When I started my MBA, I had no idea that it would mostly be about one thing: building slides. Coming from a BA in Communication Design, I thought I already knew everything about structuring presentations. After all, I had supported pitch decks like Nomitri’s Seed Deck and the gniw.de Fund I pitch, along with countless other business presentations.
Then came Hamburg.
Suddenly, I felt like a consultant. For a project with taz.de, a group of four students and I scraped over 10,000 online newspaper articles, converted the data into Excel, and built 40 slides of in-depth analysis—all while meticulously sticking to the Hamburg Media School’s branding guidelines.
After a year and a dozen more presentations, I had enough.
Instead of just building slides for clients, Marie Stoldt (formerly König) and I became our own clients. We started a company—right in the middle of our MBA. With a shared background in video production, we dove into researching the market for a platform or tool that could bring more structure and fairness to the industry.
And just like that, Konshu was born.
The Idea That Kept Us Going
Inspired by Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon, we structured our startup around the cycles of video production, just as the moon cycles through its phases. Over more than a year, we pushed ourselves beyond the limits of a traditional MBA:
- Built three decks, refining our story with each iteration.
- Developed our first working prototype.
- Learned to code and built our first fully functional website.
- Competed in a business simulation, testing our strategy under pressure.
- Analyzed competitors and market potential to shape our business case.
- Finalized our fourth and final pitch—the one that got us to Slush, one of the biggest startup events in the world.
And there I was—standing at Slush, surrounded by investors, yet not approaching a single one for funding.
Why? Because Konshu was never just about raising money. It was an idea that pushed us further than any classroom ever could.
Was It Worth It?
Absolutely. We may not have founded the next big unicorn, but we played the startup game from start to finish, learned more than any lecture could teach us, and mastered the art of storytelling, strategy, and execution.
And if nothing else, I can say one thing with absolute confidence:
I mastered slides like no one before.
Need help crafting the perfect pitch deck or structuring your next big idea? Let’s connect—I’d love to support your journey.