entrepreneur

EP 88 – Building AI chatbots for customer retention with Marco Dassisti

February 21, 2024

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 scalability challenges 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!🌟💡

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 65 – The art of hypothesis testing in startups with Alex Osterwalder

March 29, 2023

🎙️ 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 into deep dives in 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 🙂

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 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!

EP 57 – Building diverse success stories with Daniel Hanemann

December 14, 2022

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!

EP 55 – Leveraging TikTok to build a customer-centric platforms with Annika von Mutius

November 23, 2022

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!

EP 15 – The Art of Lean with Tristan Kromer

August 25, 2020

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.

EP 14 – Entrepreneurship, Investment, and the Art of Guanxi with Erik Schäfer

August 11, 2020

In this episode (recorded in early 2020), we introduce Erik Schäfer, serial entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and part of WHU’s first graduating class of 1988. This guy has done some stuff. From founding a consultancy while in uni to linking German capital to early Silicon Valley companies; from building mines in Australia to greenhouses in China, Erik is one of WHU’s true O.G. entrepreneurs.