Dr. Peter Kunz
Founding Partner
Born in the eastern region of Tyrol, Peter Kunz has lived in Vienna since his studies of law. After his graduation he worked in Italy as an attorney, having strong professional connections with Italian clients to this day. His special area of expertise are mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance issues.
Being on various boards himself, he is the editor of the standard book in Austria for advisory boards (Handbuch für den Aufsichtsrat) together with Professor Susanne Klass. He holds courses for young high-potentials to become advisory board members as he thinks there should be more younger members in the boards.
He is an Officer of the International Bar Association, co-organizes international conferences and is a speaker and moderator on national and international panels and appreciates the intercultural exchange from all continents.
For Pfeifer he is not only active as an attorney but also a member of the Barbara Pfeifer Foundation board. For SymbiaVC he holds the position as Founding Partner.
Peter Kunz loves all kinds of sports in the mountains like E-mountain-biking and ski touring. He enjoys traveling, modern art, meeting people and discussing the world.
- How did SymbiaVC come into being? What was the idea behind it?
- Innovation was on Pfeifer’s Agenda already for a few years. We emphasized that innovation is a core topic for every corporation. To us, the innovation hub inside the company was not enough - we wanted to encourage disruption within the industry. That's why we founded SymbiaVC as an independent CVC firm.
- What is your position?
- I am representing the owners of Pfeifer as a Barbara Pfeifer Foundation board member, in my role as Founding Partner.
- What fascinates you about SymbiaVC?
- Pfeifer is a great family-owned company being led in the third generation. Pfeifer is great at processing wood and has branch offices all over Europe. Bringing this know-how together with new ideas of young entrepreneurs, solving the challenges of the future together fascinates me enormously.
- What are the strengths you bring to the table?
- I have a lot of experience in buying and selling corporate divisions and companies and I know how to lead companies from my numerous positions in advisory boards. I have a network that goes far beyond Austria and Europe. I am also on the board of directors of a startup which we founded a few years ago. I know all sides of the business.
- What does innovation mean to you?
- Innovation to me means progress, development and doing something new. It is a crucial experiment with ideas nobody thinks about yet. The interesting thing about innovations is the uncertainty of everything. If we know the outcome, then it is not innovative. If we could predict where a startup stands in 10 years, we could just start mass producing everything. We try a lot, and we know that we will fail. That is also a characteristic of a good, long-term thinking VC: We know that we will fail and not everything will be a success but that doesn't mean we are going to quit.
- How do you deal with uncertainty?
- I am an entrepreneur myself, leading a law firm. As an entrepreneur you simply must accept uncertainty. We make plans, now obviously much shorter than in the past, but the challenge remains that everything changes. I plan a budget but there comes a war in Europe, and nothing remains the same. It is the immanent responsibility of an entrepreneur to adapt to uncertainties.
- Your favorite tree?
- I don’t have a favorite car brand, or a favorite dish. Therefore, I don't have a favorite tree either.
