The Most Awesome Founder Podcast (Gerrit McGowan)

The 81st edition of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast with Dries & Gerrit is just around the corner! We delve into the fascinating world of startups and cross-cultural business dynamics with our guest, experienced founder, business angel and WHU alum, Muhammad Chbib.

Muhammad shares his valuable insights and experiences in the startup world and describes his journey from Germany to Dubai and back again and, how it has shaped his approach to entrepreneurship and the lessons he has learned along the way. 🚀

Muhammad's expertise and perspective shed light on the significance of building connections, navigating cultural nuances, and seizing opportunities in Arabic markets. 🌟

He also emphasizes the need to adapt and respect the ways of the culture in order to succeed. His critical perspective on some aspects of how he feels a colonist mentality by Westerners sparks a lively discussion that is now more relevant than ever.

Take advantage of this thought-provoking conversation!

Chapters:

(0:09) Intro to the episode

(1:11) Muhammad’s background story

(4:58) From a startup to a consulting mindset

(10:40) What was the motivation for venturing into the Middle East

(17:22) How did the startup landscape in the Middle East look like back then?

(21:45) Navigating through region-specific relationships, dynamics and networks

(28:53) What is Muhammad’s view on the Berlin startup scene?

(33:00) What are control freak investors, and how do they relate to the lack of diversity in the German mindset? 

(36:40) Underrepresentation of people with an immigration background in the German startup scene

(40:25) German VC getting active in the Middle East

(47:20) Different norms & values and how to deal with it

(56:45) Working in other cultures as a Westerner

(58:10) What is a „First 1000 days guy“?

(01:03:40) Muhammad's media recommendations 

Muhammad's podcast recommendation:

Gysi gegen Guttenberg - Der Deutschland Podcast

Episode 52 features the fifth edition of the Awesome Founder Inspiration Session with Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems in which they share what makes them think, learn, and laugh.

 This week they touch on some of these thought-provoking topics:

- Post-money valuations of unicorns

- Elon Musk’s opinions about geopolitical problems – is there an economic calculation behind it?

- What are two of the most exciting high-tech companies?

- Why does Adam Neumann, founder of wework, still get money?

- The possible explanations ad implications of “quiet quitting”

- Body odor & chocolate bunnies

We hope you enjoy the show!

Discussed sources:

Squaring venture capital valuations with reality Will Gornall  Ilya A. Strebulaev Journal of Financial Economics 135 (2020) 120–143

Elon Musk: ‘Aren’t you entertained?’

Tesla hits China sales record as Beijing praises Musk’s Taiwan proposal

Speculation over Tesla's possible return to TSMC for advanced self-driving chips

TSMC (SE 9, EP 3)

Interview with Adam Neumann in November 2021 for the Dealbook Online Summit: 

The economics behind 'quiet quitting' — and what we should call it instead

Sniffing Out New Friends: Similarity in Body-Odor Predicts the Quality of Same-Sex Non-Romantic Dyadic Interactions. Inbal Ravreby, Kobi Snitz, Noam Sobel; Science Advances  2022

Lidl told to destroy gold chocolate bunnies after it loses copyright case with Lindt

Chapters:

(1:01) Introduction to the episode

(2:49) Something that made Dries learn – Post money valuation of unicorn

(08:20) The findings of the paper

(10:05) Gerrit's take on arbitrary startup valuations & founder's perspective on this issue

(14:23) The danger when funds overvalue private startups & addressing governance issues of startup investing

(18:02) Something that made Gerrit learn – Elon Musk's erratic stances on geopolitical issues

(25:07) Discussing the semiconductor companies TSMC & ASML

(35:37) Something that made Dries think – Exploring diverging entrepreneurial cultures in the case of Adam Neumann

(45:57) Something that made Gerrit think – The trend of quiet quitting of Gen Z

(50:49) Quiet quitting as a form of economic optimization?

(56:42) Something that made Dries laugh – Similarity in body odor at its effect on friendships

(1:03:57) Something that made Gerrit laugh – The case of Lidl's chocolate bunnies

In this latest episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Henry Chesbrough - Director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, Adjunct Professor at the Haas School of Business, UC–Berkeley, and Chair of Open Innovation at Luiss Guido Carli in Rome.

We’re discussing the origins of the concept of open innovation, its implications in business today, the roles of startups, and the interrelationships of open innovation, open source, and intellectual property.

This conversation felt like a masterclass in this fascinating topic, rich with real-world examples that practitioners will relate to. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Episode 56 and we are excited to welcome Axel Deniz to the show. Axel has extensive experience building digital products and has led numerous digital innovation projects with large multinationals. Currently, he is Director for Corporate Development & Innovation at PwC, leading open innovation strategy & corporate venturing.

Tune in when Axel talks about the resilience of business ecosystems, the role of external infrastructure, and how specific frameworks help to implement ecosystems in the firm daily.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

You can find all show notes and links mentioned in the episode on our website

Chapters

(0:48) Gerrit's introduction of Axel

(2:20) Axel's journey from founder to consultancy 

(07:00) Axel's first experiences when arriving at PwC

(08:22) Shortage of talent in multinationals and local ecosystems

(11:10) Convincing companies of the need for ecosystems 

(15:38) Tools & frameworks for establishing an ecosystem firm on a daily basis

(20:25) The role of regulatory infrastructure in fostering business ecosystems

(28:55) Needed change of mindsets in ecosystems players regarding industry transformation

(37:25) Gerrit's take on future industries and diversifying

(38:40) What is the motivation for adapting the long-term focus of a company? Fear vs. opportunity

(43:43) How do ecosystems deal with current geopolitical challenges?

(48:30) Axel's motivation to do academic research

(50:40) Axel shares his advice for young entrepreneurs & innovators

(53:13) Book recommendation

(55:55) Axel's recommendations for podcasts and books

Episode 46 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast and we are thrilled to introduce Raphael Derstappen, co-founder of the live-learning platform Kursinsel.

Today’s parents can keep their children busy with a bunch of electronic devices, games, or apps. However, Kursinsel wants to offer more than temporary entertainment for kids. The platform assists parents in letting their kids explore their passions and interest independent of location or time via live & guided online courses.

How to understand parent’s problems without being a parent yourself, how to build two-sided platforms, and how to reject academic job offers; tune in to find out what our next entrepreneurial talent has to say about it.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Chapters:

(02:09) Raphael’s choice for an entrepreneurial journey

(06:08) The motivation behind founding Kursinsel

(10:23) Addressing founder-market-fit

(12:45) What were the insights from customer interviews?

(16:05) The unique value proposition of Kursinsel

(20:24) Solving the chicken and egg problem

(23:55) How Kursinsel tries to ensure high-quality content for their users

(26:19) Raphael’s view on remote work

(30:35) The vision for Kursinsel

In Episode 53 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we are happy to interview Moritz Weisbrodt, a serial entrepreneur with experience in various industries like food, health, and logistics. His latest company Alaiko, a fulfillment-as-a-service company, just announced a 30 million series A funding round this year.

Talking as a generalist, Moritz knows the importance of corporate culture in different market environments and along different lifecycle stages. How can culture be actively shaped, and what are ways to implement it? Tune in when Moritz shares his key learnings about the essential value basis of Alaiko and gives advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.

We hope to fulfill your expectations with this episode!

Chapters:

(00:48) Dries’ introduction of Moritz

(02:04) The entrepreneurial journey of Moritz

(04:34) Do future founders already show entrepreneurial traits in their childhood?

(08:22) How did founding as a generalist work out for Moritz?

(11:05) What were setbacks that fostered major learnings?

(17:27) How is Alaiko developing employees into cultural ambassadors?

(23:20) Recruiting as a building block for culture in a start-up

(27:40) How to stay true to culture and values in challenging market conditions

(34:02) Do empathy and heartiness constitute differentiators to competition for Alaiko?

(35:23) Implementing customer centricity

(39:21) Moritz shares his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

(43:30) What podcast or books would Moritz recommend?

In this episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Cory Warfield, entrepreneur, founder of ShedWool and connector with over 250.000 LinkedIn followers.

Cory and Gerrit met almost 5 years ago when mentoring Cory’s startup ShedWool at an accelerator in Colorado. Since then Cory grew his startup to 20+ employees, built a massive LinkedIn follower base and launched numerous new ventures from his vast professional network.

In this episode, we are discussing Cory’s incredible founder journey from literally the bottom to the top, how faith and humility drive success and some really useful tricks for leveraging LinkedIn to grow both your personal brand and your business. 

Hope you enjoy it!

In this episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Steve Blank - legendary entrepreneur, author, adjunct professor at Stanford University, and father of the customer development / lean startup method.

Steve arrived in Silicon Valley in 1978 and has played a pivotal role in the international startup scene ever since. His Lean Launchpad class redefined the way entrepreneurship is taught and changed the way entrepreneurs around the world build new ventures. He is also the author of the books “The Startup Owner’s Manual” and “The Four Steps to the Epiphany”.

To learn more about Steve, you can visit his website at www.steveblank.com or follow him on Twitter at @sgblank.

Joining me as co-host of this episode is Prof. Dries Faems, Chair of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technological Transformation at WHU.

Together we're discussing Steve’s founder journey, but more importantly, the concept of innovation theater - those incubators, accelerators and corporate innovation labs that look slick from the outside, but are often lacklustre in producing tangible results.

Steve is an absolute legend in startup circles and full of nuggets of wisdom. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did recording it!

In this episode, we introduce Tristan Kromer - San Francisco-based entrepreneur, innovation advisor, and Lean Startup guru. Tristan’s journey is a fascinating one - from touring musician to marketing executive, startup coach to innovation advisor for massive multinational companies. Today we’re discussing Tristan’s unique and circuitous career trajectory, what Lean really means in different contexts, the future of entrepreneurship education, and so much more! So for you listeners who want a tonne of useful advice on how to build a lean organisation, this episode is for you! Hope you enjoy it!

In this latest episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Lia Grünhage, WHU alumn and founder of Avery Fertility, a Berlin-based startup that provides both women and men with top-notch education and care around fertility planning and treatment.

We will be discussing Lia’s founder journey, her evolution from Amorelie management team to becoming a founder herself, the challenge of tackling cultural taboos like sexuality and reproduction and so much more. Hope you enjoy it!

Strap in for a riveting new episode on 'The Most Awesome Founder Podcast' as our hosts, Dries Faems and Gerrit McGowan, are joined by strategic mastermind Jeroen Kraaijenbrink. Jeroen shares captivating real-life experiences that he acquired while working on strategic matters with all kinds of clients from the corporate and startup world. Coming from an academic background, he gives insights into his method-oriented approach to strategy and how he aligns his work style with the customers.

But that's not all – with a staggering 200k+ followers on LinkedIn and a spot in the Top 20 Global Content Creators, Jeroen is not just a strategist but a digital influencer powerhouse. Hungry for tips on amplifying your online presence? He's got insider secrets you won't want to miss.

If you are into strategy, make sure to catch this episode.

Chapters:

(1:00) Christopher's background

(2:30) Reasons for founding sunhero

(3:40) Building a solar system journey

(5:40) Factors influencing solar business

(8:10) Sunhero's business model

(12:00) Education in the solar industry

(15:15) Debt financing usage

(17:30) Challenges for german startups

(20:50) Pitfalls of international expansion

(27:00) Cultural considerations

(29:45) Spanish and german mentalities

(32:30) Hiring in different countries

(33:50) Core principles of sunhero

(36:50) Data-Driven decision-making  - always?

(42:40) Tips for early stage entrepreneurs

(48:00) Book and podcast recommendations

Chapters:

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling : Dicks, Matthew, Kennedy, Dan: Amazon.de: Books

Lenny's Podcast (lennyspodcast.com)

Should you work at a consultancy before founding? How is communication within international founding teams? And what skills and mindset do you really need to become a successful founder?

Today's episode features our guest Justus Schmueser! He is a former WHU bachelor student and completed his master of finance at MIT. Here he met his co-founder and today is leading the company Kadmos, which in 2022 was renowned for being one of the fastest-growing startups in Germany. 

Tune in to get answers to those burning questions and find out how Justus has grown through his founder career, and how you can implement those life lessons into your own founding journey.

Chapters:

(0:06) Teaser
(0:58) Introduction by Dries
(2:27) Dires welcomes Justus
(3:10) Justus reflects on his time at MIT and compares it to studying at the WHU
(4:30) Justus describes the advantages of having a diverse student group
(6:30) How Justus experienced his time at McKinsey
(7:51) How did the time at a big consultancy firm help you as a founder?
(9:40) Would you recommend students go into consulting before starting as a founder?
(13:00) Justus analyses the startup world
(16:00) Justus explains what Kadmos does
(18:15) Did you focus on a particular industry at first?
(21:05) What are the most significant challenges you are facing as a growing firm?
(24:36) Opinion on remote/on-site working
(26:30) Do you make sure of this on-site working mindset when you are hiring people?
(29:30) how do you navigate such a highly regulatory environment whilst growing quickly?
(33:00) How do you deal with the tension with lawyers in your company?
(35:00) Is the current banking situation affecting your business?
(38:41) What has been the most challenging for you in the last two years?
(44:00) What behavior did you change from the 360-degree feedback you did in the company?
(46:30) Recommendations for books, podcasts and music
(49:00) Thank you for participating Justus
(49:25) Thank you from Dries to listeners

In Episode 49 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we are happy to introduce our sixth talent out of this year’s accelerator cohort. After years in the corporate scenery, Elena Tsemirava recently decided to take the matter into her own hands and build her own start-up Listerly, to fulfill her entrepreneurial potential.

Listerly wants to leverage artificial intelligence to automate listing products on multiple online channels, so far a primarily manual and cost-intensive process. Tune in to hear how Listerly intends to change that to contribute to a more automated and scalable e-commerce business with a special eye on the fashion industry.

We hope to enjoy you enjoy this episode!

Chapters:

(01:56) Elena’s way from Belarus to rural Germany

(04:43) Entering the German corporate landscape

(06:13) The motivation behind starting Listerly

(09:32) Exploring Listerly with its core value propositions and pain points it wants to solve

(15:05) The data side of Listerly

(15:35) Fashion industry as the primary target

(17:48) Elena’s vision for Listerly

(18:43) Founding as a late bloomer

(21:09) How the Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA Program influenced Elena’s entrepreneurial ambitions

Do you ever wonder what it's like for your startup to fail? 

