Raoul is a certified innovation and project manager with over 12 years of experience. He teaches entrepreneurship at Heidelberg University, leads their innovation transfer agency, and supports various institutions in developing their entrepreneurial strategies. Raoul is also a part of NEXTGN (Baden-Württemberg's startup factory) and an experienced host of ideation events such as Techstar's Startup Weekend.

Peter Figge is the CEO of Jung von Matt, one of Europe's largest, most successful, and definitely most creative communication agencies. EDEKA's "Supergeil" and Christmas campaigns, Saturn's "Geiz ist geil", the creative ads of car rental company SIXT - all of them have been developed by Jung von Matt. Before joining Jung von Matt, Peter spent around 15 years in senior roles at leading international agencies in Zurich, Paris, New York and Hamburg. He will join us on Friday and share his - and Jung von Matt's - growth story.

As the Vice President of the University of Hamburg, Jetta is responsible for establishing and further developing knowledge exchange as the University’s third key performance area. She also oversees the strategic development of academic staff and academic career planning with a special focus on equal opportunity to promote gender fairness, diversity, and family-friendliness.

Before becoming the CEO of Impossible Founders, Arik was the CTO of DESY, Hamburg's leading scientific research organisation. He is a trained physicist and an expert in turning scientific ideas into real companies. As a jury member, he will use his structured scientific approach to judge the teams objectively.

Heidrun (MBA) is an entrepreneur and capital markets expert. She has built two companies, consulted 20+ IPOs, is an investor (angel/VC) and executive advisor to SMEs and scaleups. On Saturday, she will share her investor knowledge in a workshop on startup investments. As a jury member on Sunday, she will use her investor’s experience to assess the ideas’ financing potential.

Simon Knittel is Managing Director at Jung von Matt START, the startup-focused unit of the Jung von Matt agency group. Based in Berlin, he and his team help early- and growth-stage companies build strong, scalable brands across sectors like digital health, energy, lifestyle, cybersecurity and FMCG. Under his leadership, JvM START has introduced innovative models such as revenue-based financing for brand work and publishes the annual Startup Brand Ranking as well as the satirical “uniKorn.” Before focusing fully on startups and scaleups, Simon worked for several years as a creative within the wider Jung von Matt network and has long been active in the startup ecosystem as a mentor and speaker.

Kai is Strategy Director at Jung von Matt START who loves helping startups build their brand and set it up for growth. Before joining Jung von Matt START, Kai has gained extensive experience supporting numerous startups during his time at Project A – one of Europe's leading venture capital firms with €1.2bn under management and 130+ investments into companies like Quantum Systems and Trade Republic. He will host a branding and marketing workshop on Saturday together with Malte and stay until the afternoon as a mentor.

Malte is a brand strategist at Jung von Matt START. He worked for the fintech LIQID and as management consultant for innovation and digital growth at TLGG. Before joining Jung von Matt, he participated in the Antler Residency Program as well as the Vision Health Pioneers Incubator as a founder of his own startup. On Saturday, he will host a branding and marketing workshop together with Kai and remain available as a mentor until the afternoon.

Constanze is a lawyer for Lutz | Abel, specializing on commercial and corporate law. She and her colleague Lorenz Jellinghaus are well-known and highly respected lawyers in Hamburg's startup ecosystem and have consulted countless startups, investors and corporates. There are probably not many people in Hamburg who have been part in more startup funding rounds. In her workshop, Constanze will share insights into the most important legal aspects for startup founders and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Ralf is an experienced event moderator, lecturer, and pitch trainer who is passionate about engaging and interesting live presentations. In his workshop, he will teach you his top 10 pieces of advice how to perform on stage as a founder - and to convince investors.

Priyanka has led and scaled a deep-tech business, working closely with engineers, researchers, and teams building complex technology. As a mentor, she supports founders with clarity, practical problem-solving, and a builder’s perspective that understands both ambition and execution.

Andreas is a serial entrepreneur who has founded several startups, successfully sold some, and failed with others. He can support you with the view of a founder who has more than 20 years of startup experience. He also picked up some basic business skills during his MBA at the University of Cambridge, which he claims are "actually sometimes really useful and worth sharing".

Miriam is a creative multi-talent who has founded several organizations. She is the author of the book "Startup mit Plan and a trained graphics designer and UX expert. As a mentor and advisor, she has worked with startups as well as with corporates like Sparkasse, bonprix or Lufthansa.

Matthias Hanßmann is a startup consultant in the StartUp-Center of Haspa. He supports startups in Hamburg on topics such as setting up company accounts, financing growth and structuring their business plans. He will join us as a mentor on Saturday afternoon and is especially looking forward to answer any questions about financial planning.

If you are thinking of founding a startup out of one of Hamburg's universities, you will probably get in touch with Christine and her team. As the head of Startup Port, she and her team are coordinating startup activities across the universities and are consulting the students on any questions about entrepreneurship.

Nils is one of the veterans of supporting founders in Hamburg's startup ecosystem. He has been with TU Tech - the transfer organisation of TU Hamburg - since 1998 and has supported hundreds of founders on turning their scientific research into a real startup.