Christian Kählig
CEO, Founder & Managing Partner
Experience
CEO, Founder & Managing Partner
Ideas Enabled
Chief Digital Officer (CDO) a.i. at a leading European travel industry player (2021 - 2023)**
Steered the Digital B2C unit with 100+ employees in the challenging phase of a large scale strategic transformation and re-organization in the travel industry.
Defined the strategic design of the overall Digital B2C platform and increased the direct online sales share by 2x post-covid.
Re-organized the unit around 5 powerful pillars: CoC Business Analytics & Rules, Digital Marketing Outreach & CRM, Digital Toolkit & Platform, E-2-E Digital Experience, Content Production & Mining.
Conducted an As-is assessment (SEA & Social Media, SEO, UX/CX, Content) including a comprehensive benchmarking and best practice review (cross-industry).
Designed an overarching business case for three strategic scenarios to pave the most efficient way towards the ambitious mid-term goal of 30% direct online sales share (10x).
Led three key strategic initiatives dedicated to "B2C brand strategy & architecture", "Digital B2C strategy & disintermediation" and "B2B2C strategy & commissioning model re-design".
Led two 100 day plan investigation initiatives around group sales commissioning (focus CoD, online & retail) and overall marketing spend effectiveness (B2C & B2B/B2B2C) leveraging the marketing excellence framework.
Investigated and/or implemented AI/ML in the area of recommendations (NBO) and CR optimization (personalised and sales optimised descriptions, etc.).
Further selected engagements:**
Executive & employee coach running the European Lean Startup Workshops for an international pharma company as part of a company-wide acculturation program to innovative methods.
CEO, Managing Director
Shore
- Transformed and stabilized a significantly challenged seven-figure ARR B2B SaaS company into a growing business with low churn (<1%), renewed culture and a foreseeable EBITDA break-even.
- Significantly increased NPS from -32 to +35 by changing the leadership approach in product development and introducing "moving the needle" product features such as Insights (Business KPIs), Appointments (Fuzzy Search) and Shift Planning (Templates, Recurring).
- Improved customer journey and increased conversion through hypothesis-driven experimentation focusing on the registration, on-boarding and up-selling process.
- Re-setup complete finance & BI, established state-of-the-art reporting and raised 1.3m€ in equity.
CEO, Founder & Managing Partner
Ideas Enabled
- Served as interim executive at early stage and high growth startups to master complex challenges such as the setup of a global product delivery (70 FTE), the rollout of a new eCommerce platform in more than 10 countries or the product and marketing strategy for a 2-sided business model.
- Spearheaded large digital transformation programs with up to €14m budget including successful project turnarounds and the launch of five mobility service startups for a business innovation unit.
- Advised and coached startups in the area of lean business, customer and product development which contributed to two successful exits of a fashion eCommerce and a B2B SaaS startup.
- Jury member, speaker and coach at renowned startup events such as the Lean Startup Machine.
Head of Architecture & Chief Architect
Vodafone Kabel Deutschland
- Headed the architecture unit, defined business-oriented technology strategy and drove projects to success which contributed to critical product launches such as Video-on-Demand.
- Led the strategic Enterprise SOA and BPM platform introduction from budgeting to rollout resulting in over 300 deployed business services over time and an above benchmark service reuse rate of 2x.
- Mastered the definition and enterprise wide rollout of an Enterprise Architecture Management platform which fostered transparency, increased asset reuse and reduced IT cost by 10%.
- Advised top management and business units with regard to technology strategy and digital innovation management.
Director
Ciao
- Supervised the SW delivery department with 20 members in 3 locations (DE, RO, PL) resulting in increased motivation, cross-location collaboration and successful re-launch of key project “Search”.
Manager
Sapient
- Lead architected the definition of a SOA concept including governance and prototyping for a large Swiss telco which got recognized with a promotion to the Strategic Advisory Board.
- Crafted a .com business strategy for senior client management and led pitch presentations.
- Architected and designed a state-of-the-art mobile connectivity solution for a leading German telco.
- Prepared and executed professional workshops with international and multi-disciplinary participants.
Management Consultant, Solution Architect & Project Manager
BCG - Platinion
- Managed the planning and delivery of a large digitalization initiative for a leading insurance company resulting in a successful Germany-wide rollout cutting business process time by >90%.
- Strategically analyzed IT landscapes and thereby increased business support efficiency, realized cost savings of up to 20% and defined IT architectures for top tier enterprises in diverse industries.
- Spearheaded technology proof-of-concepts and turned proposal pitches into client orders.
- Led internal technology group and played integral role in taking HR processes to the next level.
Senior Technology Consultant
Viant
- Led a community software product evaluation as lead tech for a large UK media company (London).
- Key member in the software architects team for the design of an innovative online trading application based on a multi-tier architecture for the largest European investment bank (London).
- Participated in business development initiatives and conducted client presentations which helped to close deals with two major clients in Germany and UK.
Technology Consultant
Andersen Consulting
- Led a four-member team of senior developers with responsibility for time planning, budgeting, development, QA and rollout of core components at Europe’s first pure-play internet banking startup.
- Analyzed, designed and developed diverse leading edge financial service solutions including share buyback online and a core banking and brokerage platform for the European market.
- Conducted several competitor analyses (benchmarking) as well as market-, product- and technology evaluations and presented insights on international events.
- Trained international staff in Internet Architecture and Technologies at the headquarter of Andersen Consulting in Chicago, USA.
Founder and Managing Director
Mips & Bits Innovative Systems
- Bootstrapped and established an IT system house for SME with six-figure revenue before sale.
- Compiled high end hard- and software systems, conducted trainings and provided support.
Summary
Driven executive with comprehensive hands-on experience in the definition and execution of digital business models in the SaaS and eCommerce industry — all that with a good sense for markets and trends
Thought leader and expert in Lean Startup, agile program delivery, business modeling and digital strategy.
Strong business and technology background combined with excellent communication skills to lead with a strong vision and facilitate between diverse stakeholders across multiple organizational levels
Languages
Education
TUM, HHL, UC Berkeley
Executive MBA in Innovation and Business Creation · Berkeley, United States · A
Technical University Karlsruhe
Diploma in Computer Science · Business and Computer Science · Karlsruhe, Germany · A-
Certifications & licenses
Instructor Accreditation
Startup Pre-Accelerator Program NEXT by Steve Blank
Lean Startup Machine Workshops Accreditation
Lean Startup Machine Workshops
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
ScrumAlliance
Similar Freelancers
Discover other experts with similar qualifications and experience