"Starting a kola company was just the training to become an entrepreneur" - Mirco Wiegert, fritz kola

From Doubt to Drive - Entrepreneurs Only. This week with Mirco Wiegert, co-founder and CEO of fritz kola (www.fritz-kola.com)

Mirco founded the company with his friend Lorenz Hampel when they were students in Hamburg, Germany in 2003. Therefore, they terminated their “Bausparvertrag” and with only 7.000 Euro in cash they started to conquer one of the biggest brands in the world. Today, fritz kola is a hip and well-known brand in many European countries, they employ 300 people, called Fritzis, make a triple digit million number in sales and position themselves not only as beverage producer, but also use their market power to make strong statements against racism and right populism.

In this episode, Mirco talks about being the small startup in the market that stands up and conquers against the biggest soft drink giants, about how he had to learn to lead people and develop a company culture, and how important the consumer as guiding star is.

If you want to learn more about fritz, the struggles, roadblocks and successes of a startup, you should buy Mirco’s book “Fritz vs. Goliath” (available in German and English language) https://www.amazon.de/dp/3430210577?psc=1&smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

The main learnings from this conversation are:

• If I fail, the biggest price I must pay is to start a new company
• Stay independent
• Find the hole in the wall. Focus on what you’re good at
• Prepare yourself for a long run. Building a company is a marathon, not a sprint
• Get started, you just have to do it!
• Focus on sales

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© From Doubt to Drive Podcast, owned and operated by Aperitivo International B.V - Recorded on June 27, 2024 via Zoom in Hamburg, Germany (Mirco Wiegert) – Bandarawella, Sri Lanka (Mario C. Bauer) – Hamburg, Germany (Florian Schneider),