My Next Chapter

Today, I'm moving to San Francisco. Moving to the United States to work on a startup has been one of my biggest dreams ever, and it became reality when my O-1 was approved shortly after my 25th birthday two months ago. I've been working on this for more than a decade, so today, I'd like to share my whole story up to this point.

I was born in Freiburg, a city in southern Germany. My parents are doctors and have always worked hard. Because of their jobs, we moved frequently, I grew up in Zurich, Switzerland and Innsbruck, Austria. I've had an interest in building since I was a kid. At twelve years old, I started extending my favorite video game to play with friends. Over time, I moved on to mobile and web application development, using any free minute I could get to learn more and work hard to get better. Little did I know that my fun hobby would turn into a career.

I've always been drawn to startups. Autonomy and ownership are two of the most important things I value. I went to high school close to Frankfurt and got my first summer internship as a software engineer in 2017, when I was 15 years old. I loved the experience so much that I swore to myself to learn harder than ever before to get a real job. A year later, I landed my first job as a software engineer at Hygraph. I worked harder than ever before, and joined the company full-time after graduating high school in 2019, watching the company grow from five people to over 70 in the span of a couple years.

During Covid, I moved to Munich where I've lived for the past five years. I studied at TUM and LMU, the two most prestigious universities in Germany, graduating from TUM in 2023. I tried building a startup with my best friend and even though it didn't work out at the time, I learned valuable lessons about the business environment and challenges software startups are still facing in Germany.

I took everything I learned up to that point and joined Inngest as a distributed systems engineer in early 2024. Through Inngest, I was able to visit San Francisco three times in the past two years and I fell in love with the city. Tech runs deep in San Francisco (you really can't escape it) and the energy and level of optimism in everyone I've met so far are unlike anywhere else. People work incredibly hard and builders are taken seriously, with lots of trust and support. In December 2024, I knew that I wanted to move to the US and I started the visa process that would take more than 18 months.

If I had told my fifteen-year-old self that within ten years, I would be living and working for a startup in Silicon Valley, I simply wouldn't have believed it. This is the power of pursuing a dream, joined with the opportunities presented by the US. I learned the value of working hard and never giving up, no matter how many roadblocks you find in your way. I also learned the value of focusing on what matters most and understanding opportunity cost. Time and attention are the scarcest resources in life.

Moving to the US is just the beginning. I want to work hard, learn from the best, grow, and help shape the future with products that have a real impact on people's lives. I deeply believe that now is the best time to build, in all of human history. The tools and resources we have at our disposal have never been more powerful. The question is no longer how to build, it's what to build, and why. The challenge is to assemble a world-class team and build the best possible product out there to solve real problems.

I'm incredibly excited for the next chapter and I'll keep sharing more on my journey.

I want to thank everyone without whom I wouldn't be where I am today.

First of all, I want to thank my amazing girlfriend for being supportive of this plan. I truly couldn't have done this without you. I want to thank my good friends Tim, Mohamad, Kai, Nico, Hendrik, Timo, Benjamin, Noelia, Paul, Lorenz, Miguel, and Philipp. You've always encouraged me to challenge myself and dream bigger.

From Inngest, I want to thank the entire team, with special thanks to Tony, Darwin, Albert, Jacob, Jakob, Lakshmi, Riadh, and Muzammil. Thank you for your trust and belief in me.

From Hygraph, I want to thank Michael, Daniel, Jonas, Fabi, Dino, Pablo, Jean, Julian, Frederik, and Larisa. Thank you for teaching me more in a couple years than I ever believed was possible.

From TUM, I want to thank Prof. Pramod Bhatotia for your support during my thesis and the research projects you invited me to help on.

I also want to thank Jennifer Li, Martin Casado, and Yoko Li from a16z, Ivan from Daytona, Andrea from Mendral, Jake from Railway, and Mathias from Netlify for supporting me with the visa.

Every second counts