MENTORSHIP
What do we do?
For startups, the first years are unarguably the most critical time in the life of the company. Timely access to key resources, advice and knowledge is essential for entrepreneurs to succeed. As an organisation that supports entrepreneurship among university students, creating a strong community of mentors is a natural goal of ours. We match the startups in our incubator or accelerator programs with highly skilled volunteer professionals who can provide strategic guidance and thereby help them reach their goals and milestones.
Why should I join?
Network with business professionals and entrepreneurs. Develop skills and get updated on the newest trends and innovations. Uncover innovative ideas and new business opportunities .
The vision of CSE mentors is to develop and implement the best-in-class mentoring initiatives that will help guide university startups through their growth phase.
Join a growing community that has already created 100+ mentor-mentee matches and continues to make an impact through the power of mentoring to help small businesses thrive.
Business
Mentoring
Fuels Success
The CSE Mentorship program has been of great value for my startup and career as an entrepreneur. When starting a company from scratch you face hundreds of challenges each day, and therefore it is very valuable to have a mentor on the side, who has been through much of the same things, and is able to relate and understand the situation. Moreover, the mentors can provide you with guidance and strategy as well as utilizing their own network to open doors or establishing potential partner or customer meetings.
Bertin G. Hansen, CEO & Founder of Odeno
It has been an exciting journey with the mentee company, where I as a mentor both have had the opportunity to share some of my experiences but also gained personally significant new insights about how the next generation of entrepreneurs thinks and operates. Being a mentor, you should be openminded, be able to listen and most important be available when needed. I have enjoyed every second
Morten Kolberg, CSE Mentor & Head of Consulting at Copenhagen Business Hub
ACTIVITIES
Strategic mentoring
mentor 360
CSE mentor relationships last 6-9 months, during which the mentee and mentor meet face-to-face for one to three hours each month to work towards setting and realizing personalised, measurable and attainable goals. CSE will facilitate the application and matching process based on the startup’s needs and specific situation as well as the mentor’s interests and areas of expertise, however, the decision to form a relationship remains with the prospective mentor and mentee. From there, mentees drive the relationship with a CSE Business Developer checking in periodically to ensure healthy progress.
Join forces with other mentors to help the startups at CSE during 2-hour springboard sessions. Mentor 360 is a thematic and focused group mentoring based on most known business diagnostic tools and frameworks. It basically covers all aspects of business but the main focus is on business model, strategy and the best road to market. It helps startups get hands-on advice and insights on how to tune their business directions in order to increase the success probability and mitigate the associated risks.
advisory
boards
You and one or more other mentors will follow a startup over the duration of their stay at CSE. You will meet at monthly 2-hour sessions where the startup will present their progress since the last session and discuss their next challenges.
MENTORS
CLUB
As a way of giving back to you, we have launched a series of workshop and networking sessions designed to help mentors learn and grow as business leaders. The peer interactions and educational opportunities at these sessions will help you become a well-rounded business professional by expanding your network and improving upon your business knowledge within the field of entrepreneurship and innovation. These sessions are typically organized around specific themes and offer a rich environment for networking.
become a
mentor
Expectations & Requirements
Our
Mentors
Anne-Sofie Davenport
Digital Health Innovation & Strategy
On a mission to build scalable digital health products that change peoples lives for the better.
With 6 years of Silicon Valley startup experience and a healthcare background, my areas of expertise include:
• Digital Health
• Product Management
• Product Strategy
• New Product Launch
• Agile Software Development
• B2B, B2C & SaaS Products
• Inspiring and Leading Teams
• Startups, Scale ups and High Growth Companies
Kirstine Møller Pedersen
Marketing Director at Planday
I have experience across multiple functions in disruptive and high-growth businesses where I have built and managed experienced growth- and marketing teams.
Currently, I am the Director of Marketing at Planday leading a team of approx. 15 people. Planday is a +€20 million ARR SaaS Business within the overall workforce management category that is funded by some of the largest VC’s globally (the latest round being one of the largest in Denmark’s history).
Prior to that, I led International Marketing and Growth at $140m GMV service marketplace Airtasker.
In addition, I’ve co-founded and acted as CMO in a growing tech/e-commerce business (Homewings), funded by Rocket Internet and IKEA among others.
Before that, I managed an account team as Account Director at one of Denmark’s largest marketing consulting firms, Kunde & Co.
Joachim Schelde
Investment Analyst at Scale Capital
Joachim is a Venture Capitalist and Environmentalist investing in next-generation early-stage Nordic and US tech startups within B2B and helping them scale. He is enthusiastic about entrepreneurship and passionate about contributing with his experience in root cause analysis by utilizing first principles thinking, designing scalable business models, fundraising from semi-professional and institutional investors, and strategizing growth and internationalization plans, among others. Joachim is seasoned in utilizing responsible investing and ESG as a source of power for investors and startups alike to mitigate extra-financial risks and exploit revenue-generating opportunities while improving the environmental, social, and governance aspects of doing business. Joachim has a background in Management Consulting and Entrepreneurship, starting at age 17 as a founder of an e-commerce platform. Joachim has an MSc in Finance and Strategic Management from Copenhagen Business School and has completed exchange programs in Singapore and Boston.
Kenneth Bjørneboe
Strategy Manager at GN Store Nord
Young professional with diverse experience from entrepreneurship in healthtech and educational volunteering to strategy development and execution. Project experience includes corporate strategy development, go-to-market strategy, new market entry, pricing strategy, and mergers and acquisitions support. Kenneth holds a Master’s degree in Advanced Economics and Finance from Copenhagen Business School, with focus on firm behavior and competitive dynamics.