Then you're just right in today's episode #61! In this episode, we're here to listen and learn about Kilian Karrasch's startup failure with Connme.   

Tune in to Kilian's reflection on what it was like to experience your own startup failure. Within this episode, Kilian shares the deep and valuable learnings he was able to extract. Make sure to listen closely and use the tips Kilian shares, such as choosing the right co-founders, examining the crucial potential risks, staying close to your customer, and so on. 

We appreciate these interesting insights and hope you can make the most out of them! 

Link to Kilian’s podcast:  

Spotify: spoti.fi/3IMUMER  

Apple: apple.co/3INT9qG 

Episode 55 presents Annika von Mutius, a driven and motivated entrepreneur with an affinity towards technology. We were delighted to hear about her journey, building the first fully automated headhunter, Empion. Annika and her co-founder Larissa recently raised €2.4 Mil pre-seed funding with WHU alumnus Michael Stephan as a board member and angel investor.

Annika and her co-founder Larissa quickly understood the importance of matching culture, skills and values between applicants and companies, which led them to build Empion. By quantifying the tasks of a headhunter and both automating and personalizing the process for applicants, they connect the right individuals efficiently.

Tune in to find out more about their journey, in what sense their Ph.D. was of value, practicing a customer-centered approach and how they aspire to grow Empion via TikTok.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Chapters

(0:52) Dries’ introduction of Annika
(2:18) Annika’s personal entrepreneurial story 
(5:10) What did you learn in Silicon Valley that you didn’t learn at WHU?
(6:41) How Annika networks
(8:35) What decisions lead to jointly found Empion with Larissa? 
(11:20) Does your Ph.D. add value to what you’re developing right now?
(13:30) A more detailed Explanation of Empion
(17:00) How are you assessing your product market fit?
(22:00) Understanding the customer
(23:00) How do you use analytical tools to understand the customer and product market fit?
(25:22) What is the strategy behind being active on LinkedIn
(28:30) The relevance of TikTok
(29:25) How do I create content for TikTok?
(31:09) What do you see as the added value being connected to WHU?
(35:10) What would be your advice that you would give to your younger self?
(38:23) Why analytical thinking might be in your way
(39:12) Book recommendation

In episode 43 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Julian Birkinshaw, a leading researcher in the field of entrepreneurship and a Professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School.

In this episode, Julian will discuss his research on how companies need to balance alignment and adaptability to keep up with a rapidly changing world. He will also walk us through his findings on what made big successful companies like Oracle adapt to changing market conditions and the concept of contextual ambidexterity – behaviors and practices in a business that enable organizations to adapt to changing markets but still remain aligned to their existing activities.

Hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we did producing it.

🎙️ Get ready to tune into today's new episode of The Most Awesome Founder Podcast with Philipp Buhr, the co-founder of marta! marta is a platform that transparently enables families to match their elderly family members with suitable caregivers.

Beginning with stories from Philipps entrepreneurial childhood, enabling him to be the co-founder he is today, the episode advances into deeper topics associated with the healthcare market. 

Here is a sneak peek of the topics Dries and Philipp further indulge into:

🤝 How Philipp and his co-founder developed their idea and shaped it into reality

💪 The challenges faced when growing companies

🚀 How the possibilities of digitally disrupting the healthcare market look like

We look forward to hearing what you think of the episode!

Chapters

(0:54) Intro to the episode by Dries

(2:20) Tell us something about your childhood Philipp

(4:10) Philipp talks about his first entrepreneurial steps of making door-to-door sales

(5:30) What learnings did you make when making door-to-door sales?

(7:10) What did you learn and get out of being a management associate

(10:50) What were the advantages of founding with another WHU alumni?

(14:05) What does marta do?

(16:30) How did you get to the topic of founding marta?

(20:00) How do you address safety in marta?

(22:30) Philipp describes the caregiver-to-family connections in more detail

(26:30) What is the biggest challenge in a fast-growing company?

(28:30) What type of marketing channels do you use?

(30:00) What advantages do your partners get?

(34:00) How to stay ahead of competitors?

(35:30) Why is it so hard to digitally disrupt the healthcare industry?

(36:45) Regulations are challenges, however, also big opportunities

(39:00) Where is the digital health industry moving towards?

(42:22) Do you think you will move towards only daycare?

(45:44) Discussing geographical dependence of business models

(46:00) Books and podcast recommendations

(48:30) Discussion of struggles with influential writers: book content vs. life actions

(50:52) Thank you Philipp!

(52:00) The importance of the healthcare sector

(55:10) Outro by Dries

In episode 38 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Jochen Ziervogel, WHU alum and Co – Founder at Enpal GmbH. Jochen had a short stint in investment banking before entering the startup ecosystem and eventually founding Enpal – a unicorn disrupting the renewable energy industry in Germany.

In this episode, Jochen goes through his founder journey and shares key learnings with the listeners. He throws some light on how the founders came up with the idea behind Enpal, the importance of founders spending time on building great products and why it is essential to listen to your customers.

Hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we did producing it.

Chapters:

(00:57) Introduction by Gerrit

(02:13) The founder journey of Jochen Ziervogel

(04:19) How is Enpal disrupting the renewable energy industry in Germany?

(07:10) How the founding team came up with the idea behind Enpal

(09:02) Did Jochen start with a problem or an idea?

(10:41) Enpal’s rationale behind entering the solar energy market

(12:58) Enpal’s pivoting story – how did Enpal do it?

(14:45) Switching from sales to rentals – how Enpal change internally for a smooth pivot?

(16:55) How many customers does Enpal have?

(18:33) What is the sales process at Enpal? How does Enpal tackle the issue of educating customers?

(21:00) Reducing sales cycle in B2B businesses – how is Enpal managing this KPI?

(22:33) Jochen’s role in the sales cycle at Enpal

(23:26) Being a founder of a small team v/s being a founder of a 1000+ people organisation – How Jochen evolved with the evolution of Enpal?

(26:59) Having mentors within the company – learning from people within Enpal

(28:55) The impact of geopolitical conflicts on the solar industry and Enpal

(32:07) Jochen’s view on future of renewable energy in Germany and Europe

(33:56) Is solar going to be the dominant player in the future?

(34:55) Enpal’s geographical expansion plans

(36:00) Rumours of Enpal IPO – How Enpal handled this crisis

(37:20) Jochen’s message to the next generation of budding entrepreneurs

(39:33) Balancing intuition driven v/s data driven decision making

(42:00) Jochen’s book recommendations

(43:43) Is blitzscaling the future for startups in Germany?

(44:35) The fragmented renewable energy market in Germany and Enpal’s competitive landscape

(45:42) What’s cycling on Jochen’s playlist

(46:56) Gerrit outro

Today our guest Jörg Hellwig, an active angel investor, is here to share his insights with you! Having had experience as a chief digital officer, co-founder, and investor, he has valuable insights that you can benefit from! 

The different perspectives Jörg encountered make this podcast so valuable for aspiring entrepreneurs. Learn about: 

-         the challenges and benefits of change in corporates 

-         How one of the first B2B marketplaces in the chemical industry was founded 

-         And what it’s like helping inexperienced founders 

We hope you enjoy the episode and feel free to leave questions in the comments that would interest you in future episodes! 

(0:58) Intro by Dries 

(2:50) Jörgs Intro into his life 

(4:15) What does LANXESS do? 

(5:40) What was your initial goal at LANXESS? 

(8:30) What LANXESS is all about summary 

(9:45) LANXESS is not the typical corporate company 

(11:00) Board members in corporates 

(12:25) Main reasons why corporates should not transform themselves 

(13:00) How did you overcome the resistance to change in the corporate? 

(17:50) What skills should people have to excel in the digital age? 

(21:05) What is CheMondis, and why did you found it? 

(27:30) How was it for competitors using your platform? 

(30:18) Challenges of building a B2B platform? 

(34:30) How do you decide into which startups to invest as an angel investor? 

(36:00) Secret checklist in what people you invest into? 

(40:30) Where do you see room for improvements in digitalization in startups? 

(43:30) What advice would you give your younger self? 

(47:00) Books and Podcast recommendations  

(48:00) What is your approach to networking? 

(51:40) Thank you for your insights! 

This episode is for everybody who wants to get a bit nerdy with top-notch entrepreneurship research. We are excited to welcome the two renowned scholars Murat Tarakci & Timo van Balen to gain insights into their electrifying research about how startups with a social vision struggle to attract job talent. Gerrit’s trajectory perfectly complements this academic understanding as the founder of a nonprofit startup and inevitably leads to fascinating discussions.

Revisiting some of our most commonly discussed topics, like message-market-fit, communication strategies for startups, and the struggles of building a solid recruiting strategy, but this time with the sound support of top-level research.

Chapters:

(0:10) Intro to the episode

(1:20) Murat’s background story

(2:40) Timo’s background story

(4:38) Why did Timo join a startup after his PhD? 

(6:10) Topic and motivation for the paper 

(10:55) Gerrit’s view on the social vision

(15:20) The message depends on the audience  

(18:00) The different pools for applicants   

(21:10) Employees as „rational actors“?   

(26:08) Discussing the results that a stronger social purpose leads to fewer applicants for the startup   

(30:51) Using other channels to lure applicants 

(34:20) Storytelling in communicating social visions

(39:25) Implications for practitioners when formulating a communication strategy

(43:05) Message market fit

(47:00) How do Mura & Timo integrate the results into their teaching?

(51:58) Faking a social purpose

(58:56) Murat’s recommendation 

(1:00:40) Timo’s podcast recommendation

Murat’s recommendation

Ethan Mollick - The Unicorn's Shadow

Ron Adner - Winning the right game

Timo’s recommenation

SF Masterworks

Revolutions podcast

Nathan and I had a great conversation about his fascinating career trajectory: From studying physics to the trading floors of London, from banking to product management to founding fulfin. We even managed to talk about poker as a metaphor for entrepreneurship.

So I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I did the conversation.

Part 1: Nathan Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Introducing Nathan Evans (02:15)

Part 3: Nathan’s founder journey (04:41)

Part 4: “The love of the game” - Making the right decisions as Nathan’s drive  (10:09)

Part 5: Parallels between life and entrepreneurship as a “long game” (12:44)

Part 6: How Nathan’s trajectory led him to founder-market (15:52)

Part 7: Growth financing for young eCommerce companies - the problem fulfin solves (18:07)

Part 8: “Don’t use equity capital to finance working capital” - Nathan’s financing advice (20:58)

Part 9: Bootstrappers are the main customer group of fulfin (23:48)

Part 10: “Nail it and scale it!” - Nathan’s focus in the early times of fulfin (25:03) 

Part 11: “More will try and more will fail!” - Nathan’s prediction on the future of retail and eCommerce (28:55)

Part 12: The effect of rollup companies like Rayzor Group and others on eCommerce entrepreneurs and fulfin (31:50)

Part 13: Nathan’s work as a startup mentor (36:14)

Part 14: The changes in the startup ecosystem in Nathan’s view (39:10)

Part 15: “Founder-fit” as the addition to founder-market fit (42:15)

Part 16: “The love of the game” - For Nathan the only reason to go into entrepreneurship (45:00)

Part 17: What would Nathan tell his younger self? (47:33)

Part 18: What book is Nathan currently reading? (49:39)

Part 19: What is cycling on Nathan’s playlist? (52:38)

Outro Gerrit (54:22)

We’re doing things a little bit different in this week’s episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast. Today’ we introducing not one founder, but many. As you may have heard, on May 17 we are launching the first cohort of the inaugural WHU Startup Accelerator.

This intensive 7-week, mentor-driven, and equity-free program provides the best and brightest startups from the WHU community with rocket fuel for their new ventures, culminating in a July 2 Demo Day event where they will pitch their ventures to investors.

So for the next two episodes of our podcast, we’ll be introducing you to the 8 inspiring teams selected to participate in this year's accelerator, the founders behind the ventures, the problem they are solving, their purpose for being, and the paths they have chosen to get to market as effectively and efficiently as possible. This week, you will meet the founders of…

Lidrotec - a laser cutting technology that enables semi-conductor producers to reduce material waste by 90-100%

Specter Automation - an artificial intelligence software that helps construction companies integrate digital planning data on the construction site

KitchX - a digital kitchen configuration studio that supports customers from design to installation

Bringwing… a shipping subscription services that is changing the way consumers order from retailers online

Each of these teams are led by incredible founders with unique backgrounds, all driven by profound desires to improve peoples lives. And for those of you that are regular listeners of our podcast, you know that there are few things more inspiring than the stories of mission-driven entrepreneurs.

Hope you enjoy this unique episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast!

Chapters

Lidrotec:

Founder Introduction (02:53)

What problem is Lidrotec solving? (04:19)

How did Lidrotec’s founders meet? (09:27)

Why did Specter Automation choose the WHU Accelerator? (13:42)

Where to find Lidrotec online? (15:36)

Specter Automation:

Founder Introduction (16:51)

What problem is Specter Automation solving? (17:42)

How did Specter Automation’s founders meet? (19:50)

Why did Specter Automation choose the WHU Accelerator? (22:02)

Where to find Specter Automation online? (24:00)

KitchX:

Founder Introduction (25:12)

What problem is KitchX solving? (26:26)

How did KitchX’s founders meet? (28:06)

Why did KitchX choose the WHU Accelerator? (30:26)

Where to find KitchX online? (32:16)

Bringwing

Founder Introduction (33:12)

What problem is Bringwing solving? (35:07)

How did Bringwing’s founders meet? (36:45)

Why did Bringwing choose the WHU Accelerator? (39:13)

Where to find Bringwing online? (41:40)

In episode 36 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we present the second episode of the Awesome Founder Inspiration Sessions with Gerrit McGowan and Dries Faems.

Continuing the format from previous episode, they discuss few hidden gems of thought-provoking information where each speaker would identify three items to discuss, one item that made them learn something, one item that made them think and one item that made them laugh.

The episode is full of interesting ideas, current entrepreneurship trends and humour. So hopefully, you’ll enjoy listening to it as much as we did producing.

Sources are listed on our website: www.mostawesomepodcast.com

Chapters:

(01:00) Gerrit introduction

(03:38) Something that made Dries learn – impression management and its effect on likelihood of getting funded

(05:07) Treating pitching to investors as a sales process

(07:43) Should you frame your venture in a “disruptive” way?

