Tech Unicorn Builders

Hands-on Growth Studio for Scaleups: automations, AI MVPs, product analytics, and insights, CPTO coaching. Short-term high-impact projects that help you grow your revenues and minimize chaos. Build faster, automate smarter, and grow with data. We help you scale product, team, and market with AI, analytics, and hands-on execution.

Co-Founder

EffizienzAgent

Automation specialist helping German SMEs eliminate manual processes. GDPR-compliant solutions delivering ROI within 1-2 months. Remote-first approach for cost-effective implementation across DACH region.

Automating what annoys you. 🤖

Founder, CEO, Consultant

Diving Nomads

Bridging the gap between deep focus and deep dives. I’m co-building a community for certified divers who work remotely — curating remote-work friendly dive spots, organizing colivings and pop-up divecations, and creating spaces for meaningful connection both online and in real life.

We're building a platform where freedom meets flow — for freelancers, founders, and creatives who live and dive differently.

🌍 divingnomads.club

unblocked.engineering by INOCEA Consulting Ltd.

Technical Leadership, Technical Advisory, and Lean Software Development for SaaS Startups from Seed to Series B.

Founder, Fractional / Interim Tech Lead, Tech Advisor, Trainer & Mentor

Seed-Stage Startup

Introducing Product Discovery and Sync processes, enabling the team to work on the most important things. Running product strategy workshops with the team to enable better decision-making on all levels. Product management for a mobile app. Technical coaching for dev teams, introduction and facilitation of retrospectives and continuous improvement of ways of working. Introducing infrastructure as code and increasing automation of the deploy process.

Interim/Fractional Senior Product Manager & Technical Agile Coach

The Mentoring Club

Helping young software professionals from around the world with their next step. Mentoring on topics like leadership, software engineering and architecture, agile & lean, remote work, SaaS/Cloud, developer experience and organizational design and culture.

https://www.mentoring-club.com/the-mentors/tobias-mende

Mentor

Stealth Startup

Technical Advisor and Technical Agile Coach

Supporting the founding team in technical and cultural questions and decisions to ensure quality, scalability and development speed. Coaching and mentoring the team in development (technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, Node, Vue, Go, GCP, Mongo, Elastic). Architecture and code reviews and recommendations for action. Coaching of junior developers. Development of prototypes and proofs of concept. Increasing testability and reducing the complexity of architecture and code. Development of tech vision and strategy.

Fractional CTO and Technical Advisor

BRYTER

Founded and led a cross-functional platform team to improve developer experience and productivity, implementing continuous delivery, reducing the development lead time by 75%, and driving cultural and technical changes toward engineering excellence.

Developer Experience Engineer and Technical Lead

PAYONE

Development of payment connectors and fraud prevention systems. Refactoring of monolithic applications into independent services. Reduction of development lead time by 50%.

Senior Software Developer / Architect

Dräger

Application development for distributed gas detection systems. Teaching Git, Git workflows and TDD. Promoting awareness of software craft and introducing Continuous Integration in multiple teams and projects.

Software Engineer, Technical Lead, Coach and Trainer

I help SaaS companies with up to 250 employees build a high-performing engineering organization by utilizing my expertise in (technical) leadership and developer productivity.

🚀 Helping Founders Build Businesses That Run Smoothly — Without Becoming the Bottleneck

You started your business with passion and vision. But as it grows, new challenges emerge:

⚡ More and more decisions demand your input.
⚡ Your team hesitates to take full ownership.
⚡ Delegation feels impossible — things still land back on your plate.
⚡ The quality isn’t where you want it to be, and stepping away seems risky.

This is a natural stage of growth, but it doesn’t have to stay this way.

I help founders break free from being the bottleneck by building self-sustaining businesses — where teams take ownership, make smart decisions, and keep things running smoothly without constant oversight. The goal? A business that thrives, even when you step away.

👥 What I Do

I work as a sparring partner, advisor, and trainer for founders of growing startups and SMBs, helping them:

🔍 Uncover blind spots – Identify what’s slowing down decision-making and execution.
🛠 Enable smart leadership – Build structures that empower your team to take real responsibility.
📈 Streamline operations – Reduce complexity, eliminate bottlenecks, and free up your time for what truly matters.

The result? Less stress, fewer roadblocks, and a company that works — with or without you.

