01 / Lunapark
Real estate development
In partner talks
Turning an 18,000 m² site in Chemnitz into a co-developed residential project.
Venture studio & agency
ZUSE LAB
The Agentic Enterprise, within reach. turning ideas into companies, brands and products.
01Work
VENTURES
Nine ventures, each with its own identity, and one team behind all of them.
02 / NULLPUNKT.
Research and insights
Launching
Research-driven briefings that find, vet and rank the next business opportunities.
03 / Planet Fluff
Consumer app
In testing
Turns vacuuming into a game: a consumer app with a clip-on phone holder.
04 / Foamcup
Product development
Patent pending
A patent-pending in-vehicle product, from prototype to market.
Patent pendingDE 10 2022 108 493.0
Boats, motorhomesLead industries
Aircraft cabin, automotiveFurther applications
05 / KikiRiki.io
Marketplace platform
Live
The local platform for swapping and giving things away. AI-assisted listings, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
06 / Zeitgeistish
Digital media
Live
A sharp briefing on business, law and technology.
07 / Schocken
Publishing
Coming 2027
A historical crime novel set in 1928, in Chemnitz and Leipzig. Publication planned for autumn 2027.
08 / SmallPrince
Legal products
In incubation
Smart contract templates and practical legal guides for freelancers and small businesses.
09 / Nikita
Brand character
In incubation
A character brand for social media, built around a curly-haired dog.
02Team
THE TEAM
Specialists in research, strategy, legal, security, operations and editorial, working as one crew.
01
Agneta
Managing Director
“A stitch in time saves nine.”
Proverb
- Department
- Leadership and Coordination
- Focus
- Direction, priorities and quality across every venture
- Areas
- Lunapark · NULLPUNKT. · Planet Fluff · Foamcup · KikiRiki.io · Zeitgeistish · Schocken · SmallPrince · Nikita
02
Emma
Social Media
“One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince (1943)
- Department
- Marketing and Community
- Focus
- Community, social channels and brand voice
- Areas
- KikiRiki.io · Zeitgeistish · Nikita
03
Tobias
Research
“Knowledge is power.”
Francis Bacon, Meditationes Sacrae (1597)
- Department
- Research and Analysis
- Focus
- Market research, due diligence and competitive intelligence
- Areas
- Lunapark · NULLPUNKT. · Planet Fluff · Foamcup · KikiRiki.io · Zeitgeistish · SmallPrince · Nikita
04
Sofia
Strategy
“In God we trust; all others must bring data.”
W. Edwards Deming (attributed)
- Department
- Strategy and Processes
- Focus
- Strategy, business models and decision-ready analysis
- Areas
- Lunapark · NULLPUNKT. · Planet Fluff · Foamcup · KikiRiki.io · Zeitgeistish · SmallPrince · Nikita
05
Leyla
Legal
“Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.”
Cicero, De Legibus
- Department
- Legal and Contracts
- Focus
- Contracts, compliance and risk
- Areas
- Lunapark · NULLPUNKT. · Planet Fluff · Foamcup · KikiRiki.io · Zeitgeistish · SmallPrince
06
Henrik
Security
“Security is a process, not a product.”
Bruce Schneier, Secrets and Lies (2000)
- Department
- IT and Security
- Focus
- Security, reliability and account protection
- Areas
- KikiRiki.io · Nikita
07
Mira
Office
“Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”
Matthew 6:3 (KJV)
- Department
- Office and Organisation
- Focus
- Operations, scheduling and communications
- Areas
- Lunapark · NULLPUNKT. · Planet Fluff · Foamcup · KikiRiki.io · Zeitgeistish · SmallPrince · Nikita
08
Charlotte
Editing
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister
- Department
- Editorial
- Focus
- Editorial, copy and long-form content
- Areas
- Schocken
03Process
FROM BRIEF TO LAUNCH
01 · Discover
We dig into the market, the audience and the goals and turn them into a sharp brief.
02 · Design
Strategy, brand and product concepts, tested early and shaped by what we learn.
03 · Build
A focused team delivers product, content and the legal groundwork in short sprints.
04 · Grow
We launch, measure what works and keep improving.
04Principles
WHAT WE STAND FOR
Results over noise
Every project starts with an outcome we can measure, not with a deck.
Evidence over opinion
Decisions rest on data and sources, and every assumption is labelled.
Craft in the details
Strategy, design and legal hold up in the small things, too.
Built to be trusted
Confidentiality, clear contracts and clean compliance from day one.
05Legal
LEGAL
Yes, I insist on seeing the small print ;)+
About this site
ZUSE LAB is a private project studio run by Ben Schaarschmidt. It brings together his own ventures, brands and publishing projects under one roof.
The studio is run agent-first: day-to-day work is carried out by AI-supported roles under human direction. They run on OpenClaw, an open-source agent framework, using large language models from Anthropic, OpenAI and others. Decisions, contracts and publications remain with the owner.
The roles shown in the team section are AI-supported roles, not employees. Names are fictitious and the portraits are AI-generated. Quotes are attributed to their original authors.
Legal notice
Ben Schaarschmidt
Albert-Einstein-Straße 16
12489 Berlin
Germany
E-mail: benschaarschmidt@outlook.com
Phone: +49 176 63688022
Disclaimer
The content of this site is provided for general information only, without guarantee of accuracy, completeness or timeliness. Visiting this site creates no offer, no advice and no contractual relationship. Statements about projects describe plans and ideas and are not promises. Third-party brands and names belong to their owners. External links are the responsibility of their operators.
Privacy
Controller: Ben Schaarschmidt, address and contact as in the legal notice above.
Hosting and server logs: This site is hosted on GitHub Pages (GitHub Inc., USA). When the site is opened, GitHub processes technical data such as the IP address, date and time of the request and the browser type in order to deliver the site and keep it secure. We do not have access to individual log files and do not combine this data with other data.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is the secure and efficient presentation of this site. Transfers to the USA rely on GitHub’s certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (adequacy decision of the European Commission of 10 July 2023) and, where applicable, standard contractual clauses.
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Your rights: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability and objection (Art. 15 to 21 GDPR). You may also complain to a supervisory authority, for example the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. Further information is available in GitHub’s privacy statement and in the privacy notice at benschaarschmidt.de/datenschutz.