Self Employed

My Services: 
👉 Configuration Management (SUP.8)
👉 Product Release (SPL.2)
👉 ASPICE process consulting and internal assessments, gap analysis

I‘m supporting automotive suppliers, startups, OEMs and established Tier1s in understanding and tackling the challenges that come with developing, producing, certifying and implementing next generation automotive L3+ (ASIL B+) products such as highly autonomous driving platforms, lidar, radar, camera and HPC systems

Software Quality Process Engineer

scaletech

Check out the scaletech company page ✌🏼

+3M monthly tech content impressions 😮‍💨

Owner and Content Creator

The Lidar Society

👉 Crafting unique engineering grade content that turns heads
👉 Managing the Lidar Society, which is a community (currently LinekdIn Group) of professionals, investors, and enthusiasts working in the field of lidar technology. 
👉 It is a platform for knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and networking among members, with a focus on advancing the field of lidar technology and shaping the future of autonomous transportation. 
👉 Joining the community offers access to expert insights, opportunities to connect with industry leaders and other like-minded professionals, and a chance to be part of a group driving innovation in the field.

Automotive B2B Content Creator (building "The Lidar Society")

Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH

Developing the first serial solid state LiDAR sensor for automotive and industrial applications.
Responsible for Release Management and Production Release of the IbeoNEXT LiDAR sensor going from Prototype to SOP.
* Planning of all Sensor Releases with Product, Application and Production Management 
* Handling all Configuration items along the way
* Responsible for on-time, quality release and documentation of the ibeo Next 4D solid state Lidar sensor

Release & Configuration Manager LIDAR Sensor

Supported the current RTE in daily tasks and took over IT, Project Management/Scheduling and Organizational tasks.
Onboarding time on the ibeoNext Project until I eventually took over Release Management for the project.

Release Train Engineer Lidar Sensor

Development, Planning and Implementation of Culture Space.

Coroporate Culture

Customer acquisition, presentations, project management, strategy and planning.
* Prepared customer presentations for Group Lead
* Supported customer and project acquisition.
* Responsible for L4 AD use case development and evaluation.
* Project Planning and Controlling of research funded AD projects.

Project Manager Autonomous Driving

Responsible for the Vehicle and Sensor Simulation activities and Virtual Testing.
Supported the founding of subsidiary ibeo-nl.de in Eindhoven, NL.
* Initiated the ibeo simulation activities with newly founded company.
* Project lead at ibeo for vehicle simulation and implementation of ray tracing/casting based Lidar sensor models.
* Counterpart to ibeo-nl CEO for all sorts of administrative and project related topics. 
* Goal of the project was to create a sophisticated simulation suite for high quality physics based Lidar sensor models, to create synthetic data for environmental perception model evaluation.

Project Manager Simulation

Simulation framework development and project management for Lidar sensor model development.
Integrated ibeo, IPG Carmaker and Vires VTD SDKs, to create data for environmental perception algorithm development.

Software Developer - Virtual Testing

Continental

Vehicle Simulation Engineer in the Virtual Vehicle Test department. 
IPG Carmaker was facilitated as a virtual integration platform for all kinds of prototype software as well as self developed models. Just to name a few interfaces: Matlab/Simulink, Dymola(Modelica), C, DLL etc. Fully compatible with FMI Standard.
Worked on SIL, MIL and HIL projects as well as supported road testing. Also a framework for automated testing was developed.

Virtual Test Engineer

HWA AG / Mercedes-AMG DTM Team

Intern in Mercedes-AMG DTM Team's Vehicle Dynamics Group

Vehicle Dynamics Engineer

MAHLE Powertrain Ltd.

Torque vectoring controller design to generate desired handling perception of TtR electric hybrid improving fun-to-drive aspect. MIL based performance and robustness validation followed by final implementation and calibration on an actual prototype vehicle. Particular focus on formulating general handling statement for different driving modes and designing sophisticated desired handling generator.

Research Intern

Institute of Automotive Engineering TU Braunschweig

ACC development
longitudinal vehicle dynamics
processing of measured data
developing vehicle models
vehicle dynamics validation

Graduate Research Assistant

IPG Automotive GmbH

Bachelor Thesis

Parameterisation and validation of a Formula Student racecar using on track measured data.

Parametrierung und Validierung eines Formula Student Fahrzeugmodells anhand von Messdaten aus realen Testfahrten.

