About us

Our mission

think-cell is the de facto standard when it comes to professional presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint. With our lean structure as well as above-average levels of automation and profitability, we can fully concentrate on improving our existing software and innovating new products.

To continuously meet the demands of our customers with a product that is expertly tailored to their needs, we make no compromises with regard to code quality. Our software developers are accomplished experts in their field. We give them room for cutting-edge ideas and solutions, and we only release our software once it is ready.

Our management

Alexander von Fritsch
CEO

With over 15 years of experience in sales, management consulting, and entrepreneurship, Alexander is responsible for think-cell's overall success through delivering growth, innovation, and customer value. His expertise lies in leading international teams, strategic planning, business development, and enterprise sales. He studied business administration & management and holds a master’s degree in finance & strategic management from HHL Leipzig School of Management.

Arno Schödl, Ph.D.
Founder & CTO

Arno Schödl, Founder and CTO.

Arno is responsible for the development of all our software products. He oversees our R&D team, quality assurance and customer care. Before founding think-cell, Arno worked at Microsoft Research and McKinsey. Arno studied computer science and management and holds a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech with a specialization in computer graphics.

Christoph Hobo
CFO & COO

Christoph is responsible for the commercial and operational management of the company. He has many years of leadership experience in both private and publicly listed companies, and is in charge of finance, human resources and operations. Christoph studied business administration at the European Business School in Oestrich Winkel.

Dr. Markus Hannebauer
Founder & Chairman

Markus Hannebauer, Founder and Chairman.

Markus oversees think-cell's strategic development from a board perspective and advises the company on various business aspects. Before founding think-cell, Markus was a project manager at Fraunhofer. He studied computer science and business and holds a doctoral degree from TU Berlin with a specialization in artificial intelligence.

Our story

Here is how think-cell came to be:

2001

Problem identified

During his PhD studies in Computer Graphics at Georgia Institute of Technology Arno Schödl spends some time at Microsoft Research and McKinsey. There he faces the problem of slide production from both sides of the coin: as a software engineer and as an expert user.

September 2001

Schoolmates reunited

Arno contacts Markus Hannebauer – a former schoolmate and Artificial Intelligence researcher at Fraunhofer – with the idea to join forces and apply their research findings to make slide production more efficient.

April 2002

Company built

Within a few weeks, Markus raises money from private and public sources to cover the development costs for the first product and think-cell comes to life.

StartUp 2002

think-cell wins the 2002 Berlin StartUp award by Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, McKinsey, Stern and ZDF.

July 2003

1st German lead customer

think-cell quickly develops the charting package think-cell chart. The German branch of a leading strategy consulting firm becomes our first customer and is still an important mentor today.

Early 2005

Internationalization starts

Revenues keep growing in 2004, but the real break-through is in 2005, when several consulting firms become customers and internationalization takes place. Also, client organizations pick up the best practices from their consultants and order larger numbers of licenses themselves.

November 2005

think-cell 4 released

February 2006

15,000+ paying users

June 2006

think-cell 4.2 released

September 2006

20,000+ paying users

March 2007

think-cell 4.3 released

June 2007

30,000+ paying users

October 2007

think-cell 5.0 released

Deloitte Rising Star

Without much marketing effort, news about the benefits of our software spread by word-of-mouth. According to Deloitte, think-cell becomes one of the fastest growing software companies in Germany and takes 1st place in the Rising Star awards.

April 2008

50,000+ paying users

May 2009

think-cell 5.1 released

October 2009

Deloitte Fast 50

A five-year revenue growth of 3,154% makes think-cell number four in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Germany.

April 2010

100,000+ paying users

January 2011

think-cell 5.2 released

April 2012

200,000+ paying users

think-cell's 10th anniversary

December 2012

think-cell 5.3 released

February 2013

think-cell joins C++ ISO committee

We start funding and participating in the standardization of our preferred programming language.

December 2013

think-cell 6 released

March 2014

300,000+ paying users

September 2014

Meeting C++

We become the key sponsor of Meeting C++ – Europe's largest C++ conference – and invite 50 students to join free of charge.

August 2015

400,000+ paying users

January 2016

think-cell 7 released

August 2016

think-cell 8 released

October 2016

500,000+ paying users

December 2017

600,000+ paying users

Standard C++ Foundation

We become a sponsor of the Standard C++ Foundation – the world's leading not-for-profit C++ community.

June 2018

think-cell 9 released

February 2019

700,000+ paying users

May 2019

think-cell 10 supports macOS

October 2019

750,000+ paying users

September 2020

800,000+ paying users

December 2020

think-cell 11 supports powerful integrations

May 2021

850,000+ paying users

November 2021

900,000+ paying users

March 2022

950,000+ paying users

Our management

Alexander von Fritsch
CEO

With over 15 years of experience in sales, management consulting, and entrepreneurship, Alexander is responsible for think-cell's overall success through delivering growth, innovation, and customer value. His expertise lies in leading international teams, strategic planning, business development, and enterprise sales. He studied business administration & management and holds a master’s degree in finance & strategic management from HHL Leipzig School of Management.

Arno Schödl, Ph.D.
Founder & CTO

Arno Schödl, Founder and CTO.

Arno is responsible for the development of all our software products. He oversees our R&D team, quality assurance and customer care. Before founding think-cell, Arno worked at Microsoft Research and McKinsey. Arno studied computer science and management and holds a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech with a specialization in computer graphics.

Christoph Hobo
CFO & COO

Christoph is responsible for the commercial and operational management of the company. He has many years of leadership experience in both private and publicly listed companies, and is in charge of finance, human resources and operations. Christoph studied business administration at the European Business School in Oestrich Winkel.

Dr. Markus Hannebauer
Founder & Chairman

Markus Hannebauer, Founder and Chairman.

Markus oversees think-cell's strategic development from a board perspective and advises the company on various business aspects. Before founding think-cell, Markus was a project manager at Fraunhofer. He studied computer science and business and holds a doctoral degree from TU Berlin with a specialization in artificial intelligence.

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