Martin Haslund Johansson
CEO at Glenart
Worked on the internet/hosting/data center/SaaS industry for the last 23 years with more than 10 startups over the years in various types of industries. Currently, I’m focused on SaaS businesses as an active investor – working with a bootstrapped and a micro funded mindset
Jens-Peter Poulsen
Executive advisor on People, Organization and Change I Member of Boards I Business Angel I Mentor
Executive advisor on People, Organization and Change I Member of Boards I Business Angel I Mentor
Aidin Ziapour
Chief Innovation Officer at Redment
Aidin Ziapour is a Product Management expert, Enterprise Design Thinking coach, and Design Sprint Master. He is certified by many famous educational institutes such as HPI, IBM, IREB, Scrum Org, Product School, and Design Sprint Academy in Product Management, Product Ownership, Design Thinking, Design Sprint, and Requirements Engineering. Aidin is a Chief Innovation Officer at Redment, Product Management and Design Thinking mentor at Axel Springer and Porsche (APX), and Enterprise Design Thinking coach at Amazing Design People List (adplist.org).
Martin Hector Hoffmann
Business Consultant & Angel Investor
MSc in Economics and Business Administration specializing in Management Accounting from CBS in 2007. +13 years of experience from Management Consulting, Finance and Market & Strategy functions in large companies: Finance, Management Accounting, Budgeting & Forecasting, Business Case Modelling, Financial Analysis & Planning, Management, Corporate & Product Strategy, Business Development, Project/Program Management, Go2Market, Market Analysis, Agile, MVP, Digital transformation
Arash Irannejad
Business Consultant at Parmida
For the past 20 years as a serial entrepreneur, and since 2015 as a business consultant and coach. I have extensive dealing with many entrepreneurial projects. Across several business sectors.
I am highly organized and dedicated, to work with innovation to create the right business development strategies.
with insight into scaling operations and focusing management, I work toward a transition from a linear to an exponential business.
Trendspotter and futurologist. I am devoted to systematically forecasting the future. Based on trends in society and technology availability. By thorough understanding of future trends and market drivers, I build relevant scenarios for value creation, prepare the business for the opportunities that arise, and challenges ahead.
I have an eye for detail and high quality. which is a challenge for me sometimes, because I need to fight with the perfectionist inside me. I use persuasive communication for better collaboration, to reach the best planning and execution. To create a high-performance business.
Hasan Surtiwala
Venture Consultant
An entrepreneur turned investor and venture consultant, having collectively raised a large sum for various ventures in the Nordic and Baltic eco-system. A venture builder at heart and innovation networker accelerating growth and allowing aspiring entrepreneurs to make their impact.
Rasmus Aaberg
Strategic Business Development Manager at GoGift
Spent the past 8 years building and growing the commercial side of digital platforms – with a focus on B2B2C marketplaces and B2B Saas.
Raziel Bareket
Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing
I bring 20+ years of international experience accelerating commercial growth within Tech (B2B) being software, hardware, services, deployment, after-sales, customer support, marketing enabling the full value chain working close with distributors, resellers, alliance partners, system builders, and advisors.
My role has always been to increase market shares and profit managing multi-million budgets with full P&L responsibility.
Geetha Selvakumar
Chief Consultant at Danskebank
Geetha is passionate about combining digitalization and innovation, and to understand the customers and their journey on the digital map. She has extensive experience with these topics, as she has worked in various senior positions within IT, Technology, and Communications in Capgemini and Huawei Technologies. She currently holds a position as Product Owner in Danske Bank within the space of Payments and partnerships, with a focus on the ecosystem of Fintechs and Bigtechs. In all her positions, she has focused on vendor and partner management, change management, and transformation initiatives in global settings, focussing on creating valuable partnerships and disrupt from within to deliver outstanding digital customer experiences.
David Sanchez Mendez
CFO at ACO Nordics
Spanish, 20+ years of experience in international business finance environments, both big public corporations and medium family-owned businesses. Today, I am CFO in Nordics, although since spring 2020 I take also care of India, EMEA, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa and I am CEO for Baltics on a construction materials company. What I like the most is to play a finance business partner role, so much, that I’m currently transitioning to CEO. I would be honored to put an additional pair of eyes on your case and help you to the extent of my possibilities.
Allan Sønderskov Darré
Angel Investor & Serial Entrepreneur
Serial entrepreneur, Business Angel, board member, and advisor with a proven track record. Taking a start-up from an idea at a dinner party and all the way to an IPO. Strong skills in executing, fundraising, and getting things done, basically walk the talk – no bullshit. Have been a mentor for more than 7 years and have invested in more than 25 companies. See my LinkedIn profile for more info.
Mette Frosch-Hansen
Finance Adviser, Board Member and Executive Business Mentor
Experienced Finance Director with interest in start-up and turn-around.
As a former Finance Director in international well-known companies, I have solid experience in finance & administration, HR, planning, change management, leadership, strategic work, and legal issues. Now working as a dedicated advisor helping SMV sized companies in turn-around. With a solid business background, I will be delighted to support you with a successful start of your business.
Claus Thune
Director of Business Development at NMP
Experienced management professional with advanced skills in people management, relationship-, change-, and transformation-management, strategy- and process-implementation, all things marketing and general advertising.
Haavard Stjernen
Country Manager Benelux, Nordics and ANZ at Wish
Launched and scaled companies within the field of e-commerce and the platform economy in Europe, China, and the US. Launched the #1 business app (2015) in Denmark. Scaled two Rocket Internet startups to become market leaders in Northern Europe within their respective fields of e-commerce. Currently managing 10 markets for the largest mobile e-commerce/marketplace app in the world, Wish. Based in San Francisco. Frequent keynote speaker at e-commerce conferences. Key areas of expertise: Strategy, growth, business development, e-commerce, platform/marketplace mgmt, user acquisition, and retention.
Karsten Brandt-Larsen
Development Director for BI, Analytics and Data Governance at BEC
An experienced leader in the domain of data, business intelligence, and analytics. Significant track record in culture and technology transformation, organizational scaling, vendor management, and building high-performance organizations.
Kathy Borys Siddiqui
Founder and Owner of Active Action ApS
I was born in Poland and have lived in 4 countries and on 2 continents. I am an entrepreneur and my multicultural life has provided me with many tools and skills that I apply in my professional life. My business Active Action focuses on supporting international companies, universities, and municipalities who hire highly skilled internationals as well as the internationals themselves.
I hold Master’s degrees in Cultural Studies and American Studies and my strengths lie in Intercultural Training, Personal Branding, Content Creating, and Networking. I am very passionate about Collaboration, Branding, LinkedIn, Diversity, and Resilience.
