10 Things You Didn’t Know about David Nothacker
David Nothacker is the co-founder and CEO of Sennder, which is a digital freight-forwarding company that links up large commercial shippers with small and medium freight carriers. He works with a large team that deals with different aspects of the digital freight-forwarding business. The Sennder Company is based in Germany and is the leading freight forwarder in Europe. Below is a list of ten things you probably did not know about David Nothacker:
10. Masters Degrees
Nothacker has three masters’ degrees that he has obtained over the years. His masters’ degrees are mainly associated with business and international management. He has a masters’ degree in business administration from INSEAD, which he acquired between 2014 and 2015, a masters’ degree in management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, which he acquired between 2010 and 2011, and another masters’ degree in international management from Esade, which he acquired between 2009 and 2010. His extensive knowledge in business and management have contributed significantly to his success as a CEO and founder of the Sennder Company.
9. Strategy Consultant
Nothacker worked for approximately five years as a strategy consultant between 2011 and 2015 before founding his company. During the five years, he mainly worked for Roland Berger, which is an international management consultation company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Roland Berger is one of the few management consulting companies that originated from Europe that has a strong international footprint. During the five years that Nothacker worked for the business management consultation company, he acquired a great wealth of knowledge that he applied in the development of Sennder. Sennder’s success could partly be attributed to the experience that he obtained while offering consultancy services to different companies under Roland Berger.
8. Intern at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
Long before Nothacker got the opportunity to work as one of the senior consultants at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, he had worked at the company as an intern. Nothacker worked at the company as an intern. His experience as an intern in the company prepared him for his junior consultancy role, at the same company. His internship at Roland Berger became the foundation of his career in business management consultancy. After his internship, he got a junior consultant role at the same company and was later on promoted to a consultant, and then a senior consultant.
7. Languages
Although Nothacker has a German background, he speaks several languages, which he has picked up over the years. Nothacker speaks four languages, which include German, English, Italian and Spanish. According to his LinkedIn profile, Nothacker speaks German and Italian as his mother tongues and is fluent in both English and Spanish.. His language skills have significantly improved his career prospects and his interaction with other business prospects, especially in his current CEO and co-founder role. For instance, his language skills have made it easy for him to interact with interviewers and potential business associates from other countries.
6. Brand Values
According to Nothacker, the most important brand values for success are operational excellence and entrepreneurial spirit. Without these two factors, a brand can easily fail. Operational excellence and entrepreneurial spirit ensure that the company hires the right people, who readily embrace the company’s vision. Sennder’s brand was initially built on four brand values, which included being faster, greener, cheaper, and smarter. While the company is currently focused on quality, these values formed the basis of its success.
5. Deal with Uber
Nothacker scored a major deal with Uber in 2019. His deal with Uber came about after a meeting with Bill Driegert, one of the co-founders of Uber Freight. Nothacker and Bill hit it off during their initial meeting and a few months afterwards Uber reached out to Sennder and proposed a partnership. The initial meeting between Bill and Nothacker led to a long-term partnership between Sennder and Uber. After the negotiations, Sennder ended up acquiring Uber Freight’s European business.
4. Passionate about Brand Building
Nothacker is passionate about brand building and branding. According to Nothacker, a brand is more than just a brand. In a podcast interview for “The Project A Podcast,” Nothacker described a brand as being a way of living cooperating, and working and not just a logo or a visual identity of a company. He also explained that a brand is a company’s operating system, which makes it an essential part of a company’s business model. His belief on the need to be conscious about one’s brand stems from his experience as a management consultant for different businesses.
3. Believes in the Evolution of His Brand
Although Sennder has become a successful company over the past few years, Nothacker believes that the company was still at its teenager phase before it acquired Uber Freight’s European business and is currently in its young adult stage. As such, he believes that the brand is constantly evolving to ensure that it makes sense to carriers, shippers, and its employees. In his podcast interview with “The Project A Podcast,” he also stated that he believes that the company’s value positioning is getting sharper.
2. Decision to Quit Management Consulting and Start Sennder
Nothacker decided to start Sennder at the end of his MBA. After finishing his MBA, he decided to quit his career as a management consultant and pursue his dreams of starting Sennder. Immediately after he completed his MBA, he moved to Berlin with his MBA classmate to start Sennder with the intent of developing a company using the logistics and business management knowledge that they had acquired over the years. His decision to quit his career as a management consultant came at a point when he was at the peak of his management consultant role and was working as a senior consultant at the Roland Berger Company. Were it not for his bold move, to quit his stable job, Sennder would exist today.
1. His First Co-founder Left the Company
Nothacker’s first co-founder, who was his MBA classmate left the company a year after developing the Sennder concepts and trying to navigate the logistics and freight market. After the first year, it became obvious to Nothacker and his initial co-founder that Sennder 1.0 was not going to work. Nothacker’s co-founder then decided to leave the company while they were going to sign a term sheet for new investors. Nothacker found out shortly after the meeting that his co-founder had decided to leave the company. In an interview with Trans.Info, Nothacker reported that the moment his initial co-founder left their business was the lowest point of his life. Despite his co-founders’ decision to quit, Nothacker still managed to convince the investors to give him the funds he needed to restart the company with two new co-founders.
In Summary
David Nothacker’s education career, his resilience in the face of challenges, and his determination promoted his career growth and the success of Sennder. Nothacker deserves the success that his company has had over the years. His management consultancy role at Roland Berger, his education, his language skills, and his working experience has made him the most suitable person for the CEO role at Sennder.