THE HONORABLE ENTREPRENEUR is the unvarnished memoir of physicist Philipp Baaske, who-together with fellow PhD student Stefan Duhr-turned a benchtop prototype into NanoTemper Technologies. This 56 million global biotech-tools leader remains 100 % founder-owned and VC-free.
From a near-fatal Swiss Disaster that almost stole their patents, to selling 29 hand-built instruments before a product even existed, to walking away from a US $60 million buy-out while still a 35-person firm, Baaske shows how trust, focus, and a seven-point Code of Honor can beat venture capital and power sustainable deep-tech entrepreneurship.
WHO IT'S FOR
- Scientists and engineers turning research into biotech startups or deep-tech ventures
- Founders bootstrapping global companies from Europe and beyond
- Leaders scaling technical teams without losing culture, control, or profitability
- Readers of The Hard Thing About Hard Things or Lost and Founder seeking a European twist
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
- Funding & ownership: how pre-selling, grants, and disciplined reinvestment financed growth while keeping equity
- Product & customers: why real pain, not clever tech, drove every pivot and launch
- People & culture: lessons from a 24-hour lay-off, firing a toxic star, and running a company on a Code of Honor, not bureaucracy
- Crisis leadership: daily pandemic calls that lifted revenue to 56 million without Kurzarbeit abuse
- Global sales: the messy reality of exporting lab instruments to 45 countries from a Munich basement
- M&A reality check: the SAW Instruments deal that flopped and why culture fit matters
TRUE STORIES INSIDE
- A fraudulent family "partner" nearly tanks the company before it begins (the Swiss Disaster)
- Christmas Eve 2009: a data-driven all-nighter wins the first 10 000 pre-payment and sparks 29 prototype sales
- Saying "No, danke" to $60 million and betting on independence instead of exit
Written with self-deprecating humor and Michael-Lewis-style narrative drive, The Honorable Entrepreneur offers scar tissue, hard data, and repeatable frameworks you won't find in any MBA classroom.
Ready to build a deep-tech company that lasts and stay honorable while you do it? Start reading The Honorable Entrepreneur today.
