Dusseldorf/Berlin According to information from the Handelsblatt, the Federal Association of German Startups will have a new chairperson. After almost four years as CEO, Christian Miele does not want to run for honorary post again. Verena Pausder is to follow the venture capitalist. The well-known entrepreneur wants to stand for election at the next general meeting at the end of the year. The decision is considered a formality.
The 44-year-old explained on Tuesday when asked: “The start-up association, chaired by Christian Miele, has achieved great things in recent years – start-ups are more visible in public and in politics than ever before.” Her motivation is to continue on this path and to set “new impulses for Germany as a business location”.
Pausder, who is one of the best-known faces in the start-up scene, is following in big footsteps. For Christian Miele, however, “with her broad experience and large network” she is “the absolute ideal person for this task”, as he says. For this reason he will “strongly” support her election. She stands for “entrepreneurial passion and the will to actively work for the future viability of Germany as a business location”.
Verena Pausder: With women’s football in the direction of the Bundesliga
Pausder recently attracted nationwide attention when he joined the Berlin football club FC Viktoria. Together with five other women entrepreneurs and top managers, she took over the club’s women’s team last July. The declared goal is the first Bundesliga. The team should prove that women’s football is a business case and can be just as attractive and lucrative as men’s.
A first step has already been taken: the team became champions of the Regionalliga Nordost this season and is playing for promotion to the second division.
>> Read more here: Top manager: “We are cracking the last male bastion”
In terms of entrepreneurship, Pausder has made a name for itself above all in the education sector. In 2012, together with Moritz Hohl, she founded the children’s app developer Fox & Sheep, which was taken over by the toy manufacturer Haba in 2015 for a double-digit million amount.
Pausder is also socially and politically involved in the topic. In 2017 she founded the association Digital Education for All. During the pandemic, she initiated the educational hackathon “#wirfürschule”. Last year she launched the website “digitale-lernangebote.de” to give schools and parents transparency and orientation in this area. The mother of three has also made a name for herself as an author. Her book “Das Neue Land” became a “Spiegel” bestseller.
She contributes her experience to the advisory board of the Bielefeld textile company Delius, which has belonged to her family since 1722, and to the logistics service provider Röhlig.
By joining Viktoria Berlin, a group of female investors attracted nationwide attention.
(Photo: dpa)
She has been a sought-after investor in the start-up scene for years. As a business angel, she is involved in companies such as the education provider Edurino, the pocket money app Bling and the e-bike subscription service Dance, but also in venture capitalists such as Auxxo and the World Fund. Her podcast Fast & Curious, in which she talks to Amorelie founder Lea-Sophie Cramer about entrepreneurship, founders and investments, is one of the most well-known in the scene.
>>Read more about this here: Lea-Sophie Cramer becomes a consultant at US financial investors KKR
Your diverse interests and commitments are likely to be in demand at the German Start-up Association. “It’s the best moment to go. The start-up association is incredibly strong and ready to start the next step,” says the 36-year-old Miele about the association, which includes 1,200 start-ups, scale-ups and investors.
The scion of the entrepreneurial family of the same name has given the association new weight in recent years. Now he wants to devote himself more to his venture capitalist Headline.
Facilitate employee participation for start-ups
In his function, Miele was an important dialogue partner for politicians and provides its own impetus, for example in the specialist debate or on the subject of employee participation. The association was recently able to record an important success here. At the presentation of the German Start-up Awards, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced that he intends to bring the Future Financing Act, which among other things increases the exemption for employee participation, into the federal cabinet “by the summer”.
On May 11, the head of the association hosted the German Start-up Awards for the last time.
(Photo: Getty Images)
In order to strengthen the external impact of the start-up association, a good network and a lot of lobbying skills are needed. Pausder, who has already been traded as a candidate for the post of digital minister in the past, has both.
The association wants to achieve some changes in the Skilled Immigration Act for start-ups so that companies can find experts from abroad more easily. Immigration from third countries is to be simplified and accelerated and processes at the embassies are to be digitized.
She should have the support of her predecessor. Because Miele wants to stay connected to the association: “I’m a native of an industry in which I was able to find my professional home. It is therefore perfectly clear to me that I will continue to do everything I can to make Germany the world market leader for start-ups.”
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