Greater Munich Metropolitan Area
Biotech once saved my mother’s life. That’s why I do this. I grew up in a family of craftsmen in a small Bavarian village. Curiosity took me into science; entrepreneurship made it practical. Today I serve as Vice President for Entrepreneurship at LMU Munich and Executive Chairman & Co-founder of NanoTemper. At LMU, I work with students, researchers, and colleagues across our faculties to move bold ideas into society, through startups, partnerships, and knowledge transfer. At NanoTemper, we build biophysical tools that help scientists study proteins and design better therapies that may reach patients sooner. I believe integrity and ambition belong together: the heart of my book, The Honorable Entrepreneur. Grateful for milestones like the German Founders Award and the German Innovation Prize. What matters most: when ideas cross the gap from research to benefit people. If you have a bold business idea or are a founder aiming to scale with integrity, let’s connect.
Empowering LMU’s students, researchers, and staff to turn ideas into impact: startups, knowledge, and leadership for society.
THE HONORABLE ENTREPRENEUR is the unvarnished memoir of physicist Philipp Baaske, who—together with fellow PhD student Stefan Duhr—turned a benchtop prototype into NanoTemper Technologies. This €56 million global biotech-tools leader remains 100 % founder-owned and VC-free. From a near-fatal Swiss Disaster that almost stole their patents, to selling 29 hand-built instruments before a product even existed, to walking away from a US $60 million buy-out while still a 35-person firm, Baaske shows how trust, focus, and a seven-point Code of Honor can beat venture capital and power sustainable deep-tech entrepreneurship. WHO IT’S FOR Scientists and engineers turning research into biotech startups or deep-tech ventures Founders bootstrapping global companies from Europe and beyond Leaders scaling technical teams without losing culture, control, or profitability Readers of The Hard Thing About Hard Things or Lost and Founder seeking a European twist WHAT YOU’LL LEARN Funding & ownership: how pre-selling, grants, and disciplined reinvestment financed growth while keeping equity Product & customers: why real pain, not clever tech, drove every pivot and launch People & culture: lessons from a 24-hour lay-off, firing a toxic star, and running a company on a Code of Honor, not bureaucracy Crisis leadership: daily pandemic calls that lifted revenue to €56 million without Kurzarbeit abuse Global sales: the messy reality of exporting lab instruments to 45 countries from a Munich basement M&A reality check: the SAW Instruments deal that flopped and why culture fit matters Written with self-deprecating humor and Michael-Lewis-style narrative drive, The Honorable Entrepreneur offers scar tissue, hard data, and repeatable frameworks you won’t find in any MBA classroom.
After more than 16 years as Co-CEOs, Stefan Duhr and I are stepping into new roles to lead NanoTemper into its next chapter. Complexity requires clarity, and this change allows us to focus and act with greater precision. Stefan will now serve as the sole CEO of NanoTemper, enabling faster and more targeted execution of our strategy. I am excited to take on the role of Executive Chairman. In this position, I’ll work closely with Stefan to shape our long-term strategy while dedicating myself to what I love most: representing NanoTemper globally as its “face and voice.” My responsibilities will include leading our advisory board, driving technology transfer, expanding our M&A activities, and forging strategic partnerships. Through this evolution, our commitment to staying founder-owned and independent remains unwavering. We are, and always will be, the indomitable Gauls—resisting the empire of big money. Here’s to the next 16 years of innovation, growth, and collaboration!
Strategic advice of the founders and shareholders.
MOSBRI aims to address the pressing need for a truly integrated and multi-methodological taskforce, combining the best up-to-date instrumentation and the best expertise available in Europe, to the benefit of all researchers in the fields of biomedicine, biotechnology, biomaterials and beyond, from both academia and industry (notably SMEs). MOSBRI networks 2 industrial partners and 13 academic centres of excellence from 11 different countries, each having unique and complementary expertise, and all currently offering biophysics services within schemes based on institutional policies. MOSBRI provides access to a truly integrated panel of methodological tools and associated expertise, enabling breakthrough scientific discoveries concerning the molecular basis of biological processes and the development of novel therapeutic and prophylactic treatments. In addition, continuous improvement of laboratory practices and cross-fertilization between centres will be attained through exchange of staff, joint research activities and multi-laboratory benchmarking actions.