The Honorable Entrepreneur
by Philipp Baaske
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Pub Date 23 Oct 2025 | Archive Date 5 Nov 2025
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Description
THE HONORABLE ENTREPRENEUR is the unvarnished memoir of physicist Philipp Baaske, who-together with fellow PhD student Stefan Duhr-turned a benchtop prototype into NanoTemper Technologies. This 56 million global biotech-tools leader remains 100 % founder-owned and VC-free.
From a near-fatal Swiss Disaster that almost stole their patents, to selling 29 hand-built instruments before a product even existed, to walking away from a US $60 million buy-out while still a 35-person firm, Baaske shows how trust, focus, and a seven-point Code of Honor can beat venture capital and power sustainable deep-tech entrepreneurship.
WHO IT'S FOR
Scientists and engineers turning research into biotech startups or deep-tech ventures
Founders bootstrapping global companies from Europe and beyond
Leaders scaling technical teams without losing culture, control, or profitability
Readers of The Hard Thing About Hard Things or Lost and Founder seeking a European twist
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Funding & ownership: how pre-selling, grants, and disciplined reinvestment financed growth while keeping equity
Product & customers: why real pain, not clever tech, drove every pivot and launch
People & culture: lessons from a 24-hour lay-off, firing a toxic star, and running a company on a Code of Honor, not bureaucracy
Crisis leadership: daily pandemic calls that lifted revenue to 56 million without Kurzarbeit abuse
Global sales: the messy reality of exporting lab instruments to 45 countries from a Munich basement
M&A reality check: the SAW Instruments deal that flopped and why culture fit matters
TRUE STORIES INSIDE
A fraudulent family "partner" nearly tanks the company before it begins (the Swiss Disaster)
Christmas Eve 2009: a data-driven all-nighter wins the first 10 000 pre-payment and sparks 29 prototype sales
Saying "No, danke" to $60 million and betting on independence instead of exit
Written with self-deprecating humor and Michael-Lewis-style narrative drive, The Honorable Entrepreneur offers scar tissue, hard data, and repeatable frameworks you won't find in any MBA classroom.
Ready to build a deep-tech company that lasts and stay honorable while you do it? Start reading The Honorable Entrepreneur today.
A Note From the Publisher
Philipp Baaske is a physicist-turned-entrepreneur who co-founded NanoTemper Technologies, a Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich spin-out that grew from a two-person lab project into a €56 million global biotech company... without outside investors. As Executive Chairman, he scaled NanoTemper to more than 200 employees and declined a nine-figure acquisition to protect its mission and independence.
Now serving as Vice President for Entrepreneurship at LMU Munich, Philipp helps researchers turn discoveries into businesses built to last. A winner of Germany’s Top Founder and Innovation Awards (Deutscher Gründerpreis, Deutscher Innovationspreis) and named to CAPITAL’s “Top 40 under 40,” he’s a leading European voice on values-based entrepreneurship.
His writing and talks (viewed over 4 million times a year on LinkedIn) challenge founders to build companies that are profitable, principled, and human. The Honorable Entrepreneur is his debut book: a manifesto for scaling without selling your soul.
Now serving as Vice President for Entrepreneurship at LMU Munich, Philipp helps researchers turn discoveries into businesses built to last. A winner of Germany’s Top Founder and Innovation Awards (Deutscher Gründerpreis, Deutscher Innovationspreis) and named to CAPITAL’s “Top 40 under 40,” he’s a leading European voice on values-based entrepreneurship.
His writing and talks (viewed over 4 million times a year on LinkedIn) challenge founders to build companies that are profitable, principled, and human. The Honorable Entrepreneur is his debut book: a manifesto for scaling without selling your soul.
Advance Praise
"When biotech founder Philipp Baaske walked away from a massive acquisition offer, it wasn't out of fear-it was out of principle. The Honorable Entrepreneur is his call to a new kind of business leader: one who scales boldly, leads ethically, and puts people before spreadsheets."
-Prof. Dr. Ali Aslan Gümüşay, Professor of Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Sustainability. LMU Muenchen;
"Reading The Honorable Entrepreneur felt like having Philipp at my side again-only this time with every hard-won lesson in one place. The chapters on surviving crises and staying true to your mission mirror exactly what he did for Opto Biolabs: he turned uncertainty into focused momentum. If you're building something that matters, keep this book within arm's reach."
-Kathrin Brenker, Founder & CEO, Opto Biolabs GmbH
Marketing Plan
Marketing support: info@literallypr.com
Marketing support: info@literallypr.com
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9783982769509 |
| PRICE | £14.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 150 |
Links
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