"I have no interest in playgrounds. We build real companies."
How Georg Stellmann helps founders build early-stage ventures to turn Bosch capabilities into investable businesses
Georg Stellmann is Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Bosch Business Innovations. In his role, he is responsible for commercial strategy and business development. He plays a key role in scaling business models and shaping strategic partnerships within the start-up ecosystem. With a strong background in technology and innovation leadership, he brings a strategic lens to the continued growth of Bosch Business Innovations.
The researcher's spirit – roots of innovation
Georg's journey into the heart of innovation began long before his current role. His academic and professional path has wound through the worlds of physics, software, and robotics.
Georg, you’ve worked in physics, software, robotics, and more. How does your multidisciplinary expertise influence your strategy as CCO at Bosch Business Innovations?
It’s been a very long time since I solved a real physics problem. However, the mindset remains. I analyze challenges holistically trying to identify the basic principles behind complex systems – surprisingly these principles are often simple enough. Whether it is a technical problem, a process topic or building a business – once you truly understand and describe the problem, the solution is often not far away. That clarity also shapes my leadership: I focus on making real progress together. The particular technical topics I worked on have a minor influence on my work today; what counts is the confidence built from mastering diverse challenges along the way.
You operate at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and commercial strategy. What drives you in this role and how do you define success in your role?
At the core, start-up success is creating value for customers with a sustainable business model. If you are really able to achieve that, everything else is “just” hard work. In that spirit, success for me personally is a portfolio of start-ups that can deliver exactly that, customer value. Based on this, I’m sure that we will create a positive future: for customers, entrepreneurs and for Bosch.
What does innovation mean to you?
Creating and realizing customer value in new ways.
Leading teams: Navigating ambiguity together
Operating within early-stage start-up environments means consistently navigating situations characterized by high uncertainty. This dynamic setting requires a keen understanding of emergent needs and adaptable strategies.
Georg, what’s your philosophy on leadership in high-uncertainty environments?
I deeply value the people I work with on a personal level, I really like almost all of them. I never attack or question you as a human being – this is important to me and the basis to be able to face reality and getting to the point together quickly, which might be very tough at times.
And what’s the most surprising lesson you’ve learned from working with start-ups?
The biggest surprise was realizing that start-ups have a lot of similarities to scientific experiments. In physics, you test nature – and laws of nature are constant which means you can repeat an experiment until you succeed. With start-ups, you are testing markets, and markets are constantly moving. Timing becomes critical: if you launch your product too early or too late, no amount of persistence will save the idea. This makes building a start-up even more challenging in comparison – and at the same time, much more dynamic.
With a portfolio of ventures under your leadership, how do you prioritize which technologies or ideas to nurture and scale?
Neither I nor the start-up teams themselves decide which technologies or ideas scale, the market does. My job is to create the conditions for start-ups to discover this truth in the most efficient way possible. This means giving them enough resources to test their ideas and refine their business case, but not too many to prevent them from losing focus or discipline. Failure is part of the journey, but by failing fast and learning quickly, we ultimately find the ventures that can truly succeed.
Building ventures: From tech to value
The journey from a complex technological innovation to a product that truly resonates with costumers can be challenging. Georg shares his observations on how this transformation is successfully achieved.
What are some recurring patterns you’ve observed when turning technical complexity into user-centric value propositions?
To be honest, there is nothing surprising here: A recurring pattern is that many founders fall in love with their business idea or technology and resist adapting when the market pushes back. It’s understandable – they’ve invested passion, time, years of expertise, almost always sweat and tears, into it. But technology alone rarely convinces customers. The real breakthrough happens when teams learn to translate complexity into something people immediately understand, need, and are willing to pay for. The founders who succeed are the ones who treat market feedback not as criticism, but as helpful guidance – like a compass that helps them finding their path.
In your experience, what’s the key to unlocking the full potential of technical talent in an entrepreneurial setting?
I believe the key lies in creating excitement and passion for the challenge – building something that truly creates customer value. I believe technical talent thrives when their work is connected to purpose, not just engineering excellence. Technology can be a powerful differentiator, but on its own it rarely changes anything.
Navigating the entrepreneurial path
To wrap up our conversation on the entrepreneurial journey, Georg provides a fresh perspective on corporate venture building.
What myths or misconceptions about venture building inside corporates do you often encounter — and how would you challenge them?
In my experience, I have often encountered the misconception that corporate venture building is a kind of playground – a safe space where you can tinker without consequences. To be fair, there are good reasons in the past for this perspective. The reality is the opposite. Any venture that doesn't face up to the market – both customers and investors – will fail and simply burn up resources. I have interest in reality, not in playing games. For me, venture building is about creating real businesses that stand on their own two feet and succeed in the market, delivering results for Bosch and for the people who build them.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone just founding – what would it be?
Time is your scarcest resource. Every day is runway – you must use it wisely to push your business forward. That means listening closely to your customers and investors, learning fast, and adapting even faster. Progress compounds, but only if you make every day count.
Want to follow Georg's vision for scaling innovation and shaping strategic partnerships? Find more insights and connect with him directly on LinkedIn, where the conversation continues.