Family businesses in dialogue with start-ups at the CAPITAL CITY FORUM

2 February 2023, Berlin. The CAPITAL CITY FORUM organised by the Foundation for Family Businesses brings together young shareholders of family companies with entrepreneurs who have founded their own companies. They talk about key issues of the future: the digital transformation, ownership, new business models, new work and virtual reality.

In January 2023, the participants met at the Kulturbrauerei and Maschinenraum locations in Berlin and visited two start-ups as part of a “digital journey”. Numerous panel discussions with experts, representatives of start-ups and family businesses provided new insights and ideas. The focus was on about personal issues (succession), strategic issues (innovation financing) and practical issues (recruiting).

Michael Binder-Pfaff (second from left) and Lina Gebhardt-Gronbach (second from right) spoke openly about their time as successors in the family business.
Both started out under rather unusual circumstances: Binder-Pfaff was adopted as an adult by the company owner. Gebhardt-Gronbach had initially aspired to do something completely different and studied medicine. Andreas Wiedemann (left) from the law firm Hennerkes, Kirchdörfer & Lorz accompanied the discussion as a legal expert with many years of experience on the advisory boards of numerous family businesses. The discussion was moderated by Stefan Heidbreder (right).

Dr Klaus Hommels, founder and CEO of Lakestar Advisors GmbH (right), discussed innovation financing and the importance of venture capital with this panel (left): Dr Moritz Kübel, CEO of Perpetual Investors GmbH, Florian Schauenburg, Managing Partner of Schauenburg International Group, and Alexander Schemann, Managing Partner of Armira Beteiligungen. The panel was moderated by Madeleine Jahr, Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey. Hommels’ key message: “Our economy needs venture capital to finance the next generation of SMEs.” The representatives of the family offices reported from an investors’ perspective on how they find and achieve their goals and strategies.

Ulrich Dietz (GFT Technologies), Florian Heinemann (Project A Ventures) and Tobias Ragge (HRS) discussed recruiting and the world of work in the digital age with Prof Alwine Mohnen (TU Munich), coming to the conclusion that HR work has become faster, more demanding and more global. Remote workplaces are here to stay and leadership must be redefined and personal responsibility encouraged.

Discussing the future viability of the family business were (from left to right): Moritz Ritter, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Ritter Energie- & Umwelttechnik, Christoph Werner, Chairman of the Management Board of dm drogerie markt GmbH, and Lennart Schulenburg, Managing Partner of VisiConsult X-ray Systems & Solutions. Stefan Heidbreder moderated the panel. Future viability means maintaining growth potential and adapting to change – getting ahead of it. “Revolutionary thinking, but evolutionary action,” said Christoph Werner, by which he meant having revolutionary visions of the future, but not striving for them through sudden upheavals in the company. Employees must be involved in change processes.