(08:24) Gerrit’s perspective on “disruptive” ideas

(09:30) The narrative around “disruptive” storytelling and effects on funding

(12:10) Empirical evidence behind the hypothesis and its implications

(14:31) Reflexivity bias’s effect on research

(15:58) Modifying your vision based on the investor

(17:32) Something that made Gerrit learn – Major impacts of Ukraine war on the world and risks of famine and hunger for over a billion people all over the world

(24:55) Changing opinions around nuclear energy due to the war

(26:17) Genetically modified food – a controversial topic and changing opinions due to the war

(27:35) The subjectivity of science research

(31:20) Something that made Dries think – The CEO beauty premium

(33:00) Founder’s attractiveness and its effect on perceived leadership qualities

(34:37) Why attractive CEOs can raise more funding?

(39:07) Possible reflexivity bias in research and fixing the loophole

(40:11) The curious case of top athletes being highly attractive people

(42:28) Possible explanation for investors favouring more attractive founders

(44:01) Implications for future founders from the research

(46:26) Something that made Gerrit think – the topic of Blitzscaling

(53:00) The critical side of blitzscaling

(56:06) Public opinion towards “winner takes all” and monopolies

(59:08) The booming VC funding

(60:35) Possible consolidation of quick commerce

(61:04) The Web3 funding boom

(62:28) Something that made Dries laugh

(65:18) The content creators’ economics

(68:20) Gerrit’s take on Web3 and something that made Gerrit laugh

(75:00) The other side of Web3 ecosystem

(76:50) The current geopolitical scenario and its implications on blockchain technology

(81:25) Gerrit outro

In this episode (recorded in November 2019), we introduce Tobi Tschötsch - Founder & Managing Director of Contorion - a B2B online marketplace for industrial and trade supplies. We’re talking about Tobi’s fascinating startup journey from WHU to Rocket Internet/CityDeal/Groupon to founder of a company acquired for over 100 million Euros.

So if you’re looking to hear an incredible founder journey; interested in learning about growing a startup from idea to acquisition; or simply hoping to hear more about one of WHU’s great entrepreneurial success stories, you’ll love listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. 

In this episode we introduce Alex Grots - entrepreneur, innovator, creator, and expert in the art and craft of Design Thinking. We discuss Alex’s fascinating career from being a paramedic to working in the music industry; from building his first startup during the dot-com bubble to leading world-famous design agency IDEO in Germany; and from co-founding the high-growth IoT-venture ProGlove to advising innovation projects across the globe.

Alex is one fascinating and creative cat, not to mention an incredible storyteller with experiences that could fill volumes! But his easily palatable way of putting people at the center of innovation is what makes him such an incredible guest. I hope you enjoy it!

Part 1: Alex Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Alex’ founder journey (02:00)

Part 3: People as the common thread on Alex’ journey (13:18)

Part 4: Interaction with people as the basis for design thinking (15:50)

Part 5: Exploration vs. Exploitation: Why corporates struggle to apply design thinking naturally (20:47)

Part 6: Alex’ approach to bringing a more explorative culture to exploitation-driven corporates (26:43)

Part 7: Connecting the right people from exploration and exploitation (31:46)

Part 8: Pro-glove as an example for design thinking (32:55)

Part 9: Qualitative research as the key differentiator in innovating via Design Thinking (37:27)

Part 10: “Try it out as early as possible!” - the best way to get into design thinking (39:35)

Part 11: “Trust yourself more than your plan!” Alex’ #1 tip for future entrepreneur (41:48)

Part 12: What book is Alex currently reading? (44:02)

Part 13: What is cycling on Alex’ playlist? (44:48)

Part 14: Outro Gerrit (47:03)

Chapters:

(02:27) Introduction of Anand Ray and his start-up Joyon

(03:30) Anand’s professional trajectory from India to Germany

(07:50) First experiences in Germany and settling in

(10:42) The importance of live learning

(11:40) Corona as a catalyst

(13:33) How online learning influenced Anand’s ideas

(15:45) Use of academic entrepreneurship courses

(16:08) Development of the basic idea for Joyon

(17:27) Challenges in developing the Joyon idea

(20:05) Pivoting the business model and getting to know competitors

(24:12) Usability for live interactive course providers

(25:12) Description of Joyon’s USP

(26:43) Small providers of course content as a core customer segment

(28:48) The vision of Joyon and the democratization of education

(31:01) Talking about „golden handcuffs“ as an entrepreneur

We're kicking off our new season with a bang! A dive deep into the world of angel investing with none other than Oskar Hartmann.🌍✨ His outstanding track record: 14 (!) of his startup investments have reached unicorn status, he's one of the 1000 wealthiest Germans, and in his spare time? He cracks world records in indoor rowing 🥴🏆

Alongside our brilliant hosts Dries Faems & Gerrit McGowan, Oskar unveils the intricacies of spotting unicorns, what he learns from Olympic champions, and how to source for business opportunities from Africa to South America 🦄🚀

By the end of this episode, you'll be equipped with a treasure trove of insights into the culture of risk, pinpointing unparalleled opportunities and the magic of unconventional thinking. Let Oskar's unparalleled experiences and tales inspire you to transcend your limits and chase excellence! 💡🌟

Chapters:

(0:00) Dries introduction to our guest, Oskar Hartmann

(0:45) Oskar's journey from an "explorer" to an entrepreneur

(5:35) Getting ideas from other markets to detect current trends

(10:20) Is the US still a role model for entrepreneurship ideation?

(14:28) Germany's role in the global founder sphere

(18:48) Oskar's explanation for his huge investment success

(27:48) Accessing international investment opportunities and avoiding adverse selection

(32:55) Oskar's rationale behind his investing decision 

(37:40) Investing in a team rather than a market or an idea?

(42:28) Oskar's extreme recreational activities

(48:35) Recovery time while building companies and future endeavors  

(53:45) Oskar's book recommendations

Oskar‘s book recommendation:

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

🔥🚀  We're thrilled to spotlight the incredible journey of Kiran Banakar, one of our founders from this year's WHU accelerator batch. From grappling with the challenge of finding friends to scaling the heights of entrepreneurship, Kiran's story is nothing short of inspiring. 🌟

Kiran will be peeling back the curtain on his success as an entrepreneur in Germany, sharing the invaluable lessons he's gleaned from his tenure as a patent attorney and revealing how his company is harnessing the power of AI to revolutionize customer relationship building. 🤖💡

But that's not all! Kiran will also delve into his personal experiences, growing up in a multicultural environment, and how it has shaped his unique approach to leadership. 🌍👨‍💼

Don't miss out on this opportunity to hear Kiran's story and extract precious insights that could be the game-changer in your entrepreneurial journey. Tune in, get inspired, and let's accelerate together! 🚀💼🎯

Chapters:

(0:40) Intro to our guest Kiran Banakar

(2:02) Kiran's upbringing in Germany

(3:30) Balancing two cultures in your childhood

(5:50) Kiran's trajectory at RWTH

(7:45) What does a patent attorney do, and what experiences Kiran had while working as one?

(12:45) From investing interest to a leap to entrepreneurship

(16:45) What does Kiran's startup do?

(19:20) The pain point compelling addresses

(24:20) AI as an integral element of compelling 

(27:10) The experience as a multicultural entrepreneur in Germany

(32:03) Communication strategies with investors

(34:15) What does Kiran learn in the WHU accelerator?

(42:10) Kiran's book and Podcast recommendations

Guest recommendations:

Personal History by Katharine Graham

 How I Built This with Guy Raz

Get ready for an inspiring conversation with successful entrepreneur Björn Maronde in the newest episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast!

Björn shares his personal background, the pivotal moments that led him to entrepreneurship, and the valuable lessons he learned along the way. 📚💡 You'll discover how an executive MBA played a role in shaping his entrepreneurial career and how he navigated the challenges of starting a business with a close friend. 🤝

Björn also reveals the importance of product-market fit and the challenges of expanding into multiple markets simultaneously. 🚀

So, whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this podcast episode is a must-listen. Tune in to gain valuable insights and strategies that will propel your startup journey.

Chapters:

(0:20) Dries introduction to the episode

(0:40) Björn's entrepreneurship trajectory and the influence of doing an MBA

(2:45) Capabilities and skills required for founding 

(4:00) Björn's first entrepreneurial activities

(6:25) Real estate crowdfunding platform Exporo

(8:30) Founding a startup with your best friend

(11:40) Björn's most recent startup Smace

(16:25) Learnings as a serial entrepreneur

(17:55) Scaling and product market fit

(21:30) Balancing private and business life as an entrepreneur

(24:30) Advantages of an experienced founder

(27:30) Generative AI in Björn’s startup

(29:25) Participating in an accelerator as a more experienced founder

(32:00) Objectives and challenges with current product market fit

(34:00) Advice for Björn's younger self

(36:15) Björn’s book recommendation

Björn’s book recommendations:

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life.

In this first episode of season 3 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Franziska Leonhardt - entrepreneur, attorney, WHU alum, and founder of Berlin-based, AI-driven personalised skin care company, AVE + EDAM. 

Franziska’s journey has been a fascinating one. She began her career as a freelance lawyer, joined international law firm, Clifford Chance, and then became Rocket Internet’s first General Counsel — leading them though their IPO . 

But it was one trip to Silicon Valley in 2017 that changed Franziska’s career path forever, inspiring her to build one of the world’s first technology-driven skin care companies - all while raising her young daughter in tow.

So for you folks who want to learn more about this inspiring founder’s journey, the complexities of bridging the technology and consumer goods divide, and the challenges of balancing work, life, and family, this episode is for you. Hope you enjoy it!

We are thrilled to welcome Andre Retterath to episode #71 of our podcast. Andre is one of the leading figures in disrupting the traditional VC landscape by implementing data-driven approaches to improve decision-making. So tune in to hear interesting use cases, why the days of purely gut-based decisions investing seem to be over and what the future might look like. 

If you want to not miss out on any new developments, you can also check out Andre’s newsletter: Data-driven VC.io

Chapters:

(0:50) Intro from Dries to our guest Dr. Andre Retterath

(2:05) Andre talks about his professional career

(4:35) How could Andre leverage his Ph.D. for his later practical career?

(7:45) Andre talks about the challenges of disrupting the VC industry 

(12:03) Data as a tool to level the playing field

(17:05) How to use data analytics in entrepreneurship as an outlier game

(22:10) What kind of data quality does one need to do data analytics in VC 

(28:10) The relationship between VC strategy, market and data

(34:10) How good is the predictive power of a data-driven approach that’s reliant on historical data

(40:35) Future developments of machine learning approaches

(45:10) How does Earlybird specifically use LLMs (large language models)?

(49:10) The usage of LLMs in general

(51:40) Is it better to invest in a failed founder or one that never failed before?

(53:25) Does founder education matter?

(55:05) Does diversity matter in founder or investor teams?

(57:45) Can a data-driven approach also mitigate co-founder conflict?

(1:03:00) Andre's book recommendations

Guest recommendations:

Principles: Life and Work

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

In episode 23, we introduce Freya Oehle, WHU alumn, co-founder of the online shopping tool startup Spottster, and current co-founder of digital transformation consultancy 3tausendsassa.

We are discussing Freya's founder journey, from WHU to building Spottster with a school classmate, to a unique exit and to building a new startup with the same team she build her previous one. Freya is a high-energy entrepreneur, with the passion and charisma of a great leader. So it is no wonder, her Spottster team continue their entrepreneurial journeys together.

Get valuable insights into building teams, establishing company cultures that are both meaningful and fun, and what leadership looks like across product and service-oriented startups. Hope you enjoy it! 

Part 1: Freya Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Introducing Freya (02:20)

Part 3: Freya’s founder journey (03:10)

Part 4: The multifold business model of Freya’s current company “3tausendsassa” (08:55)

 Part 5: Freya’s view on differences between service or product focused firms (10:30)

Part 6: The shift towards focusing on billable hours and 1:1 sales to run the company (14:14)

Part 6: The pros and cons of being a service organization vs. a product organization (16:12)

Part 7: The value of Freya as the translator between customer needs and 3tausendsassa’s development capabilities (15:46)

Part 8: Structure as a key to working with technical people as a non-technical founder (23:50)

Part 9: Freedom as the most effective way for 3tausendsassa to solve the client’s problems (20:13) 

Part 10: Structure as a cornerstone of Freya’s way to lead technical teams  (22:36)

Part 11: How Freya manages the differences in cultures of 3tausendsassa and their corporate clients (27:30)

Part 12: The two types of people needed in startups and corporates (27:57)

Part 13: The secrets of 3tausendsassa’s strong and trusting company culture (30:20)

Part 14: How Freya established this culture (34:28)

Part 15: Freya’s perspective of changing company culture with age (38:20)

Part 16: Authenticity as a young startup working with formal corporate clients (41:28)

Part 17: How authenticity in startup founding develops your character  (45:40)

Part 18: Freya’s nuggets of widsom (49:25)

Part 19: What book is Freya currently reading? (51:23)

Part 20: What is cycling on Freya’s playlist? (52:20)

Outro Gerrit (53:57)

We are excited to unveil the 10th installment of the inspiration session, featuring our co-hosts GerritMcGowan and Dries Faems.

They discuss a captivating mixture of different topics in the realm of entrepreneurship from an academic and a practitioner perspective, such as:
•    Why aren't there more sustainability-driven unicorns, although badly needed
•    Which startups get supported by government grants
•    What the academic research on the controversial topic of hybrid work yielded
•    The next big thing on the horizon: quantum computing 

And have you always wanted to know how to create the boyfriend/girlfriend of your dreams? Then, gear up for a rollercoaster of knowledge, reflection, and pure amusement!

You won't want to miss this exhilarating episode!🔍

Chapters:

(0:10) Intro of Gerrit

(2:30) What is something that made Dries learn? 

(3:40) Did Gerrit apply for governmental funding for one of his startups?

(7:45) Subsidy entrepreneurs: An inquiry into firms seeking public grants

(15:40) Which startups should get supported by grants?

(23:15) What is something that made Gerrit learn? 

(28:23) Why aren’t there more social unicorns?

(37:15) What could Gerrit have done differently for his own social venture?

(41:58) The growing importance of social ventures

(47:55) Something that made Dries learn

(55:28) Deep dive into the paper: How hybrid working from home works out

(1:04:55) Something that made Gerrit learn

(1:11:30) Are we prepared for quantum computing? Did we learn something from AI?

(1:20:31) Something that made Dries laugh

(1:27:40) Something that made Gerrit laugh

(1:36:30) Outro

Discussed sources:

Something that made you learn:

Gustafsson, A., Tingvall, P. G., & Halvarsson, D. (2020). Subsidy entrepreneurs: An inquiry into firms seeking public grants. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, 20(3), 439-478.

