Volocopter: TESLA of the Sky – a green mobility dream comes true

Simply operated by a joystick, the Volocopter became the world’s first multicopter to be certified for manned flights in 2016.  Equipped with sensors, electric motors, optical fibers communication network, and a parachute, the design adheres to strict safety features that ensure a high degree of reliability.

I recall a night in 2012, while not being able to find much sleep and surfing YouTube, I discovered the maiden flight of the 1st prototype. The next morning, I immediately got in touch with the Founder of Volocopter Alexander Zosel.  He shared with me stories about how Volocopter started and what his long-term vision was for the company. A few months later, I helped Volocopter get a grant from Climate KIC startup Accelerator, as well as later became a crowdfund investor via Seedmatch. Together with Jan Michael Hess, we brought Volocopter on stage of Ecosummit (the smart green business network) to pitch in front of Cleantech investors. In 2013, Alex and I started working even closer together, to find the ideal managing director, to complement the team and carry out Volocopter’s remarkable vision.

“Talent Tree screened the European ecosystem and finally found a visionary manager who was able to understand this specific new flight class and take on this unique opportunity.  As part of a very customized recruiting process, Talent Tree served as an active project manager and negotiated between multiple stakeholders.” Alexander Zosel, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Volocopter.

“I felt very well looked after and thank Talent Tree for this exciting opportunity.” Florian Reuter, new CEO, Volocopter.

This cemented the path for further expansion of the innovative startup and ensured Volocopter being securely positioned as the first fully manned electric multicopter (meaning no fuel and no emissions), and simultaneously helped the startup successfully disrupt the green technology industry. This year, Volocopter was able to raise another round of big funding of € 25 Million led by Daimler. The startup was also at the center of the first autonomous air taxi test in the history of aviation that took place in Dubai. The flying taxi prototype managed to transport the Crown Prince of Dubai for a solid 5 minutes. The city has also announced plans of putting aerial-taxi service in effect within the next five years.

Challenges such as expensive research and development needed for green technology breakthroughs, or high level of patience required when refining the technology to its optimum capacity, are some of the obstacles that startups face when they are executing on their vision to become a mass-market digital climate champion. This makes our job as an Executive Search provider all the more challenging and interesting, when strategically sourcing suitable talent or future disruptors.

We are extremely proud of the companies we support, the teams we work with, and the candidates we match. We continue partnering with clients that value environmental protection as much as business growth, and support companies that aim for digital climate championship. Having said that, Talent Tree reinforces it's position as the leading Executive Search Boutique in the field of green technology.