The life of a naive optimist.
Hi, it's David!
This site is the central platform for my current and future projects. Here I record and share what I learn — through struggles, failures, successes, and everyday life. Since 2023 I've been building ICODOS, where we turn CO₂ into clean shipping fuel. Before that, I spent three years at McKinsey. The essays, written since 2019, are the field notes.
Why write any of this down? Because my goals and actions are derived from a personal vision, a mission, and a short list of values — all below. Everything I publish traces back to them.
The state I want the world to be in when I leave it.
A world without limitations on mobility, with unrestricted access to quality education and nourishment — a cosmopolitan, life-worthy planet of humanity beyond exaggerated nationalism.
The role I want to play in making that vision real.
Advancing the progress of this beautiful world — serving people every day as an inspiration and role model, being part of the whole, loving and laughing infinitely, and discovering every day as a new opportunity.
Values
The fundamentals of my day-to-day decision making — in this exact order.
Questions I'm working on
The path so far
Founder & CEO, ICODOS
E-methanol production plants: capturing CO₂ from industrial off-gases and turning it into clean shipping fuel. From two people to a team of ~25. Mannheim 001 — the world's first e-methanol plant running on wastewater CO₂ — inaugurated June 2025. EU BlueInvest Award 2024; WEF Carbon Capture & Utilization Top Innovator.
Strategy consultant, McKinsey & Company
Three years of learning how big organizations actually move.
B.Sc. Business Administration, University of Mannheim
With distinction — and the first essays on this site.