Daniel Birke — Munich
I build, scale, and steward technology businesses across DACH.
Twenty years across founder, executive, and operator seats — from coding at fourteen to leading transformation for one of Europe's largest mobility operators.
About
From founder to executive leader.
Started coding at fourteen. Founded a SaaS that scaled to 1,000+ enterprise customers. Now leading transformation across DACH for one of Europe's largest mobility operators.
Twenty years across founder, CTO, and operator seats — I understand technology from silicon to strategy, and the stakeholder discipline it takes to make that translation stick.
I architect solutions that work in the real world, deploy AI that delivers measurable results, and lead transformations that compound. Whether building a multi-tenant platform from zero or consolidating legacy systems across three countries — technical execution aligned to long-term business value.
“Currently transforming APCOA — Europe's largest parking operator — through data-driven innovation and enterprise AI.”
Founder & Operator
Built we.io from 0 to 1,000+ enterprise customers across five industries. Technology partially acquired in 2023.
Multi-Industry Executive
DACH Head at APCOA — leading an 80-person distributed org across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with C-level alignment.
Governance-Ready
SOC2, GDPR, and EU AI Act delivered as architecture — with regular reporting to Works Council and IT committees.
Selected work · 2014 — present
Five transformations, each one operational.
Initiatives I authored or led — each shipped, each measured, each still in production.
- 1,000+customers
Founded & Scaled a Multi-Industry SaaS
Built Helion Media GmbH (we.io) from 0 to 1,000+ enterprise customers across hospitality, retail, golf, and B2B services — a horizontally scalable AI platform on a single multi-tenant architecture.
Technology partially acquired in 2023
- 93%automation
AI Automation at Enterprise Scale
Deployed an LLM-based agent layer at APCOA, processing 1,600+ monthly customer interactions with 93% automation rate — replacing manual workflows where measurable processes had never existed.
Smart categorization, routing, and workflow optimization
- 3countries · 1 architecture
Real-Time Data Platform across DACH
Architected APCOA Cloud on Azure — a unified data ecosystem replacing siloed legacy systems across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, enabling AI-driven dynamic pricing and demand forecasting.
Three countries, single architecture, near-zero latency
- 85%prediction accuracy
Predictive Maintenance AI
Delivered the predictive maintenance package on we.io — combining MongoDB Change Streams, AWS EventBridge, and SQS FIFO into a real-time inference pipeline across 1,000+ concurrent deployments.
85% prediction accuracy, 20% operational efficiency gains
- 100%compliant
Compliance & Governance Architecture
Designed SOC2-compliant infrastructure meeting GDPR and EU AI Act requirements, with regular governance reporting to Works Council and IT committees.
Auditability and stakeholder trust as architectural requirements
The work
Four engagement models, one operator behind them.
Whether you need interim ownership for six months or an architect-in-residence for eighteen — same operator, same standards, scoped to the moment.
- 013 – 18 months
Interim Executive & Strategic Counsel
CTO / CPO mandates · ongoing counsel
Executive ownership when you need immediate expertise — stabilizing operations, building teams, and delivering measurable outcomes while you secure permanent leadership. Equally available as ongoing strategic counsel for founders, boards, and executive peers.
Deliverables
- Immediate operational stabilization
- Team building and leadership development
- Multi-year platform strategy
- Smooth handover to permanent hire
- 026 – 12 months
Enterprise AI Implementation
AI that ships, scales, and survives audit
Assess, architect, and deploy AI solutions that deliver measurable ROI. Focus on practical applications that scale across your organization — not demos that die in pilot.
Deliverables
- AI readiness assessment
- Custom solution architecture
- Production deployment & monitoring
- Team training and knowledge transfer
- 0312 – 24 months
Digital Transformation Execution
End-to-end, hands-on transformation
From legacy system modernization to process automation — hands-on technical execution combined with strategic oversight and Works Council collaboration.
Deliverables
- Legacy system assessment & migration
- Process automation implementation
- Change management & training
- Performance monitoring & optimization
- 049 – 18 months
Platform Architecture & Scaling
Cloud-native, governance-ready by default
Design and build cloud-native platforms that scale internationally. Governance-ready from day one, built for sustainable compounding growth.
Deliverables
- Scalable architecture design
- Cloud-native implementation
- Compliance, governance, and security framework
- International rollout strategy
Need something custom? Most engagements start with a conversation.
Across the verticals
Ten industries, one playbook.
Pattern-matching across Fortune 500 enterprises and fast-scaling SaaS — the levers that compound business value rarely change shape.
- 01
Mobility & Parking
APCOA
- 02
Hospitality
hotelery
- 03
Retail & E-commerce
MediaMarkt · Sportcheck
- 04
Travel & Aviation
Lufthansa · TUI · Lastminute.com
- 05
Automotive
BMW · Mercedes
- 06
Telecommunications
Telefónica
- 07
HR Tech & Recruitment
CTG-Consulting
- 08
Sports & Leisure
Golf clubs
- 09
Gaming & Lottery
LottoBayern
- 10
Marketing & Advertising
Serviceplan · Virtual Identity · RedBlue
The approach
Four principles that shape every transformation.
Technical depth meets strategic vision.
20+ years of building digital businesses: I know what's possible, what's hype, and what compounds.
Architectures designed for the real world, not for glossy slides.
Build > Buy > Integrate.
Smart tech decisions based on Total Cost of Ownership, not trends.
Best-of-breed integration — always the right tool, never over-engineered.
Governance & compliance from day one.
GDPR, SOC2, EU AI Act — designed in, not bolted on.
Works Council, IT committee, and C-level reporting built into the operating rhythm.
Long-term value over roadmaps.
Business goals drive every technology decision.
Impact measured in compounding value: cost discipline, revenue resilience, operational trust.
Trusted by
Let's talk
Let's build something that compounds.
Whether you need interim leadership, AI implementation, or platform architecture — twenty years of building digital businesses, scoped to your moment.
Open for interim executive engagements, strategic counsel, and selective long-term advisory roles.
Open source
Still shipping code in public.
Contributing to the developer community with tools that make AI integration easier.
A Next.js plugin that generates spec-compliant llms.txt files for AI agents to better understand your website. Provides on-demand raw markdown endpoints for every discoverable page — AI-ready with zero boilerplate.
Key features
- Automated llms.txt discovery and generation
- Per-page .html.md markdown endpoints
- Zero-config setup with createLLmsTxt
- App Router and Pages Router support
- TypeScript-first with full type definitions
- Production-ready with high test coverage