Research Internship

Transcoject GmbH

IBS, University of Applied Sciences Kiel

Industriebegleitetes Studium (IBS) Fachhochschule Kiel

Integrated Degree Student

You are curious about Lidar? Last 12 Months +1.9M Automotive Experts joined us | Our lidar community is fueled with genuine lidar insights. You won’t find anywhere else | This is your chance to get 1:1 with Lidar Leaders

Everyone wants to match China speed or Tesla agility, but few automotive teams know how to get there. 

The usual suspects—poor developer experience, ASPICE bottlenecks, and cultural misalignment—are holding your team back.

Your developers are overwhelmed. 

Quality managers are frustrated. 

And despite your efforts with Agile-at-Scale and ASPICE consultancies, nothing seems to click.

Here’s the good news: the secret to China speed is simple but not easy. 

With a proven approach, I help automotive software teams achieve happy developers, happy quality managers, and hassle-free ASPICE compliance—all while keeping your existing processes and tooling intact.

I’ve spent the past decade solving these challenges. 

-> I established configuration and release management systems for a startup that became a Tier 1 lidar sensor supplier

-> Isupported a Silicon Valley startup in implementing an ASPICE-compliant process landscape (ensuring developers stayed in flow without being burdened by excessive manual effort)

-> I worked with a major German premium OEM to rethink their software development journey.

Together, we stopped wasting time on nonsense like manual compliance in Excel, Confluence pages, and excessive Jira templates. 

Instead, we focused on automated compliance monitoring, seamless reporting, and developer-level training—allowing teams to live up to their full potential.

If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and finally outpace the competition, let’s talk. 

Limited slots available—message me to learn how.


Lukas Timm

Hell is breaking lose in automotive Germany 😳
Nexperia chip shortage hitting first Tier1s.

Bosch filed for Kurzarbeit affecting over 1,000 workers at its Salzgitter plant. 

ZF Friedrichshafen notified Germany’s employment agency and filed for Kurzarbeit at multiple sites. 

The reason? 

Nexperia chip deliveries stopped flowing.

This isn’t a supply hiccup. 

This is just-in-time manufacturing meeting geopolitical reality.

The cascading effect:

→ Bosch: 1,000+ employees at Salzgitter entering short-time work

→ ZF: Filed for Kurzarbeit at “individual locations” (numbers “still manageable” but growing)

→ ZF also cut shifts at its 8,000-employee Schweinfurt electric drivetrain plant

→ Volkswagen can’t rule out production stoppages beyond next week

→ IG Metall reports “many companies” across Bavaria and Lower Saxony preparing similar measures


This is a systemic disaster:

Nexperia produces 50+ billion standard chips annually. 
Not advanced nodes. 
Basic transistors, diodes, battery management chips.

The chips that cost 50 cents but can stop a million-euro production line.

When the Dutch government seized control of Chinese-owned Nexperia in late September, China responded with export restrictions. 

Now German automakers can’t get the chips their Tier-1 suppliers need.


It’s disturbing to see how German automotive is built on such a fragile supply chain with single point failures as devastating as this one!

Germany’s automotive sector employs 700,000+ people. 

Multiple suppliers already announced massive job cuts before this crisis:

↳ Bosch cutting 22,000 positions in mobility
↳ ZF eliminating 14,000 German jobs by 2028
↳ Continental planning 1,450 cuts by 2026

The Nexperia crisis hits an industry already weakened by electrification costs, falling demand, and compressed margins.

What makes this even worse. 

Unlike 2020-2021, this isn’t pandemic-driven capacity issues. 

This is a geopolitical conflict creating artificial scarcity in globally integrated supply chains.

Alternative suppliers exist. 

But re-qualification and ramp-up take months if not years.

Bosch, Continental and other suppliers report their inventories last about two weeks.

The IG Metall union’s phones are “running hot” with works councils seeking advice on Kurzarbeit agreements

The brutal reality is this:

Germany built its automotive dominance on precision engineering and reliable supply chains. 

The Nexperia crisis exposes how vulnerable just-in-time manufacturing becomes when geopolitics trump economics.

The question isn’t if more companies will announce Kurzarbeit. 

It’s how many, and how fast the diplomatic resolution comes.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

———

As always… powered by scaletech 

Want to scale your tech founder LinkedIn profile to +1M impressions yearly and 10s of inbound leads every month let’s talk 😊

Stop losing deals to competitors with weaker tech but stronger visibility. You already have the expertise — you just need a system to make it seen.

No alternative text description for this image

Helping visionary founders & execs be radically original on LinkedIn using The Creative Catalyst Method | Building $1M+ pipeline strategies | Founder @ Kennedy Creative

Most executives treat LinkedIn like a resume.

