So this was my 2015

Short version.

1. I moved in with my girlfriend. And we are still together.
2. I did a Survival Course with Sebi.
3. I donated stem cells to another man.
4. I visited San Francisco and SaaStr.
5. I went to my home town after many years.
6. I participated in my first LARP.
7. I visited Greece, Denmark, France, the US and the UK.
8. I spoke at 3 conferences this year.
9. I managed a bunch of great people and we did some really nice marketing this year.

Longer version

I moved in with my girlfriend. And we are still together.
During the Christmas Holidays last year we decided its time for a new experiment. We now live together. By and large I can say we leave each other enough room to live one individual life. There are discussions about certain things repeatedly but that is normal I guess.


Here we are selling with our booth on the flea market.

I did a Survival Course with Sebi.
Since reading the books of Ruediger Nehberg one of Germany's greatest adventures I was always curious about outdoor survival. I spend quite some times in the woods and hiking but this year we did a serious survival training with a pro (Lars Konarek). Staying warm, finding water and food and learning some basic survival tactics is a manly experience. Earlier in the year we cycled around Lake Constance (at least half of it). Not to speak about our wellness weekend we did later this year. Real men.


The early bird eats the...


I donated stem cells to someone in southern Europe.
In July I received a letter from the German DKMS which is a data base for registered potential stem cell donators. They had a match who needed stem cells to cure his leukemia. So I was allowed to increase someones chances to survive leukemia. It’s really hard for the patients to find a donator because of all the requirements the donator must fit in. Please register at your countries data base to increase the probability of finding the right match one by one. Spinal cord needles and stuff is just a myth and bullshit. The procedure for the donator is easy going and they take the cells from your blood. Stop reading - find the data base for your country and register now!


Before the donation I was checked one day by doctors. 

I visited San Francisco and SaaStr.
My first time on the west coast and I went there to see the city and attend the first SaaS Annual Strategy Conference (SaaStr). A conference about SaaS Startups and Sales. The motto was funny 'How to get from 0 to 100 million $. With less stress‘. I used the learnings in our marketing programs this year and could definetly benefit from it (follow Jason Lemkin if you are in the SaaS industry). Very cool event. San Francisco is fantastic and I met super-nice people and enjoyed visiting Alcatraz, hanging out in the City Light Booksellers, and at Tonys Pizza. Now my oldest and probably smartest friend moved to the Bay Area. More opportunity to visit the west coast.


Beautiful city and very exciting to be in the US again. I'd love to live here for a while.

I went to my home town after many years.
In summer my Grandfather became 80. For his birthday we went up to the north and I realized how beautiful Stralsund (Germany) became. Beach, sun and family was a nice combination. My grandparents are in really good shape and I can learn alot from them. Like living a healthy good life: 1. Have routines (especially eating), 2. move your body (my grandma attends dancing lessons every week at age 79), 3. think of what you want and not what other people think you should want, 4. care about new technology (my grandpa is super curious and a computer genius but can’t share his hobby with his friends as they are not so much into the topic). They are hyper-realistic which means they are organized and wise in their expectations and know that they have to work for what they want.


As a child I came here with pencils and paper to draw the lighthouse of Hiddensee.

I participated in my first LARP.
Oh dear, that was fun. I always wanted to attend a LARP for a couple of years now and this year I picked a the role of an oriental character. This was the Disney version of mystical oriental time - with real camels and snakes. The people that organized it are fantastic and the players were so open and inviting. New hobby. Yeah!




I visited Greece, Denmark, France, USA and the UK in 2015.
Business travel and private trips led me to 5 countries. Could be more next year but was great. 




I spoke at 3 events in Germany.
In my role as the marketing director at fact-finder.com I'm sometimes speaking at events. This year at the DMEXCO, Internet World and EuroCIS. I speak about cases we have build for the retail industry and insights on how retailers benefit from onsite-search, data and predictive technologies. I was nervous like hell every time even though I really like public speaking. But it's getting better everytime I do it. So this was the story that was most uncomfortable.



In my job I executed a shit load of tasks with the team to achieve the company goals.
Well, the team is extremely smart and competent so my part is easy. We relaunched the .com site, held our customer conference, and got leads for all the countries.

Stupidest thing this year?
I invested in Oil which probably was a bad idea. 

:D So what’s next… Now the polar bears can come.
So exciting.

"May you all be happy. May you all build a happy and interesting life. May you work on your execution-muscle again and again. May you all strive for happiness and peace. May you all be happy."