Everyone is talking about the crisis. Time to look a little closer.
Germany’s traditional business model is losing steam.
Mechanical engineering, machine tools, the car “made in Germany”: demand is noticeably falling.
Let’s leave the tariff drama aside for a moment. Three factors weigh heavily:
Competition from China: Chinese manufacturers are catching up technologically and undercutting on price, often with state support. What used to be a clear German advantage is now fiercely contested.
Location disadvantages: energy costs, red tape, skills shortages and the tax burden make Germany an increasingly unattractive place to manufacture, including compared with other European countries.
Waning global interest: global demand for traditional industrial goods is shifting. Growth markets are increasingly investing in their own capacity rather than importing from Germany.
But that’s only half the story.
While the old business model weakens, a huge growth market is emerging alongside it: AI-driven business models.
And I don’t mean SaaS tools with an AI label slapped on, but business models that benefit structurally from artificial intelligence:
Automated service operations that use AI to cut staff costs drastically while scaling at the same time, from accounting to customer service.
Data-driven platform businesses that open up entirely new revenue streams through AI-supported matching and forecasting.
Industrial companies enhanced by AI that take their existing products to a new level of value creation through predictive maintenance, autonomous control or AI-based quality control.
And that’s exactly what is fuelling demand for leaders.
Today, the market wants managers who can do two things at once: genuinely understand AI business models and scale them professionally.
That’s often precisely where the gap is. Founders are brilliant at inventing, but rarely strong at putting things into operation.
What these companies need:
• Structures that support growth
• Professional, international sales
• Industrialised organisation and processes
• Targeted inorganic growth through M&A
This is where we come in. Our experience in private equity, especially in buy-and-build, means we know what’s required of leaders who build substance rather than just sell visions. We know who investors are looking for when a good idea needs to become a scalable company.
Restructuring also means building.
Instead of only talking about yesterday’s losses, we should be actively identifying tomorrow’s leaders.
Where do you currently feel the biggest bottleneck in your portfolio companies: deep tech understanding or operational scaling expertise?
