podcast

EP 72 – Building a startup as a multicultural entrepreneur with Kiran Banakar

🔥🚀 We’re thrilled to spotlight the incredible journey of Kiran Banaka, one of our founders from this year’s WHU accelerator batch. From grappling with the challenge of finding friends to scaling the heights of entrepreneurship, Kiran’s story is nothing short of inspiring. 🌟

Kiran will be peeling back the curtain on his success as an entrepreneur in Germany, sharing the invaluable lessons he’s gleaned from his tenure as a patent attorney and revealing how his company is harnessing the power of AI to revolutionize customer relationship building. 🤖💡

But that’s not all! Kiran will also delve into his personal experiences, growing up in a multicultural environment, and how it has shaped his unique approach to leadership. 🌍👨‍💼

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear Kiran’s story and extract precious insights that could be the game-changer in your entrepreneurial journey. Tune in, get inspired, and let’s accelerate together! 🚀💼🎯

EP 62 – The Mentor Perspective on Startups with Joerg Hellwig

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!

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

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 58- The Awesome Founder Inspiration Session #7 with Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems

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 Art is evolving in the advanced technological world  
– AI and they’re influence on our world

We hope you enjoy the show! 

EP 57 – Building diverse success stories with Daniel Hanemann

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 56 – Educating about innovation ecosystems with Axel Deniz

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!

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

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 48 – Unpacking Innovation Ecosystems with Ron Adner

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.

EP 43 – Exploring Organisational Ambidexterity with Julian Birkinshaw

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.