Three ways in.
One operator, whether you need a single honest read of where you stand or someone to step in and own the tech until it's solid.
Step in & stabilize
The CTO left, the key tech person is gone, or engineering and leadership stopped understanding each other. I take over the tech, calm the room, and get delivery moving again.
Take it to production
Turn a prototype, often vibe-coded, into a product that survives real users and a security audit. Architecture, security, compliance, scale, and the team to carry it.
Tell you the truth
Sometimes all you need is a straight answer: Does the architecture hold? Is the team right? Does the AI idea pay off? I tell you what I'd do in your seat, peer to peer, without the consultant-speak.
That's what the 30-minute call is for →I speak both languages.
I can talk architecture with your engineers and runway with your investors – in the same call.
Two master's degrees sit behind that: Computer Science at Shanghai Jiao Tong with a deep-learning thesis, and International Business at KU Leuven. I've shipped IoT hardware into retail and taken a blockchain protocol to production solo. And built a B2B sales operation in China, with its own subsidiary. So I read technical risk and business constraints in the same breath, and tell founders the truth on both.
The deep-learning background comes from research: a thesis on neural networks, written years before ChatGPT. I build AI into product and delivery where it earns its place, and say so when it doesn't.
Built, shipped, in production.
Cold-started the tech of a digital-currency platform
A platform, in development since 2013, that lets enterprises issue their own branded tokens for loyalty and payments. I came in as CTO and ran a full cold start: took over from the former CTO and the external dev shop, hired a new engineering team, and rebuilt the architecture on infrastructure where security and compliance can't be afterthoughts. Leadership from day one – but the team's respect came through the code.
IoT hardware, zero to retail product
A plant-care brand built from nothing to a product on retail shelves: sensors, firmware, app, cloud, and the team behind them. Five years from idea to mass production. On Die Höhle der Löwen, Germany's Shark Tank, FYTA entered at a €10M valuation – the highest the show had seen until then.
A blockchain protocol, shipped solo to production
Solidity smart contracts, World ID Sybil-resistance, a live mini-app and a real-world pilot. Contracts, frontend and infrastructure, built by one person.
German Mercator Fellow 2025
A full year on financial inclusion, embedded across New York, San Francisco, Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Roots in industry and manufacturing
Sold industrial AI and software projects to German machinery companies: predictive maintenance, machine vision, connected manufacturing. Built the Asia sales operation of a German test-systems manufacturer, including its Chinese subsidiary. Before that, founded and ran a manufacturing business with supply chains across China and India. Factory floors, sales and enterprise decision-making, learned from the inside. A note for manufacturers: in your world, CTO means the head of product engineering. The role I take on is the CIO's – software, data, IT organisation.
Two ways to engage.
3–9 month mandate
Near full-time, when the tech is the bottleneck. I step in, unblock the core problem, rebuild or stabilize the team, and hand over clean – to your next CTO or your own people.
2–3 days per week
An ongoing retainer: a senior CTO who speaks both engineering and the boardroom, and who makes the hard calls with you on architecture, team, make-or-buy and AI.
Hybrid · on-site sprints, remote in between · Berlin
Grab a slot.
30 minutes, no pitch. Tell me what's stuck, whether it's tech, team or compliance, and I'll tell you straight what I'd do – and whether I'm the right person to do it.