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. Recognising opportunities and achieving our goals together is what connects us all.
Want to find out more about us? Let’s talk!
Maria Baumgartner
Mb
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.
“The moment when you connect with another person and challenge her towards a new set of possibilities is what I love the most!”, says Maria.
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.
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
Lr
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.
Having started his career in the investment banking sector, Lukas discovered his passion for combining big chunks of data, econometrics and his social skills to solve complex solutions. A set of forensic skills, translation skills (software engineering team vs. normal people) and a good sense of diplomacy are the pillars of this professional career.
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.
Charlotte Paech
Cp
Dipl.-BW, Partner/ Co-Founder
Heroes don’t need capes or spider bites. It’s the combination of head, heart and attitude that unleashes super powers. As a Senior Partner, Charlotte has a trained eye for heroes and a gifted ability to transform them into teams as powerful as the Avengers.
Charlotte has a decade of experience in Human Resources (HR). As a fast learner and high achiever, she has supported demanding clients across a wide range of industries and at varying different stages of development. By combining her academic background in HR with a hands-on attitude she has developed a rich set of methods to support start-ups, founders and new team members on a personal level. Here is how Charlotte can help:
Matching the right people is like solving a puzzle. The edges (skills) need to be appreciated in order for each piece (talent) to fit the gaps (road blocks) in the larger picture (start-ups). During her professional experience Charlotte has found many missing pieces – under the sofa, during stealth mode, in the valley, across the pond, before beta – you name it.
Running a start-up is tough. It takes blood, sweat and luck to get it right. But many teams fail under stress when they don’t treat their start-up as a living organism. Charlotte knows how to get through all the code and business lingo to identify your personal kryptonite.
Charlotte is light-hearted and empathetic; in negotiations determined but fair. She gets excited by the spirit of the teams she mentors and is thankful for the positive change she can achieve with her work. Charlotte loves good food, which is somewhat surprising considering her cooking skills; she’d rather break her fingernails boxing than wrestling in the kitchen.
Matching the right people is like solving a puzzle. The edges (skills) need to be appreciated in order for each piece (talent) to fit the gaps (road blocks) in the larger picture (start-ups). During her professional experience Charlotte has found many missing pieces – under the sofa, during stealth mode, in the valley, across the pond, before beta – you name it.
Running a start-up is tough. It takes blood, sweat and luck to get it right. But many teams fail under stress when they don’t treat their start-up as a living organism. Charlotte knows how to get through all the code and business lingo to identify your personal kryptonite.
Charlotte is light-hearted and empathetic; in negotiations determined but fair. She gets excited by the spirit of the teams she mentors and is thankful for the positive change she can achieve with her work. Charlotte loves good food, which is somewhat surprising considering her cooking skills; she’d rather break her fingernails boxing than wrestling in the kitchen.
Jennifer Roth
Jr
MSc., Senior HR-Consultant
Working as a Senior HR Consultant, Jennifer has been part of Speedinvest Heroes from the very beginning. Her primary tasks involve supporting startups with recruiting by finding suitable team members and advising them about any process related questions.
Jennifer describes herself as a very open, communicative and curious person who enjoys exploring the unknown and facing any challenges that come with the territory. For this reason, it has always been clear that she wants to work with people to be inspired by their individuality and diversity.
Studying Psychology was the first important step she took towards developing her future in this direction. In her Master’s studies, she focused on work- and organizational Psychology and subsequently entered the field of HR. In order to achieve a holistic picture of HR Management during her studies, Jennifer worked for various national and international companies offering services for Compensation and Benefits, Human Resources Development, Recruiting and Executive Search.
It was in cooperation with Roland Wadl (QMC), one of the managing partners, which finally enabled her to enter the startup world and brought her to Speedinvest Heroes. Setting up this new HR Company has been an incredible experience for Jennifer. From the start, it has been an absolute pleasure for her to be a part of the founding team and build a unique company that focuses exclusively on the needs of startups.
She says: “Working with startups has given me an entirely new perspective. I am inspired daily by the huge amounts of creativity and commitment involved. At Speedinvest Heroes, we want to find the best possible employees so that the startup founders are relieved of this task and can focus on other key aspects of growing their companies.”
As a Psychologist, it is in Jennifer’s nature to want to work with and get to know different people and to recognize and promote their potential.
Speedinvest Heroes is a brand new and exciting chapter. Let the journey begin…
Studying Psychology was the first important step she took towards developing her future in this direction. In her Master’s studies, she focused on work- and organizational Psychology and subsequently entered the field of HR. In order to achieve a holistic picture of HR Management during her studies, Jennifer worked for various national and international companies offering services for Compensation and Benefits, Human Resources Development, Recruiting and Executive Search.
It was in cooperation with Roland Wadl (QMC), one of the managing partners, which finally enabled her to enter the startup world and brought her to Speedinvest Heroes. Setting up this new HR Company has been an incredible experience for Jennifer. From the start, it has been an absolute pleasure for her to be a part of the founding team and build a unique company that focuses exclusively on the needs of startups.
