21 Questions With…Martin Teetz
OpenText Product Marketing Manager
- Name: Martin Teetz
- Title: Product Marketing Manager
- Location: Grasbrunn (Munich), Germany
- What product forums are you most active in? Data Protector and COBOL
- What was your very first job ever? Project Manager at a software company that sold pre-Windows Office like software still having a character-based user interface.
- Tell us about your career journey: I pretty much started in technical support for the first Windows software development tools and SQL databases. My second career step was to do presales for these at these times very much demanded products. I was at the airport 3 days a week to fly out to prospects needing that technology. Then I became Product Marketing Manager for development tools and databases in Europe for several years. Later I became global Product Marketing Manager for development tools and databases. After a while I took over global Product Management for these products. And at some point, I was responsible for all of Marketing and Product Management. In 2015 Daegis/Gupta got acquired by OpenText. At OpenText I have been Product Marketing Manager for Gupta databases and development tools as well as for the Connectivity line of products. In 2023 I moved into the new Portfolio team to cover OpenText Data Protector Product Marketing wise.
- What did you want to be when you were younger: Bus driver, my grandparents had a round turning piano chair that I used as a steering wheel when playing to be a bus driver.
- Who is your role model? I’d rather be myself
- What do you like to do in your free time? Cooking, eating, hiking, traveling to Italy.
- Best piece of advice you have ever received? When the number of things to do and stress level is very high. Go for a 20 min walk. This will relax you and clear your mind in terms of priorities and sudden insights. I think this was some Japanese behavior mentioned in a newspaper.
- What technology innovation made the most impact on your life? The easy answer is the PC and Microsoft Windows. The complex answer is computing technology and all its major innovations during the past 35 years. Windows 95, client-server computing, Web technologies, cloud computing, hybrid work technologies and now AI.
- What is one important skill every person should have? Humility, friendliness in communication with anybody.
- What is the best benefit that you have ever had at a job? (for example, every Friday you got to wear jeans, every Monday there was coffee and donuts, you played sports for the company team, etc.) A good bonus payment – so you can go and be creative on your own.
- What is the most important personal attribute that you bring to your job? Planning things, and then getting things done in a team.
- Who would you like to exchange roles with? Jeff Bezos
- What is one of the things on your bucket list? Eat in several of the best Pizza places of the world close to Naples in Italy. https://www.pepeingrani.it/, https://www.pizzeriaimasanielli.it, https://www.sasaimasanielli.it/
- If you could only take one physical item with you on a deserted island, what it would be? An axe will be the most useful tool to build a home and go hunting. (Initially I was tempted to say an iPhone, but that likely wouldn’t help too much without a cellular network and power)
- What is a recent book that you have enjoyed? Like dust in the wind by Leonardo Padura
- What do you consider your greatest work achievement? Being constant, keep going all the time without exhausting yourself.
- What should they teach in school, but don’t? Learn how to think business oriented. Training in how to build your own business from many perspectives.
- What do you want to do when you retire? Cook, continue to improve my cooking skills, eat, hike, travel