I treat it like a revenue engine.

I work with enterprise B2B executives and founders in the 7–9 figure range to turn authority into measurable growth.

Through The Creative Catalyst Method — a system built on content + outbound — my clients transform visibility into deal flow, building 7+ figure pipelines in as little as 6 months.

And the results speak for themselves:
	
• 30+ MQLs generated in less than 60 days
• Clients getting 3+ leads every week with content + outbound
• A 5-figure deal closed by an agency in under 60 days
• $100K pipeline built in less than 90 days for a SaaS company

What makes this possible isn’t just content.

It’s the combination of strategic positioning, executive voice, and consistent outbound touchpoints that makes your brand unforgettable — and turns authority into revenue.

If you’re an executive ready to move from authority → pipeline → growth, let’s talk.

👉 Book a call or connect with me here on LinkedIn.

Doug Kennedy

10 things I’m thankful for…

1. My wife, who holds everything together
2. My kids, who remind me what joy looks like
3. My clients who trust me
4. The opportunity to build something from nothing
5. The ability to provide for my family
6. Early mornings with coffee and quiet
7. The people who sharpen me and push me forward
8. The hard seasons that taught me more than the easy ones
9. The friendships that feel like family
10. The grace of God over my life, which is more than I deserve

Happy Thanksgiving! 

What are you thankful for?

Helping B2B executives turn authority into revenue on LinkedIn | Building 6+ figure pipeline strategies with content + outbound using The Creative Catalyst Method | Founder @ Kennedy Creative

You’re an 8- or 9-figure founder. You’ve got traditional lead channels dialed in.

• SEO brings in steady traffic.
• Paid ads keep the pipeline full.
• Maybe you even run some TV spots.

You might even post on LinkedIn here and there.

But organic LinkedIn?

That’s for smaller founders. For personal brands. Not for serious companies.

Right?

Wrong.

Here’s why organic LinkedIn isn’t beneath you, it’s your biggest missed opportunity.

1. Your buyers are here. Every day.
	
• LinkedIn isn’t just for job seekers—it’s where decision-makers spend their time.
• The same C-suite execs you’re trying to reach through ads and outbound? They’re scrolling LinkedIn between meetings.
	
2. People buy from people, not just companies.
	
• A great company page is nice. A founder-led brand builds trust faster.
• Look at the biggest B2B companies crushing LinkedIn…their leadership is front and center.
	
3. Your competitors aren’t doing it (yet).
	
• Most 8-9 figure founders ignore organic LinkedIn, which means the ones who show up consistently win big.
• If your competitor’s CEO is in the feed every day, and you’re nowhere to be found… guess who has the advantage when buyers start paying attention?

Organic LinkedIn isn’t beneath you.

It’s your unfair advantage if you take it seriously.

Ready to get started? Send me a DM!

So many people post on LinkedIn without understanding why people engage.

But attention isn’t random, but it’s psychological.

Here are 10 growth tips backed by psychology and neuroscience to help you grow your audience and keep their attention 👇

1. Start with emotion: people decide emotionally and justify logically.
2. Mirror their language: we trust people who sound like us.
3. Use the Zeigarnik Effect: open loops keep readers hooked.
4. The “You” ratio: talk to one person, not a crowd.
5. Tell micro-stories: emotion makes content memorable.
6. Repetition builds familiarity: familiarity builds trust.
7. Use social proof: proof creates belief.
8. Create pattern breaks: variation resets attention.
9. Follow the rule of 3: our brains love rhythm and structure.
10. Stay consistent: credibility comes from showing up.

Each one of these principles taps into how the brain actually works and when you use them, your content connects deeper, faster, and longer.

If you want a library of ideas to put these tips into action:

👉 Comment “101” and I’ll send you my free guide: 101 LinkedIn Post Ideas

It’s the fastest way to stop guessing what to post and start growing with purpose.

10 LinkedIn Growth TIps

It’s almost 2026 and I still need to say this:

LinkedIn has changed since 2016. 

Far too many founders and CEOs don’t even have a banner on their profile. 

Here’s the change and why it’s important 👇 

LinkedIn 10 years ago: 

➔ Digital resume, listing work experience and education
➔ Networking was mostly connections, not conversations
➔ Primarily a job-hunting tool
➔ Company pages: basic info and job listings
➔ Content: text-only, low engagement

LinkedIn TODAY: 

➔ Hub for articles, videos, and thought leadership
➔ Used for recruitment AND sales 
➔ Engagement drives everything—comments, insights, discussions
➔ Personal branding takes the lead
➔ Multimedia: videos, polls, live streams, and more
➔ Two-way conversations that spark real connections

The companies that are going to dominate the market are already taking advantage of the platform to:

- build founder-led and executive brands
- establish authority in their niche
- fill their pipeline and drive sales

Those who don’t will lose opportunities. 

