The start: MVP consulting, not a product vision
In my ventures before Creativate, as managing director and consultant I was mainly responsible for helping teams cleanly identify their problem-solution fit and bring MVPs or POCs to maturity cost-effectively. What remained from that routine is the methodical discipline that shapes every one of our mandates today: before anyone writes code, it must be clear what for.
The ChatGPT moment: an AI wrapper as a tool
When ChatGPT became publicly available, we built what most people built back then: an AI wrapper. Concretely, an interface where would-be founders and smaller companies entered their idea and got a first business-concept draft. That was the birth of our startup operating system — built out of our own need, not as a "vision".
The honest look: why we changed course
We wanted to extend the system — market analysis, competitive intel, financial models. But we had to admit: a software wrapper on someone else's AI interfaces offers neither defensible IP nor lasting competitiveness. We would have traded speed against hyperscalers — a race you do not win bootstrapped.
The pivot: the mid-market and fragmented data
The question that turned everything was: where is there a problem we can solve better than a generic model? The answer came from two observations. First: in the European mid-market the real value lies in the fragmented, hard-to-access data of the organization — not in the foundation model. Second: the discipline "Decision Intelligence" was just forming and brought a vocabulary for exactly this work.
A scientific foundation: the NEN as backbone
So that cNode would not become the nth AI wrapper, it needed its own scientific backbone. From that came the Neural Enterprise Network: an ontological architecture that formally models economic understanding and sets the decision engines on top of it. A year and a half of research later, the NEN is the backbone of all cNode use cases — and the reason our forecasts are verifiable, not just plausible.
An AI wrapper became a decision platform because we looked honestly at our competitiveness. The story is less glamorous than a pitch — but far more durable.
Today: where we stand
cNode is our platform today (c-node.ai) and carries regulated client projects. The studio is financed by consulting mandates, underpinned by several years of funded research. The early startup tool lives on in parts — as an internal aid. The path there was not linear; that is okay.