Introduction
In June 2026, a group of Esade MBA students spent an immersion week in Berlin, meeting the founders and investors behind some of the city's young companies. Kini's co-founders, Julia Komkowski and Fabian Scheib, were among the people who spoke to the class.
This recap sets out what is on public record: what the study tour was, who organised it, what Kini's part in it was and what the organisers said afterwards. The session itself was not recorded or published, so this page does not guess at what was said in the room.
TL;DR
- What: The 2026 Esade MBA study tour to Berlin, an immersion week organised by Esade entrepreneurship professor Dr. Jan Brinckmann, in which MBA students met Berlin founders and investors.
- When and where: Kini's founder session took place on 15 June 2026 in Berlin, during the week the Esade group was in the city.
- Kini's role: Guest speakers. Co-founders Julia Komkowski (CTO) and Fabian Scheib (CEO) spoke to the class. Fabian studied at Esade.
- Who else: Kini was one of 13 companies the organiser thanked by name afterwards, alongside Moss, Taktile, thermondo, Wunderflats and Urban Sports Club.
- Takeaway: The organiser summed up the week as "so many lessons shared and learned". Esade builds founder talks and study tours to cities such as Berlin into its MBA's entrepreneurship route.
What was the Esade MBA study tour to Berlin?
Esade is a business and law school in Barcelona and Madrid. On its Full Time MBA pages, it describes study tours as week-long trips that combine company visits with academic sessions, cultural experiences and alumni networking, and it names Berlin as one of the destinations. For students on the entrepreneurship route, Esade lists "focused Entrepreneurship Study tours and treks (in cities like Amsterdam and Berlin), founder talks and meet-ups".
The 2026 Berlin edition was organised by Dr. Jan Brinckmann, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Esade. On 14 June 2026 he announced on LinkedIn that he was back in Berlin with the Esade MBAs for an immersion week, with an alumni get-together on Tuesday 16 June at Chupenga, Georgenstr. 200, near Friedrichstraße station. His recap afterwards was titled "2026 ESADE MBA Study Tour Berlin".
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Event | Esade MBA study tour to Berlin (immersion week) |
| Kini's session | 15 June 2026, Berlin, Germany |
| Organiser | Dr. Jan Brinckmann, Esade |
| Kini's role | Guest speakers, founder session |
| From Kini | Julia Komkowski, Fabian Scheib |
| Recording | None published |
What did Kini do on the study tour?
Julia Komkowski, Co-Founder and CTO, and Fabian Scheib, Co-Founder and CEO, met the class for one of the week's founder sessions. For Fabian it was also a visit from the alumni side: his LinkedIn profile lists Esade as his school.
After the tour, Brinckmann thanked the entrepreneurs and investors the group had met, by name. Kini appears on that list alongside Embat, Moss, Jamie, bunch, thermondo, b2venture, Taktile, myo, Redstone, YPOG, Wunderflats and Urban Sports Club. A participant's public post thanks the same people "for speaking so candidly to us".
Kini has not published slides, a recording or a summary of the session. This recap therefore describes the tour and Kini's part in it, not the content of the talk.
What does Kini build, for anyone who was not in the room?
Kini is a managed connectivity layer for recruiting. It connects applicant tracking systems (ATS), job boards and recruiting agencies, and it runs the ATS integrations as an ongoing service. Monitoring, retries, recovery and connector maintenance are included.
There are two products. Kini Core is the integration engine that connects an ATS with the systems it exchanges data with. Kini Shop is a job-board marketplace that distributes job ads to 1,500+ boards, including Indeed, StepStone, Kleinanzeigen and the Bundesagentur für Arbeit. Jobs go out of the ATS to the channels, applications come back into the ATS with a sync status on every record, and the ATS stays the system of record. The integrations directory lists the systems Kini connects.
Kini is built for ATS platforms, recruiting agencies, job boards and enterprise HR teams, mainly in the DACH region. It is not a unified API and not a general iPaaS: Kini runs the integrations for the customer instead of handing them an API to build on. Managed Recruiting Connectivity explained sets out that difference in detail.
What did the organisers take away from the week?
Kini did not publish its own recap, so the takeaways below come from the organisers.
The week was about learning in both directions. Brinckmann's recap closes:
so many lessons shared and learned... Thanks for your outstanding energy.
Dr. Jan Brinckmann, Esade, on LinkedIn
Founders and investors in the same week. Brinckmann's thank-you names "entrepreneurs and investors" together, so the class heard from people building companies and from people funding them.
Founder contact is part of the programme by design. Esade explains why it builds these sessions into the MBA:
Being embedded in one of the most active entrepreneurial ecosystems is crucial for Esade as it facilitates close connection with founders, start-ups, incubators, and investors.
Esade, Full Time MBA: Entrepreneurship
with your stack?
What's next?
Esade returns to Berlin in autumn 2026. Brinckmann announced an entrepreneurship immersion week with 60 Esade Executive MBAs and an alumni get-together on Tuesday 29 September at Chupenga.
If you work on an ATS platform, a job board or a recruiting agency and want to see how Kini would sit in your own stack, book a meeting with the team.
