All mentors

Christian Busch

Helping Seed & Series A founders land enterprise customers • Built $250M ARR SaaS at SAP • Stanford GSB mentor

Palo Alto, United States (-08:00 UTC) English, Germanfrom Palo Alto, United States
Usually responds in 8 hours
$200 / hour
Price per hour
30 min60 min
Time Blocks Available
5.00
11 reviews / 17 sessions
Fri
16
Next availability

Christian is an exceptional mentor. Thanks to his extensive knowledge and detailed feedback, our meeting surpassed expectations. His wealth of experience in go-to-market strategies and prospect outreach was immediately apparent, and he provided clear, actionable insights that were both practical and easy to implement. Christian's approach made the session highly informative and enjoyable. I highly recommend him to anyone in need of guidance in this area.

Shlomi Benshlomo

Christian was the first PAID ($99/hour) mentor I've scheduled with, and WOW it was worth it. All the sessions I've had have been super valuable, but Christian's feedback was another level of insight, real-world knowledge, and credibility.

Mike Regan

Christian has been an exceptional mentor, particularly in VC funding. His accurate advice has been central to my understanding and success in navigating the complex venture capital landscape. His clear, practical guidance has truly made a difference

Marko Luznjanin

Bio

What I've actually done: -Sketched SAP's IoT platform on a whiteboard, secured $30M in funding, grew it to ~$250M/year — Coca-Cola, Unilever, P&G, Genentech -Turned Cognizant's innovation practice from $300K to $60M ARR in under 2 years -Unified 30+ AI projects at Elevance into one platform — $500M in savings, real-time prior auth engine -Managed cross-functional teams up to 160 people across the US, Europe, India, and China Where I add real value for founders: -Landing enterprise customers. Procurement, security reviews, CISO audits, multi-stakeholder buying. If you're chasing your first Fortune 500 deal, I'll help you avoid the traps that kill most startup-enterprise deals in month 7. -Sharpening your fundraising narrative. I'll tear apart your deck the way a Tier-1 partner does in 60 seconds — then help you rebuild it around the one question investors actually answer. -Pricing that closes deals. Most founders leave 30–50% of revenue on the table. I'll help you structure enterprise pricing that anchors correctly and drives expansion. -GTM design and your first sales hires. Pick the first segment worth winning, build the motion to win it, figure out if you need a VP Sales now or in six months. Scaled sales orgs from zero to $60M+ ARR. -Product-market fit you can measure. Bring me your last 10 customer conversations and I'll show you what you missed. -AI strategy for regulated industries. 30+ AI initiatives, 70M FHIR records at Elevance. I'll help you separate real opportunities from hype and tell a story buyers and regulators believe. -MedTech compliance as sales blocker. FDA 524B, SBOMs, NIST 800-53, Part 11, QMS/ERP. If procurement or CISO audits are blocking your deals, I know how to unblock them. -Team building and your first 10 hires. I'll help you sequence hires and avoid the "hired a VP too early" mistake that kills a lot of Series A companies. What you get in an hour with me: -Direct, operator-level feedback — no consultant-speak -Specific next steps you can act on tomorrow -Honest read on what's working and what isn't -Warm intros when there's a genuine fit How to prep: Come with a specific problem, the more concrete, the better. An hour with a clear agenda beats three generic mentorship calls.Before we talk, send a short note: (1) where your company is today, (2) what's working, (3) the biggest thing in your way. I'll come prepared. https://christianbusch.de https://mvp.sv

Expertise

  • Advice on funding

    Helped founders raise $230M+ across pre-seed to Series B. I know what partner-level scrutiny looks like because I secured $30M in internal funding for an SAP IoT initiative that started as a whiteboard sketch. I'll tell you what's working in your narrative and what a VC will tear apart in 30 seconds.

  • Bootstrapping

    I'm most useful to funded startups, but I've helped bootstrapped founders sequence revenue moves that fund growth without an external round — enterprise pilots, design partnerships, outcome-based contracts. If you're choosing between bootstrapping and raising, I'll give you an honest read on which path actually fits your business.

  • Conversion rate optimisation

    My CRO lens is enterprise B2B, not ecommerce — what makes a procurement team say yes, why security reviews stall deals, which pricing page signals close vs. scare enterprise buyers. If you're dealing with long sales cycles and multi-stakeholder buying committees, this is where I'm most useful.

  • Go to market strategy

    GTM is where I've built my career. I've designed direct and indirect motions for enterprise SaaS, IoT, AI platforms, and healthcare products — and landed Coca-Cola, Unilever, P&G, Genentech, and Tennant as reference customers. I'll help you pick the first segment worth winning and build the motion to actually win it.

