The Most Awesome Founder Podcast

In episode 40 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we proudly introduce our first entrepreneurial talent of this year's WHU Accelerator cohort. Anand Raj, co-founder of Joyon, wants to do his part to democratize education by building a platform for small content creators of live online courses. In this episode, Anand talks about the long journey that led him from being a software engineer in India...

In episode 39 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Christian Gaiser, WHU alum and Co – Founder at Numa. Christian is a serial founder and an angel investor and is currently changing the way people travel by curating emotional experiences. In this episode, Christian goes through his journey as a founder and an investor and talks about his itch to build things. He also talks about the f...

In episode 38 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Jochen Ziervogel, WHU alum and Co – Founder at Enpal GmbH. Jochen had a short stint in investment banking before entering the startup ecosystem and eventually founding Enpal – a unicorn disrupting the renewable energy industry in Germany. In this episode, Jochen goes through his founder journey and shares key learnings with the listen...

In episode 37 of the 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 though-provoking topics: - Generalists or specialists – what type of founders have an edge in fundraising? - The science of selling – how to leverage psychological princip...

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...

In episode 35 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Christian Meermann, WHU alum and Founding Partner of Berlin-based VC firm – Cherry Ventures. Christian and Cherry have played a central role in the rise of some of Germany's most well-known startups, some from WHU even. From Flaschenpost to Flink, Flixbus to Forto, Amorelie and many more! In this episode, Christian goes through his jo...

In episode 34 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast , we introduce a new format of the podcast with Gerrit McGowan and Dries Faems . Being well connected in the academia and startup ecosystem of Germany, they often receive requests from their network to share suggestions about interesting research, books, and podcasts on entrepreneurship that are current and relevant. In this episode, they discuss f...

In this last episode of Season four of The Most Awesomefounder podcast, we introduce Christoph Krois, mission driven corporate entrepreneur and founder and co-head of the Siemens innovation ecosystem. Christoph's mission is both an ambitious and a challenging one, driving innovation projects at one of the world's largest companies. We'll be talking open innovation, leveraging the unfair advantages...

In this episode, we introduce Nathan Evans, WHU-alumn, co-founder of eCommerce startup fulfil, director at the founder's institute in Munich and has 25 years of experience in banking and fintech. Nathan and I had a great conversation about his fascinating career trajectory: From studying physics to the trading floors of London, from banking to product management to founding fulfin. We even managed...

In episode 31 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast , we introduce Eric Partaker , entrepreneur, peak performance coach, early employee at Skype, founder of UK restaurant group, Chilango , and author of The 3 Alarms: A Simple System to Transform Your Health, Wealth, and Relationships Forever . We're discussing Eric's founder journey from selling chocolates as a child to his early career as a McKinse...

As in our last episode, we're doing things a little bit different in this week's Most Awesome Founder Podcast. Today' we introducing not one founder, but many. If you tuned in for episode 29, you know that on May 17 we launched the first cohort of the inaugural WHU Startup Accelerator. This intensive 7-week, mentor-driven, and equity-free program provides the best and brightest startups from the W...

We're doing things a little bit different in this week's episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast. Today' we introducing not one founder, but many. As you may have heard, on May 17 we are launching the first cohort of the inaugural WHU Startup Accelerator. This intensive 7-week, mentor-driven, and equity-free program provides the best and brightest startups from the WHU community with rocket fu...

In this episode we introduce Alex Grots - entrepreneur, innovator, creator, and expert in the art and craft of Design Thinking. We discuss Alex's fascinating career from being a paramedic to working in the music industry; from building his first startup during the dot-com bubble to leading world-famous design agency IDEO in Germany; and from co-founding the high-growth IoT-venture ProGlove to advi...

In this episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast we introduce Oliver Aust, one of Europe's leading communications and personal branding experts, and former Head of Communications at Easyjet. He is the founder and CEO of Eo Ipso Communications and co-host of Speak Like a CEO, the category-defining podcast on CEO communications. Oliver helps CEOs and leaders build unignorable personal brands and...

