The Story of Founding a Company – Told by Christian Dau
DauHerkert: How It All Began
For six years I worked as a journalist in Schleswig-Holstein. My dream job; I wanted to write and report - about God and the world and reunification. But life had other plans. Chance played its hand, and suddenly, on February 1, 1990, I found myself in the press department of Mercedes-Benz AG in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. My leap into the big wide world; suddenly everything was possible. And many things I had never dared to hope for came true. But just when I thought I would grow old at Daimler, the phone rang.
In the summer of 1997, the call came from Zuffenhausen. Anton Hunger, Head of Communications, asked me if I would consider moving to Porsche. What a question! Of course, I could. And so began the best and most exciting time of my professional life: Twelve years of Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche's entry into Volkswagen with a dramatic finale, Head of Communications, Politics and Sponsoring, Project Manager for the construction of the Porsche Pavilion in the Autostadt in Wolfsburg. No stop signs, no speed limits - living and working in the fast lane.
From 2009, after Wiedeking's departure, Porsche began to change; very slowly, but noticeably for every Porsche employee. The wind was now blowing from the North German lowlands. VW set the tone. The company's own thoughts now sought new paths - and became more and more concrete. Until the final decision had to be made. On September 1, 2014, the time had finally come: I could leave Porsche.
On the Road to Independence
And the time was right for something new. Not to return to the hierarchy. I felt like Christopher Columbus, I wanted to be brave, even daring. I wanted to explore new worlds. I wanted to do "my thing". My dream: one day, at the age of 70, to sit in a rocking chair and look back with satisfaction. Not only on 31 years as a salaried journalist and "press man", no, also on years as an entrepreneur and a company that was able to assert itself successfully in the market.
So I took my heart in both hands and founded DAU Kommunikation GmbH. The company was launched on February 1, 2015. PR and management consulting, arranging contacts, focusing on SMEs - that was the direction we wanted to take. The first clients came: an automotive supplier, a bank, a furniture manufacturer and a world-famous concert hall in Leipzig. The start was made.
But something was still missing in my new world: even after a year, I was still a lone wolf, specializing primarily in classic, i.e. analog, communication. What I needed were young people around me; young people who knew about digital communication, online marketing and artificial intelligence. Young people who would challenge and develop me personally, but who I could also challenge and encourage, for whom I wanted to pave the way for their future. With young and dedicated people, the company should continue to develop and become successful.
Growing Together
Was it luck, coincidence or just fate? In the summer of 2016, my path crossed again with Deniz Herkert, the best intern I ever had at Porsche. Deniz wrote his bachelor thesis in my main department in 2013 on the topic of sports sponsoring. But not only that. At the age of 23, he became an important discussion partner for me, whose knowledge, foresight and eloquence left a lasting impression on me. After studying at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen and working as a consultant at a Frankfurt communications agency, he returned to Stuttgart. He had a clear vision of his professional future.
What he didn't expect was my offer to make him a partner in my company. It took Deniz one weekend to decide: he became a 20 percent shareholder in DAU Kommunikation GmbH.
Over the next twelve months, our small consultancy in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt really took off. However, with this growth came our first challenges. It quickly became clear to Deniz and me that we needed to change direction. On January 1, 2018, DAU Kommunikation became DauHerkert GmbH - Agency for Communication, Digitalization and Sales. Since that day, Deniz and I have been equal partners and managing directors. Our company, located at Hölderlinplatz in Stuttgart, now has more than 25 employees. In order to secure the growth of "our" DauHerkert, we have founded additional companies for programming and data analysis.
Well Positioned and Highly Motivated
Today, DauHerkert is the perfect symbiosis of young and old, of experience and dynamism, of stability and innovation. In short: DauHerkert is "experience and future under one roof". Today, we are a fast-learning, state-of-the-art organization with lean and flexible structures. We master the future. We have become the lead agency for large, well-known companies in a wide range of industries.
As a result, we are well prepared for the challenges of the "digital future" that not only our SME clients face, but also our own company.
As the saying goes, the future belongs to the bold. So what's next - seven years after the company was founded? Quite simply, full speed ahead - and stay the course! We want to continue to be the reliable and innovative "pilot" for our customers in the coming years, steering them successfully through the shoals and around the cliffs of analog and digital communication.
