I am not a consultant. I run what others talk about.

An engineer with mountains on his mind

I am a fully trained engineer – and I come from adventure and extreme sports. Skiing, kiting, paragliding. The combination of both brought me to where I am today.

Green numbers in spaceflight

My career started at EADS Astrium in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, with an experiment for the International Space Station. I designed the mechanical components. Before anything like that is allowed onto a rocket, it has to pass a vibration test, among others: the rocket launch is simulated, and every part has to withstand those vibrations. Usually it does. But sometimes a part's geometry creates resonances that destroy it – fatal during a launch. That is why everything is simulated beforehand and tested so thoroughly.

Across from me sat a colleague who had previously worked at MIT and had learned exactly how to simulate rocket launches using algorithms and vibrations. On his screen I saw nothing but green numbers. And I thought: this is not my world. I missed the sporting environment.

Five years of inflatables at Skywalk

So I went to Skywalk in Marquartstein. Five years of product development for inflatables: inflatable load-bearing structures and kitesurfing equipment. That is also where I wrote my master's thesis – on the strength, bending stiffness and durability of inflatable load-bearing structures made of textile materials, with a lab of my own.

ShredRack – and the first broken neck

On exactly this basis, I started developing the ShredRack in 2016, an inflatable roof rack. In 2017 I founded the company for it, in 2018 production started, and in 2019 it came onto the market. In 2020 the coronavirus crisis broke the startup's financial neck for the first time.

Then came further developments and new brands: BOLSTair, Truck Tollo, tronature – and, with Michi Gasteiger, Apres Allstars. They are actively selling today, and each of them contains product development I did myself.

The Einfallsschmiede

The Einfallsschmiede brings all of this together: my developments, brands and projects. With my team and my network I am now opening it up to others too – to pass on my experience, to help and to advise. And to move my own projects forward: commercialise, connect, sell brands, scale new projects and sell them.