Meister

<p><i><strong>Clemens Weidenbach took over as CEO of Meister in December 2022. 50inTech meets a young, modern leader with strong ethics. Together we discuss his views on leadership and his plans for the future of the company.</strong></i></p><h2>Clemens Weidenbach, CEO of Meister: Here to Serve</h2><p>Clemens Weidenbach is a modern type of CEO. We begin the interview with his young child on his lap and a puppy in the background. After studying economics and law, he started out in investment banking and venture capital, before moving into the operational side of business. He even grew his own business for a few years, then served as CFO at JIMDO for four years before joining Meister, again as CFO.</p><p>At the request of the co-founders, he took over as CEO of Meister in December 2022. He felt that the company was ready for the next steps and immediately put his plans into action. Together, we look back on a transformative year.</p><h2>A Friendly Takeover</h2><p>I joined Meister in 2022 as the new CFO. At the time, the company wasn’t in the best shape. Growth was going down and costs were going up: obviously, that’s never a good position to be in.&nbsp;</p><h3>From Michael and Till to Clemens</h3><p>I immediately established a very trusting relationship with the cofounders and then co-CEOs Michael Hollauf and Till Vollmer. They encouraged me to take on a number of executive responsibilities upon my arrival. At the time, Michael and Till had run the business together for almost 16 years.</p><p>There’s certainly beauty in bicephalous management, but ultimately the system self-limits. It’s impossible to always share the same vision and you end up making many compromises, and too often. Additionally, the situation may result in a lack of clear direction for operations on the ground.</p><p>Both sensed that Meister was ready for some radical change in leadership, but neither was keen to take on the CEO position alone. We had a very open discussion about the direction the company was heading. Because the three of us had bonded instantly, they knew they wanted me to step in. Clearly, the board had to agree: after what almost felt like a new recruitment process, I was asked to take over as the CEO of Meisterlabs.</p><h3>A New Era for Meister&nbsp;</h3><p>After 16 years of rather organic growth, it was time to impulse some new dynamics in the organization. We went through an exercise, attempting to characterize, redefine almost, our culture and values. Not literally, because Meister is grounded on strong values to begin with. But in a way, we wanted to derive the company’s values from the reality of our behaviour, using what the people at Meister believe in and thrive for.&nbsp;</p><p>In the end, we agreed on five core values, the ones that truly matter to us:&nbsp;</p><ol><li>Customer empathy. We design our products with the clientele at the heart of our process. We want to offer them ease of use, efficiency and beauty.</li><li>Iteration at speed. Take risks, make bets, fail early and fast. Rinse and repeat and learn from it. We want to create an environment where people feel comfortable enough not to be afraid to try things.</li><li>Inclusion. That’s how Meister was set up from the very beginning anyway. It’s been a trait of the Meister spirit all along, and it’s absolutely one of our foundational values.</li><li>Ambition. We make dreamy products and we’re here for the win.</li><li>Simplicity. From internal processes to the end product, we want to keep things simple at Meister. We aim for ‘perfect simplicity’.&nbsp;</li></ol><h2>Work. Beautifully. Together</h2><p>Find me one company in the world that doesn’t face DEIB challenges. For us, it was the lack of diversity at the C-levels and board level. That’s always a risky situation, especially when your workforce is actually diverse with more than 40% female share. That was the environment I landed in but we’re in the process of changing this and we’re making progress. We must, because without diversity in leadership, how can we make the best decisions for a modern firm?</p><h3>Facing DEIB challenges</h3><p>The key to success in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is education. Educating company employees ensures that these concerns are part of their decision-making process. It starts there. One of my first actions as CEO was to encourage the creation of a DEI and Belonging working group. I deliberately stood outside. I did, because I felt that due to my background and, of course, my role at Meister, my presence would prevent the group from showing independence of mind. I feared it would shut down the necessary conversation and undermine their efforts.