I’m Richard Poelderl. I live in Berlin, where I build the future.

I’m an independent AI consultant. I advise and train companies on adopting AI, build AI products myself and organise AI events in Berlin.

Before that, I was a software engineer, a marketer, a serial founder and, first of all, a basketball player who dreamed of making it to the NBA. Here’s the whole story.

My career path

From the basketball court to AI

I’m an independent AI consultant in Berlin, and I got here by a winding road. After my basketball years, I did a dual study programme with , working in Wolfsburg, studying in Mannheim and spending an exchange semester in Hong Kong. During my master’s at the , with an exchange in Florence, I worked in marketing and sales at in Milan. After that, I spent three years as Director of Acquisition at the Italian marketplace in Milan, including a year in Vienna building up the international office. There I built up the marketing team to 20 people, grew the site to 4 million visitors a month and launched in four new countries. In 2020 I took a sabbatical in Braunschweig and Brazil to teach myself software engineering, then worked as an engineer at in Berlin and remotely for , co-founded as CTO, and freelanced as a software engineer for . Since 2024 I’ve been working independently on AI, serving clients in the US, Italy, Spain and Germany through consulting, and customers globally through my products.

Richard Poelderl · Berlin

Sports

  1. 2008–2011

    Basketball player

    Braunschweig, Germany

    Dreaming of going pro

Business

  1. 2011–2014

    Dual study programme

    Wolfsburg (work) · Mannheim (studies) · Hong Kong (exchange semester)

  2. 2016

    Marketing & Sales

    Milan, Italy (during my master’s)

  3. 2017–2020

    Director of Acquisition

    Milan, Italy (1 year in Vienna)

    • Built up the marketing team (20 people)
    • 4M visitors/month
    • 4 new countries

Developer

  1. 2020

    Sabbatical

    Braunschweig, Germany & Brazil

    Taught myself software engineering

  2. 2021

    Jr. Software Engineer

    Berlin, Germany

  3. 2021–2022

    Software Engineer

    Remote

  4. 2021–2023

    Co-Founder & CTO

    Remote

  5. 2023–2024

    Freelance Software Engineer

    Remote

AI

  1. since 2024

    Independent consultant

    Clients in the US, Italy, Spain & Germany · products used globally

    Independent AI consulting

Before I begin

Basketball player who dreamed of making it to the NBA

My first dream was to play basketball professionally. From 2008 to 2011 I played for the , on the same roster as and . I quit because I didn’t think I could make it to the NBA as a pro athlete (now I’m rooting for my former teammates who did make it to the NBA and even became world champions). My career peaked with this photo: me dunking while two future NBA champions look on. Clearly, they learned from the best.

Scoreboard showing Poelderl, Schroeder and Theis on the same team
1
2
3
Richard dunking, Dennis Schröder at the front left and Daniel Theis in the centre123

Before I begin

Failed startup founder

I’ve always started things on the side. StartGut delivered breakfast on weekends while I worked at Volkswagen. Abroadstars sold custom hoodies to Erasmus and exchange students across Europe. Databee was a CO₂ calculator API for banking apps. And , which I co-founded as CTO, let you share meeting times without leaving your inbox. None of them survived, and every one of them taught me something I still use.

R.I.P.

StartGut

2014

Weekend breakfast delivery alongside my job at Volkswagen.

R.I.P.

Abroadstars

2015

Custom hoodies for Erasmus and exchange students across Europe.

R.I.P.

Databee

around 2020

CO₂ calculator API for banking apps.

R.I.P.

AgreeTo

2021–2023

Share meeting times without leaving your inbox.

Consultant

I advise and train companies on AI

Today I help companies and their leaders adopt and implement AI. Consulting means working out strategy, use cases and guardrails together with leadership and business teams. Training is hands-on: teams learn AI on their own, real workflows. And if needed, I help build the solutions until they work in everyday operations.

01

Consulting

Strategy

Strategy, use cases and guardrails, together with leaders and business teams.

02

Training

Hands-on

Leaders and teams learn AI through their real workflows.

Implementation Optional

If needed, I help build the solutions until they work in everyday operations.

Consultant

Who do I advise and train?

My clients range from ten-person startups like to enterprises like with more than 100,000 employees. With startups, I usually consult and implement. With enterprises, I consult and train.

