Founder's Associate

Hey, I’m Dan

I thrive in early-stage chaos where speed, ambiguity, and constant change are the norm. I’ve just exited a company I co-founded and led as CEO (€2.5M revenue, 1,100 clients, 14-person team). I built the reporting, the CRM systems, and the automations that the company is still running.

CEF is looking exactly for what I want to do next—work beside the CEO, turn strategy into execution, and build the growth/ops engine (CRM, dashboards, outreach, recruiting, tight processes). By applying my master of the newest tools, AI and automation where it matters, I'll chase whatever drives revenue while learning fastest.
‍
With my recent exit, I will add value as a Founder Associate from the day one—no extensive onboarding needed. I’m used to wearing multiple hats, building processes from zero. I’m ready to be the founder’s right hand while we scale into the future.

Watch Intro Loom video

Highlights

To my CV

Relevant Work Experience

Cofounder & Joint CEO: SEO Marketplace: Linkbroker.io

03/2023 - 06/2025
Bonn, Germany
  • Cofounded and built Linkbroker.io from "0 to 1" €2.5M revenue, 1,100 clients, and 14 employees, owning product vision and execution at every stage.
  • Turned user pain points (from interviews, support, internal data) into MVPs. Reponsible for the top-selling product (23% of sales): owned UI/UX, led dev & created fulfilment & support processes
  • Led and coordinated interdisciplinary teams (engineering, design, marketing, etc.) under time pressure—ensuring on-time delivery and high quality.
  • Drove in-depth market and user research to spot opportunities, validate features, and guide rapid iteration
  • Led cross-functional teams (dev, design, ops) to ship products quickly, improve delivery times, and boost customer satisfaction
  • Developed dynamic pricing (algorithmic, automated market monitoring)—boosted margins 17%, eliminated manual pricing
  • Created actionable product roadmaps and managed launches end-to-end under tight deadlines
  • Built live financial dashboards—enabled real-time, data-driven decisions, saving 45 minutes/day in manual reporting
  • Designed and scaled workflows & SOPs, trained teams, and set up new functions (Ops, CRM, Customer Success) from zero
  • Automated onboarding, hiring, CRM, and fulfilment—cut manual work, saved two+ hires, and improved NPS
  • Heavy user of no-code/low-code tools (Zapier, Make, Gumloop); hired and managed external devs for custom solutions

Solo Entrepreneur, Freelance Designer: Designdan.london

05/2016 - Present
London, UK & Bonn, Germany
  • Delivered 175+ strategic design solutions for B2B clients—ideating, pitching, executing, and launching projects solo and within teams
  • Built structure and clarity in a fast-moving, remote work setting—made key decisions quickly and executed hands-on with a founder’s mindset.
  • Maintained a relentless commitment to high standards, improving designs and processes to deliver measurable client results.
  • Clear communication of complex ideas: Developed and presented solutions to diverse stakeholders—translating complexity into actionable steps.

Campaign Producer at DigitalVoices London

07/2022 - 11/2022
London, UK

Managed and executed YouTube campaigns, sourcing and negotiating with creators, testing their channels and track results to decide further collaboration

Deputy Team Lead at REWE Group (part-time)

08/2013 – 12/2015
Bonn, Germany

Managed shift planning, supervised teams, ensured quality control, and served as the primary contact for a staff of 10+.

Key Strengths

  • Founder with €2.4M/year revenue track record
  • AI-native operator using ChatGPT/Cursor/automation daily to remove busywork
  • Fast & creative at moving from idea to MVP by picking the leanest way to validate (smoke, video, concierge, whatever fits)
  • GTM from scratch—cold outreach, landing pages, early pipeline and loops
  • Automated reporting—building dashboards, notifications, and real-time alert systems
  • Process automation and scaling for onboarding, hiring, and operations using Zapier, Make etc. and external devs for tailored solutions
  • Thrive in ambiguity—lived in 4 countries, speak 3 languages
  • 10+ years as a designer—do UI/UX and branding; pitch decks etc. (Adobe Certified)

Operating Style

  • I lean on up-to-date tools, keyboard shortcuts, and automation instead of routine work
  • Rather do it right the first time (not perfect) than redo sloppy work
  • Constant feedback loops with users and the team so everyone stays aligned from
  • I stay close to users, listen carefully, and test ideas in the market immediately

Education

BA (Hons) Advertising, UAL - University of the Arts London

08/2019 - 06/2022
London, UK
  • Conducted countless interviews to gain insights about the target audience
  • Responding with a creative idea and strategy to client briefs
  • Shooting and producing content for print, TV, radio etc.
  • Researching, creating and writing numerous strategic briefs
  • Writing press releases and finding media contacts

A-levels/German Abitur with focus on Media Design

09/2018 - 04/2019
Bonn, Germany

Media Design School

07/2015 - 07/2018
Bonn, Germany
  • Design & visual communication (print & digital)
  • Concept development & presentation
  • Fundamentals of graphic design (theory & practice)

Woodland Hills Academy, Middle school, Los Angeles, USA

09/2007 - 06/2009
Los Angeles, USA

Elementary School, Poland

09/2004 - 08/2007
Swidnica, Poland

Interests

  • New tech, no-code, and AI tools
  • Business building, Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurship literature (see below)
  • Digital innovation, SaaS Ideas
  • Testing user acquisition funnels
  • Cold email experiments
  • Organizing and hosting events & meetups
  • Cross-cultural experiences
  • Product innovation, iteration
  • Market validation & user research (love the hunt for insights)

Languages & Diverse

  • MeetUps & Events: Organised freelancing events with over 60 participants
  • International experience: Lived in 4 countries, worked in 2, culturally open, values diversity and highly adaptable
  • Languages: German (A-levels/Abitur), English (bilingual, 1.5 years US, 5 years England), Polish (bilingual)

Testimonials

"Daniel was responsible for projects—from market and competitor research to product development and automation, all the way through to successful rollouts; [...] His client focus was outstanding: he identified problems directly, developed innovative solutions, and incorporated feedback into further development; The internationalization and communication infrastructure were his responsibility—everything was set up to be scalable and multilingual;  [...]  From product ideation, through design and testing, to continuous improvement, Daniel independently managed the entire product development process;  [...]  He led development teams, delegated tasks, and set priorities to ensure efficient and successful releases;  [...]  Daniel always thinks strategically, acts hands-on, and works across departments;  [...] I can recommend him to any founder or managing director looking for a true co-creator for demanding projects."

Julian Kirfel
Linkbroker Shareholder,
Former CEO of ISC AG

Linkbroker.io has 90 Reviews and a TrustScore of 4.8—5 of 5 stars

Trustpilot Reviews
Trustpilot

Daniel has 59 Reviews and an average score of 5.0

Freelance Reviews
Fiverr

Favourite Books

Let’s build this together.
Reach out today!

E-Mail meSchedule a meeting