Quote from Barack Obama, a great communicator:

"People vote not so much based on policy, not even based on facts, they vote on stories. I became president, frankly, because I told a pretty good story about what America could be and should be."

What Obama said about political elections applies just as much to economic elections ("who chooses which product"). Every product, every service needs a story. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs are therefore either great storytellers, or they surround themselves with great storytellers.

Good storytelling is based on solid principles. We believe in the 4C’s - Care, Consistency, Creativity, Credibility - consistent and credible messages formulated with maximum care and creative courage. This creates narratives which, in the best case, become unforgettable.

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Making brands unforgettable is what we do.

To this end, we have these offerings.

• Unforgettable Brand Building, Positioning, Creating Perception
• Unforgettable Employer Branding
• Unforgettable Internal and Change Communication
• Unforgettable content creation for social media, media relations
• Unforgettable Reputation Management, Crisis Communication
• Unforgettable C-Level Branding. Developing personal branding and thought leadership at executive level. If desired, including aspects of corporate law, personal goals and life planning in alignment with the company's business plan; discussion of exit and divestment processes; personal risk management as well as follow-on projects.

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Entrepreneurs need other entrepreneurs as sparring partners. Unlike typical consultancies, we are more approachable, cost-conscious and have the necessary hands-on mentality while providing all the strategic tools.

What we do? We support companies - with a focus on SMEs and start-ups - in all strategic areas. With our entrepreneurial experience, we know the pain points as well as efficient problem-solving strategies. Ultimately, however, no two problems and no two businesses are exactly the same. That is why we listen carefully to find the right solutions together, with empathy and expertise.

We like the term Business Buddy because it expresses personal closeness and trust. We could also call it advisory board or mentorship - at the end of the day, it's about having a reliable contact person who can lend a hand with experience and expertise to set the course for entrepreneurial success.

Still sounding a bit theoretical? We make our range of services tangible with the following five categories.

• Fundamentals

  - 4 strategy reviews per year, analysis and discussion of business planning and business development
  - Regular bench-marking of best practices across sectors and industries. Meaning: Not just observing how direct competitors might do it, but concrete skills transfer. Example: Agile development methods from mechanical engineering are applied to service companies. In other words: Outside the box positioning and definition of the real USP for the company, not just improving the status quo step by step.
  - Connecting established companies (SMEs) with young founders (start-ups) in order to combine the best approaches from both worlds.
  - Joint analysis of target-performance deviations, of a catalogue of measures for the next quarter.
  - Networking with pre-qualified service partners necessary for the current business phase.

• Financials

  - Establishment of integrated financial planning in cooperation with internal accounting / controlling. - Support with all capital measures (equity: capital increase, search for new equity providers, up to IPO // FK admission) banking contacts and communication coaching. In addition, innovative instruments such as the sale of receivables (factoring) via platforms, ABL and SLB constructions, crowdsourcing (among others). - Support in capital market communication, not only ad-hoc, but also communication with (silent) shareholders, banks, leasing companies, debt buyers, trade credit insurers etc.

• Mediation, stakeholder communication

  - Regular moderation of the exchange between all stakeholders (shareholders, employees, workers council/trade unions, creditors, customers, neighbours, political parties) and mediation in case of conflicts.
  - Establishment of an advisory board as an internal point of contact for employees.

• Lighthouse

  - Functioning as advisory board (possibly also supervisory board) in external and official communications.
  - Strengthening the corporate brand through professional appointments in Corporate Governance, adding gravitas and trust in the professional structure and size of the business.

• R&D

  - Continuous evaluation of the development pipeline in terms of feasibility, marketability and progress, in close exchange beyond commercial issues with the product and development managers.
  - Best practice in rapid prototyping, product development methodology.

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Clearly, when it comes to filling key positions, knowledge of human nature, network and experience are of central importance. Carsten Hackstein has the experience of hundreds of projects and thousands of interviews.

At the same time, it also requires crystal-clear processes that are tailored to the searching company.

• Search 1: Old school

  The HR department has established a candidate profile and developed a target company list, but active sourcing has not led to any hiring so far.

  What do we do?

  Based on the target list, we take over the initial approach and make phone calls to the most promising candidates in order to convince them - if they are suitable - to make a change. The good old headhunter approach (personal approach at the workplace) is experiencing a renaissance due to the sometimes low response rates on LinkedIn and Xing.

• Search 2: Active Sourcing

  There is no real HR department, but there is a functioning interview process.

  What do we do?

  In this case we create target company lists, start the active sourcing process and provide our clients with CV's and profiles of the best candidates.

• Search 3: Classic Executive Search

  A key position is to be filled without making the search public.

  What do we do?

  In a classic search project, we cover the whole process: target company lists, identification, documentation, face-to-face interviews, reporting, regular feedback on project status, precise analysis of suitability, onboarding.

• Search 4: B2B Company Building

  B2B Company Building

  What do we do?

  We don't sit on the powerful knowledge of 20 years of executive search, we focus on skills transfer and support everyone in the field of executive search, headhunters, personnel consultants or lone wolves who are ready for change and want to go to the next level.
  What do we do?
  We help build the right structures and make the right decisions. This includes branding; positioning; addressing target groups; remuneration models; differentiation features; project and quality management; team leadership; role definition at different levels (founder, managing director, partner, consultant, head of research, consultant); acquisition strategies; interview management; networks etc. In short: all the essential criteria to set the course for success.

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