Markus Fost, MBA, is an entrepreneur, investor and advisor with a focus on digitalisation, artificial intelligence and platform economics. As founder and managing director of FOSTEC & Company and FOSTEC Ventures, he combines Tier 1-level strategy consulting with entrepreneurial execution and his own capital.
At the centre of his advisory work is the question of how companies can translate artificial intelligence into measurable value contributions along concrete business processes: from strategy through governance and data architecture to building the organisation’s own capabilities. This expertise rests on more than 15 years of practical experience in e-commerce. Markus Fost is among the first advisors in the German-speaking region to have systematically developed and implemented marketplace and distribution strategies for brand manufacturers. His project topics range from strategy development to operational implementation, complemented by corporate finance, transaction advisory and restructuring. His clients include multinational corporations and mid-sized companies from the automotive, construction, fashion, industrial and consumer goods, retail and media sectors. A third area of focus is platform economics, that is, business models based on network effects, ecosystem logic and multi-sided markets, a field he also oversees as a lecturer.
Markus Fost founded the strategy consultancy FOSTEC & Company GmbH and the investment company FOSTEC Ventures GmbH in 2015 and leads both companies as managing director. Since 2019, he has also served as chairman of the board of the Fost Stiftung MMXIX.
“Curiosity, reliability, performance-orientation and entrepreneurial thought and action characterise our way of working – every day.“
As an entrepreneur-investor, he has been building his own portfolio of holdings for more than ten years, exclusively with his own equity and without a predetermined holding period. Realised exits include factor-a, co-founded in 2015 and sold to DEPT (Waterland Private Equity) in 2018: what began as the first specialised Amazon vendor management agency in the German-speaking region grew into a company with more than 110 employees serving 100 brands, with the eight-figure exit representing a value increase of over 400x. At PrimeUp, FOSTEC Ventures supported the full-service Amazon marketing agency from 2020 onwards through its growth strategy, portfolio expansion and brand relaunch, up to its sale to GROW Digital Group in 2022. The investment in AskBrian, a provider of AI-powered digital assistants for professionals, concluded in 2023 with an exit to thinkCell.
The investment focus is on B2B SaaS, AI deep tech, platform economics and B2B services.
Markus Fost began his e-commerce career at Graupner GmbH & Co. KG, initially as key account manager and market lead for the US and UK, later as chief financial officer. In 2009, he was awarded the Amazon.de Vendor Award for building up the company’s Amazon business. This was followed by consulting roles at Helbling Business Advisors in Zurich and TWT GmbH in Stuttgart. At Metabowerke GmbH, as director e-business, he was responsible for building the digital business, having previously served as executive assistant to the chairman of the board. From 2014 to 2018, he held various roles at the strategy consultancy Stern Stewart & Co., most recently as independent partner.
Markus Fost is a lecturer teaching e-commerce and platform economics and has, since 2014, authored several specialist books, including titles published by Springer Gabler.
Following an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk, he studied at the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences, earning a Bachelor of Arts in business management and marketing as well as an MBA in management and finance. He continues to deepen his leadership and technology expertise through executive education programmes at Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, INSEAD and London Business School, most recently with a focus on the integration of artificial intelligence into strategy and organisation.
Markus Fost, MBA, is an expert in e-commerce, online business models and digital transformation with broad experience in the fields of strategy, organisation, corporate finance and operative restructuring.
