We are entrepreneurs who speak corporate
We are a team of hands-on entrepreneurs, innovators, growth experts, and passionate venture architects who build the business of tomorrow.



WHAT WE STAND FOR
We believe diversification and building new revenue streams are essential for corporate long-term survival and staying ahead of disruption.
WHAT WE do
To systematically build investable ventures, we foster a team with strong entrepreneurial experience and venture mindset, we develop and refine methodology to best leverage corporate assets.
Leadership Team & Partners

Stefan Peintner
CEO & Managing Partner
With over a decade of international experience in strategy and innovation, Stefan advises our clients on setting up effective venture governance and drives the validation and implementation of new business. He brings an entrepreneurial mindset, a deep understanding of the corporate world, and broad cross-industry expertise.

Max Steindl-Ditzel
CEO & Managing Partner
Max has many years of experience designing and implementing innovation strategies at organizations across Europe. Having joined whataventure early on he played a vital role in developing the company to its current stage with offices in 3 countries and a diverse team guiding countless ventures to success. Having worked with so many organizations in a variety of sectors he quickly identifies the ideal path moving forward for new ventures and how to establish an innovation portfolio that generates impact and growth.

Philippe Thiltges
Co-Founder & Venture Partner
Philippe has shaped the innovation landscape in Austria and Germany for more than a decade, having supported more than 150 corporates in their creation of sustainable innovation structures and governances. Through whataventure's focus on venture building, Philippe has supported the creation and growth of numerous corporate ventures. Projects that Philippe has been involved in have received funding of more than €500 M.

Kristina Müller
Head of People & Culture
Kristina’s mission is to empower people to be the best version of themselves. Her people-first attitude and creative and communicative nature motivate her to maximize each individual's learning and development. Having a very diverse background and startup experience, she knows how to cultivate a collaborative and supportive culture.

Georg Horn
Venture Director
Georg is an experienced two-time founder and business consultant who knows how to speak startup and corporate. With his founding experience spanning from e-commerce to SaaS and machine learning, Georg is versed in all venture steps from ideation to market launch or even exit. As a Swiss born, originating from a small village, Georg's urge to explore brought him to study, work and live in many countries all over Europe and beyond. A strong passion for ventures, business models and innovation is what brought Georg to whataventure, where he helps teams and clients in achieving their growth targets.

Mario Eibl
Lead Venture Architect
With over 15 years of engineering experience, Mario not only successfully established and scaled his own international electric mobility company to seven-figure revenue with a team of 20, but he also played a crucial role in guiding numerous startups, either as their first team member, consultant, or during M&A processes. His passion for environmentally impactful startups is deeply intertwined with his background in engineering and management. In addition to his excitement for developing new products, Mario is committed to building the teams and organizations necessary to scale these ventures around innovative products, services, and business models.

Franziska Abare-Korn
Partner
Franziska has long years of hands-on experience in consulting DAX30 / MDAX companies as well as SMEs in her field of expertise, namely: Innovation Strategy, Corporate Innovation, Venture Building and Service Design. She has a strong international project background and a deep understanding of cross-industry requirements. Additionally Franziska has a passion for leading and implementing innovative flagship projects against all odds, never loosing the big strategic picture out of sight.

Karyna Hornostai
Lead Venture Architect
Karyna is on a mission to kickstart impactful corporate ventures and help them reach their targets. She has a wide range of experience in corporate innovation, covering corporate startup collaboration, intrapreneurship, and building corporate ventures.

Stefan Perkmann Berger
Co-Founder & Venture Partner
Stefan has more than 10 years of experience in supporting 150+ established companies in innovating and building new ventures. As one of the Co-Founders of whataventure, Stefan’s hands-on attitude drives him to seek new challenges on a regular basis. His passion is to build new ventures in the digital and non-digital field, and continue to drive our own portfolio of ventures, that already has 100+ employees and received multiple investments.
Team

Andreas Müller
Venture Architect
Andy is our go-to guy when it comes to telling visual stories and bringing pictures to life. Having an academic background in marketing and sales the self-taught video creator combines his knowledge about customer needs with his passion for the camera and lets his work speak for him.

