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STARTUP LAB Speakers and Mentors

Alistair Aitken

  • Sales Expert
  • Expert for Negotiation

How do I prepare for a sales meeting? How do I manage to sell my product and be successful in negotiations? In the sales workshop Alistair will teach you the core elements of value based communication and what is important when communicating with customers and potential partners. You will learn how to highlight the USP of your product in a customer presentation and ensure that your sales pitch is a success.

Alistair Aitken

Amina Daca

  • Start-up consultant and innovation manager
  • Expert for funding and subsidies

Right at the beginning of the Startup Lab, Amina Daca presents the funding opportunities for startups and the support we offer as university institutions. What funding can you apply for with your startup and how can you finance your idea, especially in the early stages? These questions are answered by our expert Amina.

Amina Daca

Georg Fischer

  • Chief Product Manager at SAP, Speaker, Trainer, and Coach for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • Experte for Design Thinking and Business Model Innovation

How can I implement my ideas and develop business models that are successful? Three key factors are decisive for this. Firstly, I need the right methods with people at the center, iteratively and creatively. Secondly, knowledge and awareness of cognitive processes and behavioral patterns - these often stand in the way of our success. And finally, the application of generative AI across the entire process from idea to innovation.


In his workshop, Georg will cover the following topics: Why is feedback so important in the start-up process and what forms does it take? How do I get feedback and how can I use and implement it in such a way that it helps me to realize my ideas? Why is it usually done wrong and which tools can help me? These and other questions will be answered in my workshop, with many examples and helpful tools.

Georg Fischer

Nancy Frehse

  • Managing director and founder Oktopulli
  • Expert for Social Entrepreneurship, Fair Fashion, Responsible ownership and transformative entrepreneurship

How can our economy once again serve people and their environment? What role do entrepreneurs and companies play in this? Which economic narratives do we need to move away from and which do we need to reshape? How does responsible ownership work as a solution for impact-oriented businesses? Nancy Frehse will present these and many other aspects using the example of her own start-up Oktopulli from the fair fashion sector.

Nancy Frehse

Philipp Glock

  • Lawyer and partner at Luther
  • Expert for M&A, PE, Startups & Venture Capital

How does the (notarized) foundation of a start-up actually work? What do you need to consider? How do you choose the right legal form for you? How do you prepare your company for investor participation? Philipp will guide you step by step through the individual start-up phases and the legal basics for founders. Among other things, you will learn what a shareholder agreement contains and what other accompanying legal documentation is required when founding a company. The event is rounded off with lots of practical tips on the dos and don'ts of founding a company and preparing for investor participation.

Philipp Glock

Dr. Christoph Meyer

  • Patent manager at Heidelberg University
  • Expert in intellectual property

Can I patent my idea? This is a common question, which founders ask themselves at the beginning of their startup journey. Nevertheless, how does it actually work, how much does it cost and what do you have to look out for when filing? Dr. Christoph Meyer will adress these and many more questions as well as the University of Heidelberg’s support in protecting your IP. He is an expert when it comes to intellectual property.

Christoph Meyer

Lothar Schubert

  • Economic senior at the Senioren der Wirtschaft
  • Expert in financial planning for start-ups

How can you capture a business idea in figures? How can you plausibly estimate a future business development? With the help of an easily understandable tool, you will learn how to create a financial plan and what benefits the evaluations of profitability, liquidity and financial requirements offer. As a small excursion, we look at sales planning, how you systematically find the “right” price for your products and services and what the key factors are.

As a senior economist, Lothar Schubert advises startups and small companies in the areas of business modeling, pricing, financial planning and controlling and is a sought-after speaker for lectures, seminars and workshops at universities and other institutions. He is a business economist and was a manager in the publishing and media industry.

Lothar Schubert

Amelie Vermeer

  • Founder Spoontainable, Mentor, Tutor
  • Expert for development of sales channels, supply chain and logistics processes, investor relations

How do I convince customers, investors or suppliers of my product? How do I get to the heart of my innovative solution in just a few sentences and present it in a factual but also emotionally understandable and structured way? How do I communicate in front of an audience and what role does my body language play? Amelie will guide you through these questions step by step in the pitching workshop so that you are perfectly prepared for your elevator pitch. No matter how scientifically complex or logical your ideas are.

Amelie Vermeer

Supported by

EXIST Förderlogos