This is who we are

We are Peter and Karl  and together  we founded this company in 2019. We both  were on the same technical college some three decades ago where we bore the idea to run a business in the US some day. As is usually the case we both went our own paths where my genes drove me, Peter, to start - build & sell businesses around the globe from my first day out of college onwards. Karl on the other hand impressed the banking world with his analytical skills & tech know-how, thus combing the both by designing brilliant processes and leading them through various projects, mainly in Europe and the CIS countries. We have both been successful on different paths, in different businesses, on many spots in the world. Finally - out of the old promise from school time, Karl joined my last recent company and augmented it by taking the COO role. After finally selling this business, we founded some weeks ago a new venture - Acceleration-2 - with THE one and only goal: To find talents with great ideas and realize their dreams together with us, benefiting from our experience, our financial support, our network and sleeve-up / hands-on mentality which we have never lost through all these years. Once selected and committed we want to work with you, sweat with you, share your dreams and fears. And in the end, we either share the success or simply fail - being either rich by cash or experience. Our model is so much different from other investors or incubators: You don't need to prove us a “sophisticated” track record, a fully finished product or the perfect business plan. Simply "Come as you are", believe in your story and be committed. We are not only an investor who plays with other people’s money and let you work on your own. We'll be with you - from the beginning to the exit. 

But now a little more about us:

Karl-Heinz "Carlos"

I have more than 25 years of management experience in different industries such as Banking, Consulting and Mobile Telecommunication. During my career, I have been working for several different national and international companies such as General Electric, Raiffeisen Bank International, Banco Santander and I-New Unified Mobile Solutions. I have been holding different roles from Project and Process Manager, Department Head, Chief Operating Office and Managing Director.

I very much enjoy working with international teams focusing on reaching the best for the customers and the company. Selecting the right people for challenging tasks, using the right tools at the right time and setting the right priorities have always been my biggest skills and assets. I like challenges and undertakings no one else can imagine to be successful.

Together with Peter and other partners, I founded a Mobile Virtual Network Operator in Austria. The MVNO became very successful and due to the quick growth of subscribers, the company attracted the big Mobile Network Operators. In 2018, one of them acquired 100% of the company.

Peter "Nussy"

I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since. Not that I knew myself in my early days. But looking back right now, it was what by instinct I did through all my life - Having an idea, starting a business, growing it, selling it. It has become my bio-rhythm without initially being aware of it. I loved it, still love it and nothing keeps me more satisfied than proving that even on the most competitive market we can succeed over the others. It has become one of my favorite principle: “There is no better market than a competitive one, ‘cause then the market is huge and if we just do better than the others the earning will be great.” Simple as that J

Of course reality shows many burdens and hard work behind it. Challenges waiting to overcome, time consuming little tasks which were considered to be almost neglectable are increasing at the light of speed. On the other hand some fears fade away smoothly, appearing much easier to overcome than thought or planned.

What I want to say is that there is no perfect plan. No perfect business plan, no perfect execution plan. It’s life and we need to be flexible enough to find another route, if the original one turns out not to work as expected. So I like to apply my second principle in such cases “Take a side step, overcome the problem and step back as soon as possible to the original track from where you started from. Do NOT shortcut from the new position to target.” If you’d do so, you would automatically change the strategy and then the risk to fail is extremely high. The product would be different, the “Go to market” strategy would change, the timing, everything changes at that point. All would be different and then it’s like playing Russian roulette. Even me,  saying too  often that planning is a waste of time isn’t supporting such a way of working. Who knows me and my affinity to risk will know what that means. Saying so, it was always worth it so far and also found it's echo in the industry and public. Next to several innovation awards the idea collected in the telco industry, somehow another title found its way to me in 2017: Manager of the Year