The only way to create great things is with great people who truly enjoy their job. We, as Heroes, are enthusiastic and take pride in doing the best work we can. Recognizing opportunities and achieving our goals together is what connects us all.
Want to find out more about us? Let’s talk!
Meet the team of Speedinvest Heroes
Managing Partners 
Maria Baumgartner
MA., Founder/ Managing Partner
Maria’s diverse and successful professional history has one common denominator: a desire to truly get to know people. This curiosity has driven Maria from her early days as a startup founder and young political activist up until today as general manager of Speedinvest Heroes.
This social skillset, practiced over many years in various leadership positions and professional trainings (such as a Master degree in Mediation) is a crucial asset for Speedinvest Heroes. Building out our network of talents and then quickly matching the potential of a given candidate with the right opportunity in our portfolio, is where Maria excels like no one else.
Maria’s personal working history starts 1992 in the early internet area. As the GM of one of the first big dot.com success stories coming out of Austria (Datenwerk/Blue-C), she saw her company grow to an agency group with more than 200 employees across Europe, including an IPO at the “Neue Markt”. Having sold her stake early enough before the bust, Maria continued her entrepreneurial path that included managing a research think tank on Artificial Intelligence (long before the hype), spending time in Silicon Valley and, eventually, helping to found Speedinvest as the first business angel fund in Austria.
With this sort of CV, Maria does not need to believe all the hype we see today around startups. At the same time, she is highly aware of the massive disruption digitalisation brings to our personal and business live.
Heroes is a natural platform for Maria’s skills, combining her appetite to rethink old business sectors such as HR with her focus on the human element in business. Building healthy companies will always be built on finding exceptional talent. And as we all know, this talent is spread thin and wide, so a true commitment to diversity, low entry barriers and continuous education will be a crucial element of any HR strategy.
For Maria, having gone through many diverse roles and businesses, this approach comes natural. as does her positive attitude towards people in general.
Lukas Rippitsch
MSc., SCPM, Managing Partner
As a managing director, Lukas aims to help his team to constantly outperform stakeholder expectation with a clear focus on making processes more efficient and to guarantee client satisfaction.
While working with data throughout his career - from investment banking (RCB), data analysis (Google) and growth hacking & people management (Improove) - he always followed a simple rule (Winston S. Churchill) - “I only believe in statistics that I doctored myself” - pointing out that working with data can be as creative as painting a portrait.
As he is known for his consistent good mood and his high energy level, he thrives in a fast-paced digital environment as well as in his local climbing gym. Cooking, wine, wine again and lots of sports are the basis of his personal life. You will always find him looking for an excuse to move your regular Jour Fixe outdoor or trying to convince you to go for a quick 10k run with him instead of your weekly 1:1.
Talent Team
Benjamin Gorski
MBA., Head of Consulting
After finishing his business law studies, Ben started his career in Campus Recruiting at UBS and continued his journey at Google. He figured out that technology, digitalization, and change management with an eye for the people is dear to his heart. Ben is a creative problem solver with a growth mindset, which he showed while helping several startups to grow and scale quickly. He always kept his eye on doing more and improving the organization as a whole.
Roma Jithin
MBA., Team Lead Recruiting
After finishing her Bachelor‘s in Computer Science, she realised she’s more of a people person than computer geek. That‘s when her dream to be HR profession kick started. After, she finished her Master’s in Personnel Management and gained a diploma in marketing management.
She set her foot as HR executive into Telecom industry and then to wellness & beauty industry as HR specialist. Later on, she moved to Dubai where she worked as Recruitment consultant, then for the past few years she has been working as freelance recruiter. Her hobbies are gardeningand cooking.
Joyce Schultz
MSc., Team Lead Recruiting
After completing her Master’s Degree in International Business in Australia, Joyce moved to Germany and worked for Booking.com and for Paypal as a Talent Acquisition Coordinator for EMEA.
She’s passionate about people, startups and is thrilled to be able to help start-ups scale up while making sure she also provides a good candidate experience.
Anna Überbacher
Team Lead Recruiting
Anna joined Speedinvest Heroes as a working student in August 2020. She’s excited to put her previously acquired knowledge from her business studies to use by supporting our recruiting team. She enjoys the comprehensive challenges of HR, is always eager to connect people with their next opportunities to grow and to thrive in their new work environment.
