About Impulse

Impulse

Impulse (always written lowercase, impulse) is a Hamburg-based network for entrepreneurs — publisher of a monthly magazine, a training academy, and networking events for owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises. Founded in 1980 as an entrepreneur magazine in the Gruner + Jahr publishing house on a concept by Johannes Gross, it was bought out of the group in a January 2013 management buy-out by editor-in-chief Nikolaus Förster and entrepreneur Dirk Möhrle, and has since been independently operated by Impulse Medien GmbH. Under the slogan "Mach es!" ("Just do it!"), impulse has reinvented itself from a classic business monthly into an exclusive, application-based entrepreneur network of some 2,000 members. Its digital home is impulse.de.

Overview

Impulse describes itself as network, magazine, and academy for entrepreneurs in the Mittelstand and SME sector. The impulse network offers peer exchange among like-minded entrepreneurs — without acquisition pressure, at eye level. The impulse Academy provides training on team leadership, self-management, and AI in business, online and in person — practical further education for people who run companies rather than study them. The journalistic core — which the company calls its award-winning foundation — stands for independence, research depth, and fairness, delivering practical tips on all entrepreneurial topics, well-founded case studies, and inspiring entrepreneur stories. "We help entrepreneurs grow — personally and with the company," is how the company summarises its mission. The print magazine appears ten times a year as part of the network membership.

History

Impulse started as a magazine: the first issue appeared in 1980 at Gruner + Jahr, on a concept by Johannes Gross, who became the magazine's publisher. The first editor-in-chief was Wolfram Baentsch (1980–1984, with co-editors Egon F. Freiheit and Rolf Düser). The editorial office was in Cologne. Subsequent editors-in-chief were Rolf Düser (1984–1993), Roland Tichy (1993–1995), Wolfram Baentsch again (1996–1997), Thomas Voigt (1997–2003, with Thomas Licher 2001–2003), Gerd Kühlhorn (2004–2007, acting; publisher Klaus Schweinsberg, who became editor-in-chief on 1 February 2006), Ursula Weidenfeld (2008–2009), and Nikolaus Förster from 2009. Before German reunification, impulse even had an East German edition, launched in 1990 and published monthly.

On 1 March 2009, Gruner + Jahr merged the editorial offices of Impulse, Capital, Financial Times Deutschland, and Börse Online into a joint editorial team based in Hamburg. After the closure of Financial Times Deutschland in December 2012, Gruner + Jahr dissolved the Hamburg joint team and, in November 2012, announced the magazine would be sold. In January 2013 impulse was acquired in a management buy-out by editor-in-chief Nikolaus Förster — who had led the editorial team since 2009 — and the entrepreneur Dirk Möhrle, who is also involved in the Suhrkamp publishing house and invests in real estate and aviation. The resulting company is Impulse Medien GmbH of Hamburg. The buy-out team initially comprised 15 editors and publishing staff plus five trainees and student assistants; today the company employs over 50 people and a network of 2,000 entrepreneurs. "I am firmly convinced that in the media industry, the brands that have a future are those that bind customers to themselves long-term — through real added value and trust," Förster said of the strategy: a bet on community rather than circulation, on depth of relationship rather than breadth of reach.

The transformation accelerated in 2022: impulse became an exclusive network for owners and managing directors of smaller and medium-sized businesses, with prospective members applying through a detailed selection procedure. Since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic the offering had already been further digitised — with the launch of an interactive platform for premium members, mastermind groups, new online courses, and a digital forum for confidential exchange. Membership includes the print magazine (ten issues a year), exclusive content on impulse.de, conference participation, workshops, expert Q&A sessions, and seminars on business leadership. The network counts some 2,000 entrepreneurs exchanging "without acquisition pressure, at eye level" — people who have already mastered similar situations helping those facing them now. The business results validated the model: in its sixth consecutive profitable year, the publisher reported a 2021 pre-tax profit of €245,683 — its best result since the 2013 restart — on revenue up from €3.45 million to €3.7 million. "Especially in phases of upheaval and crisis, people stay loyal to brands they truly trust," said publisher Förster.

In May 2026 impulse announced an expanded management: Nicole Basel, editor-in-chief since 2020, took responsibility for product development and marketing; Laura Blindow, previously publishing director, became responsible for personnel and organisational development; and Andreas Kurz, deputy editor-in-chief since 2022, was appointed editor-in-chief. Förster remains publisher and managing director.

Content and Profile

Impulse's journalism addresses the full range of entrepreneurial disciplines: sales and marketing, recruiting and employee leadership, product development and communication — and the entrepreneur's own resources and limits. The magazine's premise is that entrepreneurs must master an extraordinary range of disciplines, and impulse serves as their sparring partner: with research-tested tips, ideas from small and medium-sized companies "that appear in no business textbook", and exchange with successful fellow entrepreneurs. The goal is mutual benefit — learning from those who have already mastered similar situations. The long-running supplement Gründerzeit serves founders specifically. Content rubrics span management, team leadership, marketing, self-management, law and taxes, finance, digitalisation/IT and technology, and cars.

Circulation and Audience

Impulse's circulation history mirrors the German magazine market's transformation. In 2001 circulation was 142,000 copies; the magazine sold 135,128 copies in the last quarter of 2004 and 81,132 in the third quarter of 2012. After the buy-out the print run was deliberately repositioned: the magazine now appears ten times a year as part of network membership, with IVW reporting 2,388 sold copies (2/2026) — a figure that reflects the exclusive-membership model rather than newsstand reach. The audience is owners, managing directors, and decision-makers in the German Mittelstand — entrepreneurs who value peer exchange "without acquisition pressure, at eye level". The impulse.de portal serves the broader German-speaking network of entrepreneurs, executives, self-employed professionals, and founders.

Ownership

Impulse is published by Impulse Medien GmbH of Hamburg (Hammerbrookstraße 93, 20097 Hamburg), founded in 2013 by Nikolaus Förster — publisher, managing director, and majority shareholder — with entrepreneur Dirk Möhrle as co-shareholder. The company is privately held and independent of the large publishing groups. The magazine's ISSN is 0720-9037.

Digital Presence

Impulse's digital home is impulse.de — the information portal for entrepreneurs in the German-speaking web, with rubrics from management to digitalisation, free newsletters (impulse.de/newsletter), and exclusive member content. The Academy's online courses and the digital forum for confidential exchange extend the network beyond physical events, while the interactive premium-member platform hosts the mastermind groups at the heart of the peer-exchange model. Free newsletters keep the wider entrepreneur audience in touch with the brand, and the impulse.de portal — with its rubrics from management and team leadership to law, taxes, finance, and digitalisation — serves as the daily information hub for the German-speaking SME community. Since early 2022, prospective network members apply for admission online through the detailed selection procedure. From Johannes Gross's 1980 Gruner + Jahr concept through the 2013 buy-out to today's entrepreneur network, impulse has followed its own slogan — "Mach es!" ("Just do it!") — reinventing the business magazine as a community. The Hamburg-based Impulse Medien GmbH keeps the title independent of the large publishing groups, forty-five years after its founding — the entrepreneur magazine as an entrepreneur's own company.