WHU's Most Awesome Founder Podcast

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 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

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.

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.

In Episode 86 of the  ‘The Most Awesome Founder Podcast' you get to explore Christopher's inspiring journey with Sunhero, driven by a commitment to sustainability and motivated by fatherhood. Learn how he self-educated to build solar systems despite no technical background.   Discover the practicalities and challenges of the solar energy business, emphasizing market understanding in regions like Spain. Uncover Sunhero's customer-centric approach, setting it apart from others.   Get insights into the solar industry's educational aspects, startup financing, and the challenges German startups face internationally. Christopher shares leadership lessons and hiring nuances across countries.   Explore the core principles guiding Sunhero, the balance between data-driven decisions and intuition, and advice for early-stage entrepreneurs. Don't miss Christopher's book and podcast recommendations.   Join us for an enlightening conversation on entrepreneurship, sustainability, and international business.   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   Book Recommendations: Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling : Dicks, Matthew, Kennedy, Dan: Amazon.de: Books   Podcasts: Lenny's Podcast (lennyspodcast.com)

Welcome to our last episode in 2023!

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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: Conti, Annamaria, and Stuart JH Graham. "Valuable choices: prominent venture capitalists' influence on startup CEO replacements." Management Science 66.3 (2020): 1325-1350. https://www.ft.com/content/f8f6144a-1901-4391-9abf-072224d132c7 Noy, Shakked, and Whitney Zhang. "Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence." Available at SSRN 4375283 (2023). Ozmen Garibay, Ozlem, et al. "Six Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Grand Challenges." International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction (2023): 1-47. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-transcript.html How to Rewire Your Brain to Feel Good on Mondays     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!

Do you know about all the different ways to screw up your startup's financials?     Managing investments for your startup is bound to come with difficulties and requires a lot of learning by doing. However, you can learn how to avoid these mistakes beforehand!      Tune in to today's episode and listen to Sven, Gerrit and Dries discuss:  - Both sides of the financing table   - What type of red flags to identify in investors  - Do you get in bed with the devil?  - Equity shares in university spinouts  - And many other interesting topics!     Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments!   We hope you enjoyed :)   Chapters: (1:00) Intro by Gerrit  (2:37) Giving away too much equity too early – how does it make you feel Sven? (7:30) Gerrit describes his experience and examples of giving away equity too early  (9:45) Sven brings in the corporate  viewpoint on equity splits  (10:41) Gerrit dives into external capital  (11:33) How much equity should a university have at a spin-off   (15:00) Gerrits first venture and equity offers by angels experience   (17:50) Angels are the real risk takers   (21:31) Movement more towards the US regarding equity?  (25:00) Convertible loans are an amazing tool  (25:25) There are 3 main economic levers  (26:50) Sven, what do you recommend when collecting tickets to avoid a mess? (28:55) Sven, what are the mistakes you see in the boards of startups?  (30:13) What makes a good board? (31:40) Gerrits stories on startup boards  (25:30) What good investors would do  (36:50) The moral of the story is a good board  (38:30) Sven highlights important decisions to make when creating your board  (40:40) Do you Sven, as a lawyer see yourself as a helping hand there?  (43:00) Gerrit's advice on how to treat investors coming into your startup  (46:30) Sven, what do you say when people come and ask if they should get an investor even if there are many red flags?  (50:00) Desperate companies suffer from poor investors  (53:41) What happens when you take money from someone you wish you hadn't? (55:37) Lack of stakeholder management when negotiating financing management  (59:40) Sven, how do you do a rolling close?   (1:01:10) Gerrit, have you fallen into the trap of being a bit too arrogant when you give money?  (1:05:00) A lot of learning is done by doing  (1:07:00) Thank you for listening!   

Learn from legal expert Dr. Sven Greulich how to avoid typical founder pitfalls!     In episode 63, we are excited to introduce Dr. Sven Greulich to you, who elaborates on the main pitfalls the Orrick Legal Ninja Series identified. To give you a little insight, here are the first two problems discussed:  Not thinking about founder team dynamics and founder departures  Creating an unreflect equity split    There will always be conflicts that arise throughout the founding process. Whether those occur because you believe in deserving more equity, since you had the founding idea, or you are struggling to retain good talent, informing yourself will give you a kick start!    Listen to the episode to avoid falling into these common pitfalls.      Chapters   (0:40) Gerrit Introduction  (1:50) F*ck ups founders can do  (3:29) Not thinking about team dynamics and founder departures   (5:00) Founders don't think about team dynamics enough  (8:10) Gerrit, did you have a vesting agreement?  (10:30) Gerrit's two main key take aways when founding with friends  (13:51) How do you feel when two best friends come and want to found together, Sven?  (16:05) Sven, should the equity split decision be equal?  (22:39) Gerrit's take on the typical WHU equity split  (23:30) Sven, do you help founders with the equity discussion?  (25:30) Startups originating from German technical universities   (28:00) Sven, do you have conversations with the Professors to tell them they want too much equity?  (30:15) Sven, how do you give founders advice dealing with situations?  (33:15) What kind of mistakes do you see, Sven, when startups come to you with participation programs?  (38:37) Startups need to have a long-term perspective  (40:02) Startups should attract talent just as they maintain talent  (41:50) Gerrit, how did you deal with this kind of complexity in participation programs   (43:00) What is a bad leaver?  (50:00) Should you define bad leavers?  (53:20) Should you invest as a person or have a holding entity?  (57:20) Should you set up a new holding just for everyone's individual shares?   (59:20) Thank you from Dries! 

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! 

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 

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?

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

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!     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!   

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?

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

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?

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

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 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

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?

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

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

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 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

In episode 40 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we proudly introduce our first entrepreneurial talent of this year's WHU Accelerator cohort. Anand Raj, co-founder of Joyon, wants to do his part to democratize education by building a platform for small content creators of live online courses. In this episode, Anand talks about the long journey that led him from being a software engineer in India to being a first-time founder in Germany. Find out what role Covid-19 and the Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA Program played in turning his desire to start a business into reality. Hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as we did producing it. 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