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The Startup Pioneers Podcast

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Startup Pioneers is a non-profit that connects the greatest entrepreneurs of tomorrow with the greatest entrepreneurs and venture capitalists of today. On the podcast, highly successful founders and investors share their experiences with the next generation, provide advice and tell their stories. Be inspired!

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Daniel Waterhouse is a venture capital investor at Balderton, where he is a General Partner. Daniel was an early investor in companies such as Spotify and Revolut.

I speak with Daniel about his youth, his thought process when deciding whether to invest in a startup, his most important learnings, and much more!

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Greg Gretsch is a venture capital investor at Jackson Square Ventures, where he is co-founder and managing director. Greg was an early investor in companies such as Upwork and The Athletic. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Greg was a serial entrepreneur, having founded three startups. In addition, Greg was on the Forbes Midas List.

I speak with Greg about the pros and cons of San Francisco compared to Silicon Valley from the perspective of a startup founder, when and how he got into venture capital, his most important advice for founders, and much more!

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Mathias Ruch is the founder of CV VC. CV VC is one of the most active venture investors in crypto and blockchain technology. 

I speak with Mathias about the founding story of CV VC, the best opportunities for young founders in Web3, what it takes to be a successful startup founder, and much more!

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Tim Draper is one of the most successful venture capital investors of all time. He has been one of the first investors in companies like Tesla, Twitter, Skype, SpaceX, Coinbase, Hotmail, and Twitch, to name a few. In addition, Tim founded a university for entrepreneurs: Draper University.
I speak with Tim about what the 16 / 17-year-old Tim looked like, the most important learnings he has gathered to this point, what great entrepreneurs like Elon Musk do differently, and much more!

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Pascal Bieri is the co-founder of Planted. Planted is one of the most successful Swiss startups. Planted produces plant-based meat and thus makes an important contribution to sustainability and health on earth. Planted has raised over 120 million in investor funding.
I speak to Pascal about how Planted produces meat from plants, how he sees his competitors, the importance of customer feedback, and much more!

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Olivier Bernhard is co-founder of On. On is one of the biggest sports brands in the world. On went public in 2021 and is now worth 6.5 billion. In the same year, On made a turnover of 724 million.

I talk to Olivier about how he came up with the idea of On, how he got Roger Federer to join On, what his impressions were of On's IPO and much more!

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Thomas Holl is co-founder of Babbel. Babbel is a web-based language learning platform that has over 20 million users in over 190 countries.

I talk to Thomas about how to build a company that succeeds globally, dealing with the competition, Babbel's IPO and much more!

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Benedict Kurz is co-founder of Knowunity. Knowunity is a learning app that allows students to upload learning content for other students. Additionally, students can ask each other questions. This creates a community platform. Over 2.7 million students use Knowunity and over 250 thousand items of learning content are available for viewing on Knowunity.

I talk to Benedict about the beginnings of Knowunity during his time in high school, how he found high profile investors, his most important learnings and much more!

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Peter Kaeser is co-founder of VIU Eyewear. VIU Eyewear is an eyewear brand and one of the most successful startups with over 70 stores in Europe.

I talk to Peter about how to find an idea for a startup, how to find investors, how to do successful marketing and much more!

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Nina Rinke is an investor at Earlybird. Earlybird is one of the most successful venture capital firms in Europe, investing primarily in young, European technology-based companies.

I talk to Nina about the importance of the startup team, the decision-making process when investing in startups, the everyday life of an investor and much more!

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Léa Miggiano is co-founder of Carvolution. Carvolution is one of the most successful Swiss startups. Carvolution is a car subscription provider. This means that you neither buy nor lease a car, but you subscribe to it. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

In my conversation with Léa, I talk about how she became a founder, about Carvolution, about tips to the new generation and much more!

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Richard Coraine co-founded Shake Shack, one of the most successful restaurant chains in the world. Shake Shack is NASDAQ-listed and has a valuation of over 3 billion dollars. Additionally, Richard co-founded other well-known restaurants such as Eleven Madison Park, a 3 Michelin-star restaurant in New York City. He achieved all of this as a founding partner of the Union Square Hospitality Group.

I speak with Richard about the founding story of Shake Shack, his key to success, his most important advice for building and leading teams, and much more!

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Randy Altschuler is the co-founder and CEO of Xometry. Xometry is a NASDAQ-listed company that revolutionizes manufacturing by providing an online platform that connects businesses with a network of manufacturers for on-demand services like 3D printing and CNC machining.

I speak with Randy about the founding story of Xometry, how Xometry secured high-profile investors or customers like NASA, BMW, Bosch, and Dell, what the 15 / 16-year-old Randy looked like, and much more!

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Chris Kaufman is the co-founder of StockX. StockX is an online marketplace for sneakers and other products. Over 30 million people use StockX monthly. StockX raised over 700 million dollars from investors.

I speak with Chris about the founding story of StockX, the importance of good design for the success of a startup, the attributes of successful founders, and much more!

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Tim Moser looks after startups at Microsoft that are supported by Microsoft. One example is Mantis, co-founded by Carl Biagosch.
I talk to Tim and Carl about how important technology is for startups, how Microsoft supports startups, what Mantis does, and much more!

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Leopold Lerach is an investor at Project A. Project A is one of the largest and most successful venture capital firms. Since 2012, Project A has invested in over 100 startups.

I talk to Leopold about how he became an investor, what the biggest success factors are for startups, what a startup needs to get funding from investors and much more!

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Karim Maizar is a partner at Kellerhals Carrard. Kellerhals Carrard is one of the largest and most successful law firms in Switzerland. Karim is responsible for startups and venture capital at Kellerhals Carrard.

I talk to Karim about why the topic of law is important in entrepreneurship, what are the most common mistakes founders make, which legal aspects are crucial for the success of a startup and much more!

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Janosch Kühn is co-founder of Kolibri Games. Kolibri Games is a gaming company that has produced many successful gaming apps and brought them into the app charts. One example is the game Idle Miner Tycoon with well over 100 million downloads.

I talk to Janosch about the importance of technology in startups, the innovation in Kolibri's games, the topic of selling your startup and much more!

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Julius de Gruyter is co-founder of Krisenchat. Krisenchat is a non-profit that enables young people in need to get 24/7 psychosocial first aid via chat. Krisenchat has already enabled over 40 thousand people to get such help with over 1.5 million messages sent via chat.

I talk to Julius about the creation of Krisenchat, the impact of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine on Krisenchat, his personal goals for the future and much more!

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Maxim Nitsche is the co-founder of Math42. Math42 is a math tutoring app. The app has been downloaded over 6 million times in the App Store. Maxim founded Math42 when he was in high school.

I talk to Maxim about the launch of Math42, the best and the most difficult moments, his advice to the next generation and much more!

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Claude Donzé is a VC investor at Tomahawk.VC. VC stands for venture capital and means investing in young companies / startups. Claude is responsible for decentralized finance investments. These are startups in the financial sector that are based on the blockchain.

In my conversation with Claude, I talk about the keys to startup success, the right way to deal with investors, the ideal age to found a startup and much more!

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Sponsors

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Partners

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