Jennifer Roth
MSc., Head of Talent Management
Jenny is part of the founding team and Head of Talent Management. She completed her Master’s studies in Psychology at the University of Vienna. In order to achieve a holistic picture of HR Management, Jennifer worked for various national and international companies in the field of Executive Search, HR Development and Comp&Ben. Jenny loves to connect with people and describes herself as a very open and curious person.
As a psychologist, it is in Jenny’s nature to work with people. She enjoys exploring the unknown and facing any challenges. For this reason, it has always been clear that she wants to work in an innovative environment, strengthening the potential of talents and being inspired by their diversity.
Desislava Kaytazova
MA., Senior HR Consultant
Desi has a versatile experience in a criss-cross of roles (customer relations, sales, team leading, training and coaching) in small tech companies as well as corporates (Booking.com). She thrives in teams. She believes in life-long learning and the ability of individuals and groups to change and evolve to achieve something bigger than themselves.
Desi likes to do yoga, play board games or go for a run.
Chinwendu Kawa
MSc., Senior HR Consultant
Chinwe concluded a double degree Master’s programme in the area of innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, and sustainability. During her studies she was enlightened to the fact that these key ideologies begets successful companies when properly channeled through the most important asset of a company, which is people! Her experience in recruitment whilst working with management consulting companies, fueled her decision to continue her career path in recruitment.
Chinwe has varieties of hobbies; including playing card and board games, catching up with friends, listening to good music, trying new recipes and enriching her culinary experience.
André Carvalho
BA., HR Consultant
Andre is a very accomplished person who, through adversity, found a career that he enjoys. He lived for 5 years in the United Arab Emirates and has traveled the world while working as a flight attendant. He loves working with people and he’s always ready to help out those in need.
He is a very warm person, always ready to be there for those who need him. What best describes André is someone that works hard but plays harder. He enjoys the best of life and never passes an opportunity to bond with people.
Era Zeneli
BA., HR Consultant
Era is currently studying international management and her past experiences include recruiting and sales. She always enjoyed being and working with people, however her passion for HR she discovered during her last HR internship where she decided this was a career path she wanted to take. Tech recruiting is something she hasn’t done before and a challenge she is really excited to take on.
She is a nerd at heart, her favourite thing to do on quiet days is to curl up with a good book. She has been singing and playing the piano since she was 6. On particularly challenging days, Era likes to go swimming and it helps her clear her head.
Ana Diaz Lamothe
MA., HR Consultant
Ana started her career in the finance industry, but soon discovered her passion for people and decided to pursue a career focused on Human Resources instead. Her areas of expertise include performance evaluation, recruiting, training assessment, conflict management, benefits, and compensation. Ana’s background studies and working experience add up to a tech-driven HR Professional. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, a master’s in Business Administration with a minor in people management, and a MA in Sciences, Technology & Society.
Ana enjoys laughing, talking to people, and having a good time. Her main leisure activities include cooking, crafts, picnics, and watching movies.
Paula Prie
MIB., HR Consultant
Paula completed her International Business studies in Cluj-Napoca, where she also found her passion for HR while working as a team assistant in the Human Resources department at Bosch. She moved to Vienna in September 2020 in search for a new challenge and growth opportunities as her curious nature called the shots. A year later, she joined the Speedinvest Heroes team as an HR intern.
Paula‘s favourite activities vary a lot depending on her mood, some days she likes being in her own presence with a good book and her cat, other days she decides to take up motorcycle lessons and go at it. Winter used to be her season until snow became a scarcity but despite this, she promised herself that she’ll never give her snowboard up.
Valerie-Claire Fora
Junior HR Consultants
Valerie is currently studying Psychology and joined Speedinvest Heroes in October 2021. She supports the tech recruiting team as a working student. In the past she has gained professional experience as a Scientific Associate with a focus on Psychology where she had multiple opportunities to gain insight into HR, Project management and even got the chance to witness a developer build an online tool based on a project concept she wrote herself.
She took her interest in HR and Technology with her and is now more than excited to build on her experience and help people realize their full potential in their careers. Being an absolute ambivert, Valerie’s hobbies are on both sides of the spectrum. Whether it be curling up on the couch with a book after lighting one of her many scented candles, walking through the streets of Vienna in the early morning hours, watching the ongoings in a busy Viennese cafe or dancing at a festival with hundreds of people, she always likes to feel a sense of peace, contentment and connection.
Franziska Stierstorfer
BA., Junior HR consultant
After several years of working in communications, consulting and creative conception, Fanziska has decided to pursue her dream Master’s Degree. Her people skills have always been the most important asset along the way, connecting with people and supporting them in putting their talents forward gives her a lot of joy. This is exactly why she wanted to join Speedinvest Heroes and turn her passion for people into a job that she’s passionate about.