Are you still living in the past on LinkedIn, or are you building something to own the future?

I used to think I was a good writer.

I didn’t have the training.

I just enjoyed writing, so in my head…that meant I was good at it.

Then I joined this tiny chat group with a few guys who wrote online. 

Nothing fancy. Just a handful of people trying to get better and calling each other out.

And the rule was simple:

→ Drop your draft
→ Take the feedback
→ No hurt feelings

The first time they went through one of my posts, I felt it.

I wasn’t nearly as good as I thought.

I realized I had a few habits that were holding me back:

→ I wrote sentences that sounded great in my head but didn’t land
→ I rambled when I wasn’t sure what my point was
→ I relied on passion instead of clarity
→ I used extra words to make weak ideas feel stronger
→ I had a “voice,” but no real structure behind it

That group changed everything for me.

They gave me something I didn’t have before: a standard.

And once you see that higher bar, you can’t unsee it.

- You start noticing what makes writing sharp.
- You start tightening your ideas.
- You stop hiding behind fluff.

Here’s the part that stuck with me:

Most people aren’t bad writers.

They’ve just never had their writing pushed.

You don’t get better by writing alone in your corner. You get better when you let people tell you the truth about your work.

That’s when the real growth happens.

If you want that same push for your content and your brand, send me a DM and I’ll send you the one-pager for my Growth Partner Catalyst Program.

“Good news….your personal brand is gonna make it.

But you need to strengthen your message a bit.”

- Dr. Doug 

Most leaders don’t catch clarity erosion early because they’re so close to their own expertise.

Everything sounds great until you realize…”oh my audience isn’t interested in what I have to say.”

Here’s the checkup I give when I’m assessing a CEO’s messaging clarity:

1. The Identity Check

Can you explain who you are professionally in one clean sentence?

If it takes a paragraph, your authority is scattered.

2. The Expertise Line

What are the 1–2 things you want to be known for?

Executives who pick two lanes build influence.

Executives who pick ten build confusion.

3. The Stakes Analysis

Why does your work matter?

Leaders lose attention because they talk about tasks, not impact.

Stakes = what changes because of you.

4. The Repeatability Test

Could your ideal buyer repeat your message after reading two posts?

If not, it isn’t sharp enough.

Repeatability is the real KPI of positioning.

5. The Resonance Review

Are you speaking to the right people or the loudest people?

Executives who write for “everyone” get engagement.

Executives who write for someone get opportunities.

Your message is the foundation.

When it’s clear, everything else (trust, visibility, inbound) becomes inevitable.

If you want me to run this same checkup on your profile and content, DM me “AUDIT.” I’ll tell you exactly where your message needs to be strengthened.

The other day, I shared the last 10 years of my life with someone I had just met.

•  My relationship with God.
•  How I met my wife.
•  Why I moved to Delaware County, PA.
•  How I started writing on LinkedIn and X.

It’s a crazy story and I didn’t expect him to be all that interested. 

But to my surprise, he was locked in, listening to every word.

That moment reminded me:

→ Someone out there needs your story. People are drawn to real, authentic journeys.

→ Gratitude shifts everything. Telling my story reminded me of how good God has been.

I’m stepping into 2025 with excitement and gratitude, ready to build relationships that matter.

Your story matters too. 

Who’s someone you could share it with this week?

I posted something yesterday and my first thought was: This is horrible.

Not because the idea was bad…but because it didn’t sound like me at all.

Here’s what my post was missing (and why it matters):
	
1. Personality

My post had zero flavor. No beard jokes. No Star Wars references. Nothing that sounded like Doug.

And here’s the truth: personality is what makes writing memorable. It’s the quirks, tone, and edges that make a post feel alive.

When you strip that out, your content becomes generic, technically correct, and emotionally empty.
	
2. Deeper insight

I shared a point, but none of the meaning behind it. It was shallow, like a headline without an article.

Great content doesn’t stop at “what.” It digs into the “why,” the “how,” and the lived experience behind the idea.

Insight is the difference between a post people skim… and a post people save.
	
3. A unique angle

My post could’ve been written by anyone. 

No twist. 
No tension. 
No reason to stop scrolling.

