Episode 82: Martin Schilling - Managing Director of Techstars Deep Tech Berlin - How To Scale Startups Into Unicorns

In this episode, we catch up with Martin Schilling, Managing Director of Techstars Deep Tech Berlin Accelerator; author of the book "The Builder’s Guide to the Tech Galaxy – 99 Practices to Scale Startups into Unicorn Companies"; former COO of the FinTech N26 where he scaled operations from 100 full-time employees to 900 full-time employees and scaled up an international team for 25 markets; and an organizer of Deep Tech Momentum, the #1 European bootcamp for Deep Tech founders. Martin discusses the importance of building unicorns in Europe and the challenges founders face. He shares his insights on leadership lessons learned from scaling N26, including the importance of a clear North Star, hiring AAA leaders, and focusing on functional excellence. Martin also reflects on his most expensive hiring mistake and the need for founders to prioritize certain practices to accelerate growth. He gives advice for early-stage founders approaching investors and navigating the challenges of scaling startups. Lastly, he emphasizes the importance of building alliances and friendships in the global tech ecosystem. Takeaways 1.Europe needs to build more unicorns and become the leading global Deep Tech ecosystem. 2.Founders should prioritize finding their North Star, hiring and retaining a strong leadership team, and mastering the fundraising game. 3.Investors look for qualities such as speed of execution, traction, domain expertise, product traction, and CEO sales skills when evaluating startups. 4.Early-stage Deep Tech founders should leverage grants, seek specialized Deep Tech investors, and be clear on technical milestones. 5.Building alliances and friendships in the global tech ecosystem is crucial for success and navigating geopolitical challenges. This episode of EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. Compliance doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, with Vanta it can be super simple. Trusted by over 7,000 companies, Vanta automates the pricey, time-consuming process of prepping for ISO 27001,SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, and more. Learn more here: http://vanta.com/eustartups