Hi, I'm Steffen. Thanks for being here!
Intro
I'm a business designer and operator. Innovators in companies and startups call me to help them create credible businesses amid great change (e.g., incl. strategy, operations, finance, and executive team effectiveness).
I bring 20+ years of experience to this work, including the last 8 as independent consultant and fractional startup COO across 12 industries.
Unusually, my background has taught me about the unsung innovation work that effective businesses need, such as innovation-appropriate financials, operations design, assumption de-risking, and governance. I've worked in the teams that take over daily operations for new businesses. So I know from personal experience what it takes actually to get growth programs to have a chance at real-world success.
I'm from Nuremberg (Germany) and live near Minneapolis with my family.
Work
In my day job, I run an independent innovation advisory firm–Custom Lightning, after having spent many years at U.S. retailer Target and software company SAP.
I have (among other things)
- co-founded 3 innovation teams and labs in-house at Target
- worked on a wide range of "downstream" teams that actually have to deal with innovators' output and make it work–Business Development, Design, Finance, Operations, P&L ownership, Pricing, and Strategy
- served as fractional COO of a great startup. More to come once we exit stealth mode!
Selected results
As a freelancer and an employee, I have
- developed $6B+ of business cases
- improved profits by $30M
- had 6 consulting clients' solutions launch
- completed 45+ consulting projects in 12+ industries
- earned 90%+ of revenue from happy repeat clients
- worked with clients from earliest-stage startups through global behemoth corporations and investors
Note: When I talk about "my" results or even "my" content, that's wrong. Sure, I did this and came up with this. But much of what I know, value, and have achieved was only possible because of these (and more) wonderful people.
A big THANK YOU to them all!
Fun intro
I've talked a bit about my backstory.
Wait, you actually want to know my geek code? That's delightfully nerdy, meaning ... INCREDIBLY nerdy! But I aim to please:
--—BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GB/FA/L d--(++) s++: a+ C+ U? P? L? E? W++ N? o? K? w+ o? M+ V? P@ !PE Y+ PGP? t-(++) 5? X R(+) tv b+++ DI@ D- G e+++ h--() r+++
--—END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Contact
Contact me via my company or by email at hi[at]customlightning.com to work with me.