Mostly Awesome

Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM)

Mostly Awesome is a podcast about the personal journeys of innovators. We talk to the doers and thinkers of our time to understand what motivates them and why they do what they do. Together we reflect upon their decisions, wins, and setbacks. Meet our inspiring yet relatable guests from the world of entrepreneurship and technology to find out what may help you to become an innovator of tomorrow! Get ready for bi-weekly episodes on Wednesdays. We are looking forward to our guests and your feedback to podcast@cdtm.de. Mostly Awesome is brought to you by the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) in Munich. For more information, check www.cdtm.de/podcast. And now lean back, listen in, and learn from the thought leaders of our time!

  1. #52 Sarah Fleischer: On Battery Recycling, Deep Tech, Growing Up Between Cultures and Lessons from Failure

    VOR 5 TAGEN

    #52 Sarah Fleischer: On Battery Recycling, Deep Tech, Growing Up Between Cultures and Lessons from Failure

    In this episode, we talk to Sarah Fleischer, 3x founder and Co-founder & CEO of tozero, a Munich-based startup that recovers lithium and graphite directly from battery waste. Sarah is a mechanical engineer and CDTM alum who has raised over $20 million and recently launched tozero's industrial demo plant in Germany. We get into her path to tozero, which includes two earlier ventures that did not survive. At 22 she dropped out of CDTM to sell German baby milk formula to Chinese mothers, a bootstrapped e-commerce business that worked commercially but fell apart over a founder split. Her second company helped Chinese tourists purchase luxury goods across Europe and ultimately had to close. She talks about the three months it took to climb out of that hole, and the realization that both ventures had been driven by money rather than mission, which she now sees as the reason many founders fail. She also opens up about growing up as a third culture kid, half German and half Chinese, moving between Canada, Hong Kong and Shanghai as her father took computer science professorships around the world. She reflects on watching Shanghai transform in just a few years, what it means to never quite fit into a single culture, and how that shaped her resilience as a founder. We get into how the technology actually works. Her co-founder Xenia developed a method to extract over 97% of the lithium from spent batteries using organic additives instead of harsh chemicals, functioning somewhat like a coffee filter for critical raw materials. Sarah breaks down why lithium and graphite have remained the unsolved challenge in battery recycling, why almost 99% of refined lithium currently comes from a single country, and what the looming supply deficit from 2030 onwards means for European industry. On the business side she is refreshingly grounded. She makes the case for why owning and operating your own plants beats licensing, and explains how tozero built an industrial demo plant with just 17 million in total funding. She also talks about why Honda, Intel and Japan's JGC ended up on the cap table, and what strategic investors unlock that pure financial VCs cannot. We wrap up with a rapid fire round covering everything from deep sea versