Britta Weddeling - Podcast Details

Shows

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #53: "You have to stick to what you believe in the core"Oliver Holle, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Speedinvest, shares his key takeaways from the past for founders and investors for a successful 2021 This week’s guest is Oliver Holle, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Speedinvest, one of Europe's leading investment companies, which is working with some of the household names in the startup ecosystem such as Tier, Schüttflix or Planetly. Before becoming an investor, Oliver had started a business himself which struggled quite a bit during the first years but then merged with two other startups and became 3united, a mobile content and messaging company. It was acq...2021-02-0330 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #52: The race for quantum computingJan Goetz, CEO of IQM, about how he wants go beyond competitors like IBM and Google and make Europe the hotspot for the technology This week’s podcast guest and his team are moving quantum computing forward in Europe like no one else and they want to make it the new hotspot for the technology. His name is Jan Goetz and the company he co-founded and now is the CEO of is the German-Finnish startup IQM, which has just recently been all over the news because it received another 39 million Euros in funding. This round, which was le...2021-01-2746 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #51: Did Zoom grow too fast?Harry Moseley, Zoom’s Chief Information Officer, about how the video communication platform dealt with a sudden growth overnight due to Covid-19, as well as the related challenges If you had to name one company that during the current pandemic quickly became an essential part of all of our lives – it would very likely have to be Zoom! And this week on the podcast we welcome the executive who is at the center of that crazy growth story: Harry Moseley, Zoom’s Global Chief Information Officer. But a sudden growth doesn’t come without a cost - H...2021-01-1350 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #50: Kick your year off with Ironman world champion Jan Frodeno!The exceptional athlete about how to turn a challenge into an opportunity and why focus beats uncertainties all the time While the whole world is still grappling with the effects of the current pandemic, this week’s podcast guest shows how to not let yourself be defeated by uncertain circumstances: Jan Frodeno, the three times Ironman World Championship winner, Olympic winner, world record holder and entrepreneur who was our guest at our Bits & Pretzels Networking Week. He turned the obstacle into an opportunity, invented the first of its kind Ironman@home and turned it into a...2021-01-0625 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #49: This AI finds your startup – if you’re sustainableEmission-free mobility, search engines that plant trees or clothes made from recycled materials: companies with a neutral or even a positive impact on the global or local environment, also called “green businesses”, are on the rise - and rightly so, we think. But what’s really sustainable and what’s just buzzword-bingo or even greenwashing? This entrepreneur is on a mission to find that. Omar Selim, the CEO of Arabesque Group, an investment company that’s focusing on sustainable investments. Omar’s team developed an artificial intelligence to crawl large public data-sets with the goal to analyze certain companies’ sustainability level. Befor...2020-12-1635 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #48: Inside Slack’s growth storyCEO Stewart Butterfield, who just sold his communication platform to Salesforce for $27.7 billion, on dealing with setbacks & fighting incumbents This week on the Bits & Pretzels Podcast we welcome an entrepreneur who is at the forefront of the global remote work experiment that shows no sign of ending anytime soon, as Europe struggles to contain the second wave of Covid-19. Stewart Butterfield, the founder and CEO of communication platform Slack, which is certainly a huge winner of this crisis, even though the company is faced with incumbent competitors such as Microsoft. We've talked to Stewart just...2020-12-0930 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #47: Building a brand is a marathon, not a sprintAUDI AG board member for Sales & Marketing Hildegard Wortmann about the Dos and Don’ts of crisis communication and how she’s turning around the brand of her company This week’s podcast guest is one of the most influential women in the international automotive industry: Hildegard Wortmann, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG and a leading expert in brand creation as well as crisis communication. In conversation with Bits & Pretzels Editor-In-Chief Britta Weddeling, Hildegard Wortmann shares a rare glimpse into her playbook on developing and maintaining a brand using the pe...2020-12-0239 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #46: Arianna Huffington about self care, productivity & how to become a better leaderThe media mogul explains how crucial downtime is for long-term success & shares first steps towards becoming a better leader This week on the show is Arianna Huffington, the co-founder of the Huffington Post, that won her her the Pulitzer Prize, entrepreneurial role model as well as founder & CEO of Thrive Global. The now 70-years old media mogul has a lot to share from her outstanding career for founders, especially for those of you who are working non-stop during the current pandemic! In conversation with Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling during our Bits & Pretzels Networking Week...2020-11-2527 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #45: Lean Startup Guru Eric Ries about the power of impact entrepreneurshipOperating with a long-term philosophy is necessary for sustained growth explains the founder of Long-Term-Stock-Exchange This week on the podcast Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling welcomes entrepreneurial superstar Eric Ries, author of New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, a must have bible for all founders, and initiator of alternative Long-Term-Stock Exchange (LTSE). Eric’s Lean Startup method has been credited by numerous entrepreneurs for their success and now he shares his most important advice from his decades of experience as serial entrepreneur, startup advisor and investor. Most importantly, he argues that operating with a long-term philosophy is...2020-11-1844 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #44: The time to build your startup is right now!Roxanne Varza, Director at Station F, one of the largest global accelerators hosting 1000 startups on how founders can benefit from a crisis and use it to their advantage Our podcast guest this week is one of the leading voices of the French startup ecosystem: Roxanne Varza, the Director of Station F, one of the largest startup campuses in the world that opened its doors in 2017 and is located in the heart of Paris. Over 1000 startups are currently at home at Station F. In this week's show she provided an insight into how she sees the current startup situation and...2020-11-1142 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #43: Meet Index Ventures' Masters of ScaleSarah Cannon and Martin Mignot, partners at Index Ventures share why European founders are ditching their “US or nothing” mentality This week’s podcast has a very international setup with two guests joining us from different sides of the world: Sarah Cannon is dialing in from New York City and Martin Mignot from his home in London. They are both partners at Index Ventures, one of the biggest Venture Capital firms that invested in Dropbox, Deliveroo, Skype and Slack - just to name a few. With over 10 billion euro under the current management, their fund oversees a portfolio of 160 compan...2020-11-0450 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #42: Anne Boden: “Keep knocking on those doors!”The CEO & founder of Starling Bank on how to build a challenger bank from scratch to conquer the Fintech world At a point when most people make plans for their retirement, our podcast guest this week wrote a business plan to start her own bank: Anne Boden, the CEO and founder of Starling Bank, who has built a name for herself building one of UK’s standout digital banks, drawing on her experience in the financial heartlands for more than 30 years building and running global banking and payments businesses as part of RBS and Lloyds among other things. The ba...2020-10-2137 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #41: Dirk Nowitzki: “Never be satisfied & always try to improve!”The former NBA player on how to maintain motivation and inner strength despite failures and what startups he’s looking for now as an investor Our podcast guest this week is an overall legend and a true loyal Bavarian at heart who became a well-known name even outside the basketball court: The NBA superstar Dirk Nowitzki joined the Bits & Pretzels Networking Week live from his home in Dallas, Texas where he offered insights into how his career in basketball helped him grow as a person, accept any challenge that life might throw at him and the importance of staying hu...2020-10-1436 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #40: Eric Schmidt: “Hire for intelligence, not for experience!”The long-term Google CEO offers a rare glimpse into his playbook about how to build a culture of excellence to how to systematically harnessing world-changing ideas in your company This week’s podcast guest has shaped the legend of Google, served in the epicenter of Silicon Valley for almost 20 years and led Google’s expansion into all aspects of our lives: Eric Schmidt, the former Google Inc. CEO & executive chairman. And in our show he’s offering a rare look inside his playbook – from how to systematically harness world-changing ideas to establishing a culture of agility and excellen...2020-10-0725 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #39: mymuesli co-founder: What is product-market fit, really?Max Wittrock on finding the right idea to build a startup & to kick off a business In this episode Britta Weddeling, editor-in-chief at Bits & Pretzels, welcomes Max Wittrock! He is the co-founder of German breakfast cereals brand mymuesli, which was one of the first companies to allow customers to create their own breakfast cereals. In this podcast Max shares best practises from his 14 years experience in the startup ecosystem including his ABC for product market fit for founders – from finding the right idea for your startup to testing and proving your business thesis in the markets. More to...2020-09-2338 min

