Tilo Bonow (born January 7, 1980, in Potsdam) is a German tech investor and entrepreneur.[1] He is the founder and CEO of the communications agency Piabo and a speaker at Startup and tech conferences.[2][3] He is considered a digital pioneer in the Business and Startup world.[4]
Career
Early career and founding Piabo
From 2002 to 2006, Bonow was Head of Corporate Communications at Jamba! where he worked with the Samwer brothers.[5][6][7] Prior to joining Jamba, he worked at the advertising agency O.T.W. and as a freelance consultant in the field of online marketing.[8]
Bonow is an investor in and advisor to various venture capital companies. His focus is on Startups with a tech focus. He primarily supports European companies financially and with his business expertise.[3]
He has been an investor in Cavalry Ventures since its founding in 2016.[12] He is also an investor in 500 Startups[13] and serves as a member of the investment committee at 3VC (formerly Capital 300).[citation needed] He has invested with Cocoon Capital Management, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, and Unlock Venture Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital firm.[14] In 2019, he began investing with Headline (formerly Infinity Ventures), a Japanese VC firm.[13][15]
In April 2021, he spoke at the online EU Startup Summit.[20]
In 2020, Bonow spoke at Chatbot Summit, a conference specializing in conversational A.I. (artificial intelligence), among other events.[21] In November 2020, he was a speaker at Ecosummit[22] and in December 2020, he was a keynote speaker at Uppstart, a Swedish tech startup conference.[23] Furthermore, he was an invited speaker as a scene expert at the NEXT Conference in Hamburg[24] and at the German Tech Conference 2020.[25] In 2017, he spoke at the Startupnight conference.[26] In July 2014, he was a speaker at DLDwomen in Munich.[27]
Other membership and engagements
Since 2013, Bonow has been a mentor at Microsoft Ventures Accelerator Berlin and at Axel Springer Plug & Play Accelerator, a joint venture.[14][28] Since August 2014, he has served as an advisor at IBM Smart Camp, a global program that brings together entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors.[29] IBM Smart Camp is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.[30] He is also a mentor at ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator[31] and APX, the joint start-up program of Porsche and Axel Springer Verlag.[29]
Publications
Light your fire! Personal Branding für Macher:innen und Visionär:innen. BusinessVillage, Göttingen 2021, ISBN9783869805788.
Do-it-yourself branding: Do-it-yourself-Markenbildung: eine Bedienungsanleitung. In: Stefanie Hoffmann-Palomino, Christine Kirbach, Bianca Praetorius (eds.): The LEAN BACK Perspective. Springer, Wiesbaden 2017, ISBN9783658139247, pp. 339-348.
