Erik Heinelt is one of the leading startup entrepreneurs. He has started and run internet startups on three continents and “Wirtschaftswoche” rated him one of the leaders of the startup-scene.
Heinelt (born 1987) studied at European Business School in Reutlingen and started his career at Rocket Internet AG, where he successfully expanded the Zalando business-model to Japan and Brazil. In 2012 Erik founded Tirendo, one of the leading online automotive after-sales retailers in Europe, together with Felix Vögtle. Within one year Tirendo had more than 100 employees and expanded into more than ten countries. In 2013 competitor Delticom bought the company for 50 million Euros.
Since leaving Tirendo in 2014, Heinelt gives lectures at European Business School in Reutlingen – the “most entrepreneurial university course in Germany”. He is co-founder and board member of the German Startup Association (Bundesverband Deutscher Startups), founded in 2012 to give startups a voice in German society and politics. He is committed to tear down barriers for entrepreneurs in Germany and shape an environment in which ideas and startups can flourish. This also includes building bridges between startups, “Mittelstand” and blue chip companies. In 2015 he founded askCharlie, an online marketplace for local services, once again together with Felix Vögtle.
Heinelt regularly delivers keynote speeches about entrepreneurship and technology and hosts lectures at Tech universities. He is a sought-after and experienced speaker and a devoted entrepreneur. His personal credo is “entrepreneurship is the key to changing the world’s problems: successful entrepreneurs solve big problems to make a better world.”
