Our Team

With BayStartUP, Carsten Rudolph heads the central institution for company formation and financing in Bavaria.

As CEO of BayStartUP, he has been shaping the company’s development from the competition to the current range of products and services since 2009. He has many years of experience in startups and tech companies; his professional career has included corporations such as Microsoft, McKinsey & Co., Siemens AG, netzwerk nordbayern and an e-health startup. He studied and received his doctorate in electrical engineering at the TU Berlin. Dr. Rudolph teaches as professor for entrepreneurship at the TH Nuremberg.

Christoph Rommel is a member of the management board and is responsible for the Industrial Cooperation division at BayStartUP. He supports established companies in working successfully with startups, learning from startups, setting up the right structures for cooperation and implementing startup methods, including the conceptual implementation of corporate startups.

Adrian Altomari is in charge of the coaching activities that BayStartUP offers throughout Bavaria in cooperation with the digital incubators. He is also a start-up coach in the digital incubators and supports the start-ups in growth-oriented business development.

Thyra Andresen manages the communication activities at BayStartUP. 

Alexandra Bellanova manages the marketing activities at BayStartUP.

Tobias Bladowski is head of the Business Plan Competition Northern Bavaria of BayStartUP and startup coach. He coordinates all competition activities as well as the associated workshop programme in Franconia and the Upper Palatinate. Here he is also the contact person for jurors and participant teams.

Kerstin Bombös is the first point of contact for startups that would like to apply for BayStartUP financing coaching and for companies looking for startup and growth capital.

Fabian Brunner is Startup Coach in Munich and coordinates the three southern Bavarian Business Plan competitions of BayStartUP. He is taking care of all competition activities in Upper Bavaria, Swabia and Lower Bavaria as well as the corresponding business planning workshops in the respective administrative districts. He is also the contact person for jurors and teams participating in the competitions. In addition, he manages the BayStartUP Go! incubator program in Munich.

Together with Carolin Plagmann and Alexandra Grafwallner, Barbara Dombay manages BayStartUP's investor network for the presentation of finance-ready startups to investors. Her focus is mainly on the exchange and networking with institutional investors, i.e. VCs, corporate VCs and public VCs. She is the contact person for institutional investors and is responsible for matching startups in suitable formats and for maintaining and expanding the network.

Kristin Dubois organizes online tutorials in cooperation with BayStartUP's partners and takes care of startup relations and the realization of further online events in the back office.

Together with Barbara Dombay and Carolin Plagmann, Alexandra Grafwallner manages BayStartUP's investor network for presenting startups that are ready for financing to investors. Her focus is predominantly on the exchange and network maintenance with private investors, i.e. business angels and family offices. She is the contact person for private investors and is responsible for matching startups in suitable formats as well as maintaining and expanding the network. She is expected to be on parental leave until October 2023 - please contact Barbara Dombay.

Annemarie Grund is a startup coach and supports founders both in the BayStartUP financial coaching and in the digital incubators. At BayStartUP she also supports the conception and implementation of cooperation activities between startups and established companies. Together with our partners from Invest in Bavaria, she also decides on the admission and support of foreign startups in the "Ois Easy" startup program.

Silvia Grimm-Mühlbauer is our contact person for the entire area of accounting and human resources, both for BayStartUp GmbH and for the Fördervereine Innovatives Unternehmertum. Her area of responsibility also includes the internal processing of grant applications and correspondence with the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Janin Herkrath is a start-up coach and supports founders as part of the BayStartUP financing coaching and in the digital incubators.

As an ecosystem developer, Harald Hubert is expanding our network contacts, especially in Northern Bavaria, and is the contact person for startup institutions in cooperation and joint activities. He also coaches startups in BayStartUP financial coaching and in the digital incubators.

Natascha Jayakody at BayStartUP is responsible for the organization, partner and service provider management of the award events, Startup Demo Nights, investor conferences and the many other event formats.

Together with Barbara Dombay, Carolin Plagmann manages BayStartUP's investor network for presenting startups that are ready for financing to investors. Her focus is predominantly on the exchange and network cultivation with private investors, i.e. business angels and family offices. She is expected to be on parental leave until December 2023 - please contact Barbara Dombay.

Yvonne Rauh supports our back office in Nuremberg and takes care of the office management.

Markus A. Schilling is responsible for the educational services at BayStartUP. This includes the conception of the workshops on business planning and financing topics as well as the in-depth specialist workshops, mainly in cooperation with the sponsors of BayStartUP. In addition, he is also a startup coach, especially in the digital incubators.

Kerstin Wabnitz supports our management in their daily business and in sponsor and partner management. She is also the contact person for questions regarding participation in the BayStartUP workshops.

Harald Wagner is responsible for the financial coaching at BayStartUP. He is available internally to all startup coaches as a sparring partner and, together with his colleagues, ensures that the startups ready for financing are presented to investors at the right time via the appropriate channels. In addition, with his many years of experience, he also supports numerous startup teams as a startup coach.

Johannes Wurm works at BayStartUp GmbH as a project manager for start-up and industry cooperations. As a former employee of a successful start-up, he brings experience in the areas of operations and finance.