From 15 to 16 October, BurdaPrincipal Investments (BPI) took off to Lake Tegernsee: Board Member Martin Weiss and BPI Managing Director Christian Teichmann had invited to the second BPI portfolio conference. For two inspiring days, the BPI teams from Munich, Berlin, London and Singapore were joined by founders and management executives of the portfolio companies, who travelled to Bavaria from various corners of the world, including the US, Asia and Europe. In beautiful autumn weather, the program included presentations, workshops and breakout sessions, a boat trip across Lake Tegernsee and a gondola ride up the Wallberg mountain. A special highlight was an evening with publisher Hubert Burda at Gut Kaltenbrunn.
16 companies, 10 countries, 4 continents
Burda Board Member Martin Weiss opened the conference by welcoming the 45 participants from all over the world:
“We are proud of our diversity at BurdaPrincipal Investments – besides having 40 percent female and 60 percent male founders within our portfolio, we speak seven different native languages across our investment team. We are delighted to welcome you to a truly international portfolio conference.”
Martin Weiss, Burda Board Member
The biennial event aims to facilitate an exchange of ideas and knowledge across the global network of Burda portfolio companies. The team around BPI Managing Director Christian Teichmann currently looks after 16 portfolio companies from ten different countries spread across four continents.
In their hotel room, each participant was treated to a special surprise prepared by the BPI team: a booklet introducing all portfolio companies and their respective founders. The booklet was designed to help participants get to know each other and identify discussion topics.
Bavarian mountains and international guests
The agenda of the conference included topics such as customer loyalty, TV marketing and social media marketing. External guest speakers were also welcomed on stage, among others from UnternehmerTUM who presented on the topic of Applied Artificial Intelligence (Applied AI). In addition, various best practices were presented: Bloom & Wild demonstrated how to measure the success of a TV campaign in real-time, and the founders of Miinto outlined how a focused strategy can significantly increase sales within the existing customer base.
Over dinner at Gut Kaltenbrunn, the attendees also met publisher Hubert Burda, Burda CEO Paul-Bernhard Kallen and Burda Board Member Andreas Rittstieg. In a speech during dinner, Paul-Bernhard Kallen discussed three trends currently affecting the global economy, including a trend toward deglobalization and its impact on the tech industry. The international colleagues and attendees continued the exchange with Burda’s management team into the evening over traditional Bavarian food.
“It was impressive to hear the warmth and care with which Dr. Burda talks about his employees.”
Matt Cooper, CEO of the e-learning platform Skillshare
Two productive conference days beautifully concluded with a gondola ride up the Wallberg and a subsequent dinner in the Wallberghaus.
