What CDTM and WHU Teach About Startup Ecosystems

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

Who or what am I describing here?

• Outsized impact on the German startup world
• Community members help select the next generation
• Intense orientation week(end) somewhere away from normal life
• Too many internal jokes and goofy names
• Strong peer identity long after graduating

I am not talking about WHU, our assessment center, the Einführungswoche in Vallendar, Quietschies, and In Praxi (even though WHU also checks exactly these boxes).

I am talking about CDTM, Kick-off Weekend in Fischbachau, Centerlings, and institutions like the CDTM Fund.

That similarity is not random. CDTM has many of the qualities that make WHU powerful, but embedded in the environment of two huge public universities in Munich: TUM and LMU. Strong attraction. Serious selection. Intergenerational support. And a level of Ambition Density that quietly raises everyone’s bar.

That is why I see CDTM as one of our most important comparison points in the German startup ecosystem. Both show how much can happen when talented people are selected into a dense community and then stay emotionally attached to it for years.

And of course, nobody is ever just part of one community. Some of the most interesting people are precisely those who move between ecosystems and carry standards, trust, and relationships with them.

We already have many WHU alums who also became Centerlings. We also have shared ventures, shared investors, shared friendships, and quite a few people who probably switch between “WHU mode” and “CDTM mode” depending on the room they are in.

That is a good thing. A strong community should not become a closed system. It should be a homebase from which people build bridges to other ambitious places.

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