Franziska is a very social and creative person who loves being out and about and active. She enjoys spending time with her favorite people, preferably in warm weather since she’s a total summer person.
Marlene Prenzel
MA., HR Consultant
Before joining our team Marlene gained experience in Recruiting, Marketing and Project Management, focusing on University students and recent graduates from different fields. Changing perspectives between candidates and employers has become one of her strengths. She is now looking forward to diving deeper in Recruiting and getting to know the start-up world!
Marlene has a passion for languages and learning more about other cultures - especially the Spanish speaking world. In her free time she loves horseback riding, hosting nights with friends and spending hours in her favorite cafés with a good book.
Ahmed Munir
MBA., Working Student Recruiting
From the start of his Bachelors degree, Ahmed was clear about his future choice of field which is Human Resource Management and he has remained committed to this passion ever since. Working in different companies in HR and Recruiting developed his skills by knowing the importance of the human touch. Being a social person, interested in cultural diversity and his passion for people makes him the perfect fit for the Heroes team.
Ahmed is a particularly social and outgoing person, who loves travelling and exploring novel things. Moreover, he enjoys going to festivals where he cannot just enjoy a variety of music but also get to know many new people.
Shailja
MA., Working Student Recruiting
Shailja is pursuing a consecutive master degree in Research at HU, having previously worked as a research assistant for over three years, she now decided to take a step ahead by employing her research skills in a more tangible way by associating it to human resource. Being a student of social science & research, the acquired observational, as well as the interpersonal skills come handy while working in the field of people management, which is writ large her passion. She is currently helping the Berlin team as a working student and looks forward to make her career in HR.
Shailja is a trained Indian classical dancer and an old school soul who enjoys listening to classical jazz and Indo-Pak sufi music. She is an aesthete, an amateur sketch artist, as well as an obsessive star gazer, who cherishes finding escape into nature every once in a while. A social butterfly and an absolute sucker for a give & take of unlimited good vibes and appreciation.
Product Team
Karin Levy
MA., Product Owner
Karin is part of Speedinvest Heroes since 2020 February. Her journey took her from a digital marketing internship to the technical side, being fully responsible for content, SEO & website development. These areas made her realize, that product management is her passion. Ever since, she‘s taking on product owner as well as product manager responsibilities.
She loves numbers and finished her Master‘s in International Trade and Export Management. On the fun side, she is a person of many interests. 100+ plants in the flat? Sciency documentaries about the universe? Writing own poems? You name it! She’s also a very energetic person, always happy to bike around the city or have a boxing class.
Kimmy Ignacio
MSc., Product Owner
After working for a Startup Accelerator and a leading consulting firm, Kimmy completed her Master‘s Degree in Small Business & Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. She’s especially curious about startups, innovation and human connection. She’s an optimist and a constant learner.
If Kimmy isn‘t working, you’ll find her in the woods with her dogs, volunteering for a non-profit organisation, going for a night run, reading a book while listening to her favourite songs, or simply helping her mum with gardening.
Alexander Waldner
MSc., Product Owner
Alexander finished his MSc in Innovation & Entrepreneurship and his CEMS Master in Barcelona and joined Speedinvest Heroes as a Founders Associate in fall 2021. After multiple years in the luxury hospitality industry, he discovered his passion for human-centred innovation and the startup world.
Throughout his career the people aspect was always at the center which is reflected in his professional as well as private endeavours and makes him a great fit for our team. He loves creative tasks and problem-solving. Something he can perfectly put to use as helping hand to Maria, Lukas and the wider team. Outside the office, Alexander is a passionate cook who loves to host dinner parties, prefers to spend his Sundays hiking up mountains with friends and going to the theater.
Data Team
Carina Pölzl
BA., Head of Data
Carina has a background in Sociology and Statistics and her experience ranges from working in research institutes, at a university, in corporate companies in finance and in a scale-up. She is particularly interested in developing and shaping data products together with people from different backgrounds while having a lot of flexibility.
Salma Mahmoud
MSc., Senior Data Scientist
Salma has a background in Engineering & Computer Science. After working as a Software Engineer for a while she decided to pursue her masters degree with a focus in Machine Learning which made her progress in her career and work as a Researcher & Data Scientist. She is interested in Algorithms & driving insights from data to be able to forecast the future!
She has many interests such as: aerial yoga, travelling, photography, hiking, painting & playing instruments.