Startups

TaxwireSiriusUnkeyParkwith.usCal.comProntoProSupabaseParloa

Enterprises

Berlin-ChemieFlixBusSAP
Startups · consulting & implementationEnterprises · consulting & training

Consultant

Which processes have I implemented?

In support, I’ve set up email triage that reads, classifies and prioritises every incoming message, plus automatic replies for recurring requests. In marketing, customer interviews turn into articles and posts, and companies become visible in search engines and AI assistants. In engineering, every change gets an automatic review and the team’s standards apply to every line of code. And in business operations, law firms and tax advisers onboard clients without data leaking to AI providers, while their required compliance checks run automatically.

Support

  • Email triageEvery incoming email is read, classified and prioritised.
  • Automatic repliesA suitable reply is generated automatically for recurring requests.

Marketing

  • Content from user interviewsCustomer conversations are automatically turned into articles and posts.
  • AI Visibility & SEOVisible in search engines and AI assistants.

Engineering

  • Automatic code reviewEvery change is reviewed before a person looks at it.
  • Enforcing standardsQuality and style rules apply automatically to every line of code.

Business operations

  • Client onboarding with data protectionClient data is protected from uncontrolled sharing with AI providers.
  • Compliance checksRequired checks for law firms and tax advisers run automatically.

Consultant

What others say about me

Here’s what people who’ve worked with me directly, attended one of my workshops or hired me as a consultant say about me.

OpenClaw

“Richard is a builder.”
Founder of PSPDFKit · Creator of OpenClaw

Workshop attendee

“I came away with lots of marketing tools again. Thank you for the workshop.”
Marketing & Sales · Berlin-Chemie Menarini

1:1 Knowledge Exchange

“I see Richard’s greatest strength in transformation, where processes and ways of working need to be rethought.”
IT Head Country Lead · Siemens

1:1 AI training

“Thank you for all these explanations. I always need a little push, and I appreciate that.”
Security Architect · Microsoft

1:1 Knowledge Exchange

“Thank you for the insights into governance options for Anthropic models and the latest info about Microsoft Autopilot! Super helpful.”
Head of Digital Workplace Solutions · PUMA

AI engineer

I’m also an AI engineer

I still build every day, with the same AI tools I teach. I contribute to , the AI assistant that powers Microsoft Scout, and I’m building two products of my own: and .

OpenClaw
Contributor to the AI assistant that powers Microsoft Scout
GoLongtail.ai
Digital marketing agent
Procurato.de
AI tools for sensitive data

AI engineer

One of the first OpenClaw users

I was one of the first people to use , the AI assistant built by , founder of PSPDFKit. My first commit landed on 11 December 2025, 17 days after the project started. Today I’m contributor #164 out of around 2,900.

Selfie with Peter Steinberger
With Peter SteinbergerFounder of PSPDFKit and developer of OpenClaw
Merged pull request #61456 in the OpenClaw repository by p6l-richard
My code in OpenClawPull request #61456, merged in April 2026
First commit
11 Dec 2025
17 days after the project started
Contributor rank
#164
out of around 2,900

AI engineer

GoLongtail.ai: a digital marketing agent

is a digital marketing agent. It analyses a company’s competitors, plans the content worth writing and measures how visible the company is in search engines and AI assistants.

GoLongtail: content strategy and competitor analysis

AI engineer

Procurato.de: AI tools for sensitive data

lets companies process data with AI while keeping confidential information protected. Its Privacy Redactor detects personal data locally before it reaches ChatGPT, and its bookkeeping tools compare bank statements, receipts and expenses month over month. It also retrieves company registry records and collects receipts automatically.

Procurato Privacy Redactor detects names, phone numbers, emails, IBANs and addresses locally in text
Detects personal data locally before it reaches ChatGPT.
Monthly admin todos: monthly expense comparison with donut charts
Monthly bookkeepingAutomatic monthly comparisons of bank statements, receipts and expenses.

Also: automated company registry retrieval and receipt collection.

Organiser

I’m also an AI event organiser

Finally, I bring people together. Internet Friends Berlin hosts community events with founders of AI companies, and I run workshops and events in partnership with AI providers. The first one, on 13 March 2026, drew over 500 registrations.

Poster for Internet Friends Berlin Vol. VIII on 4 August at Holzmarkt 25

Internet Friends Berlin

Community events with founders of AI companies.

AI workshop in Berlin

AI workshops

Workshops and events in partnership with AI providers. The first one, on 13 March 2026, drew over 500 registrations.