Your angle (your worldview, your story, your interpretation) is the differentiator.

It’s what turns common ideas into uncommon content.

4. A strong hook

My hook didn’t hook ME… so it wasn’t going to hook anyone.

The first line is the gatekeeper. It creates curiosity, contrast, or a moment that forces someone to keep reading.

If the hook is weak, the rest of the post never stood a chance.

These 4 ingredients are what take a post from “fine” to “worth reading.”

Miss one and the post suffers.

Miss all 4 and…well, you get yesterday.

(I deleted the post so don’t even try to go back and read it lol) 

It happens.

• Sometimes we drift from our own voice.
• Sometimes we write fast instead of honest.
• Sometimes we forget what makes us us.

The fix is simple:

Re-center.
Reconnect.
And write from who you actually are.

That’s where the best content lives.

Have you ever lost your voice in your content?

The fastest way to lose sales on LinkedIn is weak positioning.

You can be great at what you do.
You can post consistently.
You can share valuable insights.

But if your positioning is unclear, broad, or generic…buyers won’t see you as the person to hire.

After writing for founders, CEOs, and operators across multiple industries,

I’ve noticed the same positioning gaps show up over and over and they quietly destroys trust, authority, and inbound

So I broke down the 7 biggest positioning mistakes and how to fix each one

👉 Swipe through the carousel

7 Positioning Mistakes That Destroy Your LinkedIn Sales

It didn’t click right away…

If I’m honest, it took closer to 6–8 months before anything meaningful happened.

In the beginning, it felt like I was talking into the void:

→ Posting late at night after work
→ Getting a handful of likes
→ Wondering if anyone was actually reading
→ Fighting the quiet urge to stop because “maybe this isn’t working”

But I showed up anyway…not because of motivation, but because I understood one thing:

Brands are built on repetition, not reactions.

And then the shift started…slowly, then suddenly:

→ Someone messaged, “I’ve been following your content for months.”
→ Someone else booked a call because “your posts changed how I think about this.”
→ People recognized my name before I even introduced myself.
→ Prospects showed up warm, already trusting me without a single sales pitch.

That’s when it clicked:

Personal branding works, but it works on compound interest, not instant gratification.

• Every post is a deposit.
• Every story is a seed.
• Every insight is one more brick in a relationship you don’t even know you’re building.

Most people quit right before it compounds. 

Right before the trust, the visibility, and the opportunities start stacking!

If you stick with it for 90 days with:

→ a clear message
→ a repeatable content rhythm
→ and consistency that outlasts the noise

…everything changes.

If you’re serious about building that kind of momentum, you don’t need more hacks….

you need a plan, accountability, and a system that removes the guesswork.

If you want a structured 90-day plan and someone in your corner each week, my Growth Partner program is built for that. DM me “GROWTH.”

A CRE leader didn’t say it directly, but I could tell he wasn’t convinced LinkedIn could work for him. 

But he heard it worked for other people and wanted to take the risk.

A fair place to start.

He didn’t want engagement. He wanted pipeline.

So we focused on the fundamentals:

→ Tightened his positioning
→ Clarified his message
→ Built content around the real problems his CRE buyers face
→ Paired it with a targeted DM strategy designed to start real conversations

By the end of our first week together: 

8 leads.

Here’s why this worked:

1. He got specific.

We stopped writing broad “real estate” content and shifted to content that spoke directly to decision-makers:
	
• buyer frustrations
• deal blockers
• investor mistakes 
• CRE challenges he sees every day

When your content speaks to the right people, the right people respond.

2. He wrote from real experience.

No generic market updates.

No surface-level industry takes.

We used:
	
• deals he’s worked
• objections he hears
• patterns he sees weekly
• insights only a practitioner would know

This builds trust faster than anything else.

3. His message and his outreach worked together.

Most people post and pray. We built a system.

His content attracted attention.

His DMs converted it.
	
• DM people who engaged with posts
• DM people who viewed his profile
• Open conversations with his ICP
• Outreach that matched his positioning

Content creates interest. DMs create opportunities.

He came in a tad bit skeptical.

He became a believer by the end of Week 1.

If you want your profile, content, and DM strategy reviewed and a plan to turn visibility into booked calls, book a call or DM me “AUDIT.”

taplio

The Battle

Lukas Timm

Doug Kennedy

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreLukas Timm's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDoug Kennedy's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Lukas Timm

Doug Kennedy

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Lukas Timm's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDoug Kennedy's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreLukas Timm's LinkedIn Performance