SPEAK LIKE A CEO

Pour yourself your favourite drink for this week’s episode. Communicating under the influence is not without challenges, and so is communicating about alcohol. More precisely, we are talking about spirits, with the person who represents one of Europe’s most valuable agri-food export sectors. Ulrich Adam is the Director General of spiritsEurope, the Brussels-based association that represents the interests of 29 associations of spirits producers as well as 10 leading multinational companies, supporting 1m jobs from farmers to distillers and bartenders. What sounds like a fun job also harbours many communications challenges. Ulrich has also modernised the association’s communications, making it more agile and digital. In this episode, we dive into the rich tradition of spirits in Europe and gain insights into: ‼️How to protect yourself against criticism with the right messaging and strategies such as premiumisation. 🔐 How to effortlessly switch between the strategic and operational as a top communicator and why twitter has replaced monthly reports in Brussels. ☑️ Why advocacy is always about solving the problems of policy-makers first, before bringing your own topics to the table. This episode is sponsored by HeyViz. Get in touch with Oliver: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-aust/ 

First: create a market. Second: own it. Third: expand globally. Amboss' market share is simply off the charts, bigger than Google’s, and the Berlin EdTech has big plans to make up-to-date research accessible to ever more medical students and doctors around the world. A decade ago: studying for your medical exams or accessing up-to-date medical research was a time-consuming grind. Scientific communication was cryptic and elitist. Today: Amboss does the heavy lifting. The Berlin EdTech company that was founded by Sievert and two friends in 2011 has become THE online reference for more than 1m medical professionals in over 180 countries who rely on the platform to keep up with rapidly expanding medical knowledge. Amboss’ mission is to empower all doctors to provide the best possible care. They raised $40m, built a team of 400 doctors, scientists and developers and still find time to help build an elementary school in India. Amboss is all about curation and communication, so lots to talk about with our guest Sievert Weiss. Tune in to find out 🎣 How to identify and capture a new market in less than a year 🗣 Why physically meeting your customers is key to a great launch 🎯 How to make huge amounts of complex info accessible Sponsored by HeyViz.

Today we talk about an issue that concerns over 100 million young people in Europe. During the pandemic our podcast guest, a couples therapist, was approached by many millennials who were struggling with their relationship skills. Even though the needs and situations were all quite different, Katharina Wäschenbach realised they could be resolved using the functional tools of couples therapy. But this needed a twist, because couples therapy is: (1) for two and not a coaching for one person. (2) highly stigmatised and suggests something is wrong that needs to be fixed. (3) is not easily accessed. Her conclusion: There is a huge demand that needed a digital solution. So she founded Dearest, a relationship wellness app for millennials. Before stepping into the digital health business, Katharina worked in HR and Recruiting for companies like heycar, Foodspring and Unilever. With her new won passion for bringing the communication skills needed for thriving relationships to people, she is on the mission to democratise relationship health. Tune in to find out: 🎨 How to shift public perception of a stigmatised issue 📡 Finding the right-message-market fit when dealing with emotions and relationships 🔐 What communications in relationships and in business have in common - and what not Connect with Oliver Aust and Lena Carlson on LinkedIn. If you like the episode, please leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts and share with people, who might profit from the insights. Thank you!

Today's guest was browsing the internet 3 years ago to find a sustainable black dress. That search for the perfect piece with a purpose turned out to be way harder than she could have imagined. "This shouldn’t be so difficult“, she thought, and an impressive entrepreneur was born. Last year, Iris Skrami co-founded Renoon, a search platform for conscious consumers that offers a curated selection of pre-owned, rental and new products that meet rigorous sustainability standards. A place where you can easily search and find a sustainably produced black dress! Iris is a passionate young entrepreneur on a mission. She is putting her skills and talent into empowering customers to make an impact when buying apparel. According to @Sifted, she is one of the top 70 ‘pioneers of the new world’ and was on the Forbes Under 30 Italy 2021 list. She is a member of the Leaders for Climate Action community, which works to bring together climate-conscious leaders and a certified yoga instructor with a Youtube channel, which has 100.000+ followers and has clocked up over 10 million views. Tune in to find out 🔐 Why storytelling is key to get your start-up off the ground 📣 The ingredients to crafting a strong pitch 🎯 And why an authentic personal brand is the most impactful

Todays guest is building the future of urban living. Florian Färber is the Founder and CEO of TheBase. Previously he was the co-founder of Zipjet that he successfully led to an exit in 2019. Now he has turned his attention to a completely new space: real estate with a purpose. With TheBase he aims to provide unique co-living spaces that enable individuals to 1) live beyond the square meters they would otherwise be limited to in traditional housing formats and 2) find possibilities for privacy and connection. The time for this idea is now: The proportion of single households is increasing whilst people are seeking community. At the same time, the demand for small flats in the big cities is rising as more and more people move into urban areas. Tune in to find out: 💙 How purpose creates resilient teams and a powerful employer brand 📧 How to use social media & targeted email campaigns to create awareness 📡 Why CEO communications has become more important even in traditional sectors like real estate Connect with Oliver Aust on LinkedIn. If you like the episode, please leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts and share with people, who might profit from the insights. Thank you!

