Inspiring Alumni

EP 77 – From founder to unicorn angel investor with Oskar Hartmann

September 20, 2023

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! 💡🌟

EP 76 – The art of balancing startups and life with Björn Maronde

September 6, 2023

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.

EP 75 – From e-commerce wunderkind to successful investor with Roman Kirsch

August 23, 2023

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!

EP 70 – Unleashing Pet Health: Crafting a Customer-Focused Growth Journey with Stan Nazarenus & Alex Thelen

June 7, 2023

🎙️ 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 Stand 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 producing it!

EP 69 – Building platforms to disrupt the healthcare industry with Philipp Buhr

May 24, 2023

🎙️ 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!

Ep 67 – Scaling a fintech startup while navigating regulations with Justus Schmueser

April 26, 2023

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.

EP 64 – How to screw up your startup: 5 financial mistakes with Dr. Sven Greulich

March 15, 2023

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 todays episode and listen to Sven, Gerrit and Dries discuss about:
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 spin outs
And many other interesting topics!

We hope you enjoy!

EP 63 – How to screw up your startup: 5 human mistakes with Dr. Sven Greulich

March 1, 2023

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:

1. Not thinking about founder team dynamics and founder departures
2. Creating an unreflect equity split

There will always be conflicts which 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.

EP 61 – Leveraging startup failure learnings with Kilian Karrasch

January 14, 2023

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!

EP 60 – Building two mergers in fourteen years with Jan Reichelt

January 4, 2023

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!