Marc Ebinger built RIMASYS – self-financed and at high personal risk – into a global company for surgical education. In 2022 came the exit to the AO Foundation. The exit was supposed to bring freedom. Instead, he lost his direction.
Marc moved to Portugal, faced his fear in Nazaré, and surfed the biggest wave of his life. Today he is active as an entrepreneur, investor, and big wave surfer – living with a question success could not answer for him:
What comes when you have achieved everything – and suddenly question all of it?
Marc Ebinger's story begins with a wrong bone break. From a self-built machine came RIMASYS – self-financed, with personal liability. When the pandemic stopped in-person training overnight, the team switched to digital formats within weeks – and changed surgical education worldwide.
He had learned what resistance feels like long before: his surf school in Bali became so successful that competitors had him deported from the island.
After the exit to the AO Foundation, Marc first stayed on board and handed over operational leadership on January 1, 2024. But once the goal he had worked toward for years was reached, he lost the answer to a much more personal question: What was it all for?
Marc moved to Portugal and made Nazaré his next adventure. With a vision, a team, and preparation, he faced his greatest fear there. On February 5, 2025, he surfed the biggest wave of his life so far. Today he connects both worlds: as an entrepreneur, investor, and big wave surfer.
Not because he has found a finished answer to success. But because his story touches questions many people live with: How much of us does work get to have? And who are we when the role we lived for, for years, disappears?
Portraits · 2026
WELT · 19 September 2026
The Incredible Story of the Revolutionary “Bone Breaker of Cologne”
The WELT portrait (in German): a quirky business idea, a company that changed surgical training – and the question of what comes after the exit.
German news channel ntv revisits RIMASYS ten years after its founding: the Cologne bone lab back then, Marc today – and what became of the ridiculed idea (in German).
More than 50,000 surgeons · six continents · 100+ countries
Exit
2022 to the AO Foundation · operational leadership handed over on January 1, 2024
Big wave surfing
Nazaré · Portugal
Portraits
WELT & ntv · 2026
The book
Autobiography · Written with Dennis Sand · Q1 2027
Surfing Unicorns
Four-part documentary series · H2 2027
Why This Story Concerns Us All
The Outer Milestones Are Extraordinary. The Questions Behind Them Are Familiar to Many.
Are we living today – or waiting for later?
Many people spend years working toward the moment when real life is finally supposed to begin. After the next career step. After the sale. After retirement. But what happens when that moment comes – and the hoped-for freedom does not automatically arrive?
How much of us does work get to have?
Performance can create meaning, identity, and growth. But it can also cost sleep, health, relationships, and closeness. Where does dedication end – and self-loss begin?
Who are we when our role disappears?
Entrepreneur, leader, athlete, parent, partner, or professional: people often define themselves by what they achieve and carry for others. Success does not automatically answer who we are when the role we lived for, for years, disappears.
Healing – or just the next thrill?
New beginnings can change something. But they can also become the next escape. How do we know whether we are actually learning something – or just running from the next uncomfortable truth?
Why do we wait until we feel ready?
The most important decisions rarely come with full certainty. What if fear is not just a stop signal – but sometimes shows which decision we have been avoiding for too long?
Do we need more real adventures again?
Our lives are becoming safer, more predictable, more optimized. At the same time, many people feel increasingly directed by others. Can consciously chosen challenges help us decide for ourselves again?
When does personal success become relevant for others?
Personal growth matters. But what changes when people use capital, experience, and influence to make something possible for others too?
Material for Editorial Teams
The Story Has Been Documented for Years.
From the Cologne bone lab to the big waves of Nazaré, extensive photo and video material exists from the decisive chapters of Marc's path. For editorial features, interviews, and productions, footage is available from these areas, among others:
The dynamism of a startup, the responsibility of an entrepreneur: Marc Ebinger is an entrepreneur, investor, and big wave surfer. He built RIMASYS – self-financed and with personal liability – into a global company for surgical education. In 2022 came the exit to the AO Foundation.
But the exit did not bring the expected freedom. After years of building without a safety net and carrying constant responsibility, Marc increasingly lost his direction. Much of what had been lost along the way could not be brought back by success.
After handing over operational leadership, he moved to Portugal and faced his greatest fear in Nazaré.
Today he connects entrepreneurship, big wave surfing, and impact investing. In his keynotes, his autobiography, and the documentary series Surfing Unicorns, he tells of risk, identity, and the question of what can grow out of personal growth for others.
Most recently profiled in WELT (September 2026) and on ntv (TV feature, 2026).
“In essence, Ebinger approaches his training as a big wave surfer like founding a second start-up. Only this time the risk is not financial. It is his life.”
WELT · 19 September 2026 (translated from German)
“Nazaré doesn’t care who you were before. Marc earned his place the only way you can here: with humbleness, all the steps of preparation, and the craziest team around him.”
António Silva · WSL Big Wave Surfer & Nazaré Pioneer
Surfing Unicorns · The Story Behind the Images
Is This Healing – or Just the Next Thrill?
A four-part documentary series about fear, identity, and the one question success cannot answer. Marc applies the tools he used to build a company to the greatest personal challenge of his life: the big waves of Nazaré.
But the documentary does not just tell of reaching a wave. It follows the attempt to find a new direction after the exit – and the question of whether the next big goal really changes anything.