Tech Briefing ExpressWie hilft NextBike bei der Verkehrswende?Außerdem: Britta Weddeling, Chefredakteurin der Bits & Pretzels, über das Digitalisieren von KonferenzenMikromobilität ist ein Wachstumsmarkt. In den letzten Jahren sind Elektroroller-Anbieter wie Tier, Lime und Bird auf den Straßen der größten deutschen Städte aufgetaucht. Aber auch Fahrrad-Verleiher wie Mobike oder FordBike buhlen um den Parkplatz auf den Gehwegen. Sie alle vereint ein Ziel: Fußgänger auf der Kurzstrecke schneller an das Ziel zu bringen. Zur nächsten Haltesteller, zum Supermarkt oder noch schneller nach Hause.65% der Investments seit 2015 gehen dabei in chinesische Mobilitäts-Start-ups. 11% in US-Start-ups und 18% in junge Unternehmen aus Europa. Das zeigen die Daten v...2020-09-1743 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #38: From co-founding $2.7 billion VC firm Atomico to raising a new seed fundMattias Ljungman about his new VC firm Moonfire Ventures & why Europe is on the verge of a tech investment breakthrough Would you like to send your pitch deck to the personal email address of Mattias Ljungman, the co-founder of $2.7 billion VC firm Atomico and who just started a new fund with Moonfire Ventures? In this week’s podcast Mattias shares his email address as well as what he is looking for in an investor. The Swedish-born VC is one of the household names in the global investor community, after co-founding the European VC firm Atomico together with Skype founder Ni...2020-09-1632 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #37 Verena Pausder: A wake-up call for entrepreneurs!The serial entrepreneur, Young Global Leader & book author to founders: It’s your responsibility to get politically involved to create a better world! It’s in the genes of entrepreneurs to want to change the status quo – most founders do that by starting companies, creating innovative products and then give back to society or becoming politically involved later – after a successful exit. But that has to change according to the guest in our show today – serial entrepreneur, book author and political activist and education advocate Verena Pauser, who’s one of the most influential founders in the German entre...2020-09-0944 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #36 Wirecard, Sexism & Old-Boys-Networks: “Female investors would have handled things differently"Board Member of the German Startups Association & co-founder of Auxxo, Gesa Miczaika shares exclusive insights of how to network & pitch for success You are a female founder looking for new cash? And you want to learn the exclusive insights and tricks of an experienced investor to make it in the (unfortunately) still male-dominated startup world? Or maybe you are a male founder and you just lost one of your best female executives and you realize you need to turn around your company’s culture sooner or later? This podcast might hold the answer to your questions! In this week’s ep...2020-09-0244 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #35: DAX newcomer & Delivery Hero CEO Niklas Östberg on internationalization, scaling & fighting Amazon€18 billion market cap Delivery Hero co-founder about running a global logistics business during the pandemic Famously joining the index of Germany's 30 largest companies by market capitalization & valuation — was REALLY just the first step for Niklas Östberg, the co-founder and CEO of Berlin headquartered Delivery Hero. The entrepreneur who co-started the online food delivery platform that's more valuable now than Deutsche Bank, has much higher ambitions, as he discloses in this week's episode of our Bits & Pretzels podcast. Here's what's in this show for you: The leader of the global player in the $100 billion market of food...2020-08-2629 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #34: Inside 3 German tech stars masterplan for a new €170 million European deep tech fundFlorian Leibert, founder of Mesosphere & Twitter and Airbnb alumnus, about what he's looking for in a startup as an investor. Meet Florian at #bits20 €170 million for European deep tech startups: Serial entrepreneur Florian Leibert shares the masterplan for the new fund called 468 Capital that he set up with former Rocket Internet executives Alexander Kudlich & Ludwig Ensthaler in this week’s conversation with Bits & Pretzels' Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling. Florian has 10+ years career in Silicon Valley, as the co-founder of California based cloud container company Mesosphere that secured funding of more than $250 million, and alumnus of Airbnb and Twitter. In this podc...2020-08-1937 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #33: Twilio CEO: Launch a million dollar company in just 6 weeks – here's how!Jeff Lawson, co-founder of $8.5 billion dollar cloud communication firm about customer centricity, Jeff Bezos & the power of developers In this episode, Bits & Pretzels’ Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling talks to one of the most successful cloud communication entrepreneurs in the tech world, Jeff Lawson, the co-founder & CEO of $8.5 billion firm Twilio. Get insights into 1) how he has launch a million dollar company within just six weeks, 2) how your customers lead you the way to build better products and 3) why you have to push ownership & responsibility in your startup to get better results. Because Jeff himself successfully did all of the above to...2020-08-1237 