Lukas Gurny

Context

Gorillas was in the middle of hypergrowth. New locations were opening faster than operations could keep up. Every location required change-of-use permits, fire safety approvals, and regulatory inspections. As Expansion Manager, I grew into this role – a topic nobody had systematically addressed before.

Problem

Nearly 100 locations, each with its own permit status. Everything ran on Excel. Legal and Ops worked with different versions, documents got lost, deadlines were missed. Stores were on the verge of closure – not because business was bad, but because paperwork was missing.

What I Did

I built an Airtable dashboard that centralized the entire permit process. Every location, every document, every status – in one place. Legal could access all documents in real time, Ops had visibility on upcoming deadlines. Fragmented Excel sheets became a single source of truth. In parallel, I dove so deep into German building regulations and fire safety codes that I became the internal reference. With nearly 100 applications, you learn fast.

Result

Stores stayed open. P&L was directly protected because closures due to missing permits were prevented. Miscommunication between Legal and Ops was eliminated. A system that didn't exist before suddenly became the backbone of expansion.

Context

GRÜNZUCKER is a biotech startup converting biomass into sugar. The founder had years of technical expertise but not a single document that would explain to an investor why it matters.

Problem

No website. No working pitch deck. No fundraising strategy. No validated market model. The company was invisible to investors – not because the technology was bad, but because it wasn't compellingly presented anywhere.

What I Did

Everything that was needed. Built the website. Structured the pitch deck from scratch – not the technology as hero, but the market problem as entry point. Calculated and validated TAM/SAM/SOM model. Critically examined and stress-tested financial projections. Developed investor relations strategy: who gets approached, how, in what order. This isn't a consultant mandate. I sit at the table and build alongside.

Result

The company is now investor-visible. There's a professional web presence, a fundraising narrative that stands, and a pipeline of partnerships including the Fraunhofer Institute. A founder with good technology became a startup on the radar.

Context

Early 20s, no team, no budget, no network. The idea: build a CBD brand and sell it in Berlin. Not as a side project, but as a full-time business.

Problem

There was nothing. No product, no shop, no distribution, no brand. Everything had to be built by a single person – from product development to branding to logistics. And CBD wasn't an easy market: regulatory gray area, shunned by banks, restricted by platforms.

What I Did

Everything. Developed packaging design. Built and optimized Shopify store. Created retail distribution strategy and then personally went to Berlin kiosks and corner shops to get the product in. Every sales conversation, every negotiation, every return, every decision went through me. B2C and B2B in parallel, as a one-man operation.

Result

Six-figure revenue over three years. But the real value wasn't the number – it was what I learned. How to bring a product to market. How negotiations work when you don't have a company name behind you. How to manage sales, operations, and finances simultaneously because there's nobody else. Brasiventures was my MBA on the street.

Context

A mid-sized company in the renewable energy sector. 18 employees. Projects ran on Excel, email, and the knowledge of individual people. Anyone who had been there for ten years was irreplaceable – not because they were better, but because only they knew where things stood.

Problem

Classic information asymmetry. No central system, no transparent project status, no documented processes. Every handover was a risk. Every vacation a bottleneck. The company was dependent on individual minds instead of functioning structures.

What I Did

I designed a relational Airtable database – a central project OS that was supposed to give everyone equal access to information. Technically, the solution was clean. But leadership didn't adopt it. And when the boss doesn't use it, nobody does. The system didn't fail because it was wrong, but because the cultural shift didn't happen. What worked afterwards: GPT workshops. No database, no dashboard – just showing people directly what AI means for their daily work. That landed because it met them where they were.

Result

Technology without buy-in is shelfware. The bottleneck is never the tool, but whether people are ready to work differently. Since then, I don't start with the solution. I start with understanding. This experience shapes every engagement I take on today.

Context

After the failed Airtable implementation at the renewable energy company, it was clear: introducing tools doesn't work if people don't experience the value themselves. So: different approach.

Problem

Employees had heard of ChatGPT but had no idea what it concretely means for their daily work. The attitude was a mix of skepticism, overwhelm, and 'that's not for us'. No ill intent – just no touchpoints.

What I Did

Designed and delivered hands-on workshops. No slides about the future of AI – instead, working directly on real tasks from participants' daily work. Drafting emails, summarizing reports, preparing data, accelerating research. Everyone worked with their own use case, not abstract examples.

Result

The workshops worked where the Airtable project failed. The difference: people felt the value immediately – on their own work. No change management concept, but a direct experience. Several employees continued using the tools independently afterward.

Context

Calculating real estate investments isn't rocket science, but most people either do it in overly complex Excel sheets or not at all. Between purchase price, ancillary costs, financing, rental yield, and cash flow, you quickly lose track.

Problem

No accessible tool that displays the essential metrics of a real estate investment quickly and understandably. Available options were either too simple or so complex that only professionals could use them.

What I Did

Developed a custom calculation tool covering the relevant parameters of a real estate investment: purchase price, ancillary costs, financing structure, expected rental income, ongoing costs, cash flow projection. Focus on clarity. Input in minutes, result immediately visible.

Result

(In progress – will be updated upon completion.)