I help startups and scale-ups hire great software engineers 📈 | Building Remotesome as a Remote First Company 🌍 | Helped 100+ companies hire great software engineering talent 🚀

Founder and product builder. Previously built Remotesome, helping companies hire engineers globally before remote work was mainstream.

Now exploring new ideas and opportunities to build something new. Interested in early-stage products, hiring, and modern work. Always open to good conversations.

Andrej Fodor

Venture Athlete & International Expansion Expert | Thriving as Generalist in a Specialized Economy

I’m Dominik, founder, athlete, & creator. A proud generalist. This is my story: 

For the last 7 years, I helped bootstrap one startup from 0 to 1M in revenue and built the international business from scratch for one of Europe’s fastest growing EdTech companies (50 -> 240 employees in my three years there).

All while competing at the highest level of the beautiful sport of Lacrosse, including an appearance for the German National Team at the 2022 World Games (the Olympics’ little brother).

While my professional achievements may seem more impressive on paper, representing Germany on an international stage is the feat that I’m most proud of.

I wasn’t very athletic up until my mid-twenties. Very little talent, but a lot of injuries to make up for it.

Until one day, I started working with a personal trainer. He helped me break down the fundamentals I needed to fix.

I worked hard, and I worked consistently. Showed up to every practice, every gym session. Did my recovery & mobility work daily.

4 years later, I made the national team roster.

The potential was in me. But it needed help unlocking.

Throughout my entire career, I’ve also helped humans unlock their potential, just in different ways:

- By teaching people in rural Rwanda and Brazilian homeless shelter how to make glasses for less than $1, and how to build a business around it
- By bringing unemployed nurses from Italy to Germany and teaching them German, opening a completely different career path for them
- By expanding the leading operating system for schools throughout Europe, so that education becomes more digital and thus accessible
- By writing about my experiences online and sharing them with the world

In late 2023, I made the decision to quit my cozy, well-paid, full-time job that fit my profile perfectly.

I'm on a mission to build my own portfolio career - and help others to unlock theirs. Join me on my journey towards building a portfolio of cashflow-positive, impact-driven businesses.

These businesses have one goal: help others unlock their potential. Just like my personal trainer did for me.

I wish that some of the best portfolio company owners turned creators had documented their journey from day 1, and not retrospectively.

So that’s what I’m doing.

I write for generalists like myself, who want to make a living in a specialized economy without specializing themselves. 

You can do more than one thing in your life. 
Let’s design that life together. 

Sign up for my newsletter here: www.dominiknitsch.com/newsletter

Dominik Nitsch

Absolutely non-business related content, but: I'm playing a rare home game in Berlin tomorrow. 

Do something different for a change and watch some Lacrosse:
→ Wilskistr. 70 in Zehlendorf (U Onkel Toms Hütte)
→ Faceoff: 13:00
→ Free entry 

If you're not in Berlin, still consider going out and supporting your local sports team. It's good fun, good for the community, and better than staying on the couch at home :)

Founder @ Generalyst | building talent infrastructure for early-stage startups | 1,306 generalists read my newsletter to future-proof their career.

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Over the past four weeks, we've received 183 applications to Generalyst. Here’s what to avoid if you’re applying to startup jobs: 

(1) Using ChatGPT-generated answers to free-text questions. 

We smell this from a mile away. It sounds good and professional, but tells me absolutely nothing about YOU. I want to see how you, not your AI, think and write. If you’re going to use AI, get so good at prompting that it doesn’t read like generic fluff. Don’t be a politician; be someone with edges. This ain't corporate. 

(now, I wouldn't ask this if we used AI to screen applications - that'd be wrong. but we actually do look at every single application. Is that efficient and scalable? Maybe not. But we pride ourselves in finding talent that would otherwise fall through the cracks.) 

(2) "I'm a results-driven professional with cross-functional expertise that spearheaded expansion". 

My brother in Christ, I have no idea what you're trying to tell me (besides that you're good at bullshit bingo). What's a "results-driven professional"? Like, would anyone ever describe themselves as an "activity-driven professional"? Why say "spearheading" when you could use a word that one actually uses in their day-to-day life? 

(3) “I’m looking to do strategic work.” 

Hard no. In a startup, even the founder does like 97% operational work. Building a company is about, well, building. Not planning. In order to produce prime strategic work, you have to get your hands dirty first. (If you want to do strategic work, maybe strategy consultancies are your jam.) 

(4) Not following simple instructions

Following simple instructions is a core skill for every professional. If I can't trust you to do the simple things right, how can I trust you to do the complex things right? Examples from our application form include: 
→ "please provide your full name" (only first name included)
→ "please upload your CV as PDF" (proceeds to upload as .docx)
→ "please provide your ideal start date" (inserts birthday) 

~5-7% of applications contain one of these 3 mistakes. Get the basics right. 

What else grinds your gears as hiring manager/recruiter?

Will be at START Summit this week – and have got something convenient lined up for you: 

If you're also attending and are currently looking for a job, apply at www.generalyst.de until Wednesday 15:00 and Francesca Romana Centini (Cesca)  or I will interview you in person at START Summit. Please include the keyword "[START]" in your name. 

First come, first serve – good way to speedrun the process. 

If you're attending too, come say hi.!
And if there's anyone we should meet, tag them in the comments. 🤝

Founders and athletes share a dangerous superpower:

The ability to delay gratification for years.

We’ll sacrifice:
- Comfort
- Sleep
- Location
- Stability
- Relationships
- Income

All for a future milestone. Might be an exit, a championship, a funding round, a promotion, you name it.

But if we never indulge, always keep going – we'll eventually burn out. 

"Burnout is about working in the face of a goal that seems too far out, too unattainable, too abstract."

The goal is not to stop delaying gratification.
The goal is to layer gratification into the delay.

These are the three ways that I do it: 

1️⃣ Weekly indulgence (“once, not twice”)
2️⃣ Working in seasons instead of permanent grind mode
3️⃣ Mini-retirements every few years

Empires are built in years.
But they’re sustained by moments.

Don’t build a life where the reward is always somewhere in the future.

Athletes don’t train at 100% intensity all year.
They embrace seasonality: 

Off-season → build muscle, fix major injuries
Pre-season → dial in conditioning, improve speed
In-season → maintain performance, recover
Post-season → peak, go all out

Yet founders try to operate in permanent in-season or even post-season mode.

What if we could use similar seasons in our professional lives? 
Most businesses are seasonal anyway.

In recruitment, January and September are chaos.
July and August are dead.

Instead of fighting that, I just make those months my personal offseason:

→ Travel a bit more
→ Focus on important-but-not-urgent work
→ Clock out early 

When I trained at 100% capacity year-round, my body forced me to take breaks by way of injuries. 
Now, I consciously decide to take it easier a few months of the year – to ensure that I can continue the sport that I love for a long time. 

The same applies to business, with the difference that injuries will be mental, not physical. 
Embrace seasonality to ensure you stay on the field for a long time. 

Empires are built in years, not days.

taplio

The Battle

Andrej Fodor

Dominik Nitsch

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The Battle

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Dominik Nitsch

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Engagements

Likes

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