ecosystem

Ep 87 – The state of venture funding with Maximilian Eckel

February 7, 2024

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. 🌐💼

EP 45 – The Awesome Founder Inspiration Session #4 with Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems

July 13, 2022

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.

EP 37 – The Awesome Founder Inspiration Session #3 With Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems

May 3, 2022

In episode 37 of the WHU’s 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 thought-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 socialwelfare schemes encourage or discourage entrepreneurship?
– Is ElonMusk’s definition of free speech crossing the line?
– Not – so – tasty green drinks, celery juices and weird trends among siliconvalley 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.

EP 36 – The Awesome Founder Inspiration Session #2 With Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems

April 12, 2022

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.

EP 35 – Unpacking Venture Capital with Christian Meermann

March 29, 2022

In this episode of WHU’s Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Christian Meermann, Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures.

In this episode, Christian goes through his journey from being a WHU student to CMO at Zalando and eventually founding Cherry Ventures. He shares a few learnings from his journey and throws light on the German venture capital ecosystem. He also discusses what VCs are looking for in a founder and what founders should look for in a VC.

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

EP 34 – The Awesome Founder Inspiration Sessions With Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems

March 8, 2022

In episode 34 of the WHU’s Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce a new format of the podcast with Gerrit McGowan and Dries Faems. Being well connected in the academia and startup ecosystem of Germany, they often receive requests from their network to share suggestions about interesting research, books, and podcasts on entrepreneurship that are current and relevant.

In this 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.

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.

EP 33 – Fostering Corporate Innovation with Christoph Krois

December 22, 2021

In this last episode of Season three 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!