Chang, A. M. (2018). Lean impact: How to innovate for radically greater social good

Something that made you learn:

Bloom, N., Han, R., & Liang, J. (2022). How hybrid working from home works out (No. w30292). National Bureau of Economic Research

Wadhwa, V., & Kop, M. (2022, October 4). Quantum computing is even more dangerous than artificial intelligence. Foreign Policy 

Something that made you laugh:

https://lnkd.in/es5rkdqD 

Marr, B. (2023, September 28). Artificial Intimacy: How Generative AI Can Now Create Your Dream Girlfriend. Forbes

In episode 39 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Christian Gaiser, WHU alum and Co – Founder at Numa. Christian is a serial founder and an angel investor and is currently changing the way people travel by curating emotional experiences.

In this episode, Christian goes through his journey as a founder and an investor and talks about his itch to build things. He also talks about the founder – market fit, how he draws inspiration from sports for his business and the delicate balance of expectation management in the tourism industry.

Hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we did producing it.

Chapters:

(01:03) Intro of Chrstian Gaiser

(02:27) The importance of emotions and experiences in the tourism industry

(03:31) Gerrit’s experience with the tourism industry

(05:15) Christian’s founder journey

(11:34) Exploring Numa’s business model

(15:55) Creating curated experiences

(18:22) Finding inspirations from Airbnb’s buyer’s journey

(20:13) Numa’s ideal customer profile & the chick and egg problem

(24:40) Managing 2 sales fronts at Numa

(30:18) How Numa managed initial traction

(32:16) Building the team at Numa – Founder-market and founder-product fit

(36:03) How has the experience changed for Christian founding his 2^nd venture a decade after his 1^st venture

(39:00) Christian’s change in perspective towards entrepreneurship over the years

(42:22) Managing your energy and the importance of taking breaks between ventures

(47:00) Christian’s advices and wisdom for aspiring founders

(52:02) Christian’s book recommendation and finding inspiration from sports

(55:42) What is cycling on Christian’s playlist

(57:20) Christian’s favorite countries around the world

(58:17) Numa’s expansion plans

Chapters:

(00:58) Introduction of Christian Meermann

(03:00) Christian’s entrepreneurial journey – WHU to Zalando to Cherry Ventures

(07:10) How Christian acquired the necessary skills for the role of CMO at Zalando

(09:25) How marketing education has evolved over time

(10:43) the “Learning by doing” mantra and how Christian approached venture capital

(12:30) Christian’s fundraising strategy for Cherry Ventures

(15:25) Christian’s view on how the VC ecosystem has changed over time

(18:50) The competitive landscape in the VC ecosystem and Cherry’s strategy to tackle it

(22:15) What does Cherry Ventures look for in a startup / founder

(26:08) What kind of TAMs is Cherry Ventures looking for

(29:57) Christian’s take on the concept of “Blitzscaling”

(33:37) Are german investors opening up to investing in blitzscaling?

(36:01) The growth capital ecosystem in Germany and EU

(37:31) the most exciting technologies and businesses for the next decade

(40:19) Christian’s take on disruption in the VC ecosystem

(43:30) The role of technology in a VC fund

(46:01) Has the market become a founder centric?

(50:13) Christian’s advice for budding entrepreneurs

(54:56) Christian’s book recommendations

(57:10) Christian’s music choices

(59:20) Gerrit outro

Kick off the year right with startup guidance from the successful WHU founder Jan Reichelt. His successful entrepreneurial journey began with Mendeley and has led him to reach two consecutive acquisitions. After his own founding, he began investing as an angel and has now moved towards venture capital.

Listen and learn more about Jan’s journey, what it’s like to be an entrepreneur in diverse countries, how to live the entrepreneur lifestyle successfully, and tips for investor relationships.

We hope you enjoy the episode! Feel free to leave your thoughts and future ideas in the comments!

(2:30) Intro 
(3:35) Jan's founding story
(7:30) What Jan looks for when investing as an angel?
(8:00) Why do a Ph.D.?
(8:45) What made Jan found?  
(11:39) How did you drive the product side of the startup? 
(14:00) Difficulties founding in Germany  
(17:00) Entrepreneurial success in a place you're not familiar with  
(18:45) Intrinsic motivation, the recipe for success 
(20:00) Steps after starting the founding of Mendeley 
(22:20) We weren't growing fast enough for the VCs – how did they deal with the near-death experience
(25:45) What made Mendeley a compelling acquisition target
(30:00) What happened after the acquisition?
(31:20) Founding the sequel to Mendeley
(36:17) Did you have a product market fit at the second acquisition? 
(40:00) Start as a business angel
(42:30) Why do you think it's important to have investors that have been entrepreneurs themselves
(45:10) Trust is eroded when Investors aren't founders themselves (48:45) Different cultures' understanding of failure, what is/isn't acceptable in the places you have been?
(51:00) How he lived the Entrepreneurial Lifestyle
(53:00) Would you rather invest in a founder who failed than a founder who never tried?
(54:41) What are you focusing on now?
(58:30) Looking back, what advice would you give your younger self?
(1:02:15) What are you reading right now?
(1:03:00) What is cycling on your playlist?
(1:04:49) Where can people find you if they're interested in your work?

In episode 42 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we interview another exciting entrepreneurial talent from the WHU accelerator. Chenchen Cao is co-founder of Power Mind Club, a startup that wants to improve couple relationships through counseling offers and a caring community. Chenchen and Dries discuss mental health as a vital part of Power Mind Club and the day-to-day entrepreneurial business. Tune in when Chenchen tells how her startup is trying to overcome the stigma many still have against couples counseling because long-lasting, happy relationships should be worth working on!

We hope you enjoy this lovely talk!

Chapters:

(02:06) Introduction of Chenchen and her start in Germany

(04:17) How did her parents' relationship influence her desire to found this start-up?

(05:30) The trigger and the early story of Power Mind Club

(08:10) The value and stigma of couple counseling

(11:11) Social events of Power Mind Club and the community aspect

(13:30) What are the different facets of the Power Mind Club?

(14:55) Entrepreneurial ventures and mental health

(18:48) How do Chenchen's parents look at her entrepreneurial spirit?

(20:53) The vision for Power Mind Club

In this last episode of Season four of The Most Awesomefounder podcast, we introduce Christoph Krois, mission driven corporate entrepreneur and founder and co-head of the Siemens innovation ecosystem. Christoph’s mission is both an ambitious and a challenging one, driving innovation projects at one of the world's largest companies. We'll be talking open innovation, leveraging the unfair advantages of scale, driving rapid change in naturally slow moving organizations and building innovation teams that can drive change from the inside out.

So if you, like me are fascinated by the topic of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation management, you should really appreciate this episode. Hope you enjoy it!

Part 1: Christoph Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Introducing Christoph Krois (00:26)

Part 3: Christoph’s founder journey (02:40)

Part 4: Why didn’t Christoph create his own company (09:01)

Part 5: What path did Christoph take after chemical engineering (11:26)

Part 6: “Only if Siemens knew what Siemens has” – struggle of corporations to innovate (16:38)

Part 7: Leveraging existing resources to foster innovation in corporations (17:30)

Part 8: What helps corporations unlock those resources (19:30)

Part 9: What kind of mindset do corporations need to innovate (22:58)

Part 10: Christoph’s ecosystem and ensuring longevity in large corporations (24:35) 

Part 11: Christoph’s advice on how to set up innovation ecosystems (27:03)

Part 12: Magic ingredient of Siemens innovation ecosystem (30:21)

Part 13: Balance between long term objectives and short term targets (32:18)

Part 14: Innovation theatre and how to overcome the issue (37:17)

Part 15: Signals and signs to look for in companies one wants to work for (41:30)

Part 16: Christoph’s key nuggets of wisdom (44:26)

Part 17: Career trajectory impact on Christoph’s parenting (47:04)

Part 18: The idea of failure (49:10)

Part 19: The importance of creating a “safe zone” (52:19)

Part 20: Christoph’s book recommendations (55:40)

Part 21: What cycles on Christoph’s playlist (57:24)

Part 22: Outro (58:46)

In episode 44 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we interview Ege Gündüz, another young and driven entrepreneur from our WHU accelerator. Ege is co-founder of liftOS (formerly 10lift), a startup that wants to foster collaborative and more engaging HR processes.

Join to hear how Dries and Ege discuss work experiences during Covid-19, issues with B2B business models, and the challenges driving digitization in HR.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Chapters:

(02:20) Introduction of Ege

(03:34) The experience of moving from Turkey to Berlin

(04:41) Connecting work colleagues in Covid times

(07:38) How did the first engagement activities come about?

(10:27) Start of the 10lift product development journey

(14:16) Pivot of the business model & focus on onboarding processes

(16:04) What’s the main problem with onboarding processes?

(18:17) What makes LiftOS unique?

(21:25) HR as a laggard in digital transformation

(23:30) The challenges of a B2B business model for startups

(26:12) Changing macro-economic environments and the implications for liftOS

(28:34) Vision for liftOS

In episode 41 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Marcus Stahl, WHU alum and Co–Founder of Tonies. Marcus had a long stint in the telecommunication and automotive industry before becoming a founder and co-founding Tonies.

In this episode, Marcus goes through his journey from taking 3 years to perfect the Tonies box to eventually taking the company public via SPAC. He emphasizes how being naive helped him and his co-founder in building the business and how it is extremely important to have the heart and conviction in your product in a product led business. He also shares the mistakes Tonies made during their global expansion and his key learnings from that experience.

Hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we did producing it.

Chapters:

(01:03) Intro of Marcus Stahl

(02:51) Marcus Stahl’s founder journey

(07:08) Meeting your co-founder at a kindergarden

(08:09) Was leaving a corporate job and becoming a founder an easy decision for Marcus?

(10:23) What was Marcus’ process of assessing his co-founder

(12:13) Building a toy without a screen in the digital era of entertainment

(15:28) 2 different customers for Tonies and how they are striking a balance between the two

(18:08) Using nostalgia to enhance the experience of playing with Tonies

(19:50) The complexity of building Tonies and their fundraising trajectory

(22:59) What was Tonies’ go-to-market strategy in the busy space of children’s toys?

(26:06) What was the distribution strategy of Tonies initially?

(29:33) The catalyst for global expansion

(33:36) Did quality German engineering help Tonies as a brand in other markets?

(35:58) Tonies’ stock market listing through SPAC and the trust in their shareholders

(42:55) Marcus’ transition from being a founder of a small startup to leading a public company

(47:05) Becoming the “netlfix of toys” and what’s next for Marcus and Tonies?

(50:44) How does Tonies plan to leverage their customers’ high LTV?

(53:15) Marcus Stahl’s advice to young aspiring entrepreneurs

(56:07) Would Marcus have built the same business back in his 20s?

(57:59) Marcus’ book recommendations

(59:00) Marcus’ favorite music

(1:00:00) Marcus’ favorite Tonies figurine

Dive into the heart of Germany's startup ecosystem with our latest podcast episode, where we explore the vibrant yet challenging landscape of entrepreneurship in this dynamic country. Despite being a hub of innovation and potential, German startups face unique hurdles, from stringent regulations to the quest for funding. Our episode sheds light on these intricacies through the lens of industry insiders, offering a rare glimpse into what it takes to thrive in Germany's competitive startup arena. 🚀🇩🇪

Join us as we dissect the layers of support and struggle that define the German startup journey, from the early stages of ideation to the complexities of scaling globally. Our guests share their firsthand experiences, navigating through bureaucratic tangles, cultural nuances, and the ever-evolving digital landscape. This episode is a must-listen for anyone curious about the realities of startup success and the resilience it demands in Germany's unique ecosystem. 🌐💼

Chapters:

(1:00) Max's background

(8:50) The role of WHU in the venture funding landscape in Germany

(14:20) Outside perspective on WHU's startup ecosystem

(19:00) Deeptech startups and WHU students

(24:20) More Hands-on entrepreneurial mentality or traditional success Path?

(30:40) Is WHU's startup mentality sustainable?

(32:35) What's the startup motivation for WHU students?

(40:05) The undervalued potential of bootstrapping startups

(43:00) Funding report discussion

(53:40) Why deeptech has no proper VC funds

(1:04:00) Overview of the WHU ecosystem

(1:17:10) Books and podcast suggestions

Book recommendations:

The Circle Amazon.com: The Circle: 9781594139611: Eggers, Dave: Bücher

A Canticle for Leibowitz Amazon.com: A Canticle for Leibowitz: 9780553273816: Walter M. Miller Jr.: Bücher

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain Amazon.com: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: From the Man Booker Prize-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo: 9781526624284: Saunders, George: Bücher

Podcast recommendations:

Startup insider Startup Insider | Podcast Startup Insider (startup-insider.com)

Deutsche-Startups Podcast - Alle Nachrichten und Informationen, News, Tipps und Infos zu Podcast - deutsche-startups.de

Unicorn Bakery Unicorn Bakery - Der Startup Podcast mit Fabian Tausch

🌟 Welcome to the first episode of 2024 on 'The Most Awesome Founder Podcast'!

Join our esteemed host, Dries Faems, as he engages in an enlightening conversation with Sergio G. Chavez, the innovative head of marketplace and partnerships at Sastrify. Sergio, with his rich international experience in Germany, delves into the intricate world of partnership management and its unique challenges, while also unveiling Sastrify's ambitious vision of creating a comprehensive solution for SaaS procurement and management.

Sergio brings to light intriguing misconceptions and hurdles he faced while carving out his international career in Germany. A particularly fascinating insight he shares revolves around the critical role of German language proficiency in customer-facing roles within the DACH region. The episode takes a deep dive into contrasting perspectives on partnerships held by different generations, probing into the perennial debate of quality versus quantity in professional relationships. 🤝

This episode is a treasure trove for anyone interested in understanding the nuances of international career building, the evolving landscape of partnership management, and the pioneering strides in SaaS solutions. Get ready to be captivated by Sergio's journey and insights that could reshape your view of global professional dynamics.

Chapters:

(0:08) Introduction

(0:50) Sergio's backstory

(3:20) Motivation for jumping into a Startup as an MBA.

(8:00) What Sastrify is all about.

(13:20) Sastrify in the forcefield between their customers and SaaS Vendors.

(16:20) The problem with current SaaS B2B Sales. 

(20:30) How Sastrify as a SaaS marketplace uses its money.