In this episode, we introduce Valerie Bures-Bönström, mother of three, cofounder of Mrs. Sporty Fitness Clubs, founder/CEO of Pixformance Sports, and now, founder/CEO of interactive fitness mirror company, Vaha. In addition to her entrepreneurial endeavors, Valerie is also pursuing her Ph. D. in Computer Science. We're discussing Valerie's founder journey, her passion for the fitness industry, the...

In this latest episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Henry Chesbrough - Director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, Adjunct Professor at the Haas School of Business, UC–Berkeley, and Chair of Open Innovation at Luiss Guido Carli in Rome. We're discussing the origins of the concept of open innovation, its implications in business today, the roles of startups, and th...

In this episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Cory Warfield, entrepreneur, founder of ShedWool and connector with over 250.000 LinkedIn followers. Cory and Gerrit met almost 5 years ago when mentoring Cory's startup ShedWool at an accelerator in Colorado. Since then Cory grew his startup to 20+ employees, built a massive LinkedIn follower base and launched numerous new ventures...

In episode 23, we introduce Freya Oehle, WHU alumn, co-founder of the online shopping tool startup Spottster, and current co-founder of digital transformation consultancy 3tausendsassa. We are discussing Freya's founder journey, from WHU to building Spottster with a school classmate, to a unique exit and to building a new startup with the same team she build her previous one. Freya is a high-energ...

In this episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast , we introduce Steve Blank - legendary entrepreneur, author, adjunct professor at Stanford University, and father of the customer development / lean startup method. Steve arrived in Silicon Valley in 1978 and has played a pivotal role in the international startup scene ever since. His Lean Launchpad class redefined the way entrepreneurship is tau...

In this latest episode of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast, we introduce Lia Grünhage, WHU alumn and founder of Avery Fertility, a Berlin-based startup that provides both women and men with top-notch education and care around fertility planning and treatment. We will be discussing Lia's founder journey, her evolution from Amorelie management team to becoming a founder herself, the challenge of tac...

In episode 20 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast , we introduce Robert Ermich, founder of DeinHandy , OnTruck and an exciting new stealth startup in the healthcare space.  Gerrit met Robert last year when they were both coaching teams at 3-Day-Startup. It was immediately clear they were two birds of the same feather, who share the passion for startups, creative marketing and plenty of travel and...

In this episode, we are sticking with stories highlighting the importance of diversity and entrepreneurship. Today, we introduce Gesa Miczaika, entrepreneur, investor and partner at German's first all-female VC firm Auxxo . Of course, we discuss diversity in the startup world, but also the disparity of capital deployed to male vs female founders, the competitive advantage of leading an all-female...

In this second episode of season 3 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast , we introduce Mareile Wölwer, WHU alumn and co-founder of Berlin-based animal health care company Vetevo . Mareile's entrepreneurial journey took her from her family farm in Mayen, to studies at WHU, to the fast-paced world of being a venture-backed founder in Berlin.  Today, Mareile's start-up Vetevo is growing at a rapid pac...

In this first episode of season 3 of the Most Awesome Founder Podcast , we introduce Franziska Leonhardt - entrepreneur, attorney, WHU alum, and founder of Berlin-based, AI-driven personalised skin care company, AVE + EDAM .  Franziska's journey has been a fascinating one. She began her career as a freelance lawyer, joined international law firm, Clifford Chance , and then became Rocket Internet '...

In this last episode of season 2, we introduce Teddy Pejoski - entrepreneur, engineer, and guru at bridging the technical / non-technical divide. He is the founder of Crack Your Screen (an app with over 20m downloads), the software studio GSIX , a code academy , an engineer placement and recruiting platform , a funky sock company , and a new "no-code" technology called ENZYME .   Teddy's entrepren...