DINNER
Monday 2nd March 2026
Bayerischer Hof, Munich
18.45
Drinks reception
19.40
Opening Remarks
Uday Singh
Founder & CEO, Fast Growth Icons
19.45
Welcome Address from our Dinner Sponsor
Sebastian Schirl
Managing Director – Global Technology Group, Stifel
19.50
Seated Dinner
Enjoy three courses from The Bayerischer Hof’s exclusive menu
22.30
Carriages
MAIN DAY
Tuesday 3rd March 2026
The Charles Hotel
08.00
Breakfast & Networking
09.00
Host
Uday Singh
Co-Founder & CEO, Fast Growth Icons
09.10
Opening Remarks
Ben Fletcher
Co-Founder and CEO, The Mothership
09.30
The Power of Persistence: Surviving long enough to build a category-defining business
Dirk Hoerig
Co-Founder & MD, commercetools
Dirk will share pivotal near‑failure moments, decisions that shaped the company, lessons learned about focus and long‑term persistence, and how he’s preparing the business to be AI‑native, plus other practical takeaways for founders and CEOs.
10.00
The Planning Paradox: Plans are useless, but the planning is essential
Maximilian Wühr
Co-Founder & CEO, FINN
When your business is growing fast, every plan is wrong the moment you make it – but not planning at all is worse. In this sessions we’ll talk about: how to set ambitious targets without losing credibility, how to keep teams accountable when the world keeps changing, and why speed and focus often matter more than precision.
Expect a real-world discussion on the messiness of planning, budgeting, and decision-making in scale-ups – from “acceptable delusion” in goal-setting to the art of learning from missed forecasts.
10.25
Roundtable networking and discussion sessions
11.10
Morning Break
11.30
Managing Euphoria and Terror: Staying sane while scaling
Mathias Imbach
Co-Founder & Group CEO, Sygnum
Building a business has a high toll on the founder or CEO. We’re all familiar with the highs and lows. Mathias will talk about what he’s learned on his journey and from mentors about how to stay balanced and effective through it all. We’ll also look at decision-making and trust. When should you rely on data, and when on your gut?
12.00
Roundtable networking and discussion sessions
13.00
Seated founder’s lunch by the chef at the Charles Hotel
14.30
Growing pains: Making senior hires and avoiding death by process
Henrik Thiele
Co-Founder & MD, Qwello
As fast-growing companies hit scale, founders face one of the toughest transitions in business: replacing themselves in core operational roles while maintaining culture, keeping morale high and avoiding over zealous processes. In this candid session, Henrik Thiele shares the unfiltered story of hiring, and then rapidly un-hiring, a COO who looked perfect on paper but proved incompatible in practice. Ben and Henrik will unpack what can go wrong when you bring in senior people, how to avoid hiring for pedigree over fit, and why honesty about the messy reality of your business is essential to attracting the right leaders.
15.00
From Chaos to Clarity: Systemising Growth Marketing
Irene Klemm
Founder & Co-CEO, EDURINO
How Edurino replaced trial-and-error with a repeatable growth system. Using clear metrics, daily/weekly cadences and guardrails to turn an inefficient, high-burn marketing function into a disciplined engine for consistent results.
15.25
Roundtable networking and discussion sessions
Coffee served to the tables
16.25
Closing Address
Uday Singh
Co-Founder & CEO, Fast Growth Icons
16.30
Champagne Reception
17.30
End
Round Table Discussion Sessions
Meaningful conversations and practical tips are at the heart of an Icons event.
During the day, we will host three intentionally small and highly interactive facilitated roundtable discussions on the most important challenges founders face whilst scaling.
In the mid morning session, everyone in the room discusses the same topic with the people seated at their table.
At noon, we have break out sessions on different topics. They are all popular, so we host the topics again in the afternoon allowing you to choose your top two.
The people at your table are navigating similar challenges. These sessions are most valuable when participants share openly, contribute generously, and learn from one another, drawing on the collective wisdom of the group.
10:25
Balancing Growth vs Profit
12:00 and 15:25
Choose between
Growth stage financing and funding options – tips, hacks and best practices
A session looking at all options – VC, PE, Debt & IPO
Exits – pitfalls and deal breakers
What are the things that can turn out to be deal breakers, and how you can mitigate them (For people near to the process)
Growth through acquisitions; do’s and don’ts
Do you grow organically or through acquisition? When are acquisitions better? What are the reasons acquisitions fail?
Life after liquidity – from Founder to CIO
Day 1 readiness: building your long-term wealth and investment strategy after a liquidity event
Funding and investor selection
Whats the differences between VC, PE, and strategic investors? How do you match
investors to your company’s stage and goals? Is an international or a local investor better?
International expansion
When are you ready for expansion? How do you choose the right geography? Should you expand by acquisition? How do you manage and integrate the teams?
Employee share schemes
How do you maximise the value, and what are the new rules? What’s best practice? A chance for people to discuss how they offer employee incentive schemes and find out how the new rules will change things.