What we believe in. What defines our actions.
Supporting advisor
We believe in combining consultation and operational support – from the strategy through to the implementation of processes or the identification of appropriate customers, investors and business partners. We have accomplished our task when a client is able to independently continue their work after the end of the project. This not only requires developing solution concepts but also “empowerment”, such as via knowledge and method transfer.
Individual solutions
We believe that our senior managers and business partners need to be closely integrated into the operational project work and that solutions and the business objectives always need to be tailored to the needs and capabilities of the responsible persons. Because only once something has been implemented can it generate noticeable added value.
Shared objectives
For us, mutual trust is the basis of successful cooperation. This starts with understanding the client and their organisation, defining the objectives and secondary conditions for the cooperation as well as setting measurable milestones and project results. This lets us focus our activities and clearly manage expectations. We believe in common interests and an entrepreneurial mandate structure, such as one based on performance-dependent fee elements, “Consulting for Equity” or “Co-Investments”.
Work with us. Grow with us.
We often work with:
- Asset managers and venture capital/private equity funds
- Institutional and professional private investors
- Banks and insurance companies
- Family offices and independent financial advisors
- Start-ups and growth companies
- Medium-sized industrial companies
- Real estate companies
Extensive experience. Detailed solutions.
Our many years of consulting and practical experience at top international firms and privately founded companies enable us to combine theory and practice to create innovative and practical solutions that are tailored to every client and their situation. This places the focus on the people involved in the activities, their needs and capabilities. We take the time to establish a close relationship, develop realistic expectations and translate these into manageable work steps.
We achieve fast results as we work closely together with the people involved and often specify the concepts while implementing them, for instance as part of pilot tests. Our broad range of services and extensive network of partners means that not only are we able to develop and implement concepts, but also actively support growth, e.g. by acquiring customers and capital.
We focus on projects in which we are passionate, on which we enjoy working and where we see adequate success in implementation. We define clear, achievable and sustainable outcomes that add value – we are then measured by these outcomes. We ensure a close alignment of interests between us and our clients through cooperation based on partnership, know-how transfer and, if desired, performance-dependent remuneration or joint investments.
In strong networks. With successful partners.
During our many years of wide-ranging experience in the international financial sector, we have built up a broad and well-functioning international network that is characterised by its partnership approach with a focus on the long-term. The network includes specialist consultancies, financial service providers, investors, business owners and experts in legal and tax matters. We use this network to generate new business for our clients and ourselves and find experienced and reliable advisors in the areas that we do not cover ourselves or where a second opinion is helpful.
Our network is based on trust, exceptional quality and a balance of give and take. We only recommend partners and businesses that we have intensively audited ourselves and which meet our requirements. In case of doubt, we prefer to decide against rather than for a new opportunity, because our reputation is more important to us than financial gain.
If we provide recommendations or mediate transactions, our clients profit from the existing basis of trust, which can often tip the scales of whether a transaction goes ahead or not.
Management
We are experts in our field, with a wealth of experience. Stratfields stands for advice and support for customers in the financial and real estate industry.
Managing Partner
Dr Michael Heidecker
Dr Michael Heidecker is the founder and managing partner of Stratfields. He advises well-known companies from the financial services sector, successful medium-sized enterprises, startups and growth companies as well as private and institutional investors. His areas of focus include corporate strategy, corporate finance, venture capital and asset management. As the founder of and investor in innovative companies, he himself is involved in entrepreneurial activities and supervises teams as they implement attractive business ideas.
Prior to Stratfields, Michael Heidecker spent many years at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Germany and Europe as a partner and member of the European Financial Services Core Group. He subsequently established the financial services business as a partner at a boutique German consulting firm and founded an asset manager specialising in private debt in London, among others.
Michael Heidecker completed a banking apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank and studied business administration at the University of Hamburg and Harvard University in Cambridge/USA. His PhD thesis investigated the topic of “Value-based human capital management”. His hobbies include playing the saxophone, photography and magic.
Partner
Dr Werner Zippold
Dr. Werner Zippold is a Partner at Stratfields. Working with our clients, his key competences are corporate strategy, digital business models, artificial intelligence (AI) and venture capital.
After working several years at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in financial services, industrial goods, and energy, he dedicated almost 20 years to creating, launching, and scaling leading digital businesses as CEO, COO, entrepreneur, consultant and investor in Spain, UK, France and the Netherlands.
Besides Stratfields, he is a Venture Partner at Brain VC, a Spanish early-stage venture capital fund that invests in disruptive AI startups.
Werner Zippold has a master’s degree in physics from the Ludwig-Maximilians- University of Munich/Imperial College in London and a PhD in theoretical solid-state physics from the University of Heidelberg.
Contact
We rely on trust and therefore early personal contact.
We look forward to hearing from you.