I believe that if you are lacking something – Create it!
Michael Villinger
Transfer Pricing Senior Manager
Lots of knowledge in many different industries, business models. In addition, insight into pitfalls and what not to do.
Thomas Balling Rasmussen
Head of Financial Marketing Strategy + Marketing Director at Betsson Group
I connect marketing with finance: producing commercial growth at scale by optimizing marketing investments.
This work is fascinating, cutting-edge, and very powerful. And particularly useful for startups looking to scale up.
I became a CBS alum (MSc) in 2003 and a Wharton alum (GMP) in 2018. Via key management roles in international online gaming companies, I have covered marketing strategy, customer acquisition, global CRM operations, marketing analytics/research, financial modeling, and business development.
I have been closely involved with a growing bottom-line performance for 21 brands across 15 markets, cumulatively allocating +700M EUR in marketing investments, generating at least 5x returns.
Giorgio Grimaldi
Innovation R&D PMO Director at Carlsberg
My career spans over 19 years working for global companies within the Food and Beverage industries in Commercial, R&D, and Supply Chain functions. Thanks to the variety of projects I led, I have developed a strong ability to understand the end to end value chain from material procurement, manufacturing, until market placement of existing and new products.
Ana Andonovska
Innovation lead at Maersk Drilling
Ana is an experienced entrepreneur and has spent the last 3 years helping B2B startups scale their solutions through collaboration with some of the largest corporates globally.
At the same time, she’s been involved in analysing, interviewing and selecting startups that should be considered by corporates, and knows the ins-and-outs of how to best present your solution in order to be noticed by important stakeholder.
She has helped a number of early-stage startups before and has long been involved in the Danish startup ecosystem.
Mate Toro
Innovation lead at Maersk Drilling
As an Innovation Lead at Maersk Drilling, I am driving strategic projects to discover, explore and validate future growth opportunities. Being a corporate entrepreneur means being able to navigate in a complex and fast-changing environment using design thinking, lean canvas, business modelling and other innovation tools. My core competencies are around validating and scaling business ideas (corporate ventures), focusing on the extensive problem definition and market needs to find the best fitting solution that can mature into a real, scalable product and/or service.
Lana Stankovic
Senior Innovation Consultant at Nordic Innovators
An experienced senior consultant working with innovation, strategy, business, and marketing development. 16 years of experience from various industries – FMCG, Consumer Durables and Innovation Management. Currently working with European soft-funding innovation funds incl. EIC Horizon 2020 Accelerator, Eurostars, Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) and Danish/Scandinavian national funds.
Raju Gurung
CEO & Co-Founder @ PlanetLocal
I’m a serial entrepreneur and problem solver working at the intersection of globalization, technology, sustainability, and mindfulness. With my team at our impact startups- IKIGAAI and Planetlocal, we use disruptive digital technologies to build a more equitable and responsible world by empowering small independent artisans and designers. In my consulting and advisory work with different biotech companies and Fortune 500 companies, I design human-centered solutions to bolster customer experience, reduce organizational complexity, and build systems to drive innovation through biology. Besides work, I stretch and meditate, travel the world, explore new cuisine, do photography, engage in philanthropy & coach entrepreneurs.
Emilie Schytte
Managing Director at MyMemories
I started a restaurant during my bachelor’s program at CBS, which turned into an event company that turned into the photography business MyMemories.
Long story short I made a lot of mistakes and I think I could have avoided some if I had a mentor who could tell me the do’s and don’ts.
Every company today is an IT company (website, marketing, accounting, etc.), so if you’re not updated on that part I can help speed up your process and make sure you don’t fall into the beginner traps.
Kelvina Wairimu
Technical Project Manager at Wunderman
I have experience working with digital and highly innovative companies where I thrive by making and directing strategic decisions, analyzing the market and the competitor landscape, and optimizing existing processes. I enjoy pairing my passion for innovation and creative businesses with my interest and knowledge within digital technology whether it is on advising on strategic issues or stakeholder management.
Tobias Simonsen
Head of business development at VIRKE
I have a Master in Organisation and Strategy from Aalborg University. During my studies, I worked for Innovation Centre Denmark at the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi, for the Scouting Movement in Tunisia, and for Hamburg University as a research assistant.
Today I’m an NGO board member, SDG expert, and head of business development in DUI-LEG and VIRKE.
Christoffer Pasieczny
Management Consultant - Strategy and M&A
As an experienced consultant, I have seen many strategic initiatives and investments fail because of change management, strategy, and execution were underestimated. My years as a consultant in Implement Consulting Group and investment analyst with Saxo Wealth Management have provided me with an array of financial, strategic, and functional skills utilized in different industries, technical settings, and cultural contexts.
Taylor Ryan
CEO / Partner of Klint Marketing
Taylor Ryan is an American entrepreneur living in Copenhagen, Denmark
6x Startup Founder: Current CEO of ArchitectureQuote – Saas Platform for Architects and Growth Hacking Agency – KlintMarketing
12+ years of marketing experience
Over the last four years, Taylor has run the marketing departments for some of Denmark’s fastest-growing startups (Planday, Geniebelt, Actimo, Valuer.ai)
He’s the course designer and lead instructor of Talent Garden’s 2-day Growth-Hacking Masterclass
His latest venture is organizing, Growth Secrets, a Free growth-hacking event series for Copenhagen’s startup community
Patrick T. Rasmussen
Chief Marketing Officer at Dinero
“Born digital” is the best way to describe Patrick – he always thinks in digital ways to optimize and improve business.
Today Patrick is Chief Marketing Officer in Dinero Regnskab, which is a Saas business with over 60 000 users.
Gitte Milling Groth
Head of Commercial Excellence (B2B Sales)
I am highly motivated to help startups setting the right direction and grow their business!
I have 12+ years of experience, hereof 7+ years as a manager for specialists. My experience is particularly commercial orientated towards sales and customers in Denmark and across Europe including strategy development and prioritization, business development, pipeline management, account planning, go-to-market, sales process optimization, business intelligence, and customer journey mapping.