Hannah Ortner
Venture Analyst
Hannah discovered her passion for Innovation through her background in Management and Entrepreneurship. Her earlier roles in Marketing, Advertising, and Project Management have given her the opportunity to collaborate with companies across various industries, execute successful campaigns, and lead impactful workshops and events. Now, her passion for fostering innovation and driving forward-thinking initiatives shapes her work in the startup and venture capital ecosystem. Committed to making a positive impact for businesses and the environment, Hannah thrives in dynamic environments, working with inspiring teams and cultivating meaningful connections.

Alexander Streihammer
Co-founder & Head of Marketing
Alex’s passion is building innovative products and making them fly. As a serial entrepreneur, he knows by heart how to validate and invalidate ideas. He creates prototypes within hours, draws the correct conclusions, and builds unique brands that sell. As our Head of Marketing, he has over 12 years of international experience in marketing and branding.

Daniel Senff
Senior Tech Lead
Having built digital products both as Product Manager and Software Engineer, Daniel gained a wide range of experience from early-stage and scaling startups, to enterprise companies. Originally from Germany and having lived in Italy, Luxembourg, and now Austria, Daniel seamlessly blends entrepreneurial ingenuity with agile methodologies, all while maintaining commitment to a customer-centric approach.

Knut Peters
Venture Architect
Knut combines hands-on startup experience with deep sustainability knowledge, specializing in transforming innovative concepts into profitable, sustainable businesses. Having completed a Master´s degree in strategy & entrepreneurship and leading a supply chain sustainability startup lead to a strong focus on developing customer-centric solution.
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Marc Walther
Venture Analyst
Marc combines experience in corporate innovation, management consulting, and early-stage startups with a global perspective. He is passionate about developing innovative, investable business models that drive business growth and contribute positively to society.

Petra Barbu
Senior Venture Architect
Her primary role is to set up and execute growth marketing strategies and experiments for our ventures. She is an expert in effectively using the broad marketing spectrum to foster the value ventures create for their customers. What she enjoys the most in marketing is setting up processes for newly established teams and seeing a venture she worked on become a known brand.

Lukas Grömer
Venture Architect
Lukas' professional passion can be found at the intersection of innovation, (digital) technologies and new ways of working. He thrives in dynamic teams which are ready to improve every day, bit by bit. With a background in digital transformation, innovation and agile he is well-equipped to apply modern approaches, making our partner's endeavours successful. At the same time, several years at a corporate taught him the needs, challenges and dynamics of larger organizations first-hand - ready to apply it.

Alexander Waldner
Venture Anaylst
With eight years of professional and academic experience in the hospitality industry, spanning seven countries, Alex discovered a passion for business model design and innovation. Armed with a double MSc in Innovation & Entrepreneurship and a CEMS certification, he transitioned into the startup world as a Founder’s Associate and Chief of Staff at two early-stage ventures, where he drove a wide range of business initiatives. Drawing from his background in the luxury service industry, Alex blends creativity, analytical thinking, and a solution-oriented mindset with a people-first, service-driven approach. He thrives in collaborative environments and brings energy as a natural connector and social butterfly.
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Cristina Pavel
Junior People and Culture Manager
Cristina likes to consider herself an allrounder. She brings experience in talent acquisition and management from her previous roles, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Vienna and multilingual skills in German, English, French, and Romanian. She has a bubbly personality and likes to helps people and put a smile on their face as often as she can.

Yannick Battistutta
Venture Architect
Yannick discovered his curiosity for innovative business models during his economics studies in Lyon and Vienna. Drawing on his creative thinking and hands-on mindset, he co-founded an urban mobility start-up while graduating from university. Due to his international background and open-mindedness, Yannick easily navigates dynamic environments and quickly makes an impact on any project.

