Exploring Family-Owned Business Innovation with Johanna Heise (Heise Ventures)
Insights on how to balance tradition with venture activities to support the growth of SMEs.
In this edition of the SME Tech Leaders Newsletter, we sit down with Johanna Heise, an LP in Europe’s SME Tech Fund āltitude and a key driver of heise ventures, the venture arm of her family-owned heise group. With roots dating back to 1949, heise group has grown from an address book publisher into a multifaceted media company with a strong focus on supporting SMEs through directories, digital marketing solutions, IT publications, and more.
Johanna shares her journey from growing up in a family business to leading heise group into the future through investments and venture clienting. She discusses balancing tradition with innovation, heise ventures’ strategic approach to staying ahead of emerging trends, and why supporting the digital transformation of SMEs is critical. Dive in to gain insights from a leader who is deeply passionate about creating impact in the SME sector.
Can you explain what exactly heise group does and what types of clients you serve?
Heise group is a media company managed by Ansgar Heise in the third generation. The company was founded in 1949 as an address book publisher and is based on three sections: heise connect, heise content, and heise compare. Within the heise connect section, heise publishes directories such as Das Örtliche, Das Telefonbuch and Gelbe Seiten in certain regions in Germany. Moreover, heise regioconcept offers SMEs marketing solutions such as websites, apps, SEO, and social media. heise content consist of our magazines and media with a focus on IT. Famous brands as c’t, iX or heise online belong to this section. Other than that, heise hosts many events such as secIT, IT Summit or Horizons by heise, while being active in the education area with heise academy. heise compare consists of price comparism companies such as Geizhals and guenstiger.de. In total, heise employs 1299 people at 22 different locations.
Growing up in a family business must have shaped your worldview in unique ways. Can you share how those early experiences influenced your personal and professional journey?
Growing up immersed in a family business meant that discussions and decisions about the company were a staple at our dinner table, intertwining the business with our private lives. From a young age, the business became a constant presence in my life, a fact I embraced wholeheartedly. I have fond memories of accompanying my father on business trips and to meetings, experiences that have profoundly shaped my personal and professional development. These interactions offered invaluable lessons in negotiation, leadership, and strategic planning, fostering resilience within me and nurturing a deep-seated ambition to someday steer the company. My grandfather frequently recounts the early challenges the business encountered, instilling in me a profound understanding that success is neither guaranteed nor easy to come by. These stories highlight the importance of embracing failure as a stepping stone to learning and improvement. Most significantly, both my father and grandfather have imparted wisdom on the beauty and freedom of generating innovative ideas and creating a legacy for future generations. Their teachings emphasize the importance of humility and self-belief.
As the third-generation leader at heise group, you’re carrying forward a legacy while steering the company into the future. How do you balance honoring your family’s traditions with driving innovation?
For heise, the concepts of innovation and tradition have always complemented rather than contradicted each other. Indeed, the firm has recognized that continuous innovation is not just a choice but a necessity for survival. This is why future orientation stands as one of our three foundational values. Our family-owned business consistently embraces disruptions as opportunities for growth and the development of innovative business models.
Heise group has successfully evolved with its pillars of compare, content, and connect. What inspired you to move into the world of investments?
As the future grows more complex and innovation cycles continue to accelerate, we aim to stay ahead of these changes by investing in startups. Heise ventures is actively engaging in venture capital investments to gain insights into emerging trends, deepen our understanding of the industry, and identify promising startups within our area of business. Beyond its strategic importance, heise ventures was also established to diversify our revenue streams, complementing our operational income.
Heise ventures recently invested as an LP in āltitude, supporting investments in startups that are making SMEs more digital. What excites you most about this initiative, and how does it align with heise group’s vision? Why do you think SMEs should innovate?
As Europe’s SME Tech fund, āltitude aligns seamlessly with heise ventures, particularly through one of our business divisions, heise connect, which specializes in the digitalization of SMEs. Leveraging our existing expertise in this area, we are well-positioned to make co-investments in portfolio companies. As an SME ourselves, the portfolio of āltitude also offers potential opportunities for venture clienting relationships, providing a valuable channel for deal flow. We are actively pursuing this already with their current portfolio. This offers us the chance not just to co-invest but also get in touch with amazing founders and ideas early, benefitting our core business.
From your experience, what skills do you believe are crucial for founders to thrive, especially in tech-driven industries that support SMEs?
From my viewpoint, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the specific needs and desires of SMEs. These small- and medium-sized enterprises constitute a distinct category of businesses in the B2B landscape, markedly different from large corporations. Therefore, founders should focus on developing solutions that genuinely deliver value tailored for these particular types of companies immediately.
Lastly, what’s your favorite book, and why has it been meaningful to you?
I do not have one favorite book. Generally, I really enjoy reading biographies of individuals who have founded family businesses in Germany such as Reinhold Würth (“Reinhold Würth: The master of screws | The biography of one of Germany's greatest entrepreneurs”, by Helge Timmerberg). There is something incredibly inspiring about the ambition and creativity these type of entrepreneurs possessed, enabling them to create substantial value over generations.
Thank you for the interview, Johanna!