Martin Rudolf

Senior Innovation Expert | Ex-Founder | Diversifying Portfolios & Value Creation under Uncertainty

Austria

About

Strategy and innovation professional with entrepreneurial roots. Two-time founder and EiR with hands-on experience across ventures, tech advisory, and business model design. Focused on turning uncertainty into structured opportunity. Personally: Endlessly curious - because knowledge compounds and learning never stops.

Experience

  • TheVentury - Empowering Innovation (Vienna, Austria · Hybrid)
    • Senior Innovation Expert
      Jan 2026 - Present · 7 mos

      Leading strategic innovation engagements for enterprises across energy, manufacturing and technology. Owning projects and leading project teams. Focus on business model diversification, strategic opportunity assessment, and de-risking corporate venture portfolios.

    • Innovation Expert
      Nov 2024 - Dec 2025 · 1 yr 2 mos

      Contributing to strategic engagements across multiple industry verticals. Designing trend-to-opportunity pipelines, stage-gate architectures, and venture scoring frameworks. Translating client priorities into structured, actionable portfolios.

  • Entrepreneur in Residence & Strategy Consultant at 1492 AG
    Mar 2024 - Jul 2024 · 5 mos

    Dual role: supported the company's SaaS pivot (narrative, fundraising coordination, VC/angel/UHNWI due diligence) while delivering strategy consulting engagements.

  • CEO & Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
    Mar 2022 - Feb 2024 · 2 yrs

    Simultio was our contribution to the drastic increase in mental health issues. We deliberately stayed in stealth mode. • Led product development from idea to MVP. • Built and managed a 4-person interdisciplinary team. • Secured 5-figure public funding, led a 250k pre-seed round. • Pivoted twice, starting from scratch each time. • Led financial planning, fundraising prep, and operations setup.

  • Scaleup Internship at Storebox
    2022 - 2022 · Less than a year

    Operational internship at Europe's leading self-storage and last-mile logistics scaleup (>$70M raised, FT 1000). Analyzed recurring customer service issues across three languages (DE/EN/FR) and translated insights into workflow improvements for the operations team.

  • Founder at mybanana
    Nov 2018 - 2022 · 3 yrs 3 mos

    Founder of mybanana, a bootstrapped sustainability-focused platform. • Built and tested multiple business models. • Managed operations, financial planning and strategic decisions. • "Youngest Entrepreneur in Burgenland", setting a precedent for entrepreneurship. Worked on it from Q4/18 until Q2/21 - eventually closing in 2022.