What’s an important guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
“Lead by ideas, not by hierarchy.” The “position” of a person has nothing to do with the ability to contribute great ideas to improve the company. You should always strive for a company culture where everybody can talk to everybody.
What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?
I wanted to build an organization where the leading question is “what can we do” and not “why should we not do this or that.” The latter is what you usually find in “old” companies so entrepreneurship is the only way to go for me. The pursuit of a steep learning curve is what drives me.
What's a perspective we should pay more attention to in the workplace?
Embrace open communication. Embrace questioning the status quo. Provide the feeling that everybody in the organization can contribute to everything. Employees have so many valuable insights so you should do everything to learn from them.
What book do you recommend the most?
“$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No” – an awesome book by Alex Hormozi who describes perfectly what your customer wants to see and hear when making a purchase decision. Especially in Germany we still underestimate the importance of good sales. This book is worth every cent and is fun to read, too!
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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.