From Corporate Career to Startup Founder: WHU Talent Pool

Note: The following contributions are personal impulses from Max Eckel. They represent individual reflections and are intended to stimulate discussion and further thought.

Startup Opportunities! Some of the best future founders are currently working in consulting, corporate leadership, or at someone else's startup. And they might not even know they're future founders yet.

I currently have two pretty interesting opportunities on my desk through our WHU network:

• Co-Founder for an early-stage MedTech venture with
• Head of Operations for an early-stage PropTech venture

Both have validated, funded business models. Both have rockstar teams (really top in class). Both are looking for someone with at least 5 years of experience in scaling companies, consulting, or similarly demanding roles, and the ambition to help build a €100m+ business. These two searches point to something I've been thinking about at the WHU Entrepreneurship Center.

We are quite good at helping people once they've decided to found. We have our WHU Accelerator, experienced founders who help, and a network that can open a lot of doors. We already match commercial co-founders with deep-tech teams coming out of research labs. I think we should get involved even earlier.

A lot of people who would make fantastic founders or startup leaders aren't sitting at home polishing a pitch deck. They're doing excellent work somewhere else. Running operations. Building sales teams. Working in consulting, investing, or industry. And somewhere in the back of their mind is the thought: I might want to build something of my own next.

But they don't necessarily have an idea, a co-founder, or the right timing yet. I'd love for us to know these people before an opportunity comes along. So we're starting to build a talent pool of people in and around the WHU community who could imagine joining a startup as a co-founder or in a top leadership role within the next 12 months.

No need to resign tomorrow. No need to pretend you already have the perfect idea. Just tell us what you've done, what you're unusually good at, and what kind of company you'd be excited to build. If the right person and opportunity meet six months from now, that can be the start of something pretty significant.

So: interested in either of the two positions, or just open to the right entrepreneurial opportunity in the coming year? Message me. And if someone comes to mind, please send this their way.

Back to Max Eckel’s blog overview