(23:20) Partnership management and its unique challenges

(27:00) Quantity vs. Quality in partnerships.

(29:10) Different perspectives on partnerships.

(32:30) Helping international professionals to build a career in Germany.

(35:25) Core challenges and misconceptions for building a career as an international professional.

(55:00) Sergio's book and podcast recommendations

Sergio's recommendations:

Venture Deals by Brad Feld

The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem by Brad Feld

All in Podcast

Startup Insider

Episode 90 of the Most Awesome Founder podcast and we are pleased to welcome Karel Dörner! Karel is one of the earliest role models of the WHU entrepreneurship spirit; from the dorm rooms of WHU to co-founding eBay competitor Alando, it took him only a few months.

Moreover, leaving McKinsey to found a startup with buddies from university when founding was yet to be considered an outstanding career option takes guts and a strong-minded person willing to take a risk. With a blend of personal anecdotes and professional insights, Karel unveils the highs and lows of startup life and the wisdom gained from his many business endeavors.

Tune in to find out how, in the end, he found his way back to top-tier consulting and can still transform high-growth startups today.

Chapters:

(0:08) Intro to the episode

(0:44) Karel’s professional background: from founding alando to joining McKinsey 

(13:35) Are there parallels between doing business in 1998 and today?  

(27:30) How do you make an exit decision as a young founder?

(33:12) How can consultancies help fast-growing companies 

(37:55) Changing external environments for fast-growing startups

(42:40) The startup ecosystem approach

(48:00) The public sector as a lead customer – a model for Germany?

(53:14) When is the right point to exit as a founder 

(59:30) Books & podcast suggestions

Karel's recommendations:

Startup Insider Podcast

Benedict Evans

Flyvberg, Gardner- How Big Things Get Done

In this second episode of season 3 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Mareile Wölwer, WHU alumn and co-founder of Berlin-based animal health care company Vetevo.

Mareile's entrepreneurial journey took her from her family farm in Mayen, to studies at WHU, to the fast-paced world of being a venture-backed founder in Berlin. 

Today, Mareile's start-up Vetevo is growing at a rapid pace, with over 50 employees, a seven-figure investment round and thousands of customers across Germany using their innovative pet health tracking app and testing solutions. 

So for you folks who want to learn more about this young entrepreneur's incredible journey, the inspiration for launching a startup dedicated to animal health and the challenges to ever-adapting founder roles, this episode is for you. 

Welcome to our last episode in 2023!

🚀 This episode takes a unique twist as we journey 25 years back in time to dissect a master thesis that was written by two of the German entrepreneurship world's most influential figures – Oliver Samwer & Max Finger.

📜 Oliver & Max, renowned for their groundbreaking entrepreneurial ventures, penned this remarkable thesis called "America's Most Succesful Startups" at the dawn of their illustrious career when doing their masters at WHU. Now, Dries and Gerrit dive deep into the pages of history to meticulously examine the propositions made, debating their relevance in today's fast-paced entrepreneurial landscape and whether the two founders walked the talk on their self-proclaimed recommendations.

💡 Some of the results indeed were visionary for the time, while other principles seem to have been forgotten...It's not just a look back; it's a conversation about enduring principles in the ever-changing world of entrepreneurship.

We wish all our listeners delightful holidays and a happy new year!

Chapters:

(0:08) Intro to the episode 

(3:50) First impressions of the thesis from Gerrit

(7:25) First impressions of the thesis from Dries

(11:50) Discussing visionary propositions: Spend a tremendous amount of time and for market research

(16:25) Hire people who have failed

(23:30) Be open with your idea

(26:30) Put your ego aside and let your ideas flow

(35:00) Never solely rely on a regulatory environment for an advantage

(42:05) Discussing ironic propositions: Do not steal ideas and pay attention to the terms of your employment contract

(47:40) Try to get an educational background and an experience that support the venture 

(55:06) Choose an opportunity that does not have a lot of competition

(1:06:50) How would such a master thesis look like today?

In episode 37 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we present the third episode of the Awesome Founder Inspiration Sessions with Gerrit McGowan and Dries Faems.

Continuing the format from the previous episode, they discuss few though-provoking topics:

- Generalists or specialists – what type of founders have an edge in fundraising?

- The science of selling – how to leverage psychological principles to level up your sales process!

- Do social welfare schemes encourage or discourage entrepreneurship?

- Is Elon Musk’s definition of free speech crossing the line?

- Not – so – tasty green drinks, celery juices and weird trends among silicon valley founders

- Liquid death: a mineral water company’s skyrocketing valuations and how brands of the future might look like!

The episode is full of interesting insights and takeaways. So hopefully, you’ll enjoy listening to it as much as we did producing.

Sources are listed on our website: www.mostawesomepodcast.com

Chapters:

(01:03) Gerrit introduction

(03:00) Something that made Dries learn – specialists, generalists or both and its effect on IPO fundraising?

(03:55) Does Gerrit identify as generalist or specialist?

(05:12) Would Gerrit prefer founders to be generalists or specialists?

(06:33) Is the “jack of all trades” mindset correct for founders?

(09:22) The “generalist penalty” vs “specialist premium” for founders when fundraising for IPO

(11:34) What skillsets fall under generalist and specialist?

(13:55) Something that made Gerrit learn – “The Science of selling” book and his key learnings

(23:16) How do the principles discussed in the book apply in reality?

(25:44) The concept of social exchange theory: Presentation equals perception

(27:12) Can you learn how to execute these concepts?

(29:00) Introverts score much higher as sales people, why?

(30:46) Something that made Dries think – The effect of unemployment benefits on entrepreneurship

(31:40) Gerrit’s experience with social benefits

(32:28) Unemployment benefits’ perception in US and Europe

(33:40) How is social welfare influencing entrepreneurial culture in countries?

(34:37) Need driven vs want driven entrepreneurship

(36:00) Findings of the paper – the relationship of entrepreneurship and social welfare

(39:46) Public policy discussions on social welfare and drawback of using academic research in public policy

(45:25) Stimulating vs pampering entrepreneurship through social welfare

(47:05) Something that made Gerrit think – Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and the free speech debate

(52:00) Dries’ take on the current developments in free speech and how to draw the line?

(54:35) The role of regulators in drawing the line of free speech and its drawbacks

(59:00) Elon musk and Twitter – A case for governance

(01:00:47) Something that made Dries laugh – Distasteful green juices featured in 2 TV shows

(01:06:38) Something that made Gerrit laugh – Liquid death: a mineral water company in the US

(01:12:35) What is the future of building the best brands?

In this episode, we introduce Thiago Cäsar, Head of Business Development of Cansativa, the leading importer and wholesaler of medical cannabis in Germany.  Thiago is responsible for ensuring supply from all over the world in this extremely regulated industry.

One can only imagine the conversation Thiago had with his family when he decided to transition from the German automotive industry to the fledgling cannabis sector! But with Thiago and the Cansativa team leading the way, it is clear that the mainstreaming of medical cannabis in Germany is well on its way.

So if you want insights into the emerging and extremely competitive cannabis industry in Germany you should definitely give this a listen.

Episode 58 features the seventh edition of the Inspiration Session with Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems in which they share what makes them think, learn, and laugh.  

This week they touch on some of these thought-provoking topics:   

• How to measure personality with your digital footprint 
• Is fake it till you make it the right strategy to use as an entrepreneur? 
• How can the chance of burnout be reduced? 
• Should we expect a wave of entrepreneurial burnout next year?
• How is art evolving in the advanced technological world   
• AI and its influence on our world 

We hope you enjoy the show!  

Discussed sources:

Computer-based personality judgments are more accurate than those made by humans , Youyou Wu, Kosinski Michael, Still David, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2015) 

Matthew S. Wood, David J. Scheaf, Sean M. Dwyer,  Fake it ‘til you make it: Hazards of a cultural norm in entrepreneurship,  Business Horizons,  Volume 65, Issue 5,  2022,  Pages 681-696,  ISSN 0007-6813  

https://www.betterup.com/blog/fake-it-till-you-make-it 

Emotional demands and entrepreneurial burnout: the role of autonomy and job satisfaction (2022) Yosr Ben Tahar · Nada Rejeb ·Adnane Maalaoui · Sascha Kraus ·Paul Westhead · Paul Jones Small Business Economics 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-man-set-an-alleged-frida-kahlo-drawing-on-fire-then-he-started-selling-its-nft-180981110/ 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/10/damien-hirst-burn-thousands-paintings-owners-refuse-switch-nfts/  

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/17/burnt-banksys-inflammatory-nft-not-art  

https://www.businessinsider.com/justin-bieber-bored-ape-nft-value-dropped-after-ftx-collapsed-2022-11 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/19/polyamory-penthouses-and-plenty-of-loans-inside-the-crazy-world-of-ftx 

https://decrypt.co/114719/tumblr-blog-linked-ex-alameda-research-ceo-explored-race-science-imperial-chinese-harem-polyamory 

Chapters 

(1:02) Gerrit Introduces the podcast inspiration session  

(3:00) What did Dries learn? Topic: Personality 

(4:19) Researchers are taking an alternative approach to measuring personality 

(7:38) Results of the study on whether the footprint can predict your personality 

(9:00) How is your digital footprint able to predict the likelihood of you experiencing certain outcomes in different life areas 

(10:31) On what basis is your personality assessed? 

(12:00) Discussion on the findings of the personality paper  

(14:00) Problems with personality models  

(16:20) Ethical questions for using data for investigating personality  

(17:25) Recruiters and your social media presence 

(18:30) What did Gerrit learn? Topic: Fake it to you make it  

(22:30) What fake it till you make it means  

(28:05) What to do instead of faking it? 

(32:25) Dries and Gerrit share advice on how to pitch 

(35:36) Does the personal story in storytelling need to be true? 

(38:00) Entrepreneurs thinking like scientists  

(42:45) What made Dries think: paper on entrepreneurial burnout  

(44:58) Does the feeling of autonomy increase the likelihood of burnout? 

(49:45) Should we expect a wave of entrepreneurial burnout next year? 

(55:35) Instead of being the best – be the best version of yourself 

(56:2) Mental struggle of having a bore out 

(57:50) What made Gerrit think: the technology of art and its destruction  

(59:00) Artists destroying art and turning them into NFTs 

(1:03:20) Are treasures in the art world being lost through NFTs?  

(1:07:30) Can the AI-generated art be called art? 

(1:10:10) Discussing what the new world will look like with AI 

(1:18:20) What made Dries laugh: his first encounter with TikTok 

(1:22:00) China's strategy behind TikTok  

(1:29:00) What made Gerrit laugh: FTX downfall tweets 

(1:45:00) The economic shift and new topics 

(1:48:36) Gerrit thanks you for listening! 

Our next guest on the Most Awesome Founder podcast: Roman Kirsch! 🎙️

Roman will be sharing his high-paced entrepreneurial journey, characterized by his story of perseverance, hard work, and why sometimes naivety can be beneficial.

Discover Roman’s passion for building new ventures that led to various well-known and flourishing startups but also some non-successes and how he dealt with them. Roman also discusses his insights from switching from an entrepreneur to an investor role, the importance of a startup’s idea vs. its team, and why serial founding can almost be addictive. 💉

We hope this unique founder story will stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit of our listeners!

Chapters:

(0:55) Intro of Dries

(2:05) Roman's entrepreneurial start

(7:35) The process of Roman's first founding  

(12:20) Acquiring funding in a recession

(14:30) Getting first funding

(20:00) Doing a financially lucrative exit as a 23-year-old 

(25:40) Experiences from moving as an entrepreneur to a more corporate environment

(29:30) The difference between American and German startup culture

(32:32) The story behind Amorelie

(36:45) What does it mean to have a focus?

(38:35) Lessons of Casacanda for future endeavors?

(42:03) The emotional side of being an e-commerce wunderkind

(47:15) Raising as a successful entrepreneur 

(48:25) The end of Lesara and fighting against subsidized competitors

(55:20) Failing for the first time as a wunderkind

(58:45) Would you invest in a failed entrepreneur?

(1:01:05) Roman's latest entrepreneurial activities

(1:08:40) Team, idea and pivoting

(1:10:55) Roman's role as entrepreneur and investor

(1:15:00) Roman's recommendations for books

(1:17:30)

Roman’s book recommendations:

Skin in the game: Hidden Symmetries in Daily Life

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams

Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story

This format was absolutely awesome - full of interesting ideas, current entrepreneurship trends and humour. So hopefully, you’ll enjoy listening to it as much as we did producing.

Chapters:

(02:25) Introduction of new format

(04:08) Something that made Dries learn – Do accelerators work? If so, how?

(05:05) Gerrit’s perspective on what makes accelerators successful

(06:52) The “learning effect” of accelerators

(08:39) Does getting into an accelerator make a startup successful?

(11:10) How is success defined?

(13:20) First time founders vs serial founders and their effects on success of accelerators

(15:36) Do accelerators add value? Do they belong to the ecosystem?

(17:14) Something that made Gerrit learn – “Cathedral effect” : How does ceiling heigh influence cognitive processing?

(24:40) Something that made Dries think – Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos story

(25:52) How could Elizabeth Holmes pull off the Theranos saga – an experimental justification

(30:45) Gerrit’s perspective – More than meets the eye

(35:58) Something that made Gerrit think – smartphones and their physiological effects

(42:49) The concept of “innovation washing” and changing ways of working

(46:03) Something that made Dries laugh – how humor can influence your status in the workplace

(52:30) Humor and its role in pitching

(54:47) Are Americans better at storytelling? If so, why?

(59:05) Something that made Gerrit laugh – Cryptocurrency and the Crypto.com Superbowl advertisement

(01:05:35) Dries’ take on cryptocurrency and blockchain

(01:09:02) Cryptocurrency and the ethical conundrum

(01:13:42) Gerrit outro

In episode 50 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we are happy to welcome Andy Binns to the show. Andy co-founded the innovation consultancy change logic and has more than 20 years of extensive experience overcoming innovation barriers in big corporates. Apart from his merits as a practitioner, he also published relevant academic work regarding disruptive innovation and CEO ambidexterity.

Andy shares his insights into how corporations can drive disruptive innovation from within. He also talks about how corporate innovation explorers differ from classical entrepreneurs and the challenges of idea scaling.

We hope you have fun exploring this exciting episode!

Chapters:

(01:20) Intro of Andy Binns

(02:50) Andy’s early career in consulting and co-founding Change Logic

(07:35) Large corporations as a driver of disruption

(11:12) How do companies self-disrupted themselves?

