Octavian Graf Pilati

Octavian Pilati is an Austrian entrepreneur with a 29-character long surname and a rich family history. Dealing with a crisis in the family business from 2015 to 2018 Octavian is now sharing his experiences and knowledge about family business, family dynamics, crisis, fraud and a lot more. As descendants from the princely family of Khevenhüller-Metsch his family dates back to before the year 1000. The other family roots (Graf Pilati, Filo della Torre and del Pezzo) all have similar long histories. For Octavian’s family the most formative event happened in 1730, when Sigismund Reichsgraf von Khevenhüller bought several estates in Lower Austria. By doing so he build the foundation of the family business Octavian is engaged in today. The family business brought forth Octavian’s first professional challenge. In the years 2015 to 2018 the company slid into a major crisis stemming from a failed investment and Octavian decided to take over the management. As a student of mechanical engineering at the TU Vienna Octavian has a deep understanding of technical product development, which helped him to approach the difficult situation in an unusual way. Octavian was business savvy from an early age on. Not even a decade old he was already offering guided tours through the family’s historic buildings during summer months. He moved onto selling lunches and later lending money to classmates his interest rates were well above the level of the 80s. At the age of 13 his father decided that it’s a good time for Octavian to start investing in the stock market. Since then he has been on a stark exchange on this topic. His enthusiasm for lending and trading continued in boarding school in Ampleforth, England. England is where he spent his teenage years (13-18) and discovered his love for rugby and travelling. His passions besides that are reading, biohacking and product development. He believes in lifelong learning and is therefore drawn to anything interesting that pops up. Octavian is a born debater and getting into discussions with him may last several hours.