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #32: Transferwise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus: “It’s healthy that some companies go out of business”The Fintech pioneer on Corona, how he became founder & what rules have guided him since In this episode Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling talks to Taavet Hinrikus, the co-founder of London headquartered borderless cash company Transferwise, who’s a tech pioneer, an investor and business angel, just days after his company announced a 43 percent valuation jump to a valuation of 5 billion dollars after a secondary share sale. In 2003, Taavet was the first employee at Voice-over-IP platform Skype, before he decided launching Transferwise in 2011 to provide cheap cross-border transfers. In this podcast Taavet explains why he left Skype to become a...2020-08-0537 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #31: Watch Out SpaceX! Munich’s coming for you!Earlybird co-founder Hendrik Brandis on why the next wave of innovation happens in deep tech & Bavaria is the place to be for space startups right now In this week’s episode Britta Weddeling, Bits & Pretzels’ editor in chief, talks to Hendrik Brandis, co-founder and partner at Earlybird, a venture capital firm focused on European technology companies. Hendrik has been investing in startups for 23 years and recently made his largest exit ever when Turkish game developer Peak Games sold to Zynga for 1.8 billion dollar. The experienced investor explains why the next big wave of startup innovation is happening in the deep...2020-07-2940 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #30 Box CEO Aaron Levie: Startup is a State of MindCloud computer pioneer Aaron Levie about Trump, the future of work & how to beat your larger competitors with speed and agility In this week’s episode, Britta Weddeling, Editor-in-Chief of Bits & Pretzels, talks with Aaron Levie, the CEO and co-founder of cloud computer pioneer Box and one of the most successful and outspoken innovators in the enterprise software business who revolutionized the collaborative office environment. Levie is a true cloud pioneer: He has started his company 15 years ago at the age of 19 and famously cold-pitched his idea to Marc Cuban – while still an undergrad in the dorm room – and has ma...2020-07-2233 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #29: Arianna Huffington: How to Sleep yourself to the Top, literally.The co-founder of the Huffington Post & founder of behaviour change company Thrive Global about how microsteps lead to big changes Remember what it feels like to be focused and productive? It has been a while? Well, you're not alone! Many of us feel exhausted and overwhelmed due to the economic situation caused by Covid-19 and the many uncertainties ahead in business and in private life. Today's podcast guest is here to help: Listen to Arianna Huffington, the co-founder of the Huffington Post and founder of behaviour change company Thrive Global in conversation with Bits & Pretzels' Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling. In...2020-07-1531 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #28: Trend Forecaster Amy Webb: "The weakest startups will probably fail"The NY futurist, founder & adviser to Fortune 100 companies gives exclusive advice & insights for entrepreneurs Open your ears and listen to the future with us! This episode of the Bits & Pretzels podcast is about what entrepreneurs can expect as we all look towards a post-pandemic world and how founders should prepare. Britta Weddeling, our Editor-in-chief, is talking to Amy Webb, a quantitative futurist and professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business and founder of the Future Today Institute where she advises the world’s leading Fortune 100 companies. Her annual Tech Trends Report fills the halls of ma...2020-07-0846 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #27: Klarna CEO: This Fintech unicorn co-founder is out to beat AmazonThe co-founder of Klarna about how he has turned a local under-dog into an international scale-up threatening traditional banks Today Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling talks to Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski who has created a revolution in online shopping as well as Europe's most valuable fintech with 85 million customers, 205 000 online merchants in 17 countries and 2700 employees. And now the Klarna co-founder is out to beat Amazon with a new shopping tool that he announces exclusively in our podcast and that aims to offer brands and their customers the same level of convenience and benefits that exist on a platform like...2020-06-1750 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #26: Who will the Covid-19 unicorns be?Christoph Hornung, co-founder of Rocket Internet & now at VC firm Draper Esprit, with advice for later stage startups of what to do next Today Britta Weddeling, Editor-in-chief of Bits & Pretzels, talks with Christoph Hornung, co-founder of legendary German startup accelerator Rocket Internet, who recently joint London-based VC firm Draper Esprit as an investment director. The company is one of the leading VCs in Europe with investments in N26, Revolut & Transferwise among others & a focus on series B, C and later stage companies. In the conversation Christoph shares his view on why although the coronavirus pandemic