Speaker Dirk AHLBORN

Founder and CEO of JumpStarter Inc. which operates www.JumpStartFund.com, a web portal that believes in creating smarter and more successful companies by applying crowdsourcing from conception of an idea all the way through funding. Dirk is a also CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. which is JumpStartFund's well known undertakings to make the Hyperloop become reality, by using it crowdcollaboration concept. 
He is a serial entrepreneur with experience in almost every element of business: Management; product design and development and manufacturing; production facility design and set up, production cost control, marketing, product distribution; customer service; and sales. Before co-founding Jumpstarter, he was at the Girvan Institute of Technology, an incubator-accelerator for early-stage high-tech companies. At Girvan, beginning in 2009, he was instrumental in the development of several startup companies, notably Advanced Turbine Designs, Inc., a developer of natural-gas fueled gas turbine generators for combined heat and power. In the course of his multi-faceted activities at Girvan, he also managed mobile and web application developments as well as search engine optimization and online marketing.

Prior to 2009, his activities were centered in Germany and Italy. He began his professional career in 1996 as a broker and investment specialist at Bankgesellshaft Berlin, AG, one of Germany’s largest banks. In 1999, he founded Rika Italia, distributor for Europe’s leading manufacturer of energy-conserving pellet and wood-burning stoves. In 2001, he founded Diva Srl, manufacturer importer and seller of residential heating and cooking appliances. 
He's Fluent in German and Italian and proficient in conversational Spanish. He holds the credential in banking and insurance from the Organization of German Industry and Commerce