I grew up in Vorarlberg, the far-western corner of Austria, in the Rhine Valley near Lake Constance and the Alps — raised by older, conservative parents shaped by the Second World War, but carrying a bigger vision and a genuine curiosity for the world that they hadn't shared. That tension between a stable upbringing and a restless streak set the direction for most of what came after.
The path there was anything but a straight line: trained as a professional electrician, then into IT services and systems support, then development aid work in Zimbabwe with the Austrian Development Agency in 2007 — an experience that reshaped how I saw the world, more than once. From there, managing global support for Hilti's measuring services, then real estate management back in Austria, alongside an MBA at Liverpool John Moores University (2010–2012). Eclectic on paper; in practice, each step added a tool I'd later need.
The turning point came in 2014, on a project called Coboat — a sailing trip from the Maldives to Thailand on a catamaran refitted as a floating coworking space. Eighteen days at sea, everyone working together, forged bonds fast. It was the first time I met digital nomads, and I knew immediately: this is my tribe. But I also learned something about myself that mattered just as much — I like to travel, but travelling without landing, living out of a suitcase indefinitely, isn't me. I got bored with that. So the question became: how do I stay part of this tribe without following it around the world?
The answer was to invite people to me rather than travel with them. Together with co-founder Matthias Zeitler — met on that same Coboat trip — I opened Coworking Bansko on 15 December 2016, in a Bulgarian ski resort town: deliberately the opposite of Bali or Chiang Mai. Neither of us set out to run a coworking business; the space was just the vehicle for the bigger goal of turning Bansko into a base for digital nomads.
The skills carried over more directly than you'd expect — as a qualified sailing skipper, I'd already spent years turning strangers on a boat into a functional crew under pressure. Community-building, essentially, just on land. The philosophy from day one was community first, business second: the coworking space itself ran more like a philanthropic venture, while the businesses it made possible — MyStartBulgaria.com among them — carried the commercial weight.
I no longer run Coworking Bansko day to day, but the community it built is the direct root of everything that followed: Bansko Nomad Fest, Mons Orbelus, Bansko Mountain Homes, and the Blueprint itself. The fuller version of how a coworking space turned into a festival is on the home page.
Every project traces back to the same community and the same instinct: build the right environment, invite the right people, let the rest follow.
Company formation and residency services for German-speaking entrepreneurs relocating to Bulgaria — started because coworking members kept asking "how does this actually work?"
mystartbulgaria.com →The annual festival I co-own, held each June — the outcome of years of small community gatherings, not the plan they were building toward.
banskonomadfest.com →Sailing trips around Greece and beyond, combining a skipper's credentials with the same community-building instinct that started Coworking Bansko.
nomadsailingretreat.com →A residential community in Bansko for digital nomads, 800m from the ski lifts — 65 owners in already, shared coworking, spa and gym. The community turned into co-owners, proof the model converts into a durable, investable asset.
orbelusbansko.com →70 apartments for digital nomads and remote workers in Bansko — affordable ownership with coworking, spa, pool and restaurant built in, instead of another year of short-term rentals.
banskomountainhomes.com →A few threads run through everything above, whether it's a coworking space, a sailing retreat, a festival, or a residential complex in the mountains.
Deliberate, considered risk-taking — not recklessness, but the courage to act despite uncertainty. Opening a coworking space in a ski town nobody associated with digital nomads was one; most of what's followed has been another.
Focus on what's actually within your control, accept that most things aren't permanent, and act with integrity regardless. Useful on a boat; just as useful running several businesses at once.
Build the right environment, attract the right people, and remarkable things tend to happen on their own. Every venture above is a variation on that one bet — business as the byproduct of a genuine community, not the other way round.
You're not hiring an agency — you're working directly with me. See the full breakdown of the three ways to work together on the home page, or skip straight to booking a call.
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