What’s your favorite ritual or meeting in your team?
We don't start and end each week with business topics, but with personal questions and stories from the team. E.g., each team member tells us what they have planned for the weekend, or talks about a hobby, friends or family. It's a ritual that’s very important for a 100% remote team like ours.
What book do you recommend the most?
Scaling up from Verne Harnish. This is one of the best guides I know on how to build a great business in a structured way.
What helped you accelerate your growth as a leader / entrepreneur?
Reading books (specialised books and biographies of my leadership role models), conversations with my mentor, conversations with other founders. The success of a company is based on numerous factors. There is no single success factor. However, leadership is one of the most underestimated success criteria for a company. That is why every founder should regularly engage with leadership in their preferred way.
What motivates you to work as a leader / entrepreneur?
Seeing happy team members doing exactly what their talents allow them to do and being successful because they have an environment in which they can develop their talent to the full.
We’re building the largest library of insights and wisdom by and for founders and entrepreneurs.
Once a month we'll send you the latest interviews straight to your inbox. No fluff, just value. For free.
Here’s More, From Other Founders Around the World
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
I always thought that my life can be balanced between personal, business, health, family, finances and love. In that sense how much energy I put in and get back. But with the years, I learned that life is imbalanced by nature. It's still a goal for me and I believe if all parts are some kind of balanced, this speaks of a highly valuable life, but accepting that there will always be a certain imbalance, helped me a lot.
What's the biggest insight you learned in recent years?
It’s always a good idea to be connected to your product – even if you have to deal with high-level topics, always remember the things you offer.
What personal habit helped you accelerate your personal growth?
In one of the hardest times of my life so far, I started journaling for 1-2h on Sundays. Not digital, but with paper and pen. Always answering the same questions related to self, social life and work. This brutally honest and regular reflection once a week helped me identify problems early and iterate fast.
When times are tough, who or what is an anchor for you?
My co-founders are my anchor in work-related topics. Having an environment where failure is welcomed with a helping hand and where weakness is valued as openness, once you are down those people will drag you up.