Founder program (m/f/d)
in Berlin

About us:

At the Lufthansa Innovation Hub, we’re pioneering the future of travel for the Lufthansa Group, the industry, but most importantly for everyone who travels.

The landscape of the travel industry is changing. Our job is to identify these shifts and translate them into new business opportunities in the travel sector.

We are guided by our ambition to take travel to new destinations. To achieve this we believe in constantly pushing the limits’ to make travel easier, more convenient and more enjoyable.

By building a valuable portfolio of travel companies and products, we are making an essential contribution to the asset-light business strategy of the Lufthansa Group.

Job summary:

Our 6-month Founder Program is a chance for talented individuals with a venture idea to incubate a digital venture in an entrepreneurial way – from idea via initial validation to market entry and scaling. The purpose of the Founder Program is to combine the strengths of the Lufthansa Group with driven entrepreneurs to jointly launch successful travel and mobility ventures.

Milestones:

• Idea validation: Remove early red flags by conducting strong customer discovery and validation hypotheses
• MVP building: Achieve first traction with a rough initial product through limited-scale launch
• Commercialization and scaling: Reach product-market-fit, show scalability and refine the product based on the MVP learnings
• Exit preparation: Based on the results, there are various exit options available  

For every Founder, we offer:

• Full participation opportunity: A remarkable share in the capital stock (Stammkapital) of the venture
• Entrepreneurial Risk: A stipend for 6 months to build a venture in the Travel & Mobility Tech field, incubated in our office in central Berlin, with a small pre-founding budget to develop your case
• Support and expertise: Support from our large Venture Development, Design and Engineering teams; led by a dedicated Venture Developer, who will help you make the best use of the time, as well as a small budget to test hypotheses
• Spinning your venture off after the program: To ensure that you can develop the case to its full potential, we support you with the spin-off process and pre-seed funding round
• Leverage Lufthansa’s strong and well-known brand and utilize group’s network (unfair advantage)

Responsibilities:

• Drive venture projects in Travel & Mobility Tech from a rough initial idea to a successful exit. Take responsibility for their success and ensure a goal-based implementation during the 6 months program
• Build, implement and manage digital products (product management)
• Lead small, interdisciplinary teams with a high degree of personal responsibility
• Coordinate remote teams (e.g. engineering, design)
• Monitor and attain project-specific KPIs and milestones
• Acquire relevant partners (e.g. product development, distribution, media etc.)
• Business development with internal (Lufthansa Group) and external stakeholders

Profile:

• Experienced in building and growing a new product or service from scratch into a successful business
• Experience as startup (co-)founder
• Passion about growth startups and the travel and mobility industry 
• Credible understanding of major digital business models, technologies and the tech ecosystems’ stakeholders
• Strong business acumen, innovation mindset and hands-on attitude
• Distinct attention to detail with strong project management skills
• Excellent communication (verbal and written) as well as strong presentation skills
• Background in Business Administration, IT, or equivalent
• Fluency in English, spoken and written

Valuable additions:

• Investor network / VC experience
• Successful exits of past ventures
• Background in travel or mobility 
• Fluency in German

Checklist:

1. Do you have a preformulated business idea in the travel or mobility ecosystem?
2. Have you successfully (co-)founded a business before?
3. Are you looking for a strong partner to incubate your idea?

At LIH, we are super committed to fostering an environment that promotes diversity and inclusivity. We do not discriminate in employment on the basis of factors irrelevant to merit, qualifications or business need such as age, race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, medical status, or any other status covered by the relevant law in the areas where we operate.