Rene Overgaard Jensen
Heading the Danish Operational Excellence practice at PA Consulting
Worked for 25 years with A.P. Møller. First half in operations. Second half in business development and transformation.
Alexander Kragh
CMO & Co-founder at Statum
I’m the co-founder and CMO of the software powered recruitment agency Statum. As CMO I have managed to build a strong brand as the leading recruitment agency for scaleups. I’ve done this with a very little marketing budget and would to help with hacks and “things that don’t scale”. As Co-founder I have been a part of scaling from 4 to 15 employees in a year – without founding. Before that, we worked with venture money and a SaaS model so I can give insight into different growth-models.
Jesper Lindholt
CEO at Livatek
A business economist by training, I have always been in entrepreneurial roles inside cooperations and in small startups. I have founded and co-founded five different companies and have tried both the successful exit and the quiet shutdown. Always in very international environments.
My skills are in the use of software to support innovative business models, in scaling software development capacity, and in ehealth.
Christian Carlsen
Business Director at NNE
I’m a passionate and experienced science and technology entrepreneur, advisor, and business leader. I have during my career starting, developing, and transforming a long-range of Life Science and Technology companies.
I have in parallel to my corporate job as Business Director at NNE invested in several startups to add value to their grow-up and scale-up journey.
Thomas Canguilhem
Previously CEO. Currently working on various Consulting, Board advisor and Board member missions.
I’m a passionate entrepreneur & CEO with a wide international exposure and a strong digital footprint. I have 15+ years of experience in developing businesses, building scalable operations, and implementing innovative strategies.
I’ve developed a strong strategic mindset and solid leadership & business skills, through ad-hoc business ventures as well as top-management positions in both mature and emerging markets.
I’ve relocated in mid-2018 from Switzerland to settle back in Denmark with my family and would be thrilled to share my experience & insights with the CSE/CBS students!
Chastine Christiansen
Startup Corrdinator at Startup Borgen
My first exit was in 2007, just before entering University, to study Philosophy. I own a solid ability to open doors and set directions to teams, which I have exercised at some »Global Born« startups. I specialize in rapid prototyping and blitzscaling growth-marketing, and I stand for always facilitating a steep continuous learning curve. My frame of mind embraces different cultures and by the drivers of my personality, I am young and agile, curious and present, coaching and mentoring among fellows, and I love working with devoted entrepreneurs, to trim the fat, and increase output rate.
Anders Buchmann
Senior Marketer and creative Business developer
Anders Buchmann is Senior Go-To-Market Manager in Bang & Olufsen with global commercial responsibility for key products & initiatives. Moreover, Anders plays a role in repositioning B&O as a luxury lifestyle brand.
Anders originally came to B&O to co-found an internal start-up, Create, and spearhead the launch of ‘Re-Create’ – an open source, DIY, upcycling concept for vintage speakers.
Before this, Anders spend a decade in ad agencies including co-founding a digital ad agency that was acquired within one year.
Privately, Anders is 35, part-time dad and easily recognized by his curiosity, impatience and love for people with passion.
Jesper Rydahl
CEO of 42Raw
CBS MSc. IMM 2004. Founded internet succes community DKBN with Freeway in 2004. Founded 42RAW in 2009 later attracting investors from LA, NYC, London and Paris. Currently looking for new venture opportunities.
Inga Stein Burgaard
Strategy and Sustainability Associate at Ramboll Management Consulting
I’m German but have lived and worked in Denmark for the past 11 years and have broad international experience. I hold a double degree from CBS and have a MSc in Business and Development Studies and a MSc in International Management (CEMS). With work experience from Rambøll Management Consulting, Accenture and Ørsted (Wind Power) I can help with business development, strategy, project management, operations and innovation questions.
Morten Kolberg
Head of Consulting at Copenhagen Business Hub
>20 years’ professional experience within business consulting, IT/OT strategy, project / portfolio management, software development, B2B sales / account management, engineering, change management, international cooperation, and strategy implementation.
Jens Rosengren Daugaard
Senior Teaching Fellow
Jens Rosengren Daugaard has 20+ years of experience in the pharma/biotech sector. He has experience from leading roles in Business Development; Licensing; Alliance Management; Project Management and in Research & Development. Jens is respected for his solid scientific expertise with high qualifications on both the buy and sell side of the business. He has technical skills in the areas of valuation, commercial assessment, market research, brand and disease knowledge, strategic marketing, scientific and regulatory assessment, scouting of pipeline assets and acquisition targets.
Peter Thorlacius Bondrop
Director of Business Development at Aperio Systems
I am tech-savvy, super structured and experienced in translating cool technology into concrete business value propositions.
Lars Kaa Andersen
Managing Director of Laka Consult ApS
I started a Nordic business from scratch and built it into a multimillion business. Experience with licensee agreements, Global operations and management, Digital transformation of business models, Advisory of early-stage start-ups, Acquisitions of smaller entities, Successful sale of my company.
Expert in Brand equity and Advertising Research.
Teaching Digital Entrepreneurship to Danish and International Master students who co-create a minimum viable product based on lean start-up processes/tools.
Thomas Sugar
Business Growth and Developmnt; Technology Entrepreneur
With a career starting out in banking and finance, from UBS and Bear Stearns, I have a solid understanding of the corporate world from an international angle, with experience leading and managing cross-cultural teams and building effective business relationships. As my career progressed, I moved into business development and innovation and have continued in this direction, taking a more hands on approach, working with global start-up businesses and innovation projects, as well as founding my own companies. I am an adaptable and diverse leader, with experience working cross departmentally to lead and develop individuals, projects and operational performance on an international scale. As a Mentor for Copenhagen Fintech and Director for Open Entrepreneurship at DTU, Technical University of Denmark, I use my skills and experience to explore innovative opportunities, pair businesses with relevant researchers to create innovative spinouts, and coach start-up organisations to develop their businesses.
