Philipp Herrmann
Let's build STARTUP GERMANY together!
„Decision beats compromise. Focus beats hype. Execution beats ideas.”
Philipp Herrmann
About
Philipp Herrmann is Co-Founder and Managing Director of BRYCK, one of Germany’s leading innovation and startup hubs, and a key driver of STARTUP GERMANY.
His mission: shaping the future competitiveness and resilience of Germany and Europe. His focus: Building high-performance teams of entrepreneurs and innovators who can launch and scale high-impact tech companies on the market.
He advocates a modern German entrepreneurial mindset that is pragmatic, progressive, collaborative and relentlessly execution-driven.
A serial entrepreneur and Stanford MBA, Philipp Herrmann brings more than 20 years of experience in building and scaling companies.
He co-founded etventure, which was later acquired by EY, and went on to build BRYCK, Germany’s newly designated Startup Factory in the Ruhr region, backed by the multi-billion RAG-Stiftung.
His most recent success: Creating Germany’s official Startup Factory BRYCK Startup Alliance, backed by regional universities and major corporate players.
Philipp Herrmann on stage
Philipp Herrmann draws on his own entrepreneurial success story. Over the past 15 years, Philipp Herrmann has worked closely with C level leaders across industries, VC investors in Europe and the US, and thought leaders in research and politics.
Drawing on this broad range of experience, Philipp Herrmann regularly shares his insights as a speaker at leading startup and innovation events such as Hinterland of Things, Bits and Pretzels and Web Summit.
Topics & perspectives
Shaping the Future of Europe
Philipp deeply cares about the future-readiness of our economy and society. His mission is to build and support companies that will ensure Europe’s and Germany's competitiveness and resilience in a highly volatile world.
Building Entrepreneurial Teams
Philipp is a team builder - both for his own companies and for founders who trust in his advice. His aim is alywas to create high-perfomance teams who put ambitious visions into results-driven execution.
Empowering Industry Transformation
Philipp is driving outside-in innovation strategies and their execution. He empowers executives and companies that have set out to transform their business model and build a future-proof organization.
Book publication
In his book Gründerzeiten, Philipp Herrmann and co-author Christian Lüdtke explore entrepreneurial leadership in times of disruption. They bring together voices from business, science, and society to examine innovation, responsibility, and future-ready entrepreneurship in Germany and Europe. The book combines personal founding stories with strategic insights, offering orientation for decision-makers, founders, and those shaping transformation across organizations and ecosystems.
Background
Philipp Herrmann brings more than a decade of experience as an entrepreneur, executive, and advisor in innovation, startups, and ecosystem development. His career spans founding and scaling companies, advising corporates and startups, and building platforms that connect entrepreneurship with industry, science, and policy.
Roles and positions:
- Since 2022: Co-Founder & Managing Director, BRYCK
- Since 2024: Advisory Board Member, Baden Campus
- Since 2012: Admissions Interviewer, Stanford University
- Since 2010: Founder & CEO, Radical Innovation GmbH
- 2017–2021: Partner, EY
- 2010–2021: Founder & CEO, etventure
