“Trust your gut!” With this sentence, Andre Kriwet, CEO and co-founder of True Motion, the running shoe start-up founded in Münster in 2018, succinctly captured one of the central messages of his guest lecture at the Marketing Center Münster. At the same time, it became very clear to the participants that, in the case of True Motion, this “gut feeling” rests on a strong foundation: extensive scientific expertise and decades of industry experience.

Andre Kriwet came to Münster’s Castle as part of the bachelor’s module Innovation Management, taught by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, to offer insights into innovation practice in the running industry. Despite temperatures that could make many a running route feel like it was melting, numerous students interested in innovation — and, quite visibly, in running as well — attended his talk.

In his presentation, Kriwet, who looks back on more than 25 years of experience in the running shoe industry and leadership positions at ASICS, Nike, and Brooks, vividly illustrated how closely innovation, entrepreneurial conviction, and personal perseverance are connected in the case of True Motion. The basic idea behind True Motion: anyone who truly wants to rethink the running shoe market has to start with the human being. The entrepreneur explained that the founding idea emerged from a concrete but often overlooked problem faced by many runners: injuries that make running difficult or even impossible. From the ambition to prevent such injuries through biomechanical “hardware,” U-TECH was eventually developed — True Motion’s patented sole technology for running shoes.

Alongside many other “success factors” of innovation, Kriwet’s talk made clear that innovations rarely emerge from lone efforts. Rather, they require a functioning team that works together in a spirit of trust and continues to stand behind an idea even in uncertain phases. In this respect, among others, True Motion became a particularly tangible and impressive practical example of key theoretical concepts covered in the lecture. Last but not least, it was Kriwet himself who left a lasting impression on the students with his passion and authenticity.