Onur Ay
Engineer | Consultant | Startup Advisor
#Engineer with project mgmt., strategy and investment experience #Curious, creative & data informed approach to topics and problem solving
#Passionate about tech, reading/ hearing books and all kinds of ball sports
Traveled, studied and worked in +20 countries. Played professional football. Have a technical engineering background from electrical engineering and IT combined with six years of experience from technical consulting, strategy, m&a and latest (corporate) venture capital. Passionate about tech, books, startups and sports.
Caspar Høgh
Investor & COO of Tattoodo
Caspar is a growth-stage executive, with a passion for building purpose-driven organizations with inspirational people.
COO of Tattoodo – on a mission to disrupt the global tattoo industry. He also serves as advisor to early-stage companies, primarily within Media, Consumer tech and SaaS.
Experience from Bain & Company, working with Growth strategy, M&A, Organizational restructuring and Performance improvement for some of the biggest corporates in Europe and US.
Co-founder of two start-ups in the Employer Branding and Catering Services space.
BSc in International Business & Politics, MSc in Finance and Strategic Management from CBS and Executive Board Education from INSEAD.
Christian Olufsen
Business Angel at ADFECT ApS
Working full time as angel investor in tech startups, I bring genuine involvement into my investments.
Whether I sit on the board of directors, advisory board or otherwise being engaged, I am actively contributing to both strategic and tactical issues in my invested companies. These include among others a brain-computer interface startup for gaming, economy platform for boats, adaptive e-learning platform, AI within digital marketing, safety soft/hardware for drones, 3D print, industrial IoT, and e-commerce.
From my senior management years in an agency assigned to the Ministry of Defence and financial years in Mærsk Oil, I bring in expertise from both the public and private sectors.
Leadership skills are also part of my core competencies and I possess useful knowledge about cyber security.
Not least, I contribute to my startups by playing the “devils advocate”. To turn both the little and the big stones on the road can be somewhat crucial when experience is lacking and technology is brand new.
I am a very curious person by nature and a happy helper.
Drew Bryan
Director at Visumr
Over the last two decades, I’ve been involved in the digital disruption of a number of verticals across the globe where my energies have been invested in driving the market presence and success of award-winning start-ups by sourcing top-tier clients, co-developing solutions and services and managing technology and sales partnerships.
Along the way I’ve been a member of truly exceptional teams, winning Red Dot Design Awards, as well as AlwaysOn Global 250, Red Herring Europe 100, Danish Financial Times and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year accolades.
Philipp Hukal
Assistant Professor of Information Systems and Management
I work with technology ventures in academia and practice. In practice, I was part of technology companies of different forms and sizes seeking to realize technology driven business models in industries such as publishing, communication, and gaming. From this industry work, I have expertise in topics such as technology strategy, market research, and business models.
In academia, I research and teach how technology ventures evolve using digital technologies. Through my university work I have experience in digital platforms, open source software, and a range of data analysis techniques.
I enjoy working on issues relating to the successful commercialization of innovative business ideas.
Jakob Fuglsang
Founder and Chief visionary officer at Linguista Education
Founder of Linguista Education and director and owner of Fuglsang Unlimited. Specialist advisor for municipalities and ministries in matters of economy, education and refugees. Master of Finance and International Business at Aarhus University. Former Board Treasurer and cofounder of the Cold Hawaii project, and furthermore served as Head of secretary of economy and administration for Vesthimmerland Municipality.
Anders Huang Alding
MD/Owner
As a former professional soccer player, I have always been competitive and thriving with big challenges. After my sports career I took over the family company, a metal recycling company operating in Denmark, but with global sales. Alongside I have co-founded two startups in the F&B fast-casual business. One in Poland, and one in Shanghai, China. Having both private and institutional investors as financial partners. “Danish entrepreneur of the year” twice in China from 2014-2018. I have an HD in supply chain management, but more importantly, loads of invaluable experience within negotiations, business development, sales, and making things happen.
Nazli Dadmarz
Employment mentor, Social mentor
I have a background as a textile designer and handcraft professional with main focus on personal resources, Cultural understanding, and product development.
I am also a certified mentor and have been working as an employment mentor since 2015, motivating and supporting long-term unemployed in a job or education.
Alexandra Ravn Birger Christensen
Managing Director of ARBC Service Excellence
Alexandra Ravn Birger Christensen has driven the service culture at luxury brands such as Hermès, Birger Christensen, and brands within the L’Oréal Luxury Product Division. Passionate about bringing out brands full potential, good service, and storytelling. Has a Master in Marketing and Communication Management and a CEMS degree. Has lived 6,5 years abroad – 4 of which in Singapore where she gained extensive experience from the Asian market as a Consultant while driving Service Excellence and Branding projects. Is the Director of ARBC Service Excellence providing interactive workshops in providing better service leading to optimizing the customer experience.
Hilde Seglem
Partner and Co-founder of DEX Cph
My background is leadership, business- and people development in sales and marketing. Coming from senior positions in international and Nordic companies I know the complexities of organizations and the peoples within them.
I am is trained and experienced in unleashing people’s potential and investing in people’s soft skills to create lasting changes and enhance the trust in own talent. I have made coaching in finding and marketing talents for a more sustainable working environment in my specialty.
I am an MSc. in Organization and Strategic Planning from CBS and an experienced and innovative leader with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion in the liquid workforce and the added value, diverse people will create together.
Christian Marcus
Strategy and Innovation Consultant
I am an accomplished leader with more than 15 years of experience in various positions in business development, strategy development, marketing, sales, and project management. I started my career in sales and partnerships in the IT industry after which I started my own company in the fashion industry. After 5 years in fashion, I moved on to running an established publication in Copenhagen. I found my passion working for Tesla and spent 7+ years there before moving on to SinguarityU Nordic as Director of Strategic Relations. I’m now an independent consultant and I truly enjoy working with people internally and creating long term business relationships externally.
Frederik Hinz Andersen
Design & Business Developer
I have a drive for innovation and business development. And I know how to develop meaningful products that meet the customer’s needs. I have experience from developing and designing products for BANG & OLUFSEN in almost 10 years and I have worked as a consultant, with both big and small companies.
