Last week, I met Steffen Stäuber at the Startup Summit in Edinburgh organized by futureX. Steffen is the founder of Create Meaning a unique consulting studio in Berlin.
I was impressed by his inspirational talk on “Unleash your purpose”, later to find out that not only was he such an inspirational man, but also a self-described geek like myself! Unlike most successful entrepreneurs, he had zero ego, was quite respectful and as a whole radiated such positivity and energy.
As a consultant, strategist, and creative director, he is the glue that holds together fresh ideas, strategies and ventures that create that humming well-oiled business machine for upcoming entrepreneurs.
What was so inspiring was the origin story of his business idea, triggered by his frustration on the lack of relevancy and innovation in the graphic design field, and the desire to spend more time satisfying the client rather than merely using glamour words that had no real delivery. In the words of the founding mission itself,
“Challenge conventional thinking, explore new creative possibilities and redefine advertising in the 21st century.”
These innovative measures that transform novel ideas bring astounding impacts on different parts of society. In a span of a decade, Steffen has created a network reaching out to all corners of the world, not only inspiring but furthering new business ideas with creative aspects; from Beijing to the Philippines, and as far as Australia.
The diversity of his work is what is truly inspiring, making it quite adaptable in accordance with the client he is dealing with. This is not a phoney business with hogwash promises, but one that delivers with honesty and clarity, pushing boundaries by doing the research to get to know the client and their field, engaging them with new strategies and finishing it all off by sharing and connecting them to the rest of the world.
In the famous words of the Swazi people that I learnt from another geeky friend Nokukhanya Tsabedze, “Tandla tiyagezana” which literally means, hands wash each other, and that is what we all need as entrepreneurs from time to time…a helping hand.
It was such a pleasure to meet you Steffen, and I hope with future endeavours our paths will cross once more.