Case Studies

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Genesis of a Start-up

At a leading trade for dental products (B2B) with a private equity background, I was tasked with founding an eCommerce start-up and taking on its management, as part of scaling the business model for “dental smart shoppers”.

During the founding phase, I utilized the parent company as an existing platform, which performed all back-office functions. The start-up took over all customer-facing tasks.

In addition to establishing operations, further challenges had to be overcome:
    • Strict cost control and sales price management affecting margins in line with the budget
    • Rapid growth in sales and profits to enable swift amortization of investment
    • Compliance with regulations for wholesale trading in medical products and pharmaceuticals

    • Thanks to the following measures, the founding and management of the start-up was successfully achieved:

    • Development of corporate identity and corporate design using in-house resources
    • Dynamic sales price management, with no special price models for customers
    • Expansion of the product range with imported dental prosthetics from China and enhancement of the web shop with a digital ordering system for prosthetic products
    • Acquisition and support of “smart” key accounts through an all-round package
    • Assumption of the role of “responsible person” in accordance with the Medicines Act
    • As a result, I was able to successfully scale and digitize the business model in a highly dynamic market environment, achieving an online share of 85%. I generated sales and profit growth within a very short period and developed the start-up sustainably.

     Expansion of international market presence

    As part of an international organic growth strategy at a leading mail order company (B2C), growth potential within Europe was to be unlocked through scaling and innovation of the business model. Based on this, I accompanied the following projects:

    • 2005 – 2006: Project management with a focus on establishing the operational business of a start-up in Moscow (RU) and later taking over co-managing director’s duties on site
    • 2004 – 2005: Preparation and implementation of a joint venture between subsidiaries in Central Eastern Europe and a French company in the cosmetics industry
    • 2003: Project management with a focus on marketing, sales, product and pricing of an eCommerce start-up in the Netherlands

    I was able to successfully master the two main challenges – the technical leadership role as well as timely and budget-compliant project management, including across countries – thanks to my empathetic and clear communication, as well as a structured approach.
    As a result, the company’s European market presence was significantly expanded. In Russia, I achieved, among other things, a doubling of the budgeted turnover from €50 million to €100 million and an increase in margin by 4%.