</p><p>In retrospect, while I meant well and thought, at the time, that it was the right path, it ultimately caused them to slow their dynamics. They felt that they lacked the means and decision-making power. It was a huge learning experience. Today, our People and Culture team stepped in, so we can ensure these topics are part of our broader business agenda and are properly resourced and staffed. We’ve built a very diverse and lively group and, combined with some changes in our hiring and recruiting processes, this is truly having a profound impact on the realities of Meister. And this will become even more visible over time…</p><h3>Diversity: A Pool of Talents</h3><p>We’re constantly progressing to welcome more and more women into the company and our KPIs prove it. We have carefully ‘unbiased’ our recruitment process.</p><p>We work with organizations and job platforms that promote women. We select our hiring managers very carefully for the greatest possible diversity. It’s a good approach to reduce the risk of our recruitment processes being tainted by unconscious bias. Also, the way we structure our procedures allows for a very objective evaluation of candidates.&nbsp;</p><p>At Meister, nearly 40 different nationalities interact and work together: people from all Europe, like&nbsp;Spain, the UK, Italy, Slovakia, Germany, and others. We also have team members in the USA, in India, in Egypt… All are incredibly talented and all their differences and cultural backgrounds define Meister’s identity.</p><h3>Values Over Money, Always</h3><p>Ultimately, regardless of gender or background, working at Meister is truly about values. If you can align with ours, you have your place within the company. Some people won’t share our vision and values, and that’s okay. However, they can’t expect to fit in. Because our values are our strength, you shouldn’t just accept them, but embrace them. Everything else is negotiable, our collective values aren’t.</p><p>It all goes back to how Meister was created in the beginning: Meister was founded by individuals in Munich, Vienna and Romania. English was the chosen language of communication from the get-go, which allowed people from around the world to join. Our remote work policies also greatly encourage diversity and cultural openness within the company, but really, open-mindedness and inclusivity were in the DNA of our organization from the start. You can feel it and breathe it at any given moment.&nbsp;</p><p>Meister is almost organically driven by its strong ethics. From the top of the organization to our sales team. We don’t just provide beautiful products to our customers. In a way, we want to offer beautiful products to good people. We consistently align our business goals with our values of tolerance and togetherness. And this philosophy is shared throughout the workforce at Meister.</p><h2>The Way Ahead&nbsp;</h2><p>I don’t feel the pressure of being Meister’s CEO. I studied law and economics and my background is anchored in the business side of things. I came with a very numbers-oriented mind to a highly creative company. This is my strength, but I’m very aware of my shortcomings. I surround myself with people who bring these other qualities to the table.</p><h3>CEO of Meister: Not the Be-All and End-All</h3><p>The key to Meister’s future lies in having the right individuals, in the right place, at the right time. I work with a fantastic group of people, and we all play as one team. We all ‘bear the crown’, in a sense, together. We’re building a system that can function irrespective of me being there or not, and doesn’t depend on a single person, a single leader. I have a clear vision of my role as CEO: I’m here to empower all our teams around the world, to get everyone on board, in this phase of our development. I’m proud to lead Meister into this new era.</p><h3>The Future of Meister</h3><p>I have, we have big ambitions for Meister. To begin with, we want to position ourselves as leaders of the European workplace management market. We’re in a very good situation to achieve this. Europe is our home ground, while most of our competitors are based in other regions of the world. We know our territory from the inside out, we know the habits and codes, and we have a deep understanding of our customers.</p><p>Right now, we’ve set the wheels in motion. We’re creating momentum that will generate a myriad of business opportunities in the near future. Because it’s all moving so quickly, the last few months have been very demanding on everyone in the company, but the most recent developments show clear signs of our winning dynamic.</p><p>In a short time, we’ve reached new heights, and we’re about to touch the sky. The Meister story began with two people and one vision: to create SaaS products that people love to use. Today, we’re a company of more than 150 people and, together, we keep growing. I’m amazed by the teams I work with; they continue to impress me every day…&nbsp;</p><p>I don’t know what the future holds for me. I’m very open to the flow of life, and if I’ve contributed to building a functional and self-sustaining ecosystem, I’ll have achieved my goal. <strong>For now, Meister is my mission. As long as I’m needed and I feel I’m the right man for the job, I’ll be there, and happy to serve.</strong></p>

Clemens Weidenbach: A New Era for Meister

Julien Londeix