Lars Hinrichs
Encyclopedia
Lars Hinrichs is a German entrepreneur and founder of XING
, a worldwide social networking website
dedicated mostly to cultivating business contacts.
In 2003 he founded the Open Business Club GmbH, today XING
AG, where both business people and students or job seekers manage their contacts. He took XING public in December 2006 and led the company to a profitable business with annual sales of € 35 million and an EBITDA
margin of 35%.
On January 15, 2009 he resigned from his function as CEO and joined the board of directors. Later in November 2009 Lars Hinrichs sold his stake in XING to Hubert Burda Media
. Accordingly, he gave up his board membership at XING
in January 2010. In 2010, he founded HackFwd
, a pre-seed venture capital company investing in technical talent across Europe.
Since 2009 Lars Hinrichs is an honorary member of the German Committee of UNICEF.
.
Xing
Xing may refer to:* an abbreviation for crossing, primarily used in North America* Qiao Xing Universal Telephone Inc. * XING, a social network platform* Xing County, in Shanxi, China* Xing - A Korean boyband...
, a worldwide social networking website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
dedicated mostly to cultivating business contacts.
In 2003 he founded the Open Business Club GmbH, today XING
Xing
Xing may refer to:* an abbreviation for crossing, primarily used in North America* Qiao Xing Universal Telephone Inc. * XING, a social network platform* Xing County, in Shanxi, China* Xing - A Korean boyband...
AG, where both business people and students or job seekers manage their contacts. He took XING public in December 2006 and led the company to a profitable business with annual sales of € 35 million and an EBITDA
EBITDA
EBITDA is an acronym for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is a non-GAAP metric that is measured exactly as stated. All interest, tax, depreciation and amortization entries in the income statement are reversed out from the bottom-line net income...
margin of 35%.
On January 15, 2009 he resigned from his function as CEO and joined the board of directors. Later in November 2009 Lars Hinrichs sold his stake in XING to Hubert Burda Media
Hubert Burda Media
Hubert Burda Media is a German privately held, family-owned global media company with its origins in printing and magazine publishing. The company is headquartered in Offenburg and Munich, has additional main offices in Berlin and Hamburg and has more than 7400 employees...
. Accordingly, he gave up his board membership at XING
Xing
Xing may refer to:* an abbreviation for crossing, primarily used in North America* Qiao Xing Universal Telephone Inc. * XING, a social network platform* Xing County, in Shanxi, China* Xing - A Korean boyband...
in January 2010. In 2010, he founded HackFwd
HackFwd
HackFwd is a European evergreen pre-seed fund started in 2010 by Lars Hinrichs. HackFwd only invests in developers with prototypes or demos for a fixed timeframe of 12 months. This timeframe is used to get to beta and create a viable business case. HackFwd provides a support structure doing all...
, a pre-seed venture capital company investing in technical talent across Europe.
Since 2009 Lars Hinrichs is an honorary member of the German Committee of UNICEF.
Awards
In 2007 Lars Hinrichs received the Media Award LeadAward and the German Internet Prize 2004 of the Federal Ministry of Economics. In August 2008 he was elected Germany's most important web entrepreneur by the Startups Initiative. Also in 2008, Lars Hinrichs was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic ForumWorld Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
.