Sven Müller on board as an expert for VC communication.
A startup is only as strong as the team behind it. How can you strengthen your team and thus the entire startup through effective organizational development? Find out in the “Team” workshop with Dr. Sebastian Händschke. Through his doctorate at the Friedrich Schiller University in the Chair of Organization, Leadership and HRM in Jena, he brings the scientific background to the topic of “team scaling”.
In addition, Sebastian Händschke is currently involved in technology transfer and start-up management at Bauhaus University Weimar and heads the “Digital Innovation Hub Photonics” (DIHP) in Jena. The DIHP focuses in particular on promoting startups in the field of optics and photonics at Jena’s Beutenberg research campus.
Bring structure into your startup: We are happy to have Sebastian Händschke on board as an expert for organization, leadership and HRM in this batch.
You want to take your innovation to the next level with the concentrated power of expert know-how? Then be part of TRIP!
You also want to contribute with your expertise? Then get on board as a partner and become part of the TRIP community!
