Mostly Awesome

In this episode, Julia Gottfriedsen, Head of Data Science & AI at OroraTech, shares how space and artificial intelligence come together to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time. We follow Julia’s journey and explore how technology, leadership, and vision can shape the future. She reflects on how seeing Earth from orbit, with its atmosphere and absence of borders, influences her perspective on responsibility, innovation, and collaboration. Julia also discusses how OroraTech is building the world’s first thermal-infrared satellite constellation to detect and monitor wildfires in real time, providing critical insights for climate resilience and communities across the globe. She explains how running AI models directly on satellites enhances data quality and why vertical integration is essential for success in space technology. Beyond innovation, Julia emphasizes the importance of leadership, diversity, and inclusion, sharing how she builds high-performing teams in a fast-scaling deep-tech environment, why vulnerability and trust are central to her approach, and how she works to create more opportunities for women in tech and space.

In this special guest episode, Judith Dada (General Partner at La Famiglia) and Hanno Renner (Co-founder & CEO of Personio) join us to reflect on their time at CDTM and how it shaped their journeys over the past decade.They talk about what made CDTM so formative, how it created a culture of ambition and trust, and why it continues to be a launchpad for some of Europe’s most impactful founders and investors. Judith shares how CDTM influenced her approach to backing early-stage companies, while Hanno reflects on how the program supported the earliest days of building Personio.This episode is a celebration of community, curiosity, and what happens when driven people are given the space to think big - together.

Erik Muttersbach, co-founder of Forto and now Zauber AI, joins us to talk about what it takes to build globally competitive tech companies from Europe. A CDTM Spring 2013 alumnus, Erik reflects on his journey from being the first employee at DailyDeal, to launching and scaling Forto into one of Europe’s leading digital freight forwarders, and now starting over with Zauber AI.We dive into why most startups scale too early, how product-market fit is often misunderstood, and why AI agents are finally making it possible to automate the chaotic workflows behind global logistics. Erik shares what he’s doing differently this time around — from hiring and fundraising to focusing relentlessly on building something indispensable.He also opens up about life after Forto, the decision to return to zero-to-one, and how becoming a parent reshaped his relationship to time, focus, and ambition. If you're building in logistics, AI, or Europe, or just want an honest look at the highs and lows of company-building, this episode is for you.

Verena Pausder joins us to talk about what Germany needs to truly scale innovation. We dive into how the next generation of founders is redefining work, what’s broken in the startup ecosystem, and how AI can bridge the gap in digital education.She shares lessons from leading the German Startup Association, building companies, and investing in women’s football. This episode is about mindset shifts, modern leadership, and why we need to stop underestimating young builders.🎧 Topics include:The risk-aversion problem in German entrepreneurshipHow AI can transform classrooms and tutoringWhy Verena is optimistic about the new generation#Startups #AI #Germany #Education #Leadership #VerenaPausder #Podcast #CDTM

In this episode, we sit down with Gustaf Alströmer, YC Partner and former Head of Growth at Airbnb, to explore how AI is rewriting the playbook for early-stage startups. From why output matters more than effort, to what truly defines exceptional founders today, Gustaf shares lessons from working with hundreds of companies. We also dive into the European startup ecosystem, building ambition at scale, and why immigrant founders consistently outperform. If you’re building in the AI era - or just want to understand what’s changed in startup land over the last two decades.

Insights from Marc Klingen CEO and co-founder of Langfuse, the open-source LLM observability platform.In this episode, we dive Marc shares his journey of moving back to Europe post-YC and establishing a high-agency, high-trust team culture. We delve into the complexities of building an open-source community, the hurdles in exciting developers about your product, and strategies for monetization. Marc also shares observations on the current state of AI applications, highlighting common use cases like customer support, market research, and software development.00:36 - The "WHY" of decisions02:27 - The Langfuse Story04:18 - Pivoting05:09 - The "YC" effect08:14 - Building high trust and high talent team10:02 - Team Motivation11:01 - Reasons not to start a company12:21 - Building a Company in Europe14:01 - Speed and Progress in AI15:50 - Why open source?19:49 - Creating a developer community22:51 - Patterns in AI teams26:58 - What do teams get wrong?28:43 - Moats in AI applications30:56 - Missing in Stack34:08 - Afraid of and optimistic about....35:01 - Running from and running towards

In conversation with Clemens Meyer, Technical Director @ Google DeepMind.This time we first dive into Clemens’ journey from startups to joining DeepMind and making an impact in interdisciplinary teams. Then how to balance exploitation and exploration in research, with a focus on measurable progress tracking and finally Google’s early role in the AI race, and reflections on the exponential nature of AI progress. Clemens also shares behind-the-scenes insights into AlphaFold’s success—how it began and how ongoing team efforts helped shape its impact. 00:30 Clemens's responsibilities @ DeepMind01:53 The shift from startups to managing research teams07:17 Teams @DeepMind09:55 How to make sure that teams are making progress11:28 Exploration vs Exploitation 12:48 Communication is key14:11 The DeepMind team structure15:29 The AlphaFold story24:55 The Gemini story27:07 Google joining the transformer race29:11 What to look for in people when making a team?30:29 The AI hype and what people are missing32:31 Advice to create impact35:05 Final thoughts on what should be changed or encouraged @ CDTM

Viet Le, Early-Stage VC and Partner at General Catalyst, shares his compelling insights on investing in young, first-time founders navigating the AI hype. He discusses his philosophy favoring energetic newcomers over experienced founders. The conversation dives into the importance of efficient building and selling, and how defensibility in AI software can make or break startups. Viet highlights the balance of action over planning and the unique opportunities for AI-native companies to challenge traditional industries. His perspective is both refreshing and thought-provoking!

In this episode, we are talking to Thomas Kirchner. Thomas is an entrepreneur and founder of ProGlove, a company that sells smart gloves used in countless German and international companies for speeding up the manufacturing process. The idea of ProGlove is simple, yet brilliant: every time you scan a barcode of a part when you assemble, for example, a car, you have to pick up a scanner from your pocket, scan the barcode of the item, and put back the scanner. This is frustrating and time-consuming. So what if you could just... wear the scanner? In this episode, we talk to Thomas about his life, his previous ventures, how he and his cofounders came up with the idea, how they scaled up the company from zero to millions in revenue, how they sold it for lots of money and how he's now giving back to other founders. Stay with us, because you're not gonna want to miss this episode! This is the CDTM Mostly Awesome Podcast.

Hamza Tahir is a software developer turned ML engineer. An indie hacker by heart, he loves ideating, implementing, and launching data-driven products. His previous projects include PicHance, Scrilys, BudgetML, and you-tldr. Based on his learnings from deploying ML in production for predictive maintenance use-cases in his previous startup, he co-created ZenML, an open-source MLOps framework for creating production grade ML pipelines on any infrastructure stack. In this podcast, we dive into Hamza's initial projects, how he got into entrepreneurship, as well as his struggles with balancing his entrepreneurial career and personal responsibilities. We also talk about his outlook on the AI space, limits to current model architectures, existential risks, and much more. We hope you enjoy the episode!