  • Idea validation

    Before you write a line of code, I'll help you pressure-test your idea against reality. We'll audit your customer interviews for leading questions, design unbiased discovery conversations, and identify the 2–3 experiments that will actually tell you if you have something. Save 6 months of building the wrong thing.

  • Pricing strategy

    Pricing is where most founders leave 30–50% of revenue on the table. I'll help you structure enterprise pricing that closes deals without anchoring too low, design packaging that drives expansion revenue, and avoid the discounting traps that kill your next funding round.

  • Product launches

    I've taken 6 platforms from whiteboard to $60–250M in annual revenue across IoT, real-time analytics, cloud imaging, NLP, enterprise innovation, and healthcare AI. I know what to cut from a launch plan, what to double down on, and what founders always underestimate about enterprise launches.

  • Product management

    20 years of PM leadership at SAP, Cognizant, and Elevance Health — from scrappy zero-to-one prototypes to managing 160-person product orgs. I'll help you sharpen your roadmap, pick the right first customers, and build product processes that scale without killing the magic.

  • Product market fit

    PMF is where most founders burn capital before finding it. I use ethnographic research and design thinking to validate demand before you ship — not after. Bring me your positioning, your first 10 customer conversations, and your pricing, and I'll tell you honestly how close you are.

  • Sales

    I've built enterprise sales motions from zero and scaled them past $60M ARR. Sales enablement collateral, sales plays for complex buying committees, founder-led selling vs. hiring your first AE — bring me the specific bottleneck and we'll work it in one call.

  • User research

    I use ethnography and social-science observation to uncover value props other people miss. It's how I've found the hidden wedge in markets from healthcare AI to industrial IoT. If you're staring at 20 customer interview notes and not sure what pattern matters, let's look at them together.

Toolkit

  • Apollo logo

    Apollo

    Lead generation for cold leads is brutal. Lead with meaning to increase response rate. I'll show you how to do that at scale and increase response rates.

  • Confluence logo

    Confluence

    Product requirement docs, engineering specs, and cross-team knowledge management across 160-person orgs at SAP, Cognizant, and Elevance. Essential for enterprise-scale delivery.

  • Figma logo

    Figma

    Product design reviews, collaborative wireframing, and stakeholder walkthroughs. I use it less as a designer and more as a product exec aligning engineering, design, and sales.

  • Git logo

    Git

    Pair-programming for rapid prototyping and technical due diligence on founder codebases. I use it when reviewing technical architecture for MedTech and enterprise startups.

  • Miro logo

    Miro

    Whiteboard ideation, customer journey mapping, and strategy workshops with distributed teams. Where most of my zero-to-one product thinking gets sketched before it gets built.

  • ChatGPT logo

    ChatGPT

    Use it for rapid market research, competitive teardowns, and drafting enterprise sales collateral. I'll show founders how to 10x their GTM research output without sacrificing rigor.

  • Claude logo

    Claude

    My primary AI thinking partner for product strategy, pitch deck review, and customer interview synthesis. I use it with founders live in sessions to pressure-test positioning and unblock writing tasks in real time.

  • Cursor logo

    Cursor

    Fast prototyping of technical concepts, reviewing founder codebases, and shipping experimental features. Particularly useful for non-technical founders trying to validate ideas before hiring engineers.

  • Jira logo

    Jira

    Agile delivery, cross-team engineering coordination, and release planning at enterprise scale. From 5-person startups to 160-person product orgs shipping on weekly cadence.

  • Mixpanel logo

    Mixpanel

    Product analytics, funnel analysis, cohort retention, and feature adoption instrumentation. I use it to pressure-test founders' growth claims against what the data actually shows.

  • Salesforce logo

    Salesforce

    Implemented and validated Salesforce CRM for a 50-person medical device manufacturer — the kind of hands-on build most fractional execs won't touch. Configured Sales, Service, and CPQ; established Part 11 validation protocols (IQ/OQ/PQ); integrated with QMS and ERP; trained the sales and customer success teams. If you're in a regulated industry and your CRM rollout is stuck between IT, compliance, and sales, I can help you unstick it.

Industries

  • Innovation Management

    I turned Cognizant's struggling innovation practice from $300K to $60M ARR in under 2 years by reinventing the business model to outcome-based Product Engineering. I've seen what works and what doesn't in corporate innovation — the incubation structures, incentive traps, and portfolio discipline that separate real value creation from theater.

  • Internet of Things

    I sketched SAP's IoT platform on a whiteboard, secured $30M in internal funding, and grew it into a ~$250M/year business — landing Coca-Cola, Unilever, P&G, Genentech, and Tennant as reference customers. 7 years running global strategy, product, and GTM for IoT at SAP. If you're building in IoT, industrial, or connected devices, I've been there.

