The founding story – “Let’s do something cool!”

Who does not know this? A promising conference with many presentations and an appealing location. Sitting all day on uncomfortable chairs in a business outfit, with breaks and a few nice conversations in between. In the evening, you come home exhausted and are glad to finally take your shoes off your aching feet.

„Why can’t an event just be fun?“ Alexander Thamm, CEO and founder of Alexander Thamm GmbH, asked himself a few years ago, when he was once again at such a conference. Anyone who knows Alex knows how passionate he is about his business, about Data Analytics and AI. How enthusiastic he can be and how much he enjoys sharing his enthusiasm. And he’d much rather do it in a relaxed atmosphere with a cold beer in his hand than at a stiff congress.

“Let’s do something cool!”

Those were the kind of words he addressed at the conference to Dr. Carsten Bange, who was also there as a participant. Carsten is CEO and founder of BARC GmbH, whose business includes events as well as consulting and research. The rest, as they say, is history. Half a year later, DATA festival GmbH was founded by both of them in xx 2018.

The beginning

In 2017, Data and AI were not yet as much of a topic at European conferences as they are today. The conferences that focused on data and AI were either pretty boring, with people in suits, or not in Europe.

DATA festival hosts: Get to know the founders, Alexander Thamm and Dr. Carsten Bange, and our committee-members.