Being an entrepreneur myself means that I know the tasks and troubles you will encounter as a startup. I have been mentoring and judging in mentor programs and startup competitions for more than a decade, and I love to meet new people, learn new things, and share my knowledge.
Rikke Vallentin Stoltz
Curator, Director & License Holder at TEDxFrederiksberg
Board Director with a strategic and global mindset. Experience from stock-listed, private, private equity owned companies and public/state-owned enterprises. Operative background from the global shipping, transportation and offshore wind energy sectors, with both functional as well as P&L ownership. This includes starting up Swire Blue Ocean A/S and being commercially responsible for the world’s largest wind farm installation vessels. My contribution in boards is typically in growth & innovation.
I am a sought after speaker and well connected.
Vibeke Rohde
Lawyer and Business Consultant
Experienced manager from corporate and professional services industry. Focused at strategy, leadership and business development. Originally lawyer background from Danish tier 1 law firm and in-house legal counsel and skilled in Corporate Law, Corporate Governance, Contract Law complimented by Master in Business Administration (MBA, CBS).
John George Riise
CTO at Aidbuilder
An entrepreneur at heart with a technical background. Experienced from large organizations as IBM and Saxo Bank and startups as Trendsales. A diverse experience within industry labelling, corporate communication, ad serving, digital self-service, e-commerce, social media, nonprofit fundraising, fintech, investment banking/trading, SaaS. Founded multiple companies, with both failures and a successful exit from a B2B SaaS company. Main driver is building and scaling digital products, processes, teams and companies.
Nina Uller
Co-founder and Partner at DEX CPH
I’m an entrepreneur myself, trusted advisor and speaker – and first and foremost fascinated by what is possible with a curious mindset, inclusive leadership, and trust-building partnerships.
In my work with people on a mission, I help them take stock of their often unrealized actual capital – be that competences, drive, networks, and ideas, combine the resources into new perspectives and business models, and set ideas in motion by sustainable execution.
As a former Airforce officer with 25+ years of leadership experience and a background in organizational psychology I’ve worked with development and operations of high-risk teams, co-creating diverse and innovative cultures and leadership programs in military and commercial settings.
I’m always looking for hidden opportunities and seeking to broaden our mental bandwidths by clarity and psychological safety while building sustainable energy for execution.
Jonas Sevel Karlberg
Executive Chairman, Founding Partner - AmaZix
Jonas is the founder of AmaZix, a partner in AmaZix Capital and a co-founder of the Nordic Blockchain Association. Jonas also holds seats on the boards of a number of companies and acts as an advisor/mentor for a string of global startups.
Jonas has 25+ years of international leadership & management experience, as well as a long history as a successful entrepreneur. He has built several profitable companies with multiple successful exits to large entities.
Working with the Nordic Blockchain Association, Jonas was involved in building and nurturing the blockchain community within Scandinavia, providing startups, corporates and government entities with a tangible environment for interaction and networking.
As the Executive Chairman of AmaZix, Jonas is at the forefront of the company’s success having advised and supported close to 200 successful tokenization projects including Bancor, Swarm, and GBX (Global Blockchain Exchange).
Stig Hoffmeyer
CEO, Boardmember, Advisor, Investor and Coach
EXPERIENCE
2014-2017 CEO Maersk Container Industry (MCI)
2013-2014 CEO Maersk Operated Investments Portfolio
2010-2013 CEO Maersk FPSO and Maersk LNG
2002-2010 CEO Rosti Group (Maersk Group)
1996-2001 CEO DISA Group (Maersk Group)
1993-1996 CEO Dantec Medical A/S (Incentive Group)
1985-1993 CFO Superfos Construction A/S (Superfos Group)
EDUCATION
1981 MBA (Dean’s Honor List) IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland
1980 Cand. Merc. (Master Degree) Copenhagen Business School
Thorben Sander
Investor/ Strategic Coach / Entrepreneur
A long career of international leadership c-level positions in the financial industry, particularly within the wealth area including investment advice, online brokerage and private banking. Most recently head of Global Private Panking at Nordea, employing 1200 professionals across countries. Today working as self employed investor, strategic coach and advisor with particular interest in helping new companies build and grow sustainable businesss.
Anne Malberg Horsager
CEO of PASSIONEATERS
am CEO of PASSIONEATERS – a foodapp. We facillitate, that private share food with other private to reduce foodwaste and ensure proxmidity.
I have for many years ead agile strategic development and deliver solutions in innovative, knowledge and business driven organizations. I ensure strategy execution and efficiency, while increasing the organizational and cultural development. The foundation of my work is partnerships, networks with all stakeholders. I operate with respect, credibility and full overview on all organizational levels.
My strenghts is in:
Bussines strategy
Business development
Organisation and leadership
Sales and relationsmanagement
Media and communication
HR and branding
Christian Olesen
CIO at Hamsto
I am an experienced IT manager with a robust set of skills within IT and marketing.
Information Technology have always been my focus and I have a unique understanding of systems and processes to achieve new results.
I focus on learning multiple technologies and platforms to stay ahead of the game and drive clients and customers to new levels of success.
Søren Bjerregaard Wilton
CEO at Wilton Consulting
An incredibly exciting life has provided me with experience, skills and knowledge of day-to-day operations, execution and sales.
I am an analytical and operational ”doer” who adds value, because I incorporate both the client and the specialists into the solutions, always looking for hidden opportunities by challenging my imagination and intuition.
I’m a visionary, conceptual and strategical adviser with a talent for creating an overview and involving others. My most natural problem-solving strategies are visualising problems through sketching and models, building team processes and building on the ideas of others.
Armin Kavousi
Chief Evangelist at Storm Group Founder & CEO at MeeW
I have worked on director level for more than 10 years. I have founded and succeeded with tech projects, a record label and a chain of restaurants.
I have a marketing education and currently also study neuroscience. ´
It’s a privilege to become a part of the mentor team and canalize wisdom to the next generation.
Marie Birna Olafsdottir
Project Manger at Refugee Entrepreneurs Denmark
I am a Client Relationship Manager and Business Consultant in entrepreneurship and business development. Having traveled and lived in many different countries, I speak 5 languages. My career experience included various activities like project management in Morocco, corporate banking and international business consulting in Croatia and client relationship management with young entrepreneurs across Canada.
