Who this is
Matthias Aumann is a trained gardener from Cloppenburg in northwest Germany. In 2012, after his parents' business went bankrupt, he founded aumann:grün AG at the age of 23: with no money for a GmbH, but with an empty stock-corporation shell from his parents' circle and a scrap-metal container as his first source of income. Instead of designer gardens he bet on subscription garden maintenance at flat prices, recruited around 50 employees via Facebook within five years and by 2017 ran one of Germany's fastest-growing landscaping companies. Today the company makes around 7 million euros in revenue with 75 employees and runs without him. In 2016 he published his book "Nicht schulklug, sondern straßenschlau" through his own imprint, Company Best Verlag, and Mission Mittelstand followed: a digitised consulting firm for skilled trades and SMEs with 115 employees, more than 20 consultants and 5,500 client engagements in seven years. Across all his companies he closed 25 million euros in sales last year, spends 350,000 to 400,000 euros a month on ads and is now building software and AI products with 13 developers as his next playing field. Aumann is married, has four children and, alongside more than 90 seminars a year, runs a mastermind on Richard Branson's Necker Island.
Episodes
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FAQ
Who is Matthias Aumann?
Matthias Aumann is a trained gardener from Cloppenburg in northwest Germany, founder and CEO of aumann:grün AG and founder and managing director of Mission Mittelstand. He started the landscaping company in 2012 at the age of 23 after his parents' business went bankrupt; today it makes around 7 million euros in revenue with 75 employees and runs without him. Mission Mittelstand is a digitised consulting firm for skilled trades and SMEs with 115 employees. He became known through his book "Nicht schulklug, sondern straßenschlau" and through social media advertising. To the episode →
What is Mission Mittelstand and what does a program cost?
Mission Mittelstand advises German SMEs and skilled-trade businesses in more than 50 industries, mainly on staff, systems, marketing, sales and now AI. The engagement lasts at least twelve months, a program costs 24,000 euros on average and includes dedicated consultants, live calls, one-to-one sessions and in-person meetings. Aumann himself gives more than 90 seminars a year; he calls clients partner businesses. In seven years the team has completed 5,500 engagements. To the episode →
What is Matthias Aumann's value equation?
Aumann's principle: people never pay the price, they pay the perceived value. You raise it with four levers: sell a dream outcome (for the garden subscription, the neighbours' admiration), increase the likelihood that it happens (annual care calendar, always the same gardener, fixed price), lower the customer's sacrifice (direct debit signed in the garden, twelve equal instalments) and shorten the time to the first result (a thorough initial cut as "time to magic"). His line: there is no such thing as a price that is too high, only value that is perceived too little. To the episode →
Why is aumann:grün AG a stock corporation?
Because in 2012 Aumann didn't have the 25,000 euros needed for a GmbH. His parents' circle had an empty AG shell whose biogas project in Lusatia had failed after a change in Germany's renewable energy law. He bought the practically worthless shares for very little money, elected himself to the board, found a supervisory board, changed the articles to landscaping and had business cards printed at VistaPrint with the title Vorstand. Nobody else in landscaping had an AG, which impressed prospects and housing companies. He wouldn't recommend the route today. To the episode →
How much does Matthias Aumann spend on advertising?
In the episode he puts the average at 350,000 to 400,000 euros a month; in his prime phase he spent 900,000 euros in a single month on Facebook alone. A qualified lead costs several hundred euros, and the path to a signed client takes eight to twelve weeks on average via webinars, books, seminars, podcasts and YouTube. Seminars are the hardest but one of the best funnels, he says, because attendees invest two days of their time. To the episode →
What does Matthias Aumann do on Necker Island?
Aumann has been to Richard Branson's private island in the British Virgin Islands three times and hosts an entrepreneurs' mastermind there with exclusive use of the island, together with Alexander Müller of Greator (formerly Gedankentanken). There are 20 seats, a seat costs 30,000 euros, you travel via Tortola, and Richard Branson is there. You apply directly with him via Instagram. For Aumann the distance the island provides is why he comes back with a bigger vision every time. To the episode →
Quotes
„Wir haben ein Land voller guter Handwerker, aber schlechter Unternehmer.““We have a country full of good craftsmen but bad entrepreneurs.”
„Selbstständig, sag das Wort ja schon, selbst und ständig. Ich bin Gefangener in meinem eigenen Unternehmen. Also im ersten sind wir frei und im zweiten sind wir Knechte.““Self-employed, the German word says it already: yourself and constantly. I'm a prisoner in my own company. In the first we are free, in the second we are servants.”
„Menschen bezahlen nie den Preis. Menschen bezahlen immer den wahrgenommenen Wert.““People never pay the price. People always pay the perceived value.”
„Ich überlege mir immer, was sagt Matthias 2030 über diese Situation?““I always ask myself: what does Matthias 2030 say about this situation?”
„Alles, was du sagst, muss wahr sein. Aber nicht alles, was wahr ist, musst du sagen.““Everything you say has to be true. But not everything that is true has to be said.”