I'm an entrepreneur, operator, teacher, moderator, traveler, and more. 😃Born in South Africa, I spent my youth in Canada, Antigua, and the USA before returning to South Africa after high school. In 2020, I moved to Vienna, Austria, where I plan to stay for the next few years. 🌎My entrepreneurial journey began with a student side hustle as a tutor running private test and exam prep workshops for university economics students. Recognizing a demand, I turned this side hustle into a business. Over several years, I built a strong team and expanded SmartPrep across South Africa, making it the leading university test and exam prep company in the country. With hundreds of tutors and instructors, SmartPrep now runs 500+ workshops annually, helping thousands of students reach their potential. 👨🏫Upon moving to Vienna, I delegated most day-to-day responsibilities, allowing me to pursue other opportunities. Recently, the company was acquired by education entrepreneurs who will undoubtedly take it to new heights! 🚀I'm currently at Shopstory, a SaaS startup pioneering no-code in eCommerce. Starting as a strategic project manager, I worked with our CEO on investor relations and drove cross-functional projects like customer education and sales optimization. I then led the company's expansion into new markets, including the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. Now, I head business development, managing a BDR team and collaborating with marketing to create new opportunities. ✨In Vienna, I've become known for public speaking, moderating events, and coaching others in pitching and presenting. If you're interested in working with me as a moderator, speaker, or coach, get in touch! 😊That's me and my story in a nutshell, at least professionally. I'm also a laid back guy with an adventurous streak who loves to travel to cool places, spend time in nature, eat tasty food, dance to good music and make great friends. 😄I'm always open to collaborating on exciting projects. If you think there's a way we can synergize, hit me up! 🤝
-
Communications Coach And ConsultantFreelanceVienna, At
-
Business Development LeadShopstory Feb 2024 - PresentLeading the business development efforts across all markets.• Actively managing, motivating and leading the Business Development team in an effort to create opportunities, capture new customers and drive sales• Constantly improving company-wide business development and sales processes, playbooks and systems• Actively working with Marketing to create content and campaigns that speaks to the market and drives opportunities• Actively working with Product to provide feedback from the market and improve our software, all in an effort to achieve and maintain true product-market fit
-
Expansion LeadShopstory Jan 2023 - Feb 2024Kickstarted and lead the expansion into international (i.e. non-DACH) markets.• Analyzed international markets to identify those with greatest potential while iteratively planning sales strategy for each market (to date: UK, Netherlands, Sweden)• Drove the initial business development efforts in all new markets, gaining insight into the best sales methods, and acquiring first international customers• Set up and iteratively improved sales processes, playbooks and other systems to enable scaling of efforts with new hires• Hired, trained and lead a team of international sales and business development representatives, both in-office and remote
-
Senior Strategic Project ManagerShopstory May 2022 - Jan 2023Worked with top management to drive strategic projects across various departments.• Revamped investor pitch deck and worked with CEO on investor relations and fundraising• Set up customer education in product (web app) with focus on automating onboarding, enhancing customer engagement and retention, and decreasing customer support requests
-
Founder & Advisor (Exited)Smartprep Feb 2024 - Present -
Founder, Director & AdvisorSmartprep Oct 2020 - Feb 2024
-
Founder, Director & CeoSmartprep Feb 2014 - Oct 2020Founded, bootstrapped and scaled South Africa’s leading university test & exam prep company. Over 50,000 students enabled to reach their full potential to date. Exited in 2024.Started as a solopreneur during undergraduate studies in 2014, managing a team of tutors and running all business functions myself. Hired full-time employees and took on CEO role in 2017, scaling to multiple markets in SA. Transitioned into a director-advisor role in 2020, maintaining majority shareholding in the company, and then exited in 2024.___________________• Set up and then oversaw all business areas: Marketing, Operations, HR, Legal, Finance, etc.• Planned and managed strategies to expand market share and grow revenue • Drove strategic initiatives to enable digital transformation and improve offering • Established and updated processes and systems to improve operational efficiency• Recruited top talent and regularly improved organizational structure • Supervised the Head of Operations – responsible for day-to-day operations, strategic partnerships, and management of 200+ instructors, tutors and administrators• Supervised the Head of Marketing – responsible for brand management, marketing campaigns (digital and traditional) and the management of 30+ ambassador
