Episode 90 of the Most Awesome Founder podcast and we are pleased to welcome Karel Dörner! Karel is one of the earliest role models of the WHU entrepreneurship spirit; from the dorm rooms of WHU to co-founding eBay competitor Alando, it took him only a few months. Moreover, leaving McKinsey to found a startup with buddies from university when found…

In this episode, we delve into Tobias Auferoth's career journey, which led him from an beginning at Goldman Sachs to a pivotal turn toward entrepreneurship and technology in fintech. As the co-founder and managing director of the fintech startup Upvest, Tobias shares his insights on creating a groundbreaking investment API, demystifying the complex…

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 the challen…

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 …

Strap in for a riveting new episode on 'The Most Awesome Founder Podcast' as our hosts, Dries Faems and Gerrit McGowan, are joined by strategic mastermind Jeroen Kraaijenbrink. Jeroen shares captivating real-life experiences that he acquired while working on strategic matters with all kinds of clients from the corporate and startup world. Coming fr…

🌟 Welcome to the first episode of 2024 on 'The Most Awesome Founder Podcast'! Join our esteemed host, Dries Faems, as he engages in an enlightening conversation with Sergio G. Chavez, the innovative head of marketplace and partnerships at Sastrify. Sergio, with his rich international experience in Germany, delves into the intricate world of partner…

Welcome to our last episode in 2023! 🚀 This episode takes a unique twist as we journey 25 years back in time to dissect a master thesis that was written by two of the German entrepreneurship world's most influential figures – Oliver Samwer & Max Finger. 📜 Oliver & Max, renowned for their groundbreaking entrepreneurial ventures, penned this remarkab…

Strap in for a riveting new episode on 'The Most Awesome Founder Podcast' as our hosts, Dries Faems and Gerrit McGowan, are joined by strategic mastermind Jeroen Kraaijenbrink. Jeroen shares captivating real-life experiences that he acquired while working on strategic matters with all kinds of clients from the corporate and startup world. Coming fr…

This episode is for everybody who wants to get a bit nerdy with top-notch entrepreneurship research. We are excited to welcome the two renowned scholars Murat Tarakci & Timo van Balen to gain insights into their electrifying research about how startups with a social vision struggle to attract job talent. Gerrit’s trajectory perfectly complements th…

The 81st edition of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast with Dries & Gerrit is just around the corner! We delve into the fascinating world of startups and cross-cultural business dynamics with our guest, experienced founder, business angel and WHU alum, Muhammad Chbib. Muhammad shares his valuable insights and experiences in the startup world and desc…

We are excited to unveil the 10th installment of the inspiration session, featuring our co-hosts GerritMcGowan and Dries Faems. They discuss a captivating mixture of different topics in the realm of entrepreneurship from an academic and a practitioner perspective, such as: • Why aren't there more sustainability-driven unicorns, although badly neede…

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…

We are over the moon to have Dana Menzel on board for episode 78 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast. Dana's entrepreneurial path is impressively versatile. She started as a goldsmith, mastering the art of this filigree craft, and turned this into her first thriving jewellery business. Now, she is leaping into a whole new area, and we are excited t…

We're kicking off our new season with a bang! A dive deep into the world of angel investing with none other than Oskar Hartmann.🌍✨ His outstanding track record: 14 (!) of his startup investments have reached unicorn status, he's one of the 1000 wealthiest Germans, and in his spare time? He cracks world records in indoor rowing 🥴🏆 Alongside our bril…

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 …

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 som…

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the 9th edition of the inspiration session with Gerrit and Dries! 🎉 They will once more discuss diverse and thought-provoking topics, combining insights from an academic and a practitioner perspective. What are the legal implications of AI-generated inventions, which entrepreneurs should consider entering a…

🎧 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 …

🔥🚀 We're thrilled to spotlight the incredible journey of Kiran Banakar, 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 i…

We are thrilled to welcome Andre Retterath to episode #71 of our podcast. Andre is one of the leading figures in disrupting the traditional VC landscape by implementing data-driven approaches to improve decision-making. So tune in to hear interesting use cases, why the days of purely gut-based decisions investing seem to be over and what the future…

Join us again for an exciting episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast as we dive into the captivating story of Alex and Stan, the founders of high-growth startup Mammaly, which tackles the complex issue of pet health. Alex and Stan share how their shared vision led to a thriving direct-to-consumer business model and how collaborations are essen…

🎙️ Get ready to tune into today's new episode of The Most Awesome Founder Podcast with Philipp Buhr, the co-founder of marta! marta is a platform that transparently enables families to match their elderly family members with suitable caregivers. Beginning with stories from Philipps entrepreneurial childhood, enabling him to be the co-founder he is …

🎧 We are thrilled to welcome Jag Singh (Managing Director @ Angel Invest) and Oliver Aust (CEO & Founder @Eo Ipso Communications) for a second time to the show! This time we discuss their newest book MESSAGE MACHINE: How Communications Will Make You An Unstoppable Founder where they share essential aspects for founder communication mastery. Tune in…

Should you work at a consultancy before founding? How is communication within international founding teams? And what skills and mindset do you really need to become a successful founder? Today's episode features our guest Justus Schmueser! He is a former WHU bachelor student and completed his master of finance at MIT. Here he met his co-founder and…

Get ready for today's episode 66 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? - …

🎙️ 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 sim…

Do you know about all the different ways to screw up your startup’s financials? Managing investments for your startup is bound to come with difficulties and requires a lot of learning by doing. However, you can learn how to avoid these mistakes beforehand! Tune in to today's episode and listen to Sven, Gerrit and Dries discuss: - Both sides of the …

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: Not thinking about founder team dynamics and foun…

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 chall…

Do you ever wonder what it's like for your startup to fail? Then you're just right in today's episode #61! In this episode, we're here to listen and learn about Kilian Karrasch's startup failure with Connme. Tune in to Kilian's reflection on what it was like to experience your own startup failure. Within this episode, Kilian shares the deep and val…

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, wha…

The last episode of 2022 and we are very excited to share our first recording in front of a live audience. Dries interviews Niklas Brackmann, co-founder of the amateur football app Prematch. Niklas talks about how hooks help create social platforms, how implementing a shared culture in a young venture looks and about WHU supports activities for ent…

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 entrepr…

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 entrepre…

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 …

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 i…

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 …

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 know…

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 …

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…

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 di…

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 ar…

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 episo…

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 platit…

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 pa…

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 inheren…

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 B…

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 rapid…

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…

In episode 41 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Marcus Stahl, WHU alum and Co–Founder of Tonies. Marcus had a long stint in the telecommunication and automotive industry before becoming a founder and co-founding Tonies. In this episode, Marcus goes through his journey from taking 3 years to perfect the Tonies box to eventually takin…