Entrepreneurship & Leadership

Maximilian is the Managing Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at WHU, Germany's most successful business school when it comes to entrepreneurship. Before that he worked at the Entrepreneurship Center at RWTH Aachen, Germany’s largest technical university and founded a startup himself.  Having done his bachelor degree at WHU and now leading their Entrepreneurship Center, I thought Maximilian would be the perfect guest to talk about how universities can successfully foster entrepreneurship and how students eager to found can make use of their time at university to prepare for a career as founders. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about WHU's contribution to the German startup ecosystem the differences in entrepreneurship support between private and public universities and how to make the most of your time at university when you want to found a startup His message for entrepreneurial students: "Get exposure. Join likeminded people and learn how the startup world really works beyond the romanticization of shark tank." I hope you enjoy the episode! Michael Learn more about Entrepreneurship at WHU at ⁠https://whu.edu/en/faculty/entrepreneurship-and-innovation-group/entrepreneurship-center/ Connect with Maximilian on ⁠⁠https://linkedin.com/in/maximilianeckel/ Connect with me on ⁠⁠https://linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/⁠⁠

Sophia has worked in product roles in startups such as Navvis and Babbel before co-founding Saiga where she took on the role of Chief Product Officer (CPO). Most recently, she has joined the German SME ⁠Reicat⁠ and taken on the strategic business development of their fast-growing hydrogen product line. I was eager to get Sophia on the podcast to learn more about the role a CPO has in a startup – in particular, in the very early stages when there might not yet be a product in the first place. And I was curious to hear what she had learned from her recent switch from the startup world to the German Mittelstand. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about what product management looks like pre product-market fit when it makes sense to have a founding designer as part of the co-founder team what startups can learn from the working culture in SMEs Her message for founders: "Don't just copy Silicon Valley Culture. Look around and see what you can learn from the Germany Mittelstand." I hope you enjoy the episode! Michael Learn more about reicat at https://reicat.de/en/ Connect with Sophia on ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/sophiahoefling/ Connect with me on ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/⁠ If you want to learn more about product management check out Sophia's blog: https://sophiahoefling.medium.com/

Daniel Schulte-Hillen is an active business angel and the founder of bldrs. bldrs connects the brightest and hungriest talents with exclusive roles in Berlin’s best startups. By bringing together hungry talent and world-class startups, he helps both sides. To succeed, startups need to build world-class teams. Rather sooner than later, any founder is faced with the challenge to attract and hire their first employees. With Daniel's experience, I was curious to better understand when founders should hire, how to convince employees to join them on their journey, how to think about ESOP, and what pitfalls founders should avoid when making their first hires. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about when it is the right time for startups to hire their first employees what startups have to offer to early employees and what motivation talented people have to join a startups His final message to everyone looking for their next job: "Joining an early-stage startup can be an amazing decision from a career perspective. And it is also much less risky than people think." I hope you enjoy the episode! Michael Learn more about bldrs at https://joinbldrs.com/ Connect with Daniel: https://linkedin.com/in/danielschuhi Connect with me on https://linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/ BONUS Daniel recommends Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World by Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross for those who want to learn more about hiring. For founders and anyone interested in understanding compensation with Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP) Index Ventures' ⁠Rewarding Talent Handbook⁠ provides excellent guidelines.

Heiner Stinner co-founded Throne, an early-stage startup building for the creator economy. Throne is special because its German co-founders started building the company in and for the US market immediately. In my conversation with Heiner, I was intrigued to learn what lead them to set up shop in the US before Germany and with what challenges running two offices, in the US and Germany, comes. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about how to manage across different timezones and locations how work culture is different between the US and Germany and how memes help with building a cohesive company culture His final words of advice for aspiring founders: "Never hire a cheap lawyer!" I hope you enjoyed this episode. Michael Learn more about Throne: https://throne.com/ Connect with Heiner: https://linkedin.com/in/heiner-stinner/ Follow me on: https://linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/

Gesa Bierman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pina Earth, a climate tech startup from Munich. Pina protects our forests by quantifying and rewarding sustainable forestry (more on this in the episode). Gesa and I were colleagues at the Center of Digital Technology and Management (CDTM), where we ran the program together with the rest of the management team. Gesa finished her doctorate a few years ahead of me and went on to found Pina. I was always impressed by her drive to make the world a better place and her pragmatism in doing so. She is someone who walks the talk, which is why I was excited to learn about her experiences as CEO of Pina Earth. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about transitioning from research and university to being a startup founder "minigames" or what the workday of a startup CEO is really like how to balance operational focus and getting stuff done with the need to look ahead and learn Her message to all aspiring entrepreneurs: "Pick a problem to work on that you really care about. The entrepreneurship journey will be tough. Working on something you care about will help your resilience." I hope you enjoy the episode! Michael Learn more about Pina Earth at https://www.pina.earth/ Connect with Gesa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gesabiermann/ Connect with me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/ BONUS:  We mentioned quite a few additional resources in our conversation. Here are some resources to learn more about them. Gesa's interview in the Mostly Awesome podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3qfmfObORT8EtmNmdXQOX0?si=4b0f3e6968a54b6e OJR (Objective Job Result) by Nikolai Ladanyi https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:7029819076524797952/ YC Startup School: https://www.startupschool.org/ Gesa's book recommendations: (affiliate links) Work Rules (Laszlo Bock) https://amzn.to/3xStrdJ Working Backwards (Colin Bryar) https://amzn.to/3m5PLxS Getting Things Done (David Allen) https://amzn.to/41Fq33N Make Time (Jake Knapp) https://amzn.to/3kuyw8Z High Output Management (Andrew S. Grove) https://amzn.to/3EFTB7o Radical Candor (Kim Scott) https://amzn.to/3kuRj44