already has lead to...2020-06-1035 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #25: SpaceX, Blue Origin & Planet: Why Startups lead the Race for SpacePlanet CEO Will Marshall about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos & how he has built the world’s largest fleet of satellites Welcome to the first interstellar episode of the Bits & Pretzels podcast! After with SpaceX for the first time in history a private company successfully sent two US astronauts to the International Space Station, the stars of space-gazing entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and many more have risen: among them Will Marshall, the co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-Berlin based startup Planet, which has built the largest fleet of satellites the world has ever seen. Each of the minisats co...2020-06-0342 min

Business German PodcastThe German Podcasts of the ship Mediapioneer OneDear Learners of Business German, I have published an episode about podcasts before, here an extra one I listen to nearly every day. All the information you will need is available online, therefore not too much I have to add from my side ... please check this out for yourself and bookmark the relevant sites and become a fan and follower like myself. As you will read, this project is unique and very new, a brandnew media ship cruising the Berlin waters like the river SPREE and moving through Germany along the rivers...2020-05-3004 min

Tech Briefing ExpressWie Airbnb die größte Krise seiner Geschichte meistern möchtePlus: Interview mit Digitalisierungs-Staatsministerin Dorothee BärIm Tech Briefing geht es in dieser Woche um neue Formen von Urlaub und Arbeit und welchen Einfluss das auf die Tech- und Start-up-Szene hat.Daniel Fiene verrät in den Tech-News der Woche, warum Sie Ihr iPhone und iPad unbedingt auf das aktuelle Betriebssystem updaten sollten.Digitalisierungs-Staatsministerin Doro Bär ist zu Gast auf unserem Redaktionsschiff ThePioneerOne und gibt einen Einblick in den Stand der Entwicklung der Corona-Tracing-App.Britta Weddeling, Chefredakteurin der Bits & Pretzels, spricht über neue Chancen für Start-ups in der EU, die sich nach der Corona-Pandemie ergeben: Tech-Giganten und Twitter und F...2020-05-2834 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #24 Brent Hoberman: How to grow your Startup now & where to get the Money fromOne of Europe’s top Entrepreneurs, early stage Investors & Startup Mentors on how founders can thrive in uncertainty In conversation with Bits & Pretzels' Britta Weddeling London-based top VC Brent Hoberman, one of the most influential entrepreneurs in European tech, shares his secrets of how founders can grow their startup during the current COVID-19 crisis, where to raise funds now as an early stage startup & what kind of companies & "founder DNA" he's looking for nowadays as an investor. Hoberman, who cofounded travel booking website Lastminute.com in 1998 and sold it seven years later for over $1 billion, also explained how he we...2020-05-2735 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #23: Knotel workspace CEO: "We'll never be back to the way it was"Amol Sarva shares personal insights & learnings of his 20+ years as entrepreneur "We’re going to have to redesign everything” – says Amol Sarva, the Knotel workspace CEO and serial entrepreneur from New York in conversation with Bit & Pretzels' Britta Weddeling. Last year Amol raised $400 million for his company, but today business as usual is over due to coronavirus. Flex-office firm Knotel struggles to pay rent at several of its New York City locations. It had to lay off nearly half of its staff, and nearly one-third of its tenants have requested some form of rent relief. In this episode Amol talks...2020-05-2033 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #22 Dan Ram: Five Hacks for Navigating ChangeThe MC of Bits & Pretzels, coach & entrepreneur shares crucial insights into how to push through the Corona crisis Dan Ram is an entrepreneur as well as a master of adaptation and reinvention which are skills every entrepreneur needs today to manage the many uncertainties and headwinds towards the future. As the son of an Indian diplomat Dan had to learn quickly how to transition from one country to another, one culture to another every 2-3 years growing up in 10 countries on 4 continents. On a professional level, he has started multiple companies and more recently has found his calling as...2020-05-1336 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #21: Michele Romanow: How to get yourself a better VC DealThe Clearbanc co-founder about how she became the rising star in Silicon Valley & what needs to be done to get more female founders Before the age of 28, Michele Romanow already started 3 companies. She's on TV regularly as one of the Dragon's on CBC's Dragon's Den, the Canadian equivalent to ABC's Shark Tank. And she was named as Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. And in this episode Michele talks with Britta about why she co-founded Clearbanc that is completely revamping the VC game. The rising star in venture capital in Silicon Valley funds startups through equity-free investments with the pr...2020-05-0642 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #20: Angela Ahrendts: Leading with Intuition to create ImpactThe female executive about what led her from Burberry to the top at Apple In this podcast