Matus Rovnak
BSc., Data Intern
Growing up in the family business environment, Matus learned what it takes to live and breathe with the company. With the strong passion for data and business analytics, Matus decided to complete his Master thesis in Speedinvest Heroes and contribute with valuable research.
He likes to explore places and try out new things. He loves all sports and his guitar.
Simon Neugebauer
MSc., Research & Development Manager
With a background in Psychology and a Masters in Behavioral Economics from Maastricht University, he aims to combine academic rigor with practical solutions. With experiences in consulting, innovation and start up experience, he thrives on bringing ideas to life.
Beyond research, charts and JF, Simon finds real meaning in helping young talents find their path and succeed. For that purpose, he joined in November 2021 as Product Manager.
Mary Sassaqui
MBA., Jr. Business Analyst
Junior Business Analyst with a background in online marketing and customer experience with the ability to make connections between different data sets, draw conclusions, think about the big picture and turn problems into data-driven visualizations and solutions. Skilled in organizing, cleaning, interpreting, data visualization, reporting data, and communication with stakeholders. Enjoys forecasting customers’ behavior and market needs through analyzing past trends and finding scenarios where the company succeeds. A critical thinker with a team spirit and overcome attitude.
Engineering Team
Stefan Schacherl
MSc., CTO
When you want to disrupt the market, you have to be able to create an innovative and highly qualitative software and be able to outpace your competitors. This is the reason why Stefan joined the Heroes with his expertise in engineering and leadership! Stefan has a natural curiosity and is continuously working to broaden his knowledge and extend his field of expertise.
In his spare time, he describes himself as a tech nerd that always wants to know what is the latest development in the technology market and wants to try all the new tools and gadgets that are available.
José Pedro
MSc., Full-Stack Software Developer
José has a background in the Banking Area, but he always had been passionate about technology. In 2018 he decided to shift his career and started studying programming by himself.
What he likes the most about engineering is the constant challenge and the rewarding feeling of creating something from nothing. He‘s excited to join Heroes, where he’ll have the opportunity to create new technologies that will help people to change their careers, and take control of their lives.
Iva Dopud
BSc., Senior Frontend Developer
Iva likes to create stuff that works but also look good. Functionality and aesthetics are equally important to her. She also has a background in classical music, which has allowed her to strongly develop her creative side, but then she found engineering very enjoyable because she appreciates precision and love to explore human-machine interaction.
She is a gym rat. After a working day, she usually hits the gym right away. She loves to watch true-crime mini-series and she is a devoted fan of some great science-related podcasts.
Christian Gotschim
Senior Flutter Developer
Christian has been making software for most of his adult life both in the USA and in Austria. In the US he ran his own software company and contracted for American Express and IBM, which resulted in 3 US software patents. After many years developing software in different computer languages he is now all in on Google’s newest pride called Flutter.
Conceptualizing and creating the most elegant, useful, user-friendly, and flawlessly working software is Christian’s passion, his hobby, and his job!
Marketing & Sales Team
Kristina Toender
BSc., Digital Marketing Manager
As the perfect start to 2021, Kristina joins Speedinvest Heroes. Before taking on the exciting opportunity as a digital marketing & content manager, Kristina graduated with a bachelor’s in Marketing and Management in 2019. During and after her studies, she gained relevant knowledge and work experiences in different parts of the world. She recently worked in Norway where she had a wide variety of tasks such as content creation on socials, launching a website, and admin tasks.
Kristina has a passion for digital marketing and loves to use her creativity to promote meaningful services. She finds happiness through creative channels such as photography, painting, and loves a spontaneous hike or traveling.
Christoph Deinbacher
BA., Sales Manager
After a semi professionell motocross career, Chris started to work at one of the biggest event companies of Austria (DocLX). Started there from the bottom, he got soon promoted as the sales manager of X-Jam Vienna - the biggest graduation trip for young adults in Europe. After he built his own unit as a Content Marketer as well, he did the new concept for X-Jam. For him the most important thing is to built up a sustainable product on 3 characteristics: authentic, relevant and to differentiate according to the Brand Purpose.
Beside Sponsoring and Cooperations, he was always leading a big sales group, which does make him passionate about people and their needs to keep them motivated. When Covid hit, he decided to start finishing his BA degree in Marketing and Sales and also made experience in a health tech startup, called Doctify Ltd.
Since his entire life was about sports, he’s still into it. Beside from that he REALLY loves good food as well as he like to travel. Friends are also a big part in his life and reading books keeps him calm. He enjoys good old classy films as well and a little party never killed nobody.