The VC scene is male-dominated, and more diverse investment opportunities are being overlooked. Our podcast guest concluded that there is significant potential for financial returns and making an impact at the same time. In February 2021 Gesa Miczaika set off with her joint angel investor Bettine Schmitz from Auxxo Beteiligungen to initiate Germany’s first VC fund for female founders. In spite of many sceptics forecast that getting investors on board will take at least 1,5 years, the Auxxo Female Catalyst fund launched this week after just nine months of fundraising. Now $15m of equity capital are ready for deployment to achieve the balanced representation of women as founders and investors. Gesa also supports start-ups on the board of the Federal Association of German Start-ups and advises the Ministry of Economics as a member of the Young Digital Economy Advisory Board. Tune in to find out: 🎯 How to device a unique communication strategy to speed up your launch 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦 What the female perspective and mothers' communication style bring to investment opportunities 🚀 Why being in politics really makes a difference if you want to create impact Connect with Oliver Aust and Lena Carlson on LinkedIn.  If you like the episode, please leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts and share with people, who might profit from the insights. Thank you!

Some stories just make you sit up and listen. Today’s episode features Tamaz Georgadze, co-founder and CEO of Raisin, the leading marketplace that links private investors to savings products from all over Europe. Tamaz became a chess master at 4, started university at 15 and held two PhDs before most one of us knew what we wanted to do with our lives. In 2012, the former McKinsey partner launched Raisin with his two co-founders in a Berlin basement. Together they have grown the fintech into a company with hundreds of employees, 650.000+ customers and multiple brands (including Weltsparen) operating in numerous markets. When launching Raisin, Tamaz faced a huge challenge: Why would anyone trust their fledging business in a basement with their money? He overcame this challenge by applying two of the most important lessons in communications: 1) Your personal story can carry you a long way; and 2) the most valuable building block of a successful business is trust, and trust is created by transparent communications. In this episode, Tamaz shares plenty of other insights with us including: What the savings business has to do with uniting Europe When your personal brand matters and when it doesn't What you can learn from sales to communicate better as a leader Why transparency matters most when building a high-performing company culture Connect with Oliver Aust and Lena Carlson on LinkedIn. If you like the episode, please leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts and share with people, who might profit from the insights. Thank you!

What started as a passion project by two economics graduates in 2013 now reaches 30 million users each month on multiple channels. This week’s guest is Mengting Gao, the impressive CEO of Kitchen Stories. She built a global brand in the very crowded online cooking market with her co-founder Verena Hubertz. What a story! First they were rejected by investors; a few years later they exited successfully by finding the right strategic partner. Their business model evolved from vague to acing both B2B and B2C, and now everyone wants a piece of the pie: even Apple chief Tim Cook stopped by to make pancakes with them. Tune in and find out how to ☄️ set yourself apart from your competition in a crowded online market 🧮 use data to build a social media strategy that gets business results 💸 what channels they double down on right now Connect with Lena Carlson & Oliver Aust on LinkedIn. 

Why do nine out of ten startups fail? What differentiates a future unicorn from your run-off-the-mill startup? More often than not, the answer is communications. As Ben Horowitz points out, “As a company grows, its biggest challenge always becomes communications.” Clearly, no raging success has been built on bad communications. Given the magnitude of this challenge, there is little systematic advice out there how startups and scaleups can overcome this challenge and turn communications from threat to massive opportunity. Jag and Oliver have set out to close this gap. In this episode they announce their forthcoming book which aims to help founders turn communications into their biggest asset, covering external, internal and financial stakeholders. But they need your help: If you are a founder who has raised Series A or a heading communications for a scale-up and might be interested in providing feedback on one of the chapters, please do get in touch: Jag Singh: linkedin.com/in/jagsingh85 Oliver Aust: linkedin.com/in/oliver-aust

Psychedelics are back. And thanks to scientific discovery there are high hopes that these substances will treat depression, addiction and help in other categories of mental illness. Science is one thing. Building a business in a this arena is still highly controversial and even illegal in many countries. This is definitely a challenge that requires very sophisticated communication. Anne Philippi is the founder and CEO of The New Health Club, a platform and a community in the field of psychedelic wellness and treatments. Being a trailblazer in this field, she also brings an impressive pedigree as a journalist to her venture, interviewing musicians like Amy Winehouse and Hollywood stars like Gwyneth Paltrow  for Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ, and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Tune in and find out 📍 How to navigate public opinion for a highly sensitive offer 🤫 The journalistic secrets to making stories work as an entrepreneur 💰 How to create trust and make an impact with investors when pitching in a controversial field If you enjoyed the episode, share it and give us a review on Apple Podcasts. That would be lovely. Thank you! If you have any questions or feedback, do not hesitate to get in touch with us on LinkedIn.