(15:22) The need for separation in balancing structural ambidexterity

(19:22) How do corporate innovation units successfully handle the layers of ambidexterity?

(21:40) What kind of manager types are needed for corporate exploration?

(28:50) A new generation of managers for corporate innovation

(36:20) Gerrits and Andys discuss experimentation & failure in corporate

(43:30) Moving from ideation to idea scaling phase  

(48:10) What are the challenges in the practice of structural ambidexterity?

(51:30) Discussing the case of the German automotive industry

(56:17) What advice would Andy give to young entrepreneurs?

(58:55) What books would Andy recommend?

(1:00:36) What is cycling on Andy’s playlist?

In episode 45 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we are back with the fourth episode of the Awesome Founder Inspiration Sessions with Gerrit McGowan and Dries Faems.

Continuing the format from the previous episode, they discuss a few thought-provoking topics:

- How does virtual work affect creativity?

- Do flexible work opportunities have inherent biases?

- Can the introduction of a middle management layer actually drive innovation in startups?

- How can startups become more competitive when hiring tech talent?

- A curious case of robots being given rest days in Germany!

- Has A.I. finally become sentient? Does A.I. finally have feelings?

The episode is full of interesting insights and takeaways. So hopefully, you’ll enjoy listening to it as much as we did producing.

Discussed sources:

Melanie S.Brucks & Jonathan Levav (2022) Virtual communication curbs creative idea generation: Nature

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/real-estate/our-insights/americans-are-embracing-flexible-work-and-they-want-more-of-it

Christoph Grimpe, Martin Murmann, Wolfgang Sofka (2022) ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN CHOICES OF HIGH-TECH STARTUPS – HOW MIDDLE MANAGEMENT DRIVES INNOVATION PERFORMANCE. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/software-engineering-salaries-in-the-netherlands-and-europe/

The Trimodal Nature of Software Engineering Salaries in the Netherlands and Europe by Gergely Orosz (The Pragmatic Engineer and hiring manager at Uber in Amsterdam)

Google Engineer says chatbot has become sentient

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/google-s-ai-impressive-it-s-not-sentient-here-s-n1296406

Chapters:

(01:02) Gerrit introduction

(03:41) Something that made Dries learn – Should companies bring back their employees to the office?

(04:44) Gerrit’s thoughts on flexible working opportunities

(07:30) Work environment and its impact on creativity

(08:30) The difference between brainstorming online and onsite

(14:32) How to design brainstorming workshops to get the best outcomes?

(16:41) Having meetings outside the room and its benefits

(18:44) Something that made Gerrit learn – A Mckinsey study on remote working opportunities in the US and the possible inherent biases that come along

(27:05) Possible reasons for these inherent biases and surprising outcomes from the research

(32:00) Something that made Dries think – How important is the middle management layer in startups?

(32:50) Gerrit’s thoughts on the middle management structure at early-stage startups

(34:20) The impact of middle management on innovation at startups – a surprising outcome

(40:36) Does innovation come from the top?

(44:58) Something that made Gerrit think – how can European startups be more competitive when attracting the best tech talent

(54:47) The culture around sharing salary information in Europe

(57:45) What can founders and startups do to be more attractive for tech talent?

(61:32) Something that made Dries laugh – German supermarket REWE’s autonomous supermarket asked to take “rest” on Sunday

(64:15) Something that made Gerrit laugh – A google engineer who claimed that one of Google’s A.I. has become sentient

(68:03) Is it possible for A.I. to become sentient in 2022?

(72:50) Differentiating the human brain from an A.I. on how it processes language

In this episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast we introduce Oliver Aust, one of Europe’s leading communications and personal branding experts, and former Head of Communications at Easyjet. He is the founder and CEO of Eo Ipso Communications and co-host of Speak Like a CEO, the category-defining podcast on CEO communications.

Oliver helps CEOs and leaders build unignorable personal brands and businesses, drawing from his experience advising a wide range of organizations from high-growth startups to Fortune 50 and DAX30 companies. He is also a Techstars and WHU Accelerator mentor, and author of three books on communications, including the international bestseller, “Unignorable".

Chapters

Part 1: Oliver Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Introducing Oliver (00:27)

Part 3: Oliver’s founder journey (02:11)

Part 4: The role and development of language for Oliver as a communicator (09:39)

Part 5: What made Oliver switch from corporate GM to scale-up easyjet (12:33)

Part 6: The transition from easyjet to Oliver’s own consultancy (15:38)

Part 7: Oliver’s consultancy Eo Ipso Communications (18:04)

Part 8: In which areas does Oliver help startups through his mentorships (20:35)

Part 9: Message-Market-Fit: How to avoid getting too granular too quickly  (22:40)

Part 10: Storytelling as a tool in Oliver’s work  (24:33) 

Part 11: Oliver’s recommendation on the balance between building your business and your personal brand (27:07)

Part 12: Communication tools for early-stage startups to gain momentum (30:44)

Part 13: LinkedIn, Newsletters, Podcasts and books as key communication tools with your audience  (34:14)

Part 14: What about Clubhouse and TikTok? (37:31)

Part 15: Can you write a book at a young career stage? (38:52)

Part 16: Oliver’s approach to publishing (41:12)

Part 17: “Think of life as a present” - Olivers nugget of wisdom (42:35)

Part 18: What book is Oliver reading? (44:36)

Part 19: What is on Oliver’s playlist? (48:42)

Part 20: How to reach out to Oliver (50:06)

Outro Gerrit (50:58)

In Episode 54 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we returned with the 6th inspiration session with Gerrit McGowan and Dries Faems.

Sticking to the format of sharing something they learned, made them think, and made them laugh, Gerrit and Dries discuss the following captivating topics:

-           MBA Students and their effect on work in startups

-           In what sense the “cigar butting investment strategy” can be implemented today

-           What academic research about entrepreneurship is still missing

-           The new OECD innovation policy for Germany

-           The issues of digitalization in Germany

-           How to boost the productivity of a PhD Student

We hope you enjoy listening to this podcast episode, filled with thought-provoking takeaways, just as much as we did producing it!

Discussed sources:

Chapters

(0:53) Gerrit's introduction

(2:55) Something that made Dries learn – “The Lean Startup Approach” & MBA Students

(3:51) Gerrit’s explanation of “The Lean Startup Approach”

(5:12) “The Lean Startup Approach” in practice and research

(8:58) MBA students and how they affect the usage of “The Lean Startup Approach”

(11:55) How MBA students bloom in a startup

(15:00) Extending the research question to different startup industries

(18:28) Something that made Gerrit learn – the cigar-butting strategy in investing

(24:00) Warren Buffets' philosophy in “cigar butt investing”

(27:00) Downsides of “cigar butt investing”

(32:03) Does the cigar-butting strategy also work in our increasingly digitalized world?

(37:14) Does the cigar-butting strategy also work in startup investments?

(38:53) Something that made Dries think – academic research on entrepreneurship

(42:41) What are the academic scholars missing on entrepreneurship?

(45:39) Is rigor or relevance more important in entrepreneurial academic research?

(57:20) Something that made Gerrit think – New OECD innovation policy in Germany 2022

(64:00) Core problem in Germany is the low investment in digitalization

(67:00) Is the lack of digitalization in Germany a governmental or cultural problem?

(70:36) Something that made Dries laugh – what makes a PhD student productive?

(74:46) Graduate students’ relationships with professors in EU vs. US

(78:12) Something that made Gerrit laugh – PostcardMania reaction to Hurricane Ian

(81:26) Wrap up

Jag Singh is Managing Director of Techstars Berlin and one of Europe’s most active angel investors. He is the former MD of the METRO Retail Accelerator, founder of numerous companies, mathematician, political strategist, ad-man, and a true global citizen who is fluent in six languages. 

Jag is the founder of YouFundMe, MessageSpace, Wess Digital, and LabourHome. He was an advisor to Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Matthew Elliot, and numerous other political campaigns.  And he is a regular contributor to the BBC, Sky News, and ITV. In 2008, Jag was recognized as one of the top 100 influential people in British politics and in 2018 the Financial Times named him to the Top 100 minority leaders in technology. He’s also likely the smartest guy in the room.

In episode 48 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Ron Adner, Professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He is one of world’s leading thinkers and an award-winning researcher. he is also an advisor to companies around the world and the founder of the Strategy Insight Group.

In this episode, Ron shares his research and experience with us on innovation ecosystems and throws light on how today’s businesses need to approach value creation to build great ecosystems around their business. He argues how ecosystem-based strategies have alignment at the core and how today’s leaders need to have a coalition-first approach. He also throws light on the concept of minimal viable ecosystems and how today’s startups especially need to pay more attention to their ecosystem dynamics to increase their chances of success.

You can access all the chapters discussed in the episode as well as other amazing literature at ronadner.com.

Hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we did producing it.

Chapters:

(00:49) Intro of Ron Adner

(02:43) Ron Adner’s story and journey

(06:56) Are there examples out there where execution was great but ecosystems were not ready for the innovation?

(10:46) What is an innovation ecosystem?

(16:31) How should managers approach alignment-based strategies?

(20:02) What kind of businesses should adopt an innovation ecosystem approach?

(26:21) How should one use ecosystem tools and frameworks for their startup?

(27:42) What is a minimum viable ecosystem?

(32:50) Did any business successfully execute ecosystem carryover?

(37:54) The concept of Egosystem

(41:02) Ron’s thoughts on Meta’s metaverse moves. Is it an egosystem?

(46:27) Are these tools relevant for the real world of building startups?

(49:26) The ecosystem strategy and importance of tools

(56:16) How companies can defend their position using the ecosystem approach?

(64:27) What advice would Ron give to the next generation of entrepreneurs?

(69:23) Ron’s book recommendations

(71:10) What’s cycling on Ron’s playlist?

Join us on the WHU Most Awesome Founder Podcast as we dive into the world of entrepreneurship with Marco Dassisti, a seasoned alumnus of WHU's MBA program and the founder of kitchX and Qualimero.🔊🚀 

Discover the highs and lows of building a startup, the power of conversational commerce, and the future of WhatsApp as a sales channel. From the challenges of scalability to the excitement of creating a new venture, Marco shares valuable insights and lessons learned along the way.🔥 

Don't miss this engaging conversation packed with inspiration and practical wisdom!🌟💡

Chapters:

(1:00) Introduction to Marco's Background

(3:15) Discussing the Problem of Scalability in the Case of kitchX

(5:40) Explaining What Qualimero is All About

(9:00) Overview of the Current Lead Journey and Their Pain Points

(10:00) How Qualimero Addresses These Pain Points

(11:10) Importance of Quality Assurance for LLm in Sales

(14:30) Exploring Why Conversion of Customers is Difficult for Startups

(16:30) The Drive of Being an Entrepreneur and Lessons Learned from kitchX

(20:50) Analyzing the Future of Whatsapp in the Context of Meta

(24:00) Discussion on German Conservatism

(25:15) Insights into Intrapreneurship at OBI

(30:00) Comparing No Code vs. Having a Technical Co-Founder

(34:20) MBA Program of WHU and Entrepreneurship

(36:25) Podcast and Book Recommendations

Marco's recommendations:

How Big Things Get Done

In episode 51 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Sebastian Pollok, WHU alum, Co-Founder of Amorelie. He is currently Founding Partner at Visionaries Club, a Berlin-based VC.

In this episode, Sebastian shares his journey with us, which was filled with many ups and downs. Sebastian has been through everything from declining a job offer at BCG to interning at Google in the USA to finally living in a dorm to work on his startup. He will share how he disrupted a complex and fragmented market through Amorelie and eventually made a big exit. He will also walk us through his VC firm – Visionaries Club and give us a sneak peek of how they are supporting startups who are trying to make a huge dent in the world.

We hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we had while producing it.

Chapters:

(01:04) Intro of Sebastian Pollok

(03:50) Sebastian’s founder journey

(24:44) Did Sebastian envision the acquisition offer?

(29:03) How did Amorelie deal with the stigma around love toys?

(32:10) Sebastian’s post-Amorelie life

(35:07) What is Visionaries Club?

(41:23) How is the Tomorrow fund structured?

(44:37) Is being a VC like being a founder?

(46:54) What advice would Sebastian give to young entrepreneurs?

(49:41) What books would Sebastian recommend?

(51:32) What is cycling on Sebastian’s playlist?

As in our last episode, we’re doing things a little bit different in this week’s Most Awesome Founder Podcast. Today’ we introducing not one founder, but many.

If you tuned in for episode 29, you know that on May 17 we launched the first cohort of the inaugural WHU Startup Accelerator. This intensive 7-week, mentor-driven, and equity-free program provides the best and brightest startups from the WHU community with rocket fuel for their new ventures, all culminating in a July 2 Demo Day event where the teams pitch their ventures to investors. 

So today, we introduce the 4 remaining startup teams selected to participate in this year's accelerator, the founders behind them, the problems they are tackling, and the paths they have chosen to get to market as effectively and efficiently as possible. 

This week, you will meet the founders of…

PreMatch - a data-driven content aggregator for non-professional football

CIMK - a deep-tech data platform for investors interested in the Chinese market

About My Horse - a social commerce platform and online community for equestrian-focused fashion

And Happy Burning - a functional beverage company producing a one-of-a-kind brain boosting focus drink.

Each of these teams are led by incredible founders with unique backgrounds - all driven by a profound desire to improve peoples lives. And as you know, there are few things more inspiring than the stories of mission-driven entrepreneurs!

Hope you enjoy this unique episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast!

Chapters:

Prematch:

Prematch Founder Introduction (02:36)

What problem is Prematch solving? (04:19)

How did Prematch’s founders meet? (08:02)

Why did Prematch choose the WHU Accelerator? (09:35)

Where to find Prematch online? (12:01)

CIMK:

CIMK Founder Introduction (12:47)

What problem is CIMK solving? (16:30)

How did CIMK’s founders meet? (18:55)

Why did CIMK choose the WHU Accelerator? (22:45)

Where to find CIMK online? (24:45)

ABOUT My Horse:

ABOUT My Horse Founder Introduction (25:59)

What problem is ABOUT My Horse solving? (27:40)

How did ABOUT My Horse’s founders meet? (31:15)

Why did ABOUT My Horse choose the WHU Accelerator? (33:10)

Where to find ABOUT My Horse online? (34:45)

Happy Burning

Happy Burning Founder Introduction (35:40)

What problem is Happy Burning solving? (38:02)

How did the founders of Happy Burning meet? (43:10)

Why did Happy Burning choose the WHU Accelerator? (44:27)

Where to find Happy Burning online? (46:03)

Outro Gerrit (47:17)

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the 9th edition of the inspiration session with Gerrit and Dries! 🎉

They will once more discuss diverse and thought-provoking topics, combining insights from an academic and a practitioner perspective. What are the legal implications of AI-generated inventions, which entrepreneurs should consider entering a venture studio and why women should be careful if their boss plays golf?