David Wilkins
Junior Content & Social Media Manager
With a passion for creating, David came to Vienna on a mission to master the arts. After 3 years, he graduated from the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art. He began his first position in Vienna as a assistant manager for the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art Cultural Space. From his experience as an assistant manager, he began to develop a interest for marketing and content creation. This later lead him to take on his Ba in Marketing and Sales. He has also worked as a freelance videographer for various music labels and online businesses.
From painting to digital design, David is a passionate creator. He enjoys being outside in nature, visit museums, and cooking new dishes. He is a lover of music and finds great joy in discovering new artists and what people like to listen to.
Since his entire life was about sports, he’s still into it. Beside from that he REALLY loves good food as well as he likes to travel. Friends are also a big part in his life and reading books keeps him calm. He enjoys good old classy films as well and a little party never killed nobody.
Aleks Yotov
BSc. Working Student - Marketing and Sales
Aleks has an educational background in Business, Economics and Management. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien), after which he moved to Linz for a Master’s degree in Leading Innovative Organizations at the Johannes-Kepler-University. His working experience revolves mostly around marketing and sales for small and medium-sized companies. He is passionate about business growth, marketing, and connecting with people.
Having both an introverted and an extroverted side, Aleks enjoys doing a variety of things in his free time: from doing sports and salsa dancing, to theme parties on the weekend, to going for long walks alone or reading a good book with a nice cup of coffee.
Leona Kucic
MA., Working Student - Communications
While doing her Bachelor’s degree in Media Studies in England, she also gained her first work experience in sales. After her studies and relevant job experience, she realised she would like to focus her further studies in a direction of business, focusing on marketing and management. That is why she decided to pursue a Master’s degree in International Management and Leadership in Vienna, which she is currently completing.
Paula Rodriguez Beltran
MSc., Sales Intern
As an internationally experienced in communication research and data science with
qualifications in public relations, marketing, and sales, Paula has successfully delivered multiple projects and process improvements for high-profile clients. The areas in which she excels the most include interpersonal communication, leadership, teamwork, and stakeholder relationships.
David Toth
BSc., Freelance Brand Designer
David has always been interested in design, and how it influences every-day lives & decisions, which is why he started learning more about branding, especially brand design and its effects on businesses’ perceptions.
Operations Team
Lisa Thiel
MA., Chief Operating Officer
Lisa has gained a wide experience in HR after working in several large companies, she then decided to dedicate herself and evolve more into the management side of business. She is now excited to have joined Speedinvest Heroes as their COO.
With Lisa’s enthusiasm and passion, there is no room for the “It can’t be done” attitude, but more, every problem has a solution. Lisa is here to strengthen every hero and make sure they reach their full potential.
Lisa is a very social person and likes to be in contact and exchange with other people. She loves reading and constantly developing herself and finds it hard to sit still in her free time - she dissipates her energy in yoga, squash and boxing.
Bernhard Rigler
Operations Manager
After an internship in summer 2019, Bernhard joined Speedinvest Heroes as a working student in October 2020. The world of startups has always fascinated him and he is thrilled to be directly involved.
Sandra Grabovicanovic
Accountant
Sandra started her studies at the University of Economics in Vienna - WU. Before she was finishing her Bachelor degree, she got interested in the world of accounting because of math. She was really good in math because logical thinking was her strength. Then she started an education of accounting at WIFI.
Sandra likes puzzling, to solve sudokus and to play chess.
Alessandra Halász
Office Manager
Alessandra comes with extensive experience in the field of office management and bookkeeping, as well as accounting and is ready to provide her support for the team. Before joining the team, Alessandra has gathered significant experience at different companies as an office manager and accounting assistant.
She grew up in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and moved to Vienna at the age of 11. Alessandra is fluent in 3 languages and loves travelling with friends and trying out new recipes for cooking, as well as trying out new restaurants.
Philipp Tsitsovits
Ing. Founder Associate
Philipp is pretty much self-thought. He has project management, product management and system engineering background. He lastly worked as a solution consultant at IoT & IT-Security Company. He designed, implemented and managed high-security systems for sensible customers (banking & finance, governmental facilities and international clients).
As an allrounder, he was always fascinated by technology and innovation and his curiosity and passion drives him.
His strengths lie in his commitment and execution of ideas. Philipp loves to spend his free time with his friends, doing sports or working on his hobbies. He’s a very active person that likes to do a lot and try new things all the time.