In our latest German Innovators Podcast episode, Bettina B. Scheibe and Johannes P. Lehmann sit down with Robert Abbanat, CEO & Founder of GloCoach. Rob went from helping explain Mars Pathfinder to the world to building a global platform that’s redefining how enterprises assess and develop talent.
Highlights:
• Engineering + storytelling: How translating complex NASA missions into clear visuals shaped Rob’s product mindset (MVP → iterate) and design obsession.
• New space race reality: Why SpaceX’s pace matters—and what public–private models could teach Europe about dual-use innovation and procurement.
• Beyond coaching: GloCoach’s evolution into an integrated talent OS—AI for coach matching, SMART-goal creation, competency mapping, and Lance, an AI “talent consultant” that runs multilingual 360s at a fraction of traditional costs.
• Global by design: Building across APAC, Europe, and the U.S. with truly multilingual experiences—useful lessons for any company scaling across markets.
• Future of work: Personalized, lower-cost learning at scale; humans-in-the-loop still matter. Rob’s line: “People who use AI will replace people who don’t.”
What European & international tech leaders can learn:
• Build multilingual, multi-market products from day one—distribution advantages compound.
• Use LLMs to compress time-to-value; don’t over-engineer proprietary ML where off-the-shelf models excel.
• Design isn’t decoration—UX clarity drives adoption and outcomes.
• In platform categories, scale beats niche; partner early with global customers to validate.
• Make AI fluency a core capability across roles, not just in the data team.