episode, you’ll hear from one of the leading female executives in the business world: Angela Ahrendts, the longtime Head of Retail at Apple where she became the highest-paid executive and made double of what CEO Tim Cook made. Before that, she was CEO at British luxury fashion label Burberry. In conversation with Bits & Pretzels' Britta Weddeling Angela spoke about the leading principles that have shaped her career and how she rose from a small town in Indiana to the top of Si...2020-04-2954 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastB&P #19: The End of the European Corona Tracing App?Chris Boos, the frontman of PEPP-PT and the founder of Arago, about the current conflict regarding privacy and data protection around the European tracking platform It started as a truly European effort to create tracking apps to help break Covid-19 infection chains and to ease lockdown restrictions: the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) consortium, an alliance once of around 130 European computer scientists that launched last month with the aim of developing apps that would follow strict privacy rules. However, instead of being launched any day now, a number of prestigious supporters have withdrawn from the PEPP-PT project...2020-04-2234 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #18: A Facebook for Scientists to combat CoronaIjad Madisch, the founder and CEO of ResearchGate backed by ResearchGate is backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, investment bank Goldman Sachs and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund among others The time of Corona is the time of virologists, a species that’s more prominent than ever. Today we focus on medical aspects in our Bits & Pretzels podcast. How can medical and data based knowledge help ban the corona pandemic? Our guest in this episode is Ijad Madisch, founder of ResearchGate, which allows its 16 million members to exchange medical research date. He is also a medical doctor, a vi...2020-04-1547 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #17 on Corona: Increase your mental strength with Nico RosbergAn interview with the Formula One World Champion, Hannes Ametsreiter, the CEO of Vodafone Germany & other highlights from our first Virtual Founders Breakfast You´re listening to part two of our Bits & Pretzels Podcast Special regarding the corona crisis. Today former Formula One World Champion Nico Rosberg shares his insights how meditation and mental training helped him during his career. And we have Vodafone CEO Hannes Ametsreiter for you. He talks about the effects Corona has on the internet economy and says: “I think what we are seeing at the moment is the single biggest digital boost in...2020-04-0834 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #16 on Corona feat. Kevin Spacey, Albert Wenger & Lea-Sophie CramerOvercoming the crisis with advice from an actor, a leading VC from New York and the Amorelie founder Todays special episode of the Bits & Pretzels Podcast presents highlights from our first Bits & Pretzels Virtual Founders Breakfast. Actor Kevin Spacey shares his first-hand experience in dealing with uncertainties when your life as you know it comes to a halt. Albert Wenger, managing director at VC firm Union Square Ventures, shares his view on how to use the time of lockdown to rebuild your business. And Lea-Sophie Cramer, the co-founder of Amorelie, the hugely successful erotic lifestyle articles online...2020-04-0136 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #15 Corona: Why the best time to negotiate for founders is now!Matthias Schranner, a former hostage negotiator about how to handle the current worldwide crisis and to emerge stronger afterwards Here's how to emerge even stronger from the actual crisis around Covid-19: Call you investor. Call your clients. And get yourself a better deal. Sounds counterintuitive to you? Listen to the new Bits & Pretzels Podcast feat. Matthias Schranner, an FBI-trained negotiator who started his own firm, the Schranner Negotiation Institute, in Zurich with offices in New York and Hong Kong. Matthias actually thinks that now’s the best time to negotiate for founders – if you act quic...2020-03-2555 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #14 A Silicon Valley's top investor's view on the Corona crisisValley VC Saeed Amidi, CEO & founder of Plug & Play, about how founders should tackle the Corona crisis Saeed Amidi, CEO and founder of Plug & Play, a leading international accelerator, shares a surprising positive perspective on the ongoing economic downturn caused by the Corona crisis. Amidi, who heads work with 400 companies and more than 10 000 startups worldwide out of Sunnyvale, explains why now's the time to develop better products and better companies and how founders should push through the crisis, specifically because everybody does work from home (WFH) now: "I believe in hard work and I think right now...2020-03-1833 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #13 A conversation with Bavaria's Nerd-in-Chief Judith GerlachThe young politician about what needs to be done to support founders & the upsetting digital dead zones in rural Bavaria Judith Gerlach, Bavaria's first State Minister for Digital Affairs, talks about what needs to be done politically to push for more entrepreneurship and innovation in Germany, including whether we need to establish a Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs. Gerlach also shares her experience of building a ministry from the ground up and the pains and pleasures of life in politics, including her fight against digital dead zones in rural Bavaria. Because of these special circumstances...2020-03-1136 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #12 Johannes Reck: Why Trump's Tweets matter for European StartupsThe co-founder of GetYourGuide about why customer centricity is the key to built a globally successful platform for the travel industry Today, Johannes Reck, the co-founder of German travel unicorn GetYourGuide, talks about politics, recruiting talent to Berlin and why customer centricity is the single most important principle within GetYourGuide. He also shares what other entrepreneurs can learn from GetYourGuide's way up to the top of the startup world and why specifically money isn't the key to success. With GetYourGuide Johannes and his co-founder Tao Tao built a globally successful platform that provides travelers experiences. The company...2020-03-0440 min

Tech Briefing ExpressWas hinter dem neuen Netflix-Konkurrenten Disney+ stecktStreaming Wars + App Store Confidential + Wachstumsschmerzen bei N26Disney hat den Deutschlandstart von seinem Streamingdienst Disney+ angekündigt. Was das für Zuschauer und die Streamingbranche bedeutet, erklären Richard Gutjahr und Daniel Fiene.Außerdem: Tom Sadowski ist ehemaliger Apple-Manager und Autor des Buches "App Store Confidential". Er gibt Einblicke in die beeindruckende Welt der Apps — ein Milliarden-Markt für Apple.Britta Weddeling, Chefredakteurin der Bits & Pretzels, spricht über die Wachstumsschmerzen der Online-Bank N26.2020-02-2739 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #11 Valentin Stalf: Challenges for Challenger Bank N26Brexit, international expansion and competition - N26 is facing new tasks Today Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-chief, Britta Weddeling, is talking to Valentin Stalf, the co-founder of N26. N26 is a story of success. Its valuation of 3.5 billion dollars makes it the most valuable fintech startup in Germany, top 3 in Europe, top 10 worldwide. In the podcast Valentin talks about the next steps for N26, why the challenger bank suddenly pulled the plug just a year into the UK and what other founders can learn from N26’s experiences with international expansion, talent and dealing with competitors and customer complaints. ...2020-02-2638 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #10 Is FlixMobility doomed to grow?Daniel Krauss, co-founder of the German transportation unicorn, about the struggles of hyper-growth In this episode of the Bits & Pretzels podcast, Daniel Krauss, the co-founder of German unicorn FlixMobility, shares his experience with rapid expansion of the transportation unicorn into the international markets & how the team is targeting the downsides of this hyper-growth. The Munich based startup has become Europe’s leading provider for long-distance bus travel. But there is trouble in paradise: "Flix" has to deal with customer complaints and stiff competition as well as strong headwinds from regulators in Germany. Host: Br...2020-02-1929 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #9: The upsetting Lack of an Ecosystem for FoundersLars Klingbeil (SPD) about how to build a truly effective political framework for entrepreneurship In this episode Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-Chief, Britta Weddeling, challenges Lars Klingbeil, the General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), on the upsetting lack of a truly effective political framework for a thriving ecosystem for founders. For one, Klingbeil argues that his country needs a change in perspective: "Germans admire Mark Zuckerberg as a great founder, but they don't look at the people in their own country. And if our founders get attention all they get is being mocked.” He also ta...2020-02-1237 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #8 A Silicon Valley's Spin Master's Guide to Crisis CommunicationMarketing guru Margit Wennmachers, operating partner with VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, about the DOs & Don'ts for Founders Wired calls her "one of the most talented spin masters in the technology industry". CNN names her "the real queen of Silicon Valley". Margit Wennmachers has helped many founders to build their brand out of nowhere and helped in reputation management. She is an operating partner at the Silicon Valley based VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most prestigious investment companies in tech that has backed hundreds of startups, including Facebook, Airbnb, Twitter and Slack. In this...2020-02-0537 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #7 Investigative Journalist got 90 Hate Messages an HourMaria Ressa, the co-founder of news website Rappler, has been to jail several times and threatened with rape – but she won’t stop Investigative reporter Maria Ressa, the co-founder and CEO of popular news website Rappler, disclosed the spread of fake-news by supporters of Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines, and Facebook's role in the massive manipulation. That made her a very powerful enemy. Ressa spent two decades working as an investigative reporter, foreign correspondent and was bureau chief for CNN in Manila and Jakarta before starting