These and other questions will be answered, so be prepared to learn, think, and laugh. Don't miss this captivating episode! 🔍

Discussed sources:

Dahlander, Linus, et al. "Blinded by the person? Experimental evidence from idea evaluation." Strategic Management Journal (2023).

Steve Lohr: Can AI invent? The New York Times, July 15, 2023

Biggerstaff, Lee E., Joanna T. Campbell, and Bradley A. Goldie. "Hitting the “Grass Ceiling”: Golfing CEOs, Exclusionary Schema, and Career Outcomes for Female Executives." Journal of Management (2023)

Steve Blank: Entrepreneurs, Is a venture studio right for you? Harvard Business Review, December, 2022

Chen, Lingjiao, Matei Zaharia, and James Zou. "How is ChatGPT's behavior changing over time?." arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.09009 (2023)

Truic Startup Savant Blog: 10 Strange, Yet Successful, Startups

Chapters:

(1:20) Intro of Gerrit

(2:20) Something that made Dries learn: Blinded by the person in idea evaluation?

(3:40) Most prominent cognitive biases when evaluating pitches 

(9:45) Practical takeaways from that paper   

(16:15) Something that made Gerrit learn: Can AI invent?

(20:40) Should AI inventions get protected by patents?

(22:10) Is AI the tool or the inventor?

(30:00) Something that made Dries think: Hitting the grass ceiling

(33:30) Potential exclusive „grass ceilings“ in entrepreneurship

(39:30) Female representation in German companies

(43:40) Something that made Gerrit think: Is a venture studio right for you?

(49:30) Why are venture studios more common in Europe?

(51:20) Four types of venture studios

(56:30) Potential choosing criteria regarding venture studios

(1:05:30) Something that made Dries laugh: ChatGPT’s behavior changing over time

(1:12:25) Something that made Gerrit laugh: four strange but successful startups

(1:22:30) Outro

Get ready for today's episode 66 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast! As always, the Inspiration Session will discuss topics that made Dries and Gerrit think, learn, and laugh. 

Here are some exciting sneak peeks of the topics explored within the episode:

-      What impact do prominent Venture Capitalists have on replacing startup founders over time?

-      The four main challenges Venture Capital is facing, calling on the question of whether VCs need to change

-      Generative Artificial Intelligence and its impact on productivity

Take advantage of this thought-provoking and informative episode! 

Looking forward to hearing your opinion in the comments! :)

Discussed sources:

Chapters

(0:03) Teaser by Gerrit

(1:14) Introduction by Gerrit

(2:30) Reflection on the last episode with Alex Osterwalder

(3:20) Dries starts with something that made him think: Should we keep founders as a CEO or replace them?

(5:00) What is Gerrit's opinion on this?

(7:00) The founder's role changes over time

(7:33) paper discovers: would prominent VCs more likely to replace the founder or not?

(8:30) Gerrit answers the question with his own experience

(9:20) Dries presents the paper's findings

(12:45) Gerrit explains the paper's findings with real-life examples

(15:30) Gerrit introduces the topic that made him think: Why VC needs to change

(19:43) Gerrit deep dives into the four main reasons for VCs to change

(25:10) Dries' opinion on the VC topic

(27:04) Gerrit opens discussion on another component: the structure of VCs

(35:40) What made Dries think: academic research on the experimental evidence of AI on productivity

(37:30) Gerrit's pos & neg experience with open AI in daily life

(40:00) Dries explains the background of the study

(43:30) Dries elaborates on where he uses generative AI

(47:00) Gerrit discusses the usage of generative AI

(48:20) Futuristic usage of generative AI

(49:00) Gerrit goes into a personal story of using generative AI

(51:50) What did Gerrit learn: challenges around AI to make it compatible

(54:30) A societal challenge Dries faced with generative AI

(56:20) Gerrit dives into the six challenges the paper identified

(59:00) Geopolitical setting on generative AI

(1:03:25) 6th point of Gerrit's paper

(1:05:00) Discussing the paper Gerrit introduced

(1:07:15) Can we still harness AI?

(1:10:26) something that made Dries laugh: AI usage

(1:13:40) Do you think AI will be able to predict future events for you?

(1:17:03) something that made Gerrit laugh: How can people re-program themselves to lose the Monday blues

(1:18:15) Why do people hate Mondays?

(1:18:30) People have routines: how we can get rid of the Monday blues

(1:23:30) What Dries does not hate Mondays

(1:25:00) Two critical points to staying less stressed & enjoying Monday

(1:26:15) What health metrics does Gerrit track?

(1:27:45) Reflection on the episode by Gerrit and thank you!

In this episode, we introduce Valerie Bures-Bönström, mother of three, cofounder of Mrs. Sporty Fitness Clubs, founder/CEO of Pixformance Sports, and now, founder/CEO of interactive fitness mirror company, Vaha. In addition to her entrepreneurial endeavors, Valerie is also pursuing her Ph.D. in Computer Science.

We’re discussing Valerie's founder journey, her passion for the fitness industry, the analogs between athletics and entrepreneurship, and one of Gerrit's favourite topics, flow.

Valerie is an incredibly successful and driven founder who undoubtedly has that Midas touch! Her passion for entrepreneurship, technology, health, and wellness is absolutely infectious. And her ability to switch between technology, business, fitness, and family makes her one of those rare founders that seem to be able to do everything.

Hope you enjoy it!

Part 1: Valerie Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Introducing Valerie (02:10)

Part 3: Valerie’s founder journey (02:22)

Part 4: How Valerie went into building fitness studios after her PhD in Computer Science (06:54)

Part 5: The parallels between sports and technology in terms of flow (09:36)

Part 6: Flow as Valerie’s approach to making work not feel like work at all (12:54)

Part 7: The driver of Valerie’s incredible motivation and passion (16:30)

Part 8: Breaking large challenges down as a key to get into flow in entrepreneurship (19:48)

Part 9: How Valerie brings flow into her companies (24:00)

Part 10: Valerie’s learnings on how to prepare for and find flow in stressful working life  (27:27) 

Part 11: Valerie’s recommendations on creating energy for you (33:21)

Part 12: Where does Valerie find time to rest and recover? (39:26)

Part 13: “Let Go!”. What Valerie would tell his younger self (44:11)

Part 14: What book is Valerie currently reading? (45:28)

Part 15: What is cycling on Valerie’s playlist? (48:03)

Outro Gerrit (53:57)

Strap in for a riveting new episode on 'The Most Awesome Founder Podcast' as our hosts, Dries Faems and Gerrit McGowan, are joined by strategic mastermind Jeroen Kraaijenbrink. Jeroen shares captivating real-life experiences that he acquired while working on strategic matters with all kinds of clients from the corporate and startup world. Coming from an academic background, he gives insights into his method-oriented approach to strategy and how he aligns his work style with the customers.

But that's not all – with a staggering 200k+ followers on LinkedIn and a spot in the Top 20 Global Content Creators, Jeroen is not just a strategist but a digital influencer powerhouse. Hungry for tips on amplifying your online presence? He's got insider secrets you won't want to miss.

If you are into strategy, make sure to catch this episode.

Stay tuned!

Chapters:

(0:09) Dries introduction to our guest, Jeroen Kraaijenbrink

(0:52) Jeroen's professional trajectory in a nutshell

(3:53) The role of Jeroen's academic background in his consultancy work

(06:35) Gerrit's perspective on educational experience

(09:59) Does consulting work for corporates and startups differ?

(15:17) How does Jeroen's strategy approach relate to entrepreneurial iterative processes like the lean startup concept?

(19:00) The most predominant strategy myths

(21:57) Dealing with diverging stakeholders

(24:52) Avoiding being the "scapegoat" as a strategy consultant

(25:57) Jeroen's self-help book "No more bananas"

(30:03) The power of storytelling in strategy consulting

(37:26) Jeroen's success on LinkedIn

(43:17) LinkedIn as a channel for customer acquisition

(48:15) Authenticity and topics on LinkedIn

(54:19) Jeroen's recommendations

Jeroen’s recommendations:

David McLean – LinkedIn

Monte Pedersen - LinkedIn

In Episode 47 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, Dries talks to Sufyan Osamah, who just finished the latest WHU accelerator program. With his co-founder Nikolaus Ridder, he developed HonestDog, a platform to connect reputable breeders and shelters with people who want to buy their dogs more responsibly.

Man's best friend is far from a mere platitude when Sufyan speaks about how the presence of dogs, even in adverse circumstances, impacted him as a child. Unfortunately, this also brought some tragic experiences as a dog owner for the first time.

Luckily, he could keep his remarkable compassion and interest for dogs and turn it into a business with the overarching goal of improving the lives of dogs by changing the intransparent way they are sold in Germany. 

We hope you enjoy this pawsome podcast!

Chapters:

(02:03) Sufyan's trajectory to Germany

(04:58) First experiences with pets in Sufyan's childhood

(07:36) Sufyan's personal story about his first dog Romeo

(11:29) How was the idea for HonestDog born?

(14:41) The pain points on the side of dog breeders

(16:32) HonestDogs’ value propositions

(19:08) The mission of HonestDog

(20:17) The ethical foundation for HonestDog

(22:23) Sufyan's vision for HonestDog

In today's episode 79, Dries & Gerrit explore the toll it can take on a founder's mental health whilst trying to materialize his entrepreneurial dream into a reality, and they have an excellent guest for that matter: Prof. Ute Stephan, a renowned entrepreneurship scholar from King's College and an outstanding expert on entrepreneurial wellbeing and founder stress.

The three plunge into the fascinating topic of how entrepreneurs' wellbeing directly impacts the success of their ventures and the vital role strict leisure time management can play. 💼 How can one implement coping strategies to avoid getting caught in a cycle of overwork and why meticulously tracking health and fitness can be a curse and blessing? 📆 Dive into a captivating episode where personal journeys intertwine with cutting-edge entrepreneurship research, all shining a spotlight on mental health.

Check on yourself and, if you can, on others!

Chapters:

(0:08) Introduction of Dries

(0:50) Ute's backstory

(3:53) What drove Ute as a psychologist to research Entrepreneurs?

(7:22) Is wellbeing and mental health a "first world problem"?

(10:15) What are overarching meta-analysis results regarding entrepreneur's wellbeing?

(13:10) Being in control vs being "employed" by a VC 

(16:25) How does growing responsibility impact a founder's mental health

(19:20) Effect of the Covid pandemic

(21:14) Strategies to deal with the stressful challenges

(26:48) Motivation and goals as coping strategies

(31:20) How did Gerrit notice that his mental health was deteriorating?

(35:25) Which techniques does Gerrit apply today?

(41:10) Generation Z and the relationship to hustle culture

(44:28) The culture of failure in different nations and how that relates to distress

(46:50) Drugs to mitigate stress or depression

(49:30) How to not get stressed by avoiding stress

(55:00) Ute's book recommendations

Ute‘s book recommendation:

Davies, J. - Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created our Mental Health Crisis

Further resources:

FoundersTaboo

Founder Mental Health Pledge

King’s College London – LinkedIn

King’s College London – Twitter

We are over the moon to have Dana Menzel on board for episode 78 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast. Dana's entrepreneurial path is impressively versatile. She started as a goldsmith, mastering the art of this filigree craft, and turned this into her first thriving jewellery business. Now, she is leaping into a whole new area, and we are excited to hear about this!

With roots spanning across international borders, Dana is carving out a space for herself as a female entrepreneur. She talks about the most significant challenges as a female entrepreneur in Germany, how she masters them, and what qualities she looks for in a co-founder.

An MBA and WHU accelerator graduate, Dana speaks to her education's instrumental role in equipping her with the tools and networks vital in breathing life into her idea of a platform born from a desire to uplift women through financial literacy and independence since her master's thesis provided some shocking insights in that regard.

Chapters:

(0:10) Dries introduction to the episode

(0:40) Dana's background

(3:40) The intention of doing a goldsmith apprenticeship

(5:30) How did Dana pivot from a goldsmith to a more business life

(10:45) Dana talks about her newest endeavor, "Sayhitofinance " 

(13:50) How the idea came to pass: women often don't deal with their finances themselves

(16:10) Community-building aspect of Sayhitofinance and how it benefits women

(21:15) What is the most challenging thing about being a female entrepreneur in Germany?

(27:55) The choice of being a solo founder and what a perfect co-founder would look like for Dana

(29:53) Advice for female entrepreneurs from Dana's own experiences

(32:05) Dana's recommendations for podcast & books

Dana‘s recommendations:

FAST & CURIOUS

Panda Mama: Wie man glückliche und selbstbewusste Kinder großzieht

In this episode (recorded in October 2019), we introduce Jannes Fischer - WHU alum, Forbes 30 under 30, and Founder/CEO of Zenhomes (with its brands Vermietet.de and Hausio), Europe's fastest growing digital property management platform.

In episode 20 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Robert Ermich, founder of DeinHandy, OnTruck and an exciting new stealth startup in the healthcare space. 

Gerrit met Robert last year when they were both coaching teams at 3-Day-Startup. It was immediately clear they were two birds of the same feather, who share the passion for startups, creative marketing and plenty of travel and outdoor adventures. But in this episode, they are discussing Robert’s founder journey, which took him from WHU to being a serial entrepreneur and eventually a business angel, the delicate balance between a great lifestyle and a successful business live, and so much more. Hope you enjoy it!

The last episode of 2022 and we are very excited to share our first recording in front of a live audience. Dries interviews Niklas Brackmann, co-founder of the amateur football app Prematch. Niklas talks about how hooks help create social platforms, how implementing a shared culture in a young venture looks and about WHU supports activities for entrepreneurs.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Chapters

(0:43) Dries’ introduction

(1:53) Welcoming Niklas

(2:18) What is Niklas’ background before coming to WHU

(4:03) Joining the Master in Entrepreneurship

(6:40) How the idea of Prematch emerged and what is it about?

