Our Story
What if everyone in a room could speak their thoughts out loud — and we could instantly work with the collective intelligence of the audience?
Funny enough, that question first appeared in a voice message, which was unusual, because Michael Schieben almost never sends voice notes!
At the time, Michael and Rönke von der Heide were preparing a workshop together. Once again, they faced the same challenge many event organizers know too well: A lot of people. Very little time. And the desire to create real participation instead of symbolic interaction.
- How do you involve everyone meaningfully?
- How do you create reflection, not just reaction?
- And how do you turn many voices into something valuable for the whole room?
Somewhere between workshop preparation and that unexpected voice message, the idea for Take-Aw.ai was born.
A few weeks later, the workshop took place — and so did the first prototype!
In the workshop, everyone pulled out their phones, scanned a QR code and a browser window opened instantly. No app. No login. Just a simple invitation to "think out loud".
Participants could share their thoughts by voice in a fully GDPR-compliant way and seconds later, the collective insights appeared live on screen for everyone in the room to see.
After the session, people said: "thank you for the workshop!" But even more often, they asked: "What tool was that?"
The response was immediate.
- This is simply genius.
- Why didn't this exist before?
- A real game-changer for participation.
So we kept building.
What started as a solution for our own problems, quickly became something bigger. We iterated the prototype, tested it in real rooms with real people and only weeks later, we were able to offer it to other event organizers for their own conferences, workshops and meetings.
Our first public launch — the world premiere — happened in Hamburg at LEATCon Exhibition and so to say in February 2026 Take-Aw.ai was officially founded.
And our trade fair booth attracted attention and drew in a crowd. We were constantly engaged in conversations and gathering new contacts. Back then, we were still managing requests and customer contacts in a very long Excel sheet.
What helped us move fast was the combination of two very different but deeply complementary backgrounds:
Rönke spent years working across event management, facilitation and corporate communication.
Over and over, he observed the same pattern: organizations invest enormous energy into creating great content — keynotes, panels, breakout sessions, strategy meetings — but often forget to create a moment of integration for the audience itself. A moment where people can process, reflect, contribute, and feel heard.
Michael brings together something equally rare: a strong technical foundation with a deep understanding of human interaction.
He learned programming as a craft long before AI hype cycles began, while also developing a strong design mindset and years of experience in team facilitation and workshop processes. That combination shaped Take-Aw.ai from day one — not as a "tech toy," but as a human-centered participation tool.
Today, Take-Aw.ai is used by recurring clients across conferences, workshops, leadership formats and innovation events.
What began as a simple closing question — "What are your takeaways?" — has evolved into a flexible platform with customizable outputs, branded experiences, tailored interaction formats and fully customized solutions for organizations.
And we are only getting started.
We see growing demand from the education sector, from facilitators and moderators, from organizations exploring new forms of collective reflection as well as from companies experimenting with better meeting culture.
Because honestly:
some of the most expensive silence in the world happens at the end of meetings.
People leave rooms with thoughts, ideas, questions, and perspectives that never become visible.
Take-Aw.ai changes that.
It turns spoken thoughts into shared understanding.
It creates and transforms collective intelligence into a visible, social experience.
And it helps ideas actually stick!
Or as we like to say:
Think out loud. Make it stick.
Now, as we stand in June 2026, we ask ourselves: Where can we build this future together next? We are excited for what lies ahead!