She says: “Working with startups has given me an entirely new perspective. I am inspired daily by the huge amounts of creativity and commitment involved. At Speedinvest Heroes, we want to find the best possible employees so that the startup founders are relieved of this task and can focus on other key aspects of growing their companies.”
As a Psychologist, it is in Jennifer’s nature to want to work with and get to know different people and to recognize and promote their potential.
Speedinvest Heroes is a brand new and exciting chapter. Let the journey begin…
Gabriela Gronychova
Gg
MSc., HR Consultant & Brand Specialist
Gabriela, as an HR Consultant, supports start-ups in their everyday recruiting activities. She is an enthusiastic young professional with experience not just in recruitment but also in employer branding and social media communication.
Therefore she can benefit from her prior experience when building a strong online brand of Speedinvest Heroes and our portfolio companies. Studying Business Administration and Human Resources at the University of Economics in Prague was the first important step she took towards developing her future in HR. During and after her studies, Gabriela worked for various international companies, where she was gathering HR experience and revealing different HR fields.
As Gabriela believes that creative life is happy life, she devotes her free time to painting and other creative activities.
Valerie Wiederkehr-Prundianu
VW
MSc., HR Consultant
Valerie joined Speedinvest Heroes as an HR Consultant in April 2019. Her everyday challenge is to support start-ups in their recruiting activities. Before joining Speedinvest Heroes, Valerie launched a fashion startup and worked as an HR manager at Shpock.
She’s a "people person", who loves connecting the best talents with startups. In her pre-startup days, Valerie studied psychology and later HR in London.
Nele Weyens
Nw
HR Consultant
Nele joined Speedinvest Heroes in February 2020 and is happy to help start-ups in their recruiting activities. Previously, she gained work experience in an agency, Randstad Sourceright, covering EMEA and as an Internal Recruiter at Danone for Eastern Europe.
The combination of a Master degree in Clinical and Health Psychology, curiosity for different cultures and a positive attitude, is what makes her passionate about recruitment in an international market.
If you want to know more, Nele is always happy to have a chat over a cup of tea!
Benedict Stacke
Bs
Senior HR Consultant
Benedict joined Speedinvest Heroes as Senior HR Consultant in November 2019. With his learnings from startups (wikifolio), corporations (GVC Group) and consulting agencies (ISG), Benedict can advise startups in multiple stages about finding the right talents, developing them and creating effective HR processes.
Benedict studied Business Psychology in Austria & UK, attended several further qualifications around strategic talent acquisition, leadership & HR management.
Fun Fact: He has got a Viennese accent but was born in Berlin and is of Portuguese ancestry.
Simon Neugebauer
Sn
Project Manager
Simon is all about high performing teams and ideas. The former originates from his time as a player agent, where he consulted professional footballers and coaches, while also scouting the best young talents. Thereby always wearing the scientific glasses which he had acquired during his Psychology studies in Vienna.
After a short interlude at a Innovation Consulting firm, Simon started as a Hr Consultant at Speedinvest Heroes, where he now focuses on project management, especially for grant applications where he especially loves the ideation part.
Simon is always eager to talk about ideas and generally very open minded – unless it’s about the serious matter of food. Besides, in his free time he loves to go surfing and of course play football.
Kristyna Katona
Kk
Team Assistant & Office Management
Kristyna joined Speedinvest - Heroes mid-October 2019 as Office Manager & Team Assistant. Always eager to learn she worked in different positions while studying, broadening her horizon and trying to figure out her true passion. On her journey she discovered HR & Recruiting for herself. Prior to joining Heroes she already worked as a recruiter in a fundraising agency, managing a team of three people.
While gaining valuable work experience she is finishing her bachelor’s degree in Communications. In her free time Kristyna enjoys going to the gym, meditation, doing illustrations & designs as well as adding to her extensive book collection.
Elma Musa
Em
HR Assistant
Before Elma joined Speedinvest Heroes she worked in an advertising company as an office manager but since she has an energetic personality and isn’t always able to sit at one place, she decided to take an office break to pursue her passion - Sports. Therefore she led various sport courses such as HIIT or problem-zone trainings.
Since she has known Maria Baumgartner for quite a long time - Maria introduced Si Heroes to Elma. It did not take much convincing for Elma to join the Heroes Team in 2017 as an HR Assistant. Even though she has gained experience in various fields, she has found her biggest enjoyment within Marketing. Together with Gabriela she focuses on a new Employer Branding initiative.
“Speedinvest Heroes has given me a new direction and the opportunity to develop myself in many ways. What I enjoy the most is working with such an ambitious and diverse team”
To keep herself fit she occasionally goes out for a run, what doesn’t really excites her, therefore she finds her drive playing volleyball.
Elma adores eating, sleeping and drinking beer and if possible all of that at the same time ;)