research

EP 79 – Mitigating Startup Founder Burnout with Ute Stephan

October 18, 2023

In today’s episode 79, Dries & Gerrit explore the toll it can take on a founder’s mental health whilst trying to materialize his entrepreneurial dream into a reality, and they have an excellent guest for that matter: Prof. Ute Stephan, a renowned entrepreneurship scholar from King’s College and an outstanding expert on entrepreneurial wellbeing and founder stress.
The three plunge into the fascinating topic of how entrepreneurs’ wellbeing directly impacts the success of their ventures and the vital role strict leisure time management can play. 💼 How can one implement coping strategies to avoid getting caught in a cycle of overwork and why meticulously tracking health and fitness can be a curse and blessing? 📆 Dive into a captivating episode where personal journeys intertwine with cutting-edge entrepreneurship research, all shining a spotlight on mental health.
Check on yourself and, if you can, on others!

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

December 21, 2022

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 54- The Awesome Founder Inspiration Session #6 with Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems

November 16, 2022

In Episode 54 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we returned with the 6th inspiration session with Gerrit McGowan and Dries Faems.

Sticking to the format of sharing something they learned, made them think, and made them laugh, Gerrit and Dries discuss the following captivating topics:

– MBA Students and their effect on work in startups
– In what sense the “cigar butting investment strategy” can be implemented today
– What academic research about entrepreneurship is still missing
– The new OECD innovation policy for Germany
– The issues of digitalization in Germany
– How to boost the productivity of a PhD Student

We hope you enjoy listening to this podcast episode, filled with thought-provoking takeaways, just as much as we did producing it!

EP 52- The Awesome Founder Inspiration Session #5 with Gerrit McGowan & Dries Faems

October 19, 2022

Episode 52 features the fifth edition of the Awesome Founder 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:
– Post-money valuations of unicorns
– Elon Musk’s opinions about geopolitical problems – is there an economic calculation behind it?
– What are two of the most exciting high-tech companies?
– Why does Adam Neumann, founder of wework, still get money?
– The possible explanations ad implications of “quiet quitting”
– Body odor & chocolate bunnies

We hope you enjoy the show!

EP 50 – Managing corporate innovation with Andy Binns

August 31, 2022

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 48 – Unpacking Innovation Ecosystems with Ron Adner

August 10, 2022

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 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 43 – Exploring Organisational Ambidexterity with Julian Birkinshaw

June 29, 2022

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.

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.