innovation

EP 73 – The impact of AI on Startups, VC and Society with Frank Thelen

🎧 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! 🌟

Ep 66 – Inspiration session #8: Does generative AI decrease inequality – the future of VC

Get ready for today’s episode E66 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! 🙂

EP 53 – Shaping company culture with Moritz Weisbrodt

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!

EP 51 – From entrepreneur to enabler with Sebastian Pollok

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.

EP 50 – Managing corporate innovation with Andy Binns

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!

EP 49 – The Most Awesome Founder Talent Recordings #6 with Elena Tsemirava

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!

EP 47 – The Most Awesome Founder Talent Recordings #5 with Sufyan Osamah

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!

EP 46 – The Most Awesome Founder Talent Recordings #4 with Raphael Derstappen

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!

EP 44 – The Most Awesome Founder Talent Recordings #3 with Ege Gündüz

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!

EP 42 – The Most Awesome Founder Talent Recordings #2 with Chenchen Cao

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!