(10:10) Prematch’s rise to the top of the app charts

(14:10) Building social platforms and “hooks”

(16:35) Why Prematch created a football club

(18:33) Acquiring skilled labor

(19:50) Implementing a passionate culture

(20:50) How shared norms & values influence a young startup

(23:20) The most challenging part of the trajectory of Prematch

(24:54) The role of advice and angel investors

(27:25) The added values of WHU support activities

(30:05) Reflecting on the Master in Entrepreneurship

(32:35) What advice would Niklas give his younger self

(34:40) Niklas’ books and podcast recommendations

🎧 We are thrilled to announce a new episode of The Most Awesome Founder Podcast, featuring one of Germany's most prominent deep tech investors, Frank Thelen. In this wide-ranging discussion, Frank shares his perspective on how AI and generative technologies are beginning to reshape the startup and venture capital landscapes. 🚀

While AI promises to turbocharge innovation and efficiency, Frank cautions that many startups are simply slapping an "AI startup" label on their pitch decks without true breakthroughs. Real advances require deep research and teams willing to eat glass for years before product-market fit. We also dive into the opportunities and limitations of using AI in deal flow analysis and startup evaluation. While AI can help sort prospects, Frank emphasizes that human judgment around founding teams and markets remains critical - not something algorithms can replicate (yet!). 🤖💡

With his characteristic candor, Frank voices his views on creating a thriving European tech ecosystem and why he engages in spirited LinkedIn debates on issues like work-life balance and how to balance innovation with ethics. If you're an investor, founder, or tech enthusiast, this thought-provoking episode is not to be missed. Tune in across platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify to hear our free-wheeling exchange. After listening, we'd love to hear your key takeaways in the comments! 🌟

Chapters
(0:00) Teaser
(1:00) Introduction by Dries 
(2:15) Frank’s Background 
(4:00) Do you already see specific changes in how startups are working with generative AI?
(6:10) Buzz Word Bingo with AI
(6:37) Are there any revolutionary startups within AI?
(8:50) Are you scaling back your investments in AI startups?
(12:12) Where is room for creating an unfair advantage in AI startups?
(15:00) Your perspective on how AI will transform the venture capital world
(18:30) How can you leverage the data from software to create an unfair advantage?
(21:00) Do you think the whole value chain of venture capital will be automated from sourcing to investing?
(24:10) Will there be a shift in how funds are set up?
(27:40) What is your opinion on how regulation regarding AI in the EU is moving?
(31:26) Do you see regulatory risks?
(33:25) How should the tension between the opinions on data regulations be dealt with?
(36:30) Why do you post about heated topics on LinkedIn?
(41:30) What is your rationale behind posting on social media?
(45:00) Book, Podcast, and Music recommendations
(45:50) Who will win the fight, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg?
(47:00) Thank you for listening!

Frank's podcast recommendation:

All-In Podcast

🎧 We are thrilled to welcome Jag Singh (Managing Director @ Angel Invest) and Oliver Aust (CEO & Founder @Eo Ipso Communications) for a second time to the show!

This time we discuss their newest book MESSAGE MACHINE: How Communications Will Make You An Unstoppable Founder where they share essential aspects for founder communication mastery. Tune in to find out why communication is the biggest challenge for a growing company and why startups need to have a compelling message market fit.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Chapters

(0:46) Welcome by Gerrit

(2:20) Introduction to our guests Jag & Oliver

(6:20) How did they have the idea to write a book?

(9:30) What kind of book is this?

(11:30) The concept of message-market-fit

(16:00) What is the essential definition of message-market-fit

(17:20) Are there examples of companies with a good message market fit

(20:00) Five points of message mastery

(22:50) Listening to understand 

(26:05) Are there certain types of personas that can strive to master the key aspects?

(30:55) Decisive factors in storytelling

(35:40) What makes a great brand?

(40:31) Personal branding for founders

(46:20) WeWork and Adam Neumann as examples of personal branding

(48:30) Communicating to build a team and a company culture

(54:50) The danger of having a strong company culture

(58:35) Hire for talent or for culture fit? 

(01:02:00) The biggest challenge for a growing company: communication

(01:03:45) Jag explains why companies move with the speed of trust

(01:04:50) The customer is the hero

(01:07:05) Why are not more startups proactive about their current problems?

(01:11:20) Startups announcing layoffs the right way

(01:15:00) Customers don’t buy what you are selling; they buy the outcome

(01:17:05) Culture is destiny

(01:20:40) Outro by Gerrit

In this episode, we delve into Tobias Auferoth's career journey, which led him from an beginning at Goldman Sachs to a pivotal turn toward entrepreneurship and technology in fintech.

As the co-founder and managing director of the fintech startup Upvest, Tobias shares his insights on creating a groundbreaking investment API, demystifying the complexities of financial technologies for our audience. With clients like Revolut, Raisin, and N26, his company exemplifies the fusion of traditional finance with modern technology, offering seamless integration of securities trading into existing platforms.

This conversation highlights the challenges of navigating a highly regulated industry and emphasizes the importance of trust, innovation, and the delicate balance between rapid growth and compliance.

Dive into this episode to explore the intersection of regulation and innovation, where the future of finance is being redrawn 🚀💼🔍

Chapters:

(0:35) Tobias gives an intro to his background

(2:50) Why was the reasoning for co-founding Upvest

(4:25) What is Upvest’s investment API about? 

(8:05) The role of trust in a B2B fintech

(10:53) How can a startup grow in a heavily regulated industry?

(14:30) The need for VC involvement in Upvest

(16:10) What is the culture and mindset in Upvest? 

(20:08) The overall state of the fintech industry

(22:45) What is the best way to enter the finance industry as a career path?

(26:20) Podcast and book recommendations

Tobias‘ recommendations:

Janosch Kühn - Mach keinen Quatsch

In episode 31 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Eric Partaker, entrepreneur, peak performance coach, early employee at Skype, founder of UK restaurant group, Chilango, and author of The 3 Alarms: A Simple System to Transform Your Health, Wealth, and Relationships Forever.

We’re discussing Eric’s founder journey from selling chocolates as a child to his early career as a McKinsey Consultant; from joining Skype as a small company to founding a large restaurant chain; to his work today helping entrepreneurs and CEOs update their internal software for optimizing performance and well-being

Eric is an incredible storyteller with experiences rooted in a rich and varied career. His insights into how we can learn to perform our best while feeling satisfied along the way are not to be missed. So I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did our conversation.

Part 1: Eric Preview (00:04)

Part 2: Welcome Eric Partaker (01:54)

Part 3: Erics’s early lessons in entrepreneurship (02:42)

Part 4: From McKinsey to Skype to founding an award-winning Mexican restaurant chain to helping founders develop and scale - Eric’s career journey (10:57)

Part 5: The magical Skype experience (14:04)

Part 6: Structure and the power of the brand: The benefits of consulting before entrepreneurship (17:35)

Part 7: Combination and sequency as the cornerstones for founding a startup in an area outside your expertise (20:21)

Part 8: How Chilango was hit by COVID-19 (25:18)

Part 9: Identity, Productivity, Anti-Fragility: What are the most foundational things for entrepreneurs to do on their journeys (28:46)

Part 10: “Life is a three-lagged stool - Work, Health, Relationships”: How life outside of work defines your success at work (35:28)

Part 11: “Prioritize one thing in each dimension per day”: How Eric organizes his life based on the principles he teaches (38:00)

Part 12: “Take action!” Eric’s number 1 advice for entrepreneurs (42:12)

Part 13: What book is Eric currently reading? (43:16)

Part 14: What’s on Eric’s playlist? (43:48)

Outro Gerrit (44:48)

🎙️ Want to know how to optimize your hypothesis testing and find out how the experts do it?

Tune in to today’s engaging podcast, where Alex Osterwalder, the creator of the Business Model Canvas and co-founder of Strategyzer, is interviewed. Ranked no. 4 of the top 50 management thinkers worldwide and visiting professor at IMD, Alex is known for simplifying the strategy development process and turning complex concepts into digestible visual models.

Within the episode they dive into the art of testing and developing hypotheses to give you the most valuable insights, indulging in deep dives into topics such as:

• Why hypotheses should focus on desirability rather than feasibility?
• The relevance of leveraging AI in hypothesis testing
• How to test hypotheses without direct contact with the desired data sources?
• Testing hypotheses in corporate or B2B environments

Plus, stick around for some great advice Alex would have given his younger self! You don’t want to miss out on this thought-provoking conversation!

P.S. The YouTube video can be very beneficial to see the great visuals Alex creates during the podcast to make the content more digestible.

Thank you for listening to our podcast! Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and stay tuned for more exciting episodes :)

Chapters:

(0:45) Gerrit Introduces Dries Faems and Alex Osterwalder

(1:45) Alex tells his personal story of where he came from today

(5:30) What does a hypothesis in a startup context mean?

(10:55) Why is it the case that hypotheses should be directed at desirability rather than feasibility?

(13:50) What signals in people do you look for when you're testing your hypothesis to support it?

(17:55) What is your advice for people that don't have access to data points they ideally want to have?

(20:20) How to do hypothesis testing in the B2B environment?

(25:05) Interesting fact on first-time entrepreneurs

(26:40) What are your experiences testing hypotheses in a corporate environment?

(31:40) How would you advise people to find the time to stop the venture process?

(35:45) How to prepare a founder's mindset for failure?

(39:40) Do you see opportunities for leveraging generative A.I. in the testing?

(42:20) Using A.I. for customer interviews

(44:45) Will we still need human interviewees in the future?

(46:20) Understanding human behavior and interacting with technology

(47:30) What has changed around the business model canvas since you created it?

(53:10) Do you see a point of unity of all the tools creating a one-stop shop?

(56:30) What advice would you give your younger self?

(58:15) What books do you have on your bedside table?

(59:20) What's in your playlist?

(1:00:10) Thank you Alex for being there!

(1:00:40) Outro by Gerrit

Philipp von Hammerstein is an entrepreneur, educator, software developer, and WHU alum who has spent the past decade either founding or growing technology ventures. He holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from WHU and full-stack developer certification from Le Wagon Coding Bootcamp. 

When Philipp and I first met, he was General Manager of Le Wagon Berlin and VP of Global Operations for the Le Wagon mothership. But since then, he has transitioned to his next adventure as Head of Corporate Education for CODE University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. But regardless of his role, Philipp is a tremendous asset for those who need helping bridging the void between software engineers and the non-technical business team with whom they interact.

Welcome back to episode 57 with serial entrepreneur Daniel Hanemann!

The WHU Alumnus Daniel is a successful entrepreneur, as seen in his current role as founder/CEO of Wundertax. You’ll, however, also find him as an investor, comedian, and polyglot. Listen and learn more about Daniel’s founder journey, what it’s like to be an international entrepreneur founding in diverse countries, how to leave startups, what WHU Alumni get wrong while founding, and further tips and tricks in founding your own startup.

We hope you enjoy the episode! Feel free to leave your thoughts and future ideas in the comments!

Chapters

(1:10) Intro by Gerrit

(1:55) Welcoming Daniel

(2:33) Talking about Daniels WHU experience

(3:38) Daniel speaks of growing up internationally

(10:00) Diversity in the workplace

(13:30) What was it like for Daniel arriving at the WHU as a diverse student

(15:15) How did you get into the startup world?

(19:52) What helped you get a foot in the successful startup world?

(21:54) Did speaking multiple languages help you in your experiences?

(25:00) Cultural differences & challenges and their effects

(27:26) Why do you hire people?

(29:24) How to be a good founder as a facilitator?

(29:55) What do WHU Alumni get wrong?

(31:15) The main objective of Daniel’s founding story

(33:16) What triggers the hockey stick (scaling exponential growth) to flatten out?

(36:00) Daniel’s next step: moving to Berlin

(42:45) What is the no. 1 reason for startups to fail?

(43:44) What is it like separating from the startup you successfully built?

(52:50) How did you learn the skills for performance marketing?

(54:02) New start in Amsterdam – creating a marketplace

(57:00) Becoming the refounder of Wundertax

(1:00:00) How to depart your startup to enable a later return?

(1:03:40) How can luck work in startups?

(1:04:00) What is currently going on in your life?

(1:08:41) Do expectations towards your own startup change while being backed by a VC?

(1:10:50) Right now is a time to be fiscally responsible

(1:15:00) Should you chase the competition or become a possible merger object?

(1:19:30) What advice would you give your younger self?

(1:23:31) What book is on your bedside table?

(1:25:00) What podcasts do you listen to?

Join us again for an exciting episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast as we dive into the captivating story of Alex and Stan, the founders of high-growth startup Mammaly, which tackles the complex issue of pet health.

Alex and Stan share how their shared vision led to a thriving direct-to-consumer business model and how collaborations are essential for their product development. Get ready for insights on customer understanding and hypotheses testing while rapidly scaling a startup. Take advantage of this fascinating episode packed with hands-on advice and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs.

We hope you have as much fun listening to the episode as we had to produce it!

Chapters:

(1:08) Welcome to Alex and Stan

(1:50) How did Alex and Stan meet?

(3:30) How did Stan choose Alex as a co-founder?

(5:55) The importance of having a shared vision

(8:53) The pain point behind Mammaly

(10:50) Mammaly’s collaborations with veterinarians and experts in product development

(15:35) How can you acquire the knowledge necessary to survive in this industry?

(17:05) Why is Mammaly a D2C business model? 

(19:30) Understanding customer needs

(22:05) The process of hypothesis testing for Mammaly and the use of A/B testing

(28:05) Hypothesis testing regarding pricing and willingness to pay

(31:15) Increasing customer understanding with generative AI

(33:35) Challenges in navigating a fast-growing startup

(38:15) Stand explains the rule of 3 and 10

(41:15) What are skills that would be helpful to have learned at WHU

(44:28) The lack of content on organizational structure and communication in business classes

(47:50) Recommendations for books and podcasts

(49:15) Alex advises on a healthy balance for peak performance

(51:00) Podcast & book recommendations from Stan

(54:00) Outro

Guest recommendations:

Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success

Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

OMR podcast

In this episode, we are sticking with stories highlighting the importance of diversity and entrepreneurship. Today, we introduce Gesa Miczaika, entrepreneur, investor and partner at German’s first all-female VC firm Auxxo.

Of course, we discuss diversity in the startup world, but also the disparity of capital deployed to male vs female founders, the competitive advantage of leading an all-female VC and so much more.

Gesa is truly an advocate for equality and an inspiring voice in the German startup ecosystem. There are so many takeaways from this episode, so I hope you enjoy it.