Business-model shift from retail marketing provider to industrial IoT platform for real estate.
Context
Sensorberg started as a retail-marketing start-up built around Bluetooth beacons and proximity services. By 2016, the original business model had reached its plateau — the market for retail proximity marketing had not lived up to industry expectations.
Contribution
Joined in 2016 as COO: build-up of sales, HR, finance, and the operational backbone. From March 2017, as CEO, the strategic decision to reposition the company from a retail-marketing provider to an industrial IoT platform for real estate, construction, and manufacturing. Simultaneous realignment of the product portfolio (access, building management, digital interfaces for commercial landlords) and the customer base (away from retail, towards PropTech). Revenue tripled within two years.
Key hires from the personal network: initially holding the CTO role in parallel until a permanent CTO was in place; Stefan Scheuerle — today founder of Sedisto — brought in as head of sales.
From November 2019, board member and advisor until December 2024 — five years carried alongside and beyond the operational move to Elia.