  • Enterprise Software

    20 years building and selling enterprise software at SAP, Cognizant, and Elevance Health. Products I've led have generated $1.1B+ in cumulative commercial value. I know what makes a procurement team say yes, why security reviews stall deals, and how to design pricing and packaging that closes Fortune 500 contracts without leaving money on the table.

  • Angel Investment

    Active angel investor and advisor in early-stage B2B, healthcare AI, and deep tech startups. I invest the way I operate: hands-on, opinionated, and focused on unlocking enterprise revenue. If you're building something I might back, or want to understand how angel investors actually evaluate your deck, book a call.

  • Artificial Intelligence

    I led Elevance Health's AI/ML platform — 30+ initiatives, 160-person team, $500M in strategic savings, and a real-time prior authorization engine running on 70M FHIR patient records. I'll help you separate real AI product opportunities from hype, design data pipelines that actually scale, pick the right model strategy (build vs. fine-tune vs. API), and tell an AI story investors and enterprise buyers will believe.

  • Incubators

    Helped founders raise $230M+ across pre-seed to Series B. I know what partner-level scrutiny looks like because I secured $30M in internal funding for an SAP IoT initiative that started as a whiteboard sketch. I'll tell you what's working in your narrative and what a VC will tear apart in 30 seconds.

  • Medical Device

    ExCIO for a 50-person medical device startup, building the cybersecurity and compliance foundation that unblocks enterprise sales. I know FDA Section 524B (SBOMs, SPDF, vulnerability management), NIST 800-53, and QMS workflows firsthand. If your MedTech startup is hitting CISO audits or "refuse to accept" risks, I can help.

  • Electronic Health Record (EHR)

    3.5 years VP Technical Product at Elevance Health running AI on FHIR R4 clinical records for 70M patients. I built a real-time prior authorization engine that cut processing from days to seconds and drove $500M in savings. If you're building on FHIR, integrating with Epic or Cerner, or navigating HL7 and payer-provider data flows, I can help you avoid the standard traps.

Experience

  • Inoculis LLC

    Founder, MedTech IT & Security Practice

    Inoculis is a Silicon Valley fractional CIO and CISO practice for medical device, SaMD, IVD, and life science startups, 1 to 100 employees. Remote service nationwide. I help founders build the company-side IT, identity, security, and compliance-readiness foundation their enterprise customers expect, before the customers ask for it. What I work on: • Day-Zero Stack Selection: identity, SaaS, network, QMS, inventory, file storage • Hospital and Lab Security Review Readiness: the company-side evidence and questionnaire-response library your customer's CISO buying center expects • Compliance Framework Roadmaps: HITRUST, HIPAA, ISO 27001, SOC 2, NIST 800-53 • Stack Setup Sprint: the build that follows Day-Zero Stack Selection • Fractional CIO and CISO leadership: a senior seat in your weekly cadence What I do not work on: device firmware, embedded software, or FDA premarket submissions. That stays with R&D, Quality, and Regulatory, where it belongs. Why this exists: 25 years building enterprise software at SAP, Elevance Health, and Cognizant. Mentor at Stanford GSB and three Silicon Valley accelerators. CISSP-certified. The pattern I came back to enough times to start a practice around: scientific founders make IT, security, and compliance decisions casually in year one that become six-figure migrations in year five. Inoculis exists to close that gap.

  • Mulligan Valley Partners

    Product & AI Executive | Interim CPO / VP Product

    I lead high-ambiguity product and AI initiatives for companies at strategic inflection points: new-category creation, stalled-platform turnarounds, AI productization, and enterprise scale. Engagements span healthcare AI, medical technology, enterprise software, and industrial platforms. I operate across product strategy, architecture, GTM, P&L, and organizational execution. I remain open to the right long-term CPO or VP Product role. Client engagements are structured for an orderly transition if I accept a full-time operating mandate. Representative impact across prior roles and engagements: AI/FHIR platforms serving 70M members; a five-month prior-authorization product supporting approximately $500M in annual savings; nine-figure IoT platform scale; multiple eight-figure enterprise engagements. www.mvp.sv