Jakob Mikkel Hansen
CEO at Marketleap
Seasoned Finance exec and entrepreneur with a track record of starting companies in SEA, EU, N.Am and LATAM with values above $100.000.000+
Morten Falck Larsen
Partner at TeamsToWork ApS
More than 30 years of experience in strategy, change management and Strategy Execution.
Background as managing director of several medium-sized Danish companies, where he successfully has built companies and organizations with a leadership style characterized by coaching, openness and motivation.
Educational background is cand.med. from University of Copenhagen.
Founder and partner in Teamstowork and works as a consultant within business intelligence.
Paul J. Hargreaves
Owner of Century House Consulting
Paul has more than 25 years of global product development experience in the life science industry working across many therapeutic areas.
During this time he has created, built and led multiple highly innovative business units. All of these have developed models with improved and aligned processes that produced significant time and cost-efficiencies to move products to market faster.
He has been closely involved in a broad range of significant strategic alliances, licensing agreements and key relationship building activities.
Paul has nurtured and grown an extensive global network of senior individuals across industry, academia, capital, and healthcare providers.
Christian Garrelts
CEO at imarketing
Initiator with a very deep and wide technical- and professional knowledge in online marketing.
Specialize in lead generation, Google Ads, Facebook, SEO, project management, website development, integration, conversion optimization, scripts, 3D modeling, photography and video production.
More than 300 Danish companies helped with their online marketing for the past 21 years.
Creative and analytical at the same time.
Management experience: 6 years.
Disrupting, building and developing digital solutions.
Motivated by taking the customer into his hand when using the company’s products /services.
Brian Sean Tange
Serial Entrepreneur and Angel Investor
33-year-old high-achiever with leadership experience spanning more than 7 years
and several different countries. With proven track record in the energy, software and transportation business, national, international, corporations and start-ups, which makes me good at adapting, being versatile and learn new markets quickly.
I have a strong strategic mindset, excellent operational execution, and a tactical approach. My management style is characterized by strong communicative skills and great analytical abilities. I take a structured approach to work utilizing digital options and tools like KPIs and Wardroom to achieve budgets and goals.
I am good at establishing both professional and personal relationships which makes me dedicated and focused on forming trustworthy, mutual, longterm and rewarding partnerships. This can also be seen through my commitment to and close relationships with employees.
My leadership experience, business acumen, outgoing personality and ability to form strong relationships can be seen through my success of building high-performance teams with great wellbeing, personal development and a focus on business growth
Gorm Eriksen
Co-founder and Partner at Zeto P/S
I have extensive experience in start-ups within: Technology, it-development, consulting and marketing.
My strongest competencies are: selling, marketing, leadership development and technology.
During the last 20 years I have founded or co-founded more then 6 companies.
Pernille Ørskov
Lawyer, business coach at Caplibra
My focus as a lawyer is to help you navigate the legal part of the start-up world and making sure, that you have the best possible terms in the contracts, the right set-up and that your services and products comply with legal regulation. I provide tailored advice for your start-up, based on my experience as an M&A lawyer, my expertise in start-up’s legal challenges and your knowledge about your own company. I advice on shareholder issues, company set-up, contracts and investor issues with 10 + years experience as a lawyer and more than 7 years experience dealing with start-ups.
Mark S. Wilson
Executive Communications Manager at Milestone Systems A/S
Mark S. Wilson has over 20 years of industry experience in providing unique expertise, viewpoints and insight to companies in the United States, Asia Pacific and Europe. He brings a broad range of international and executive experience with both a technical and communications background.
Today, Mark is a senior manager at Milestone Systems A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark where he is the Executive Communications Manager. In this role he has contributed many technical and business articles to leading magazines and has spoken at industry events in Europe and the United States on a range of technology topics.
Sif Munch Svejgaard
Writing coach at Wordwiz
If you want to sell a product, good texts are essential in the selling process. Sif is a writing coach and her main experience has to do with communication, texts, books.
Daniel Karpantschof
CEO & Co-founder at Copenhagen Industries
Daniel Karpantschof served on the White House’ and US Department of State’ Council of Experts for Entrepreneurship.
He is about to launch Copenhagen Industries, a 21st century arms manufacturer for special effects, film and tv.
He used to advise RML SpaceLab, an open source space exploration agency, and is the co-founder of Nexus Global Youth Summit.
Daniel has been involved in numerous startups (in telco, cleantech and entertainment) and guest lectures at the Danish School of Design, New York University, the Chaos Pilots, Copenhagen Business College, Pratt School of Design and was declared part of Denmark’s “New Creative Elite” by leading Scandinavian think-tank, Monday Morning (2014).
Rafik Jallad
Senior Director at Sierra Wireless
Rafik was the founder and CEO of BlueCreation, an IOT focused company. Rafik grew BlueCreation with an international customer base and sold it to Sierra Wireless in November 2016. Previously Rafik was Vice President at CSR (now part of Qualcomm) responsible for its Automotive division. Rafik has also previously worked at McKinsey and has an MBA from INSEAD.
Christina Pamela Kreutzmann Christiansen
Consultant at Djøf
Proven track record in challenging and maturing business concepts, having worked in public and private business incubators and co-founded two innovation intermediaries. I have carried out business development in everything from Digital Health to Waste Management technologies, and Smart City solutions. My specialties include customer discovery & traction, strategic partnership, sales and service and international business communication. In addition, I speak Mandarin and am adept at scoping new business opportunities and creating relationships with key stakeholders in China.
Henrik Harboe
CEO at Medical Business Advice A/S
Medical doctor, entrepreneur, business advisor and angel. Specialist in medical devices with deep insight in related challenges such as sufficient financing and fund raising, regulatory and clinical strategy. Large network in the med tech cluster around Copenhagen and in Denmark as a whole.
Andreas Rasmussen
CEO & Founder at Aktieporteføljen
The last 10 years I have been working on how to connect SoMe into the financial sector. First through ProInvestor and then through my work creating Aktieporteføljen. Social selling is future keyword to success.
