Achieve more.
Enjoy it more.

My story

How I came to this work.

Building businesses and understanding myself have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. For years, I pursued both with a lot of curiosity, discipline, and thinking.

Learning by building

I spent my first six years in a small apartment above the laundry my great-grandfather had founded. Business was part of family life: the decisions, the responsibility, the ups and downs. As a teenager, I taught myself to code and built a social network with a friend so we could organize parties and share photos. I loved making something people could use.

When it came to university, I couldn’t choose between psychology and entrepreneurship, so I studied both. I went on to graduate at the top of my management master’s class at HHL and spent time in the MBA program at Chicago Booth. I learned to take complex problems apart, think strategically, and communicate clearly.

My first startup after graduation was an education of its own. I read everything I could about strategy, product, and building a business, then tested it with real customers. The business never scaled, and I eventually closed it. I would still do it again for what I learned.

I later joined Christoph, the founder of die kartenmacherei, now celebrate company, to build new ventures. I learned a great deal from his structured, strategic approach, shaped by years at Bain & Company. We’re still friends today.

I founded celebrate apps and spent more than five years leading it as CEO, building a photo-sharing app for weddings and families. With our team, we grew it to millions of users. Later, as Chief of Staff, I helped lead and restructure the wider group, with around 650 employees and more than €100 million in revenue. I’ve experienced both the freedom of starting from scratch and the complexity of leading within a larger company.

A long search inward

Alongside all of this, I had been exploring my inner life since my teens. Around fourteen, I started meditating seriously, often for an hour and a half a day. I read psychology, explored different contemplative practices, and kept trying things for myself. Later, I completed two ten-day Vipassana silent retreats and spent long periods practicing for an hour each morning and evening.

I knew how to find deep peace. For a long time, I thought I simply didn’t have many emotions. On retreat, anger began to surface that I hadn’t known was there. I was surprised by how much I could understand about myself while still having so little contact with what I felt.

What began to open

When I became a father, I was also running a company and building a house. During that time, I worked with executive coach Mina Lee. The work changed me enough that I wanted to understand how to do it myself. I wasn’t planning to become a coach. I wanted to learn what had made such a difference to me.

Through Mina, I found Joe Hudson’s work. I began taking courses with Art of Accomplishment, then entered coaching training. I’ve continued learning from Joe and Tara ever since, returning to the work again and again. I also trained in Internal Family Systems with Guthrie Sayen and as a Realization Process teacher with Judith Blackstone, with whom I continue to study.

My children brought that learning into daily life. My wife, Julia, and I practice Hand in Hand Parenting. Being with our children’s anger, fear, and tears kept bringing me back to my own. I wanted to be close to them, including when I couldn’t make everything better.

To stay present with their feelings, I had to learn to be with my own.

That happened gradually, over years of practice. Grief became more accessible. So did love. My children have opened my heart in ways I could never have thought my way into. I’m still learning.

What I bring to our work

I came to see how much more becomes possible when I can think clearly and stay in touch with what I feel. I’m more deeply in touch with what I want. I can listen fully, set clear boundaries with an open heart, and engage with conflict while staying connected. That is at the heart of how I coach.

Today, I work with entrepreneurs and leadership teams, drawing on experience across startups and larger organizations. I also facilitate company retreats and lead a Montessori school pro bono as executive chair. With three children of my own, helping create a school where children can thrive matters deeply to me.

In our conversations, we bring this work to your actual life: the decision you keep circling, the tension with a co-founder, the responsibility you struggle to share. I understand the business stakes. And I’m interested in the person carrying them.