Jan-Hendrik Ruettinger
| Jan-Hendrik Ruettinger | |
| Nationality | German |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, software engineer |
| Known for | Co-founder and CTO of Dataleap |
Jan-Hendrik Ruettinger is a German entrepreneur and technologist who is the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Dataleap, an artificial intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco with an additional office in Munich. Dataleap, which participated in Y Combinator's Summer 2024 batch, describes itself as "the world's first vibe working platform," an agent-first automation tool designed to give non-engineering business teams AI-powered capabilities without requiring technical expertise.[1] The term "vibe working" is an extension of the broader "vibe coding" concept popularized by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, which describes the practice of directing AI systems through natural language rather than explicit technical instructions.
Career
Prior to founding Dataleap, Ruettinger worked as an AI researcher at the University of Oxford and at Volkswagen. He also had a stint in management consulting at Boston Consulting Group (BCG).[2] His experience across applied AI research and strategy consulting provided the dual technical and business perspective that would later inform Dataleap's product direction.
In 2023, Ruettinger co-founded Dataleap alongside Jan Damm, who serves as chief executive officer. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and also maintains a Munich office, where it has recruited for founding engineering and deployment roles.[3][4] Dataleap was accepted into Y Combinator's Summer 2024 cohort, giving the company access to the accelerator's global network and investor community.[5]
The company initially positioned itself as a generative AI-powered market intelligence platform aimed at corporate strategy departments and management consulting firms. In this capacity, it provided AI-driven market research with source-linked data.[6] The platform subsequently evolved into what the company terms a "vibe working" and "vibe automating" platform. In its current form, Dataleap enables users in business roles—such as sales, operations, and human resources—to build AI-powered automations and "AI coworkers" through a conversational, agent-first interface, without the need for visual workflow builders or engineering support.[7]
In early 2025, the company announced it had raised $3 million in seed funding to further develop its vibe working platform. Ruettinger's background in AI research and consulting informed Dataleap's technical development: his experience at Oxford and Volkswagen provided expertise in applied artificial intelligence, while his time at BCG gave him direct exposure to the strategy and consulting workflows that the platform was originally designed to serve.[8]
References
- ↑ "Dataleap – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "How Dataleap is Supporting Leading Consultancies and Industry Giants". 'HireTop}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Founding Forward Deployed Engineer (Munich) at Dataleap". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Founding Deployment Strategist (Munich Office) at Dataleap". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Dataleap – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "How Dataleap is Supporting Leading Consultancies and Industry Giants". 'HireTop}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Dataleap". 'Dataleap}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "How Dataleap is Supporting Leading Consultancies and Industry Giants". 'HireTop}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.