SPEAK LIKE A CEO

You can directly improve your brain function with supplements, and Fabian Foelsch is here to tell us all about it. Fabian is the CEO and founder of BRAINEFFECT, which produces science-based natural supplements focused on improving sleep, well-being, concentration and energy. Combining a top product with educational communications, BRAINEFFECT helps costumers navigate the new world of supplements....

Tech is the fashion industry’s new avant-garde, and Anna Franziska Michel is its ambassador. Anna Franziska Michel is the CEO and Founder of Yoona, an AI-based technology that creates “objective fashion design”, or in other words, design that is proved to sell based on data. “This is a total revolution”, she says. “By creating optimal designs, we reduce time, cost, as well as waste – which allows...

How does Bruce Lee inspire a company with over $500M under management? And where does social action find its place in venture capitalism? Rainer Berak, operating partner and managing director of Project A Ventures, has all the answers. Having worked from FIFA to Adidas, and as proud members of Leaders for Climate Action, Rainer is a fount of ideas. His company, Project A Ventures, is an operationa...

“Personal branding is what people think or say about you when you’re not in the room. It makes sense to care for our reputation, in order to get the recognition that we deserve”, says Oliver Aust, leading European expert on personal branding. Today, in this special episode of Speak Like A CEO, Oliver goes in depth about his philosophy around personal branding, with marketing expert Dawn Barson. Ol...

Athletes need sponsors, and sponsors need successful faces to link their names to. To bridge this mutual need, Andreas Kitzing founded Sponsoo – the current n°1 marketplace for sports sponsorships. Sponsoo connects brands with athletes – from Olympic teams to local clubs, and takes care of over 5000 clubs and athletes. From football to e-sports, they have quickly established themselves as leaders...

How do you get CEOs to open up about their emotions in order to thrive? How do you get young students to become successful entrepreneurs? Can you build a lasting legacy for a business? Gerrit McGowan has all the answers when it comes to helping founders become peak performers. Gerrit McGowan has been an entrepreneur for 20 years and has helped countless CEOs with bringing the best out of themselve...

No-one wanted to invest in Vly. It was called a “mega flop”. Today, it is one of the fastest growing food start-ups in Europe. Nicolas Hartmann is a dreamer. He quit his job at Bain to found his company, Vly, which sold over 1 million litres of their milk alternative in less than a year in supermarkets all over Germany. The secrets to his success? A milk full of protein, that doesn’t taste plant-b...

Will humans give up decision-making to machines by 2036? A utopian, or dystopian vision? Daniel Rebhorn, co-founder and Managing Director of Diconium thinks that it might not be the worst idea. As the complexity of the world increases, technology could help humans make better decisions. Perhaps as a supporting function – unless decision-making ends up being fully handed to technology in a far futu...

How do you steer a billion-euro company through the Covid crisis? When Nina Pütz joined the fintech giant Ratepay as the new CEO, she knew that building human connections was going to be a challenge. Germany was going back into lockdown and she had to position herself at the head of one of Europe’s largest payment providers. As the new leader of over 200 employees in Germany and Europe, this wasn’...

How can you quickly grow an engaged community for your business? Founder Maximilian Rofagha might just have the answer. He’s the brains behind finimize, a fintech company which quickly grew from a bare-bones newsletter to a 1 million strong community. In 2016 Max was looking to invest a chunk of cash. But he quickly realised that the world of finance was daunting – particularly for young people. S...

For most of us, falling sick means a trip to the doctor. Soon though this may no longer be the case. The world of telemedicine is taking off and it’s now possible to get a diagnosis and prescription without getting up from your desk. Digital medicine is well and truly taking off in 2021. And one of the companies working to accelerate this transition is Berlin-based Flying Health. Their team is fos...

Every year we produce almost 400 million tons of plastic. According to some estimates as much as 50% of this is single-use. And once this plastic ends up in the bin only 10% is recycled. Entrepreneur Boris Jebsen realised that something has to change if we are to avoid irreversible damage to our planet. Having founded one of the largest tech conferences in the world, with a presence in 26 location...