🌍 Who I Am

I’m Tobi — entrepreneur, leadership advisor, and sparring partner for founders who want high-performing businesses without unnecessary stress.

As a digital nomad, I’ve worked with founders worldwide and seen firsthand how different cultures approach leadership, decision-making, and collaboration. I know that “right and wrong” are often contextual, that true resilience comes from adaptability, and that great companies are built on trust and autonomy.

🌊 Home is wherever the ocean is. As a rebreather diver, I know that true freedom comes when you trust your system, stay calm under pressure, and let things run smoothly — just like in a well-functioning business.

Tobias Mende

hi.health

At hi.health we're reinventing the claims process in private health insurance, including a revolutionary health expenses payment card

Head of Engineering

Railsr

Established a new Financial Experience product and engineering function.
Delivered a new customer-facing portal, with insights dashboards, design kits and SDKs.

Head Of Engineering - Financial Experience

Built a world-class product and engineering team and culture from scratch, scaling to over 150 people working in 30 cross-functional teams, meeting Railsr’s ambitious growth objectives.

Delivered and scaled a high-availability, business critical Banking as a Service API platform.
Continuously promoted a culture of innovation and collaboration, fostering a dynamic environment that attracts top talent and drives company success.

Led the search for the Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer for the company's next stage   of growth and ensured a smooth transition of responsibilities.

Chief Technology Officer

Skills Matter

Established a product roadmap for customer-facing and internal products and services.
Assisted with building a new in-house product and engineering team and defined its working practices.
Established highly collaborative ways of working, allowing rapid development of new ideas.
Ensured an effective handover to the incoming Chief Technology Officer.

Product Owner

Co Made

IT Consulting in ANPR Parking Systems, Loyalty and Coupons, Agile Training, Advertising, NGO, IT Training & Community.
Clients including Euro Car Parks, Sparkle CS, Collaborate Solutions, Liveposter, Producers Direct, SkillsMatter.
Roles including Technical Architect, Product Owner, Project Manager, Interim CTO.

Director & Partner

Producers Direct

Ran a discovery process for applications of technology to improve lives of farmers in Africa and South America, resulting in a successful funding application, and roll out of multiple programmes.

Technology Consultant

Sparkle CS

Developed a new electronic clearing capability for coupons, with coupon redemption validation.
Delivered low-level technology allowing bricks-and-mortar points of sale to connect to digital services.

Technical Architect

LIVEPOSTER

Cancelled a failing supplier project that was obstructing the growth of the business.
Set up a small in-house engineering team and established an agile approach to delivering value.
Delivered a self-serve capability allowing the company to scale without growing the development team.

Consultant | Interim CTO

Euro Car Parks

Consultant:
Developed a new Automatic Number Plate Recognition parking management capability.
Developed a new handheld parking management system, eliminating manual and paper processes.

Interim CTO:
Workshopped with senior stakeholders to capture business goals and define an IT strategy.
Set up a small in-house engineering team and established an agile approach to delivering value.
Delivered multiple high-impact low-cost initiatives to deliver the business goals.

Detica

IT Consulting in Financial Services, Insurance, Loyalty, Government.
Clients including: Securities Finance, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Willis, Loyalty UK, Standard Chartered, LiquidityHub, SFO, RBC Royal Bank.
Roles including: Developer, Technical Team Lead, Technical Architect, Project Manager, Business Analyst.

Senior Consultant

Standard Chartered Bank

Delivered a new credit risk monitoring system to support the launch of a new trading business.

Consultant

I am an experienced and versatile IT professional recognised for making high-impact changes that transform businesses. My career highlights a deep understanding of scaling small companies into successful ventures.

I specialise in bridging the communication gap between technology and business stakeholders, identifying opportunities for transformative change, and implementing these through small, high-impact initiatives.

I excel at building high-performing product and engineering teams. I particularly enjoy complex domains, and setting up high-functioning teams that are optimised for learning quickly. I support this with strong technical practice, founded on processes including Spec by Example, TDD, and agile methods. 

My track record showcases the remarkable results that small, well-structured teams can achieve when guided by these principles. Furthermore, my hands-on experience in rapidly evolving industries positions me as an asset to any small company aiming to boost innovation and growth.

taplio

The Battle

Tobias Mende

Pete Buckney

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