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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.
Author Biography
Dr. Philipp Baaske, is a physicist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of NanoTemper Technologies. He bootstrapped the Munich spin-out from a two-person lab to a 56 million, 250-employee biotech-tools leader, still 100 percent founder-owned. Named to Capital magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40,” he has earned Germany’s Founders and Innovation Prizes and serves as Vice President for Entrepreneurship at LMU Munich, the country’s largest
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