Entrepreneur Meetup: Stefan Koenig of Hull

Stefan Koenig is the Co-founder and CEO of Hull.io. Stefan started his career 15+ years ago as an engineer and progressed through multiple technical positions eventually settling into a business role. He most recently assisted two European tech companies to jumpstart their North American Business Operations; the organization was acquired by SAP as one of the first 3 cloud acquisitions to fuel SAP’s cloud strategy. Post acquisition, Stefan led SAP Cloud sales for NA & LAC region.

On June 27, he joined David Cummings and a packed house of fellow SaaS professionals to share valuable advice for hungry founders and entrepreneurs.

“Sales and marketing teams will go get a SaaS service before IT can serve them internally which creates the need for Hull.”

On His Journey

Stefan had to pivot twice before he came across success with Hull. He learned a lot about himself on his journey and the people around him. Some advice for entrepreneurs:

• Passion and ownership are the first step needed when you want to grow your own company.
• Make sure you have enough money saved — once you leave the corporate world, your paycheck gets cut.
• Know you will be tested and you will get to know yourself a lot better.
• It’s not a guarantee that you’ll find a space in the market right away.
• If you’re raising money, put yourself in the shoes of a VC — they are looking for any red flag. It’s about the team, the market, and timing!

Be Relentless. Stay Focused.

“As an entrepreneur, you are tested daily. You have to make serious decisions. You will get to know yourself so much better than you ever thought.”

“Don’t give up. You cannot give up. It’s better to have a ‘NO’ than NOTHING at all, because that helps you move on.”

Team, product, market, and timing are key.

Photos by Luke Beard