daniel heesch
Travel
Papers
Notes
After a PhD in computer science and postdoctoral research in machine learning, both at Imperial College London, I ventured into the startup world and have never looked back. With a mixture of my own VC-backed enterprises and various executive positions in founding teams, I have learned a lot about the trials and tribulations of early-stage entrepreneurship and the art of decision-making under uncertainty. Most of my work nowadays is through my software consultancy Hirschblau.
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Experience
2011-now
Founder
Hirschblau Ltd
London
Founded Hirschblau as a boutique consultancy company with a focus on machine learning and data analytics. We have since advised and built software for a wide variety of technology companies.
2021-now
Investor / CTO
Smartrplace GmbH
Kassel
I first engaged with the company through Hirschblau, then took a small stake and have since helped build out their software technology stack. Smartrplace helps companies cut costs and reduce their carbon footprint through smarter resource management.
2013-2017
CTO / CSO
ASAP54
London / Kassel / Porto
I started advising the team when it was still very young, acting as interim CTO with the task of building up a complete engineering team at their Portugal office and help put in place a sound technical foundation. I later shifted towards leading ASAP54's research efforts in image segmentation and deep learning until ASAP54 was acquired by Farfetch.
2011-2013
Managing Director
Empora Group
London / Wismar
I led the company's efforts to secure a €1.4M computer vision research grant, built up a team of research engineers in Germany, and oversaw project execution.
2007-2011
Founder
Pixsta Ltd
London
Pixsta developed visual search solutions for e-commerce clients, primarily in the Fashion sector. We managed to raise enough venture capital to get us through to 2011 when Pixsta was acquired by Empora Ltd. As a founder I was concerned with all aspects of the business with emphasis on technology, research, fund-raising and IP.
2006-2007
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dept Electrical Engineering, Imperial College London
2001-2005
PhD Computer Science
Dept Computer Science, Imperial College London
Nominated for Best British Thesis award.
2001-2005
BSc Mathematics
Dept Mathematics, Open University
2000-2001
MSc Computer Science
Dept Computer Science, Imperial College London
1997-2000
BA Biological Sciences
University of Oxford, St John's College