Daniel Kraft

Technology and its impact on our life has been the driver of my professional work. Whether leading the business operations, advising on strategic transactions or investing in new concepts and companies, it fascinates me everyday to see the energy, motivation and commitment that is unleashed when innovation and people meet. With the growing momentum of social media in the workplace and marketplace, technology becomes our daily companion and unlike many times before is promising a more personal and human impact on our lives.

Daniel Kraft’s Specialties:

Social media, innovation, investments, web content management, enterprise content management, , web 2.0, enterprise 2.0, , profitable growth, M&A, travel, New York, Chicago, Frankfurt, Singapore, Oldenburg, family, golf, scuba diving, Mac, fussball, football, soccer, baseball, Chicago Cubs, Eintracht Frankfurt

Daniel Kraft’s Experience

Member of Executive Board

acrolinx

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

August 2009 — Present (4 months)

acrolinx is the leading vendor in technology for Information Quality assurance. Based on its sophisticated linguistic technology, acrolinx IQ™ has rapidly become the leading quality management solution for high-value content.
Venture Partner

ViewPoint Capital Partners

(Partnership; Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

August 2009 — Present (4 months)

ViewPoint Capital Partners is a specialized private equity firm solely focused on growing software & internet technology companies providing equity capital for growth, international expansion, buy-outs and acquisitions. As Venture Partner I am working with an experienced team of entrepreneurs, corporate finance specialists and high level executives that share my same dedication to innovation and technology.
Social Media Strategist

Independent Consultant

(Privately Held; Management Consulting industry)

May 2009 — Present (7 months)

As an independent advisor, Social Media in the business context is the focus of my engagements with executives and senior management from companies of all sizes and scope. With a dedicated network of web, social media, collaboration and information architects we support our clients on an executive level to take the right steps to capitalize on the fantastic opportunities arising from social media.
SVP Corporate Strategy

Open Text

(Public Company; OTEX; Computer Software industry)

February 2008 — April 2009 (1 year 3 months)

Orchestrating people, processes and content is one of the core disciplines of success for today’s organizations. Either in the enterprise, government or non-profit; an organizations success is dependent on how we empower people within an agile environment to enable innovation.  

Driving the corporate strategy of Open Text - I have been working with the leading minds in the industry and the greatest team entirely dedicated to ECM. This included groundbreaking innovations, best practices and customer dialogues as well as continued evaluation of M&A opportunities to the benefit of our customers, partners and shareholders.
President / CEO

RedDot Solutions

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

2004 — April 2009 (5 years )

When starting at RedDot we went on a mission to build the leading web content management vendor in the world. Already an amazing company we outpaced the entire market over the following years and positioned the business within the top three web solutions players globally.  

I was privileged to lead the business through a series of acquisitions and strong operational growth. Traditionally strong in the Microsoft we established the business as a clear leader in web solutions for SAP & Microsoft, becoming Europe's largest WCM player and consolidated and unified the entire WCM portfolio of Open Text (Gauss, Obtree) to form the Open Text Web Solutions Group.

As the Open Text Web Solutions Group the team is leading the global Web Solutions Activities of the largest global ECM Vendor and is driving strategic innovations in Web 2.0, Web Compliance as well as integrating Rich Media and Social Networking.
Associate Director

Commerzbank Securities

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Investment Banking industry)

2000 — 2004 (4 years )

Global Technology Group
Mergers & Acquisitions, Equity Capital Markets, Private Equity

Leading all investment banking activities for Commerzbank Securities in the software market focused on USA-EU transactions. Completed transactions with global software companies including: Agilisys, Beta Systems, CAA Software, Harman/Becker, Infor Business Solutions, IXOS Software, Kleindienst Datentechnik, Obtree Technologies, Open Text, PowerWork, SAP, SER.
Strategic Marketing

Mummert Consulting

(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Management Consulting industry)

1999 — 2000 (1 year )

Strategic Market Development: Reporting to the head of marketing and strategic development, analyzing the finance industry for potential market expansion, conducting research on operational trends and consolidation activities in the transaction banking market.
Corporate Banking

Commerzbank AG

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Banking industry)

1997 — 1999 (2 years )

Chicago, Frankfurt, Prague

Assisting senior management on international projects, including the implementation of a business intelligence infrastructure, US/German transactions and restructuring programs.
Project Manager

Robert Bosch Pte. Ltd., Singapore

(Privately Held; 10,001 or more employees; Automotive industry)

1996 — 1997 (1 year )

Project: tendering the entire South-East-Asia warehouse operations to a third party service provider. Also implementing new procedures according to ‘ASEAN preferential tariff scheme (CEPT)’ to participate on lower tariff rates.
Strategic Logistics

ITT Automotive Europe

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Automotive industry)

1994 — 1996 (2 years )

Corporate logistics consultanting on various strategic projects include the process re-engineering for the production and assembly lines in Germany and the layout and foundation of new production site in the Czech Republic.

Daniel Kraft’s Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Sloan School of Management

Executive Education - Reinventing Your Business Strategy 2009

Strategy as love, not war. At the MIT Sloan School of Management, research has given rise to a powerful business model that reflects the many new ways to compete in the current economy. Called the Delta Model by Arnoldo C. Hax, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Management, it offers senior managers a fresh and pragmatic approach to critical strategic business thinking which puts the customer - not the competitor - in the center.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Sloan School of Management

Executive Education - Driving Strategic Innovation 2008

Orchestrate marketing, product development, technology assessment, value-chain design, project execution, and talent management in an end-to-end roadmap for achieving breakthrough performance. Build organizational relationships that facilitate knowledge transfer, both within the firm and across the value chain. Using a dynamic and integrative value-chain framework created at MIT to gain the capability to position the organization for future growth.
University of Applied Sciences

M.Sc / MBA , Business Engineering

Putting engineering in a business context and combining traditional skills like physics & math with business requirements from accounting to innovation.

Additional Information

Daniel Kraft’s Websites:

My Blog

Daniel Kraft’s Interests:

New ideas to use the web, web content management, fascinating web experiences, web 2.0 & social computing, social networking, enterprise 2.0, consolidation ideas, investment opportunitities in WCM and ECM, New York, Chicago, Frankfurt, Singapore, Oldenburg, golf, scuba diving, snowboarding, fussball, football, soccer, baseball, Chicago Cubs, Eintracht Frankfurt