Your message-market fit is determined by how appealing the messaging sounds to your customer. If you are a founder, CEO or business leader you really want to nail this. With the right messaging, everything is made easier. It will attract the right people to your product, who want to be part of your journey and your brand. To be successful in business you need both product-market fit and message-ma...

We are all familiar with the terms IQ and EQ. CQ on the other hand may be a new concept. It refers to cultural intelligence - in other words, the ability to cross bridges and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. In particular for leaders working in international teams, cultural awareness and understanding is a key factor for success. Someone who knows this all too well is polyglot an...

Every year more than 100 billion garments are produced globally. But more than 85% of all material used for clothing ends up in landfills or incinerators. And it’s no secret that producing waste at this rate is damaging the planet beyond repair. So what’s the solution to this pressing issue? Among the ventures tackling this question is Berlin-based startup Kleiderly, launched by chemical engineer...

In early 2020 Urban Sports Club was on track to reach Unicorn status. They were making new hires every week, smashing sales targets, and gaining great media coverage. Then COVID struck. Suddenly everything the team had worked for was on the line. The Berlin-based company offers Europe’s largest flat-rate sports membership; but with gyms and studios shuttered across the continent and people forced...

Women make up 50% of the global population. Yet they don’t own half the wealth. Of course, there’s no such thing as ‘male money’ and ‘female money’. So why is this inequality present? It’s this question that fintech entrepreneur Andrea Fernandez is concerned with. She’s the founder of Alice, an app at the ‘intersection of consumer fintech and femtech’. In this episode of Speak Like a CEO, Oliver a...

Without a strong personal brand you simply won’t stand out online. Quality content is what will get you noticed and elevate you above the noise. From CEOs to students, a personal brand is the key to gaining visibility and in turn attracting the opportunities you deserve. There’s just one problem. To build your brand you need to invest time and effort. So, what’s the best way to tackle this challen...

Passion is not enough to do well in business. To be truly successful, you have to be obsessed with what you’re doing. It’s this mentality which helped co-founder and CEO of Nutrafol, Giorgos Tsetis, grow his hair-wellness company into a worldwide success. With a difficult marketplace to contend with, he realised early on that building brand credibility was essential for survival. Tackling customer...

Personal branding for CEOs: fad or must-have? This is a question which CEOs and their communications teams are increasingly looking to address. Perception now matters more than performance for CEOs, according to a 2014 study by management consultancy Roland Berger. So the debate is no longer whether CEOs need to invest in their reputation, but what the best way is to achieve this moving forwards....

Only 2% of us reach our full potential at work and in our private lives. That’s according to Eric Partaker, CEO of the Year winner who helped to build Skype and co-founded the award-winning Mexican restaurant chain Chilango. Suffering from a heart attack at 30,000 feet, Eric learnt the hard way how to balance work, family and health while pursuing his dreams and building successful businesses. On...

Today Oliver and Lena chat with Aimie-Sarah Carstensen, Founder of Art-Night, that provides offline events bringing people together to paint, craft or bake. This years shift to digital online connection has been a stretch. Aimie talks about the clear and caring communication needed, as well as how she spread the word going from zero to 30.000 participants in 5 countries. Get insights into unusual...

What is the one thing that every CEO should be doing? According to Christian Kroll, CEO of Ecosia, every CEO should aim to maximise the positive impact they have on the world. Ecosia is the popular search engine that plants trees. The company makes money but doesn’t maximise profit to the detriment of the environment, the climate or the planet. Tune in for an insightful episode about how to get th...

From Silicon Valley darling to Silicon Allee investor, Neeraj Berry knows a thing about business. He previously cofounded Sprig, one of the first food delivery startups to exist. However, despite the company’s early success, raising $60 million dollars and having over 1200 employees, Neeraj tells Oliver and Lena why he made the difficult decision to let go of the business. Now he’s based in Berlin...

Is the competition for attention harder these days, or is easier to have a voice and make yourself heard? Oliver Aust and Lena Carlson speak to Trinh Le-Fiedler in this episode to find out. From BCG consultant to AI startup founder, Trinh’s career has taken her from New York to Hong Kong to London to Berlin. She is currently the CEO of Nomitiri, a deep-learning visual perception startup. Tune in t...