CTO Craft Con: Berlin 2025

Social media is filled with stories of developers building six-figure businesses overnight using AI, yet most real-world teams only see a 5–10% productivity boost—what’s really happening beneath the hype?

• The great divide — while individual developers report 5-10x gains and AI writes up to 90% of the code, enterprise teams struggle to achieve even 10% productivity improvements. Why is that? We’ll explore it through stories and ideas.
• AI workflows in the SDLC — while vibe coding gets all the headlines, AI is quietly infiltrating all the steps of the dev process, which is changing workflows more profoundly than pure throughput gains. We’ll go through the latest emerging patterns.
• Organisational evolution — we’ll look at how startups and forward-looking teams are reshaping their structures for AI leverage—reducing layers, empowering full-stack engineers, and following “Conway’s Law for AI”, where organisational design determines AI effectiveness. 

Luca Rossi, Founder, Refactoring

• As a CTO, you might start talking to another CTO and suddenly realise, “Wow! Their job looks really different to mine.” You might even ask, “Am I doing the right thing?” Your worry might even amplify as you speak with other industry peers.
• Learn about some common CTO archetypes that I’ve observed in my 20+ years as a consultant, advisor, peer and coach to CTOs.
• Uncover the archetypes most frequently seen in the Berlin scene, and what that means for you if you’re a CTO, a person aspiring to be a CTO or working with a CTO today.

Pat Kua, CTO Coach and Founder, Tech Lead Academy

• Explore a field-tested framework for leading engineering teams through the messy, thrilling shift toward AI without losing trust, ethics, or clarity.
• Learn why psychological safety, experimentation, and human-AI collaboration are now essential foundations of high-performing organisations.
• Hear honest stories, hard-won lessons, and what really changes—and what doesn’t—when AI becomes part of daily engineering work.
• Walk away with practical actions you can take tomorrow, even if your team is split between skeptics and prompt whisperers.

Paul Lunow, CTO of Digital Solutions, Vention

• In a resource-constrained environment, scaling is not just about headcount but about optimising flow, value delivery, and team impact.
• This panel will explore how experienced leaders build lean engineering organisations that can scale efficiently without sacrificing quality.
• We’ll discuss strategies like Minimum Viable Product (MVP) redefinition, flow optimisation, and outcome-based delivery that enable speed and agility at any stage.
• Attendees will learn how to apply lean practices and meaningful metrics to navigate scaling challenges with confidence.

Konark Modi, Managing Director, Tesseracted Labs

Olga Khorkova, CTO, BARFER’S

Dirk Daumann, CTO/CPO, Blacklane

Andrea Perizzato, VP Engineering, FINN

Moderator: Anna McDougall, Director of Engineering Operations, Blinkist

• Recognise how “side quest” work like mentoring, documenting, and organising can lead to unexpected skills, opportunities, and personal growth.
• Understand why great engineers go beyond code to strengthen teams and build communities.
• Explore how community-building efforts develop leadership skills and why they deserve more recognition in tech.
• Leave with practical ways to contribute, a deeper appreciation for invisible work, and a challenge to define your role in shaping the future of tech.

Melinda Seckington, Founder, Learn Build Share

• Employee retention in the tech sector remains a pressing challenge, with this year’s research echoing last year’s finding that 41% of engineering leaders are considering leaving their roles.
• Hear about the top drivers for attrition: a lack of faith in leadership, concerns over company culture and performance, and the need for better work-life balance and fair compensation.
• Learn about how employees are seeking more than just good pay – they want transparency, support, and alignment with company values. 

Henry Draper, Managing Director, Albany Partners

• Rising panic. Geosociopolitical events beyond our control, groundbreaking technological advances, and an industry shallow-breathing in the face of economic turmoil…
• In the midst of it all, you try to stand as an isolated beacon of light, battered by waves of dissent, disengagement, and the creeping wunderkind that is AI.
• In response, here’s a light-hearted look at why we, and the people around us, might respond the way we do under this pressure. With stories from senior technical leadership teams, and insights from behavioural science and neuroscience, you’ll learn some top tips to help you find your way through the rubble (or is it a foundation?)

Ceri Newton-Sargunar, Systemic Behavioural Coach & Consultant, ThirstyHorse Consulting

• Access isn’t enough – why your team need new GenAI abilities to get the most impact.
• The Risk of a False Sense of Mastery: how early success with GenAI can mask shallow understanding
• How (Not) to Measure GenAI Impact: how do you know that Gen AI is working for you?
• Building Real GenAI Fluency: practical ways to accelerate experience and help developers find a rational middle ground between hype and outright rejection.

Hywel Carver, Founder and CEO, Skiller Whale

• Find out why “louder” isn’t the same as “stronger” in leadership—and how quiet confidence creates impact
• Hear real stories from my journey as an introverted engineering leader trying to fit in (and finally leading on my terms)
• Understand practical strategies to build trust, influence, and visibility without burning out or performing
• Leverage a new, more inclusive model of leadership—for anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t belong in the spotlight

Limor Bergman, Executive Coach and Mentor, LBG Consulting Services

• Many leaders struggle with the shift from startup to scale-up mode, but what if the pain could be avoided?
• This session will explore how to set your engineering culture, structure and mindset for scale right from the beginning.
• The speaker will reflect on their own experiences—both successes and missteps—and share what they would do differently in hindsight.

Matthias Laug, CPTO, Enter

• This session explores how CTOs—including those stepping into new roles, fractional or interim roles—drive technical and cultural turnaround.
• Speakers will share experiences of joining struggling teams, leading rewrites, fixing architecture, and managing tough conversations.
• We’ll cover what it means to be pigeonholed as a firefighter and how to transition from crisis to calm.
• Attendees will gain insights into turnaround leadership, private equity dynamics, and whether this high-stakes work is right for them.What are Lightning Talks? They are a series of 10 minute presentations and an opportunity for senior tech leaders to tell their side of the story. Hear their experiences of joining struggling teams, leading rewrites, fixing architecture, and managing tough conversations!

David Asabina, Associate Partner, Philipps & Byrne

Sara El Afia, CPTO, TestWe

Dilip Saha, Senior Director of Software Engineering, HelloFresh

Birgit Pohl, Leadership, Organisational & Agile Coach, Leaders and Makers

• Discover how one engineering leader turned a team-level observability win into a scalable incident management strategy for the entire organisation.
• Uncover how influence, motivation, and credibility can lay the groundwork for broad technical change.
• Apply proven tactics—like roadmaps, milestones, and outcome tracking—to help structure and sustain your own large-scale improvements.
• Recognise how to spot and support emerging leaders who are ready to take on complex challenges and inspire change across teams.

Kimberly Schmitt, Engineering Manager, Babbel