Browse video analytics appsOur IoT Heroes: Felicitas Geiss - VP Strategy & Venture Architect
As VP Strategy & Venture Architecture, Felicitas and her team develop the strategy and new business models for Security and Safety Things and build up the entrepreneurial structures, that are necessary to launch and scale the business. She strives for a corporate culture in which every employee can optimally develop his or her strengths and abilities.
What appealed to you to join a startup after being with Bosch for nearly 10 years?
During my whole career, I’ve always focused on areas where I can add the most value based on my professional and personal skills and learn from new experiences. What drives me is change and new challenges – mastering them by applying the things I’ve learned before is a great satisfaction. That's why I've held various positions at Bosch, from Sales and Marketing to building up an incubator supporting corporate internal start-ups to heading a start-up project itself. At Security and Safety Things, now everything comes together like the pieces of a puzzle and I’m thrilled to have the great opportunity to build a new business from scratch.
"At Security and Safety Things, we are true entrepreneurs and dynamic allies. With that spirit we seize our window of opportunity. No challenge is too big."
What’s your biggest and most exciting challenge you’re working on right now?
On our open and secure ecosystem we bring together different players to whom we want to offer an outstanding experience. That's why I'm focusing my team's efforts on creating customer centric business rules to operate our platform and to build up a support organization that makes the customer journey of each app developer, integrator and device manufacturer as smooth and successful as possible. This is particularly critical since we will change the way business is done in the security and safety industry.
What superhero power can you draw on when you need it?
No matter what project or goal I'm working on, I always keep track of the big picture and an optimistic mood. This is an important entrepreneurial skill set if you want to build a solid company architecture from the rather chaotic structures of a newly founded venture. That's why I'm Venture Architect at Security and Safety Things. My strength is fueled by the fun I have at work. And working with great people who all want to create something really new, roll up their sleeves and focus on o common target is fun and motivation every day.
Which general trends do you expect in the IoT security and safety industry?
We are in an industry that has not been affected by the platform revolution so far. In comparison, other industries were already disrupted by this kind of business model.
"The small world of proprietary systems in the security and safety industry will soon be transformed into open ecosystems that enable a variety of business opportunities for "smart" hardware."
All stakeholders need to rethink their businesses. At Security and Safety Things, we want to drive this transformation and make it as easy and successful as possible for everyone to benefit from these network effects.
Personally, what drives your motivation to smash your goals?
All of us are preparing for the big moment, the official launch of our platform, in early 2020. This important milestone also determines my motivation and my personal goals. We want to set all the conditions in the organization that are necessary for us to achieve this. In addition to that, it is very important to integrate all of the many new colleagues that we are on-boarding and to create our own, unique start-up culture. I will be working on this with my team in the next few months.
Felicitas, thank you very much for the interview!