  • Mulligan Valley Partners

    Founder & Managing Partner, AI and Platform Practice

    Executive platform practice for AI, data, and regulated C-suite leadership at enterprise scale. Operating Partner mandates with PE and VC firms. Interim CPO, CAIO, and CIO roles during strategic AI and platform transformations. Technical and organizational due diligence. Board and advisory seats. Zero-to-one platform builds. Retained to accelerate product-market fit, professionalize engineering operations, and prepare portfolios for Series B+ scaling. Helps organizations translate R&D and platform investment into durable commercial outcomes. Representative work spans IVD medical devices, healthcare AI, healthcare IoT, emergency notification, telehealth, and enterprise software. Rated 5 Stars on MentorCruise and ADPList advising executives and founders across enterprise AI, healthcare technology, and product strategy. Mentor at Stanford GSB Ignite, Alchemist Accelerator, Techstars, and German Accelerator Silicon Valley. Angel portfolio: $230M+ raised, $260M+ in exits. www.mvp.sv

  • Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield

    VP Product, Chief AI Engineer
    •anthem.com

    – Strategic Product Leadership and Innovation - Drove the strategy and execution of Elevance Health's AI/ML App platform, leading a diverse team of over 160 professionals. Successfully managed a portfolio of 30+ initiatives, leveraging AI, ML, and cloud-native technologies to significantly enhance patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. – Customer-Centric Product Development and Market Research - Analyzed market trends, realigned product and engineering strategies with a customer-centric focus, establishing key healthcare partnerships and a three-year roadmap. Implemented ethnographic research methodologies to gain deep insights into customer segments, influencing effective go-to-market strategies. – Executive-Level Impact and Engineering Excellence - Redefined agile engineering strategies and led the development of a zero-trust cloud-native Health Operating System. Achieving an 80% improvement in deployment efficiency and enabling GenAI tools. Saving $150M initially and recurring savings of $95M. Won first $4.8M deal on AI/ML platform. – Healthcare Transformation through AI/ML Solutions - Pioneered a groundbreaking ‘prior authorization solution’ using FHIR R4 patient records, reducing processing time from days to seconds and enabling $500M cost saving. Kick-off to launch in 5 months. Transformed FHIR clinical data pipeline, significantly enhancing data accuracy and daily updates for 70M members.

    Health InsuranceHealth Care

  • Elevance Health

    Vice President of Products

    Second-largest US health insurer, 70M members; revenue grew from roughly $120B to over $170B during tenure. Engaged March 2020 to lead product for the AI/ML platform, converted to VP in April 2022, and moved to report directly to the Chief AI Officer.

  • Cognizant

    VP, Innovation Practice

    – Digital Transformation Leadership - Revitalized a JV digital transformation practice. Analyzed market, created business case. Implemented agile SDLC and ethnographic methods to launch enterprise SaaS products for Fortune 500 clients. – Strategic Market Repositioning and Growth - Reengineered the engineering and business strategy, creating a data-driven, multi-year market plan. Demonstrated effectiveness by securing $10M in strategic innovation software development deals within the first 10 months. – Innovative Product Development and Process Standardization - Led engineering and delivery of Azure's Self-Service Advertising platform with team of 47 for Comcast, encompassing all advertising initiatives. Transformed digital transformation methodology into a standardized, repeatable sales and development process. Kick-off to commercial market launch in 6 months. – Revenue Growth and Operational Excellence - Drove the practice's growth from $300K to $60M annual revenue within 2 years, achieving a 65% margin and maintaining 100% team utilization. Excelled in managing change and fostering continuous improvement across teams.

    Consultingmanagement consulting

  • SAP

    Chief Product Manager IoT, Life Science, Consumer Products, Retail
    •sap.com

    – Innovative Market Expansion - Global responsibility for strategy, product management, engineering and go-to-market for Internet of Things for Retail, CPG, Life Sciences, managing a 60-person engineering team and liaising with 15 global product teams. Expanded the platform into healthcare and life sciences, $30M budget and a 130-strong matrixed global team. – Strategic IoT Platform Leadership - Analyzed market, ideated, directed the engineering and GTM of an enterprise IoT platform, targeting CPG and retail sectors. Successfully expanded the IoT pipeline to 100 F500 companies, securing significant contracts including a $5.4M deal with Coca-Cola and a $2M agreement with Tennant within first 6 months. – Strategic Revenue Growth and Partnership Development - Catalyzed revenue growth with a cross-industry solution, integral to SAP’s $3B ARR IoT strategy. Formed and managed vital partnerships with global telcos and key IoT hardware/software providers, enhancing SAP's IoT offerings.

  • brainjunction GmbH

    Founder, CEO/CTO

    Founded and scaled a collaborative, browser-based enterprise platform for distributed teams. Ran full P&L and product delivery. Built a profitable business serving multiple customers and led deployments for DaimlerChrysler (now Mercedes-Benz Group), Volkswagen, Bertelsmann, Deutsche Telekom, and T-Mobile.

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