Daniel saying good bye as CEO

I have already told many of you personally over the last few weeks that I am giving up my position as Managing Director of cumpa GmbH. To all of you who have not yet heard: Yes it’s true! In this letter I would like to tell you how this came about and how things will continue at cumpa and with me.

The journey of cumpa GmbH began almost exactly 5 years ago, until it was finally founded by Lukas and me in August 2018. Within this time, a progressive, functional and solid company has developed from a small side project.

You, our suppliers, customers, employees, colleagues, supporters, families, friends, advisors and followers have made a huge and important contribution to this. I am very grateful for all the encouragement, help and enthusiasm that gives us daily motivation for our work. Thank you very much!

Nevertheless, I have decided to take a different path professionally. Most people know that I studied engineering and that is also the direction I will take in the future. In February, I resigned from my position as managing director and the dual leadership of Lukas and Daniel became the sole management of my esteemed colleague Lukas.

The reasons for this step are simple, because they are very personal to me. Professionally, I want to be able to draw more on the resources of my education and I have been longing for a more technical environment for some time. I was lucky and found a very interesting job in Freiburg im Breisgau in a tech company (renewable energies) where I can combine the business skills I take from cumpa with my technical skills from my studies. I will start an 80% position there in March and will also be working in the background at cumpa during the course of this year. In concrete terms, this means that from February I will no longer be the managing director and will continue to be available to Lukas and Paul internally as a colleague in marginal employment. In addition, I will remain part of the company as a shareholder.

For the customers, this means that I will no longer be there for you directly in the future. My great colleagues will then take over for me and you will continue to be closely looked after by them.

It is important for me to emphasise that all this is happening in good faith, that we have no quarrels and that we look to the future of the company with full confidence. Cumpa will remain the same partner for you and will continue to reliably launch unique coffees for you!

Lukas is the most suitable managing director for cumpa GmbH. He is competent and communicative, as you all know very likeable, quite funny from time to time, has a huge passion for coffee and the related global trade and is on fire for the company. I am very grateful that Lukas is dealing with this with great understanding and acceptance and that he supports my decision and that we can emerge strengthened from this process of change together. Of course, none of this is an easy step. The deep friendship that has always connected us beyond cumpa helps us a lot. It’s great to have you as a buddy, Lukas!

I have a laughing and a crying eye when I think about my private future. Because this environment, which I was able to shape so much, was a great school for me. I was allowed to learn a lot, but above all I was able to get to know myself better in the many different situations. However, I am also looking forward to the new challenges and I am sure that this is the right step for me.

Thank you all very much!

Daniel