Natalia Nilsson
Biz developer
Skilled Business developer with 8 years’ experience in software technologies and innovation, including development and delivery of digital solutions, sales and user acquisition.
Expertise in capturing user needs and partner requirements to uncover new product insights in alignment with the company vision and long term strategy. I apply my business acumen, knowledge of agile methodology and lean startup, and technical knowhow, to manage all aspects of the product development cycle, including product discovery, customer development, stakeholder communication, requirements, design iteration, development and release.
Experience with raising investment rounds.
Thomas Tornerup
Co-founder & CEO at Sustainbase
12+ years of experience with inclusive leadership in self-governing teams, digital business development including corporate startup of several sites and services, P&L optimization, consistent work with KPI’s, 3th party partnerships (tech, funding, distribution, content, co-promotion, bundling & sales), project management and cooperation across many different external and internal interests incl. executive management. Holds an extensive network.
Klaus Dahl Tindborg
Co-owner and Partner at EmpowerMind International ApS
I started my professional career in the Danish Army, where I served as an Army Officer for 15 years. This step in my career gave me a thorough insight and experience in leadership and logistics.
The next stint of my career was in A.P. Moller – Maersk, where my close to 17 years was a more or less 50/50 split between HR and Logistics. I was the CEO of Maersk Logistics (now Damco) in the Middel East for 7 years and the rest og my APMM time was focused around strategy and HR functions. Resigned from a position as Head of HR in Maersk Supply Services and APMM HR Board member in 2015.
I am now co-owner and partner in EmpowerMind and spending all my time coaching individuals and teams, as well as educating coaches and teamcoaches.
Mattias Vilhelm Warnøe Nielsen
Lawyer, Partner at Moalem Weitemeyer Bendtsen
Mattias Vilhelm Warnøe Nielsen specializes within M&A, capital markets law, and company law. Further, he has extensive experience with angel, seed and venture capital investments, and he advises both well-established companies as well as startups on commercial issues, including establishment, cooperative and trading relations, shareholder relations, raising of capital and exits.
Christoffer Tybjerg
CEO & Founder at Fifium
I have worked in sales and management for many years.
A couple of years ago I started the journey of entrepreneurship.
I have now my own App company that and have had a lot of success and learning that I want to give back and influence others as well.
Morten Wagner
Head of Department - IdemoLab
Morten is a Technology Pathfinder on a mission – rethinking technology through creativity. He is the founding manager of IdemoLab – a design team for hardware innovation – and a speaker on innovation, design, smart products, and IoT.
Katja Damborg Laut
Investor, Business developer
Strong record of business development, change management, turn-around, strategic leadership, people development and process optimisation in a high-growth, innovative and global environment.
My academic background with 2 master degrees has given me a strong theoretical foundation for analysing and understanding complex business issues.
I am truly passionate about building businesses and markets, driving organisations and helping employees realise their full potential. My positive mind-set, high energy level, can-do attitude and strong ability to spread my enthusiasm are some of my most important characteristics. Further I am extremely goal and result driven, have solid analytical and communication skills and easily navigate in complex environments.
Rasmus Åradsson
Partner and consultant at Intenz P/S
Since 2001 I have helped companies implement their strategy by developing their culture, leadership and sales. I coach and mentor on C-level, develop management groups and train leaders and sales people.
My passion lies in creating results together with our customers. I am very ambitious on behalf of our customers and it is definitive for me that the work we do is contributing to a positive development of the customer’s business. I challenge the customer’s attitude and perception with the purpose of changing their perspective and behaviour – but always in an acknowledging and respectful way.
I am driven by a deeply anchored belief that organisations and people can be changed for the better – no matter how successful one is today. My colleagues, customers and collaboration partners see me as one who is transmitting my positive energy on to them on an everyday basis.
Malte von Sehested
Head of Innovation at Gyldendal
Before becoming Head of Innovation (Innovationschef) hos Gyldendal I worked 6-7 years at the same company as head of digital and business development in the educational space. High interest in EdTech.
Henrik Tryon
Co-Founder and CEO at IGX Solutions
I’m an entrepreneur with more than +25 years experience in business and the last 15 years as senior executive. I have worked as CEO, CFO and chairman/ board-member. I have started companies up in Africa, Thailand, China and Denmark. In 2018 I started IGX Solutions as Co-founder, now I will try all I have learned on myself.
Henrik Thorn
Partner and investor at IT Kartellet ApS, Printex.net and New Platforms ApS
With a academic background within IT and Business I excel at innovating business processes through the use of modern technology. I’ve been involved in six startups in various roles from giving advise as a mentor to having founded three companies myself.
Dennis Kayser
CEO at Forecast
I am an entrepreneur and co-founder of Forecast. Building companies, getting new ideas and helping customers succeed are my main goals.
With my management consulting background striving to be the best is crucial to me, and because of this I am dedicated, high energy driven, and independent. I do my utmost to help clients (incl. CxO-level) achieve their goals while quickly grasping their business field and demands.
My primary interests are within technology innovation, scalable business modeling, and developing strategy with emphasis on client interaction.
Henrik Kielland
Business Development at ATP
An experienced CEO and consultant with a proven track record and results from a successful career within management, marketing and sales, communication, business development and consultancy. And from the development of own start-up companies.
Current and previous positions include Business Development responsible, Adviser and Projectmanager for startups and small/medium sized companies, Managing Director of a rainwater management company, Director of Marketing, Communication and Business Development in a bank, Manager of own startup companies, Business Manager for an event and knowledge dissemination company, Communications Consultant, and Marketing and Communications Manager for a postal service company.
Christine Gouchault
Entrepreneur, business consultant, author and speaker at Mors Business
I’m an entrepreneur, business consultant, author and speaker. I had a succesful recruitment firm in Paris that I started at 25 and sold a few years later when I moved to Denmark. I have worked as a consultant within HR, sales and marketing and am now the owner of “Mors Business”. I help small and medium sized businesses sales and marketing strategies, and help the business owners with their mindset, motivation and performance. I hold a Masters degree in communication and am a certified business, life and master coach.