Matthias Henze, also known as Matze, has been on a mission for the past 18 years to unleash the power and ingenuity of self-employed individuals and small businesses—helping them achieve greater success.
Matze is the CEO and co-founder of Jimdo, a provider of software solutions specifically designed to meet the needs of small businesses and the self-employed. He is passionate about empowering this group of brave individuals so that they can truly thrive. For Matze, they are the true heroes of our economy. Over 5.5 million people are self-employed, contributing well over 500 billion euros to the gross domestic product. They add diversity to our streets, neighborhoods, villages, and metropolises. They think locally, do business locally and operate according to a unique set of values that are increasingly rare in large companies: humanity, a sense of responsibility, and looking beyond one’s own profit horizon.
Matthias Henze Lecture topics:
- Entrepreneurial mindset is the key to success
- The Next Big Thing is “small” – a turning point for business and the economy
- The 1×1 of digital marketing
Through countless conversations with self-employed people, Matze has insight unlike anyone else in Germany into the success strategies, goals, hopes, and hurdles of this market segment. With this knowledge, he helps to develop technologies for the self-employed so that they can develop their full potential and focus on their business.
Matze is also deeply committed to improving the visibility of this group among politicians and the media to further promote the economic power and potential of the self-employed. A big step towards creating greater visibility is the Jimdo-ifo Business Climate Index, which Matze helped initiate in December 2021. Now microbusinesses and solopreneurs finally have their own monthly business index! Matze is also a trustee of the Deutscher Gründerpreis (German Founder’s Prize), a member of the Rat der neuen Arbeitswelt (Council of the New World of Work), and supports Futurepreneur e.V. and Social Impact.
Matthias Henze grew up in Göttingen, spent some of his childhood years in Oman and the USA, and studied business administration in Kiel and Gothenburg. Jimdo has been the first and only job on his resume for the past 18 years because Matze is as passionate about his business idea as he was on day one. He’s convinced that the next big thing is small. Self-employed people could truly enter a golden era of opportunity if they have the support and tools they need to clear the hurdles in their path. That’s what he’s fighting for.