Daniel Krauss

Co-founder, CIO and CHRO, Flix Se

Search every verified Daniel Krauss interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Daniel Krauss, co-founder, CIO and CHRO of Flix, discussed his role and the evolution of his responsibilities in two podcast episodes of *Becoming CTO Secrets* published in July 2026. Krauss, who previously held the title of CTO at Flix, said he deliberately gave up that title and now describes his role, with a wink, as "Chief Organizational Plumber," someone who removes obstacles so teams can create value faster. He stated that a CTO does not need to be the best programmer in the room, and argued that context and critical thinking are skills developers underestimate for the AI era. Krauss also said that mid-level engineers will face the greatest demand for mental flexibility, as pure technical excellence may become harder to sustain against AI. Krauss discussed his approach to measuring technology impact, stating that he focuses on "cost to revenue ratios" and "operational leverage." He said that if AI adoption adds costs, those costs must decrease relative to revenue, or else the technology is not an improvement and only enriches "tech bros." Regarding company culture, Krauss noted the importance of personal presence during mergers, citing his decision to spend regular time in Berlin to integrate cultures after the Flix and MeinFernbus merger, and emphasizing the need to avoid arrogance when integrating teams from different backgrounds, such as the 100-year-old Greyhound. He also described a technical strategy of not integrating acquired systems but instead copying reservation and customer data and rebuilding desired features in Flix's own ecosystem.