Jonas Minkler is the VP of Marketing at CAPMO, a construction tech startup in Munich, making the management of complex construction projects more efficient by bringing all the data and communication together in one SaaS application. Jonas and I both took part in the Honor’s Degree program offered by the Center of Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). However, our paths only crossed after we had both finished the program. I wanted to get Jonas on the podcast because, from conversations with him, I knew that he had grown into a great manager and leader. He joined Capmo as their second employee over four years ago and has since grown the company it from its early days to over 100 employees. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about the benefits of joining a startup as an early employee the evolution and different stages of your role as the startup scales and how to become an effective manager and leader  His message to all aspiring entrepreneurs: "Find great founders and follow them. Learn as much as you can. If you then want to get into leadership and found a company get to know yourself and double down on your own path." I hope you enjoy our conversation! Michael Learn more about Capmo at https://www.capmo.com/en/ Connect with Jonas on https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-minkler/ Connect with me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/

Maxmilian Wühr is Co-Founder at FINN Auto, a fast-growing startup shaking up the automobile market in Germany ... and, since recently, also in the US. Maximilian and I know each other from the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). Back in 2018, we also shared an apartment during our stay abroad at UC Berkeley. Back then, he was not only auditing Kurt Beyer's entrepreneurship class at Haas Business School but also eager to purchase a car (which turned out to create a few problems along the way). In hindsight, it was not surprising that he co-founded FINN Auto when he returned to Munich. FINN offers flexible car subscriptions for 6 to 12 months and makes owning a car as easy as it can get. Right now, he and his team are taking FINN to the US. An impressive step for a startup of just four years. Being back from New York, I was excited to catch him in Munich and talk about his experience. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about the challenges of internationalization why walking back decisions is easier than most people think what leadership principles help build a company culture that supports growth and performance His message to all aspiring entrepreneurs: "Nothing is ever gonna be perfect. You simply need to start building stuff. [...] That's the only way how you can learn and get better at it." Disclaimer: Apologies for the bad audio quality on this episode. This was my first try on recording in person. I hope you enjoyed the content nontheless. Michael Learn more about FINN at https://www.finn.auto/ Connect with Maximilian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximilian-wuehr/ Connect with me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/

Johann Nordhus Westarp is Founding Partner and Managing Director at Flash, an early-stage venture capital firm in Berlin. Johann and I go back to the first weeks of university back in Munich. Already back then, he was hungry to move the needle and used every opportunity to hone his entrepreneurial skills. In 2019 he moved to Berlin and went on to found Flash Ventures to support exceptional founders in taking their first steps. Having invested in more than 40 startups since then, I was curious to hear how he thinks about identifying game-changing ideas and growing startups from pre-seed to seed stage. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about how pre-seed funds help nascent entrepreneurs get started the trade-offs between idea-first and team-first approaches to founding and pitfalls and challenges startups face on their journey from pre-seed to seed stage His closing words to anyone thinking about founding a startup: "Ideas are easy. In the end execution will drive outlier success. [...] You will only build something great if you get started and do the work. [...] So get started!" I hope you enjoyed this episode. Michael Learn more about Flash at https://flash.vc/ Connect with Johann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nordhuswestarp/ Connect with me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/

Eva Spannagl is Director for Strategy and Growth at Moss, a hyper-scaling fintech startup aiming to empower organizations' finance teams with a one-stop platform for all expenses. Eva and I first got to know each other over dinner parties of a common friend. If you meet her, it's not possible to have boring conversations. She is always working on something interesting – be it at Moss, at Femstory: Mentoring for women, or as a Business Angel. I invited Eva because I was curious about this last part and wanted to learn more about what it takes to become a business angel and how to approach them as a founder. In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about why and how to get started as an angel investor what benefits do business angels bring for startups founder and why there is such a lack of female business angels in Germany Her message to aspiring business angels: "Just do it. Start small. Invest in your amazing friends. It will lead you to new opportunities..." I hope you enjoy listing! Michael Learn more about Moss at https://getmoss.com/ Learn more about Femstory: https://www.femstory.co/ Connect with Eva: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evaspannagl/ Connect with me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/

Gyri Reiersen is the CPO of Tanso, a startup aiming to automate processes in carbon accounting and build the analytical basis for effective emission reduction.  Gyri and I met at the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). She has always impressed with her tremendous energy in tackling the problems she cared about. After finishing her studies, she now continues on that path by building her startup, Tanso, to help fight climate change.  In this episode of the Entrepreneurship & Leadership podcast, we talk about  finding and defining your role as a co-founder to fit your strengths how to build a great team and enable your employees and how to let employees go if the role does not fit Enjoy listing! Michael  Learn more about Tanso at https://tanso.io/  Connect with Gyri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gyrireiersen/  Connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-froehlich/