Rappler. In 2018, Time Magazine named her "Person of the Year...2020-01-2947 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #6 Bastian Nominacher: "If I want to get something done, I can be a Pain in the Ass"How 3 friends turned a college project into a $2.5 billion dollar company Bastian Nominacher, the co-founder and Co-CEO of Celonis, started his firm with two university friends in Munich, which became one of the rare European unicorns out there. He talks about how he met his fellow founders, the moment when they founded their startup, how he identified his business model, and how he believes Celonis succeeds in always attracting the top talent in this very tight talent market. And we also hear about his humble beginnings like working in a computer shop… Hosts: Britta Weddeling, Ed...2020-01-2341 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #5 Drew Houston: How the Dropbox CEO stopped his burnoutDrew Houston about working less, "No-Meeting-Wednesdays" and his 90s cover band Drew Houston, co-founder of Dropbox, talks about why while building one of the most popular productivity apps on the internet he got really frustrated with his lack of performance as CEO and how being available 24/7 contributes to an "epidemic of burnout". He also talks about his evolution as an entrepreneur, how reading helped him becoming a better CEO and his invention – the "No-Meeting-Wednesday". Houston started Dropbox at the age of 24 while still a student at MIT. He also gives us an insight into his private life, sp...2020-01-0834 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #4 Florian Gschwandtner: Selling your Company could kill your BrandThe Runtastic co-founder's top 5 learnings from having his company been acquired by Adidas Florian Gschwandtner, co-founder and long-time CEO of Runtastic, who sold the fitness-company to Adidas for 220 million Euros in 2015, shares his personal learnings of what founders need to do after their company gets acquired. He talks about how the team kept control after the acquisition ("you need direct board-access") and how he dealt with Adidas decision to remove the name "Runtastic" as part of a larger integration into Adidas' fitness services. Gschwandtner also shares what he looks for as a startup-investor. He is interested in...2019-12-1856 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #3 Chris Barton: Why Shazam's co-founder would not take venture capital againWhile VCs are mostly looking for big "Grand Slam wins" while for an entrepreneur a firm doesn't have to be the biggest business to be a success Chris Barton, co-founder of popular music app Shazam, talks with Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling about what he has learned from building Shazam –including what he would do differently next time around. For example, he would not take venture capital again to start a company again, as he shares in the podcast. Barton sees a profound “misalignment“ between founders and investors, because VCs are mostly looking for "Grand Slam wins", whereas in the ey...2019-12-1033 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #2 How Hollywood star Jessica Alba built a billion dollar beauty companyNow the founder of the Honest Company wants other female founders to follow her lead Jessica Alba, the American actress and co-founder of The Honest Company, talks with Bits & Pretzels Editor-in-Chief Britta Weddeling about what she has learned during her evolution as an entrepreneur. Alba began her first career in Hollywood, recognized for her roles in "Dark Angel", "Fantastic Four" and "Sin City". Despite her on-screen successes it wasn’t easy for her to be taken seriously as an entrepreneur in the beginning. Today, Alba has established herself in business despite some roadblocks she hit on the way. Her co...2019-12-1033 min

Bits & Pretzels PodcastBits & Pretzels #1 Albert Wenger: A top VC's advice for how companies successfully expand to the USThe early investor in Twitter, Etsy and Tumblr explains why the future of startups is in Europe Albert Wenger, a managing partner at Union Square Ventures (USV), one of the top returning venture capital funds in the world, talks with Bits & Pretzels’ Britta Weddeling about the state of the European startup ecosystem, the challenging influence of big tech on innovation and how regulators could push for more entrepreneurship. USV manages assets totaling $1 billion. With his New York based fund, Wenger who is originally from a small town close to Nuremberg, Bavaria, invested in several European & US startups, su...2019-12-1055 min

Handelsblatt Disrupt - Der Podcast über die Zukunft der WirtschaftPublic-Mitgründer Zimmermann: „Govtech ist der größte und am schnellsten wachsende Technologiemarkt der Welt“Rund 400 Milliarden Dollar fließen jedes Jahr in digitale Technologien für öffentliche Verwaltungen. Der erfahrene Gründer und Managing Director der Venture Firm „Public“ Lars Zimmermann erklärt, wie es um Deutschland steht - und wie seine neue Plattform Public Gründer, Investoren und Behörden zusammenbringt. „Govtech ist der größte und am schnellsten wachsende Technologiemarkt der Welt“, sagt Zimmermann. Und auch hier ist China extrem weit. Dabei wäre es extrem wichtig für Europa, eigene Tech-Fähigkeiten zu entwickeln, sonst kommen die Technologien, auf denen die gesamte Verwaltung läuft, künftig aus dem Ausland, warnt Zimmermann. „Wir haben...2019-06-1436 min