Timon Polacek
Venture Analyst
Timon embarked on his entrepreneurial journey by assisting the inception of an accelerator program in Northern Europe, marking the onset of his passion for innovation and startups. His path led him to Berlin, where he became an integral member of a Venture Builder, actively participating in the development and growth of startups. Driven by his commitment to company building and his passion for innovation, Timon subsequently brought his experience and expertise to Vienna, where he joined the whataventure team.

David Sgorbati
Venture Analyst
David's passion for creative work, design, and innovation began in childhood and deepened throughout his academic and professional journey. Originally from Italy, he graduated from WU Vienna with a specialization in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, building an initial foundation in creative and analytical thinking as well as various innovation methodologies. His first practical experiences in startup and consulting projects further sharpened his skills in the field. Through his international exposure, David has cultivated an open-minded and collaborative approach and is dedicated to supporting clients in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Caroline Wenninger
Venture Architect
With experience in coaching and facilitation, finance, and project management, Caroline brings different perspectives to designing new processes. Sustainability and diversity are topics that drive her to build innovative solutions with corporates for lasting change.

Gunther Winkler
Venture Architect
Having lived and studied in Austria, the USA, Spain, and India, Gunther unites an innovative and creative mindset with a strong analytical foundation. Through previous experiences within startups, consulting, and non-profit organizations, Gunther built his passion for developing new ideas and building systems for long-term sustainable growth.

Thomas Schragner
Head of Accounting, Controlling & IT
After seven years of experience with a tax consultant, Thomas has an excellent understanding of numbers and brings a lot of know-how to the team. He manages the accounting of whataventure and its venture building projects to keep finances up-to-date. In addition to accounting, he is also responsible for controlling and IT for all companies to ensure that all processes run smoothly and without obstacles.

Emil Bono
Venture Analyst
Emil completed his BSc in Business and Economics in Vienna, focusing his thesis on corporate venturing among Austria's Hidden Champions. His professional experiences in corporate banking and digital transformation consulting, have equipped him with a solid understanding of both the financial and strategic aspects of developing businesses. He enjoys working in interdisciplinary teams where different perspectives lead to out-of-the-box solutions.

Federica Succio
Senior Venture Architect
Federica brings an in-depth experience with both new ventures and corporate innovation. After having executed market validation and market entry for one of our portfolio company gaining customers in 15 countries around the world, today she is program manager and coach in intrapreneurship programs and Corporate-Startup collaborations, supporting the identification, validation and implementation of various business ideas and the development of innovation strategies.

Friedemann Lämmel
Senior Marketing Manager
Friedemann creates magnetic brands and impactful campaigns. He leverages his experience in communications strategy, brand management and digital campaigns to increase marketing's contribution to whataventure's growth. Friedemann combines a systemic approach with know-how gained from over ten years of working with clients ranging from tech start-ups to global players.

Rebecca Van Pamel
Venture Architect
Rebecca brings experience in venture clienting, marketing & communication, and partnership management. She is deeply curious about what drives successful innovation and aims to multiply that success in the DACH market through hands-on support of high-potential ventures.

Ipek Hizar
Venture Architect
With her broad knowledge in curating and executing impactful innovation programs at Austrian Startups, Ipek now sparks and drives innovation within corporates. Being deeply invested in successful project management and putting an emphasis on building strong relationships with stakeholders, she successfully led and coached a founder's program, ensuring that 20+ early-stage ventures have the tools and knowledge they need to become successful. Ipek has lived and studied in the MENA, Europe and the US, making her fluent in four different languages. Knowing the startup environment, Ipek thrives in rapidly changing and international environments.

Elisa Schweigkofler
Growth Architect
Elisa makes growth happen - with her experience in all fields of marketing and the in-depth knowledge in digital and performance marketing she gained working in hotel tech and omnichannel e-commerce, she finds the most efficient marketing mix to grow. Developing customer centric strategies in paid advertisements are the key for her, while always having an eye to numbers and performance.
We are hiring!
Are you passionate about building ventures, new business models and leaving your mark on the industry? At whataventure you will find a likeminded team of highly motivated creators, problem solvers, and strategists with entrepreneurial spirit.
