Tim Cortinovis (born June 7, 1972, in Buchholz in der Nordheide, Germany) is a German author, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and consultant specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), sales, and digital transformation, active from 1997 to the present.[1] He holds a Master of Arts in Spanish and German Linguistics from the University of Hamburg. Cortinovis is best known for developing the concept of single-handed unicorns—billion-dollar companies founded and scaled by solo entrepreneurs using AI, freelancers, and automation.[2,3,4] His publications include The Single-Handed Unicorn and Selling Smarter, Not Harder.
Early life and education
Born on June 7, 1972, in Buchholz-in-der-Nordheide, Germany, Cortinovis grew up in a family that owned a bookstore. He studied linguistics and audiovisual communication in Hamburg, Germany, and Málaga, Spain. In 2001, he completed his Master of Arts in Spanish and German linguistics with a thesis titled "Construction of Meaning in Hypertexts."[5]
Career
In 1997, he published his first German novel, "Herzfassen," as a podcast.[7] He then worked for a year as a television news presenter in Torre del Mar, Spain. For the following 15 years, he held international sales and marketing positions for tech, advertising, finance, and IT companies.[9]
Since the 2020s, Cortinovis has focused on writing and public speaking. He has a YouTube channel, Tomorrow Minds, dedicated to exploring innovation through generative AI.[11] Since 2011, he has delivered talks on AI, innovation, and exponential technologies in sales and marketing across the globe, including Australia, the US, and several European and Asian countries.[13,14,15] Cortinovis is a member of the Global Speakers Federation (GSF) and the German Speakers Association (GSA).[18,16] He has appeared as a speaker at the Rise of AI Conference 2025 in Berlin, Insight Jam Q2 2025 (virtual) delivering a keynote titled The Future is Solo: AI is Creating One-Person Billion-Dollar Companies, and the #nxtKNOWLEDGE Forum 2025 in Böblingen.[21,19,20] He was recognised as a Thought Leader in AI by Thinkers360 and The Keenfolks.[25,22]
Publications
Early publications include the 2012 book Warm werden mit der Kaltakquise: mehr Kunden – mehr Spaß and the 2021 title Das ist Marketing Automation! Das ist Sales Automation! Vertriebsautomatisierung für KMU und Start-ups. In 2024, works included Homo Automaticus: Embracing Our AI-Driven Evolution, Selling Smarter, Not Harder: How Sales Leaders Use Generative AI For Sales Excellence, and the second edition of So geht Vertrieb in Zukunft. Wie KI und Robotics den Vertrieb im Mittelstand verändern.
Works published in 2025 include The Single-Handed Unicorn: How to Solo Build a Billion-Dollar Company (ISBN 9798307651278), The Single-Handed Unicorn Toolset: The Billion-Dollar Solopreneur (ISBN 9798283225838), and The Single-Handed Unicorn Mindset: The Billion-Dollar Solopreneur (ISBN 9798319394125). That same year also saw the publication of Agentic Sales. AI And The Future of Sales. (ISBN 9798296818140).
Translations
Bán hàng thông minh trong thời đại AI (ISBN 978-604-619-151-8) is the Vietnamese edition of Selling Smarter, Not Harder, published by Alpha Books.
