SPEAK LIKE A CEO

As the founder of 3 businesses, Chanyu Xu has proven herself to be a master communicator. Now at the helm of Her1, a supplement brand, she speaks to us about women's health, raising funding and the importance of being visual! Enjoy the episode!

This week’s guest is a CEO with a very unusual career trajectory. Nico Gramenz started in the military, moved into the corporate management world and is now working to support startups. He is the CEO of Factory Berlin, a community and collaborative co-working space that aims to bring Tech, Art and Science together in a single ecosystem. Nico's success is in part a result of the philosophy that you should always be learning from others, no matter how high you climb. Enjoy the episode!

Lisa Gradow is only 24, and has already achieved more than many will achieve in their lifetime. Her company, Usercentrics, is a market leader in the world of data protection and online consent, and she has cemented herself as a thought leader in the field. From throwing cookies at an audience to reading out a stranger's search history, she has a direct and exciting communications style, designed to catch your attention. Enjoy the episode!

When Silicon Allee was founded, Travis Todd wanted to bring a sense of community and sharing to the Berlin start-up ecosystem. Ten years later, Silicon Allee has become a nexus for startups throughout Berlin, and Travis has partnered with the Factory to build tech campuses around the world that support new founders from the very first steps on their journey. In this week's episode, he talks to us about the pitfalls of face-to-face communication, and reveals the secrets of running a successful online publication. Enjoy the episode!

Jag Singh spent ten years working on high-profile political campaigns before entering into the world of angel investing. Now working as the Managing Director of Techstars Berlin, he has helped to launch thousands of start-ups from around the world. In this episode, Jag talks about shaping your communications strategy to fit your style, and shares his method for cutting through the noise to reach the truth.

Franziska Teubert is working to promote innovative entrepreneurship across Germany. As the Managing Director for Communication and Partner Management at the Bundesverband Deutsche Startups, she acts as a point of communication between startups and politicians. On this week's episode, Lena and Franziska had a great conversation about internal and external communications styles and the upcoming German Start-up Awards. She also shared her number one tip for management: listen! Enjoy the episode!

Co-working spaces are everywhere, usually aiming to provide both a workspace and a community for founders, freelancers, techies and creatives. Madeleine Gummer von Mohl and her space, Betahaus, have been at the centre of the movement in Berlin since 2009, constantly growing and adapting to meet the needs of their members. This week, Madeleine spoke to us about honest communication strategies, the importance of speaking face-to-face, and how breakfast and coffee can lead to great businesses.

Mathias Klenk is working to give people ownership over their own data. After facing their own identity verification problems, Mathias and his co-founders developed their engine, Passbase, from a few friends in a tiny San Francisco apartment to a company that straddles two continents. In this episode, he talks to us about communicating across time zones, creating an environment that encourages feedback, and one very important trip to Burning Man.

Dr. Nakeema Stefflbauer has spent the better part of the last two decades helping make tech more accessible for women across the world. She is the founder and CEO of FrauenLoop, a Berlin-based non-profit organisation that offers classes in web development, data science, machine learning and network security to marginalised immigrant and refugee women. In today’s episode she tells us all of her secrets to master the art of persuasion and shares her unique take on how learning a new language can become a key problem-solving tool.

Stephan Bayer, the Founder & CEO of Sofatutor, is on a mission to make learning fun. Sofatutor is the leading EdTech company in Germany, counting over 1 million users across 3 countries, offering video lessons and interactive practice problems. What distinguishes Sofatutor, is their use of creative visuals and narrative elements to facilitate the learning process of a variety of subjects, from maths and biology to languages and music. Through his expert use of storytelling as a teaching tool, Stephan was able to build an incredibly loyal customer base of parents and children alike. He shared with us his secrets to break down complex problems and provide clarity on difficult subjects through the use of narrative tropes. Storytelling is Stephan’s superpower and he is a true expert in using it to make learning playful, fun and memorable.