-
Moderator & HostFreelance Jan 2021 - PresentModerator and host at high-profile startup and innovation events, facilitating the flow, engaging audience and interacting with speakers, including in panel discussions.Noteworthy events include:• Female Founders: Lead Today. Shape Tomorrow. ('24)• Startup World Cup Austria ('24)• Entrepreneurship Avenue Conference (’21, ’22, '23, '24)• WU Entrepreneurship & Innovation Touchdown (Su. ’22, W. ’23, Su. '23) • AustrianStartups Stammtisch (’22 & '23) • AustrianStartups Summit 2022 (’22)
-
External Lecturer & TrainerWu (Vienna University Of Economics And Business) Oct 2022 - PresentLecturing and training BBE Bachelors students on startup pitching, and holding workshops and coaching sessions for Digital Economy Masters students on how to present complex academic content. -
Fellow @ Entrepreneurial Leadership ProgramAustrianstartups Mar 2022 - Feb 2023Contributed to a highly selective program and community centered around startup skills, leadership development and mutual support, and worked as a key organizer of AustrianStartups Summit ‘22. -
Co-Founder & AdvisorGofunda Npc Dec 2020 - Dec 2022A non-profit organization that provides high quality private tutoring services to underprivileged university students. • Worked with other co-founders in 2020-2021 to launch the organization, with a focus on setting up the organization’s vision, goals, strategy, and structure.• Acted as a strategic advisor to the directors.
-
Conference Event ManagerEntrepreneurship Avenue Sep 2021 - Jun 2022Vienna, AustriaEurope’s largest start-up event series for students who have a business idea or are generally interested in joining the start-up scene. • Built relationships with speakers, including high-profile founders and business people, prior to live events. • Worked with the EA Conference Team to plan the event series, with a focus on the Kick-Off and Conference Day events. • Worked with other EA teams with regards to script writing, directing video shooting processes, perfecting camera positions, and creating promotional videos.• Acted as the face of the event series by moderating all online and offline EA events –presenting the event agendas, introducing participants, engaging with speakers and the audience, and generally maintaining the flow of each event. -
Teaching Assistant: Markets And StrategyWu (Vienna University Of Economics And Business) Oct 2021 - Feb 2022Vienna, AustriaAssisted the professor of the Markets and Strategy course in the Digital Economy Masters with the preparation of course material, and coached students in preparation for their final year presentations.
-
Assistant ManagerNamizimu Forest Retreat Jun 2013 - Dec 2013Mangochi, Southern Region, Malawi
-
Economics TutorUniversity Of Cape Town Jan 2012 - Jun 2013 -
Assistant ManagerWild Lubanzi Backpackers Oct 2011 - Jan 2012Lubanzi, Eastern Cape, South Africa
James Langer Education Details
-
Bachelor Of Business Science Specializing In Marketing
Frequently Asked Questions about James Langer
What company does James Langer work for?
James Langer works for Freelance
What is James Langer's role at the current company?
James Langer's current role is Communications Coach and Consultant.
What schools did James Langer attend?
James Langer attended Vienna University Of Economics And Business Administration, University Of Cape Town.
Not the James Langer you were looking for?
-
James Langer
Corporate Trainer, Adolescent Mental Health Advocate, Education Consultant, AdmissionsGilbert, Az1embarkbh.com -
James Langer
Champaign, Il3hotmail.com, serionix.com, serionix.com2 +165150XXXXX
-
-
James Langer
Greater Northampton Area, United Kingdom2simplypropertylawyers.co.uk, simplyconveyancing.co.uk
Free Chrome Extension
Find emails, phones & company data instantly
Aero Online
Your AI prospecting assistant
Select data to include:
0 records × $0.02 per record
Download 750 million emails and 100 million phone numbers
Access emails and phone numbers of over 750 million business users. Instantly download verified profiles using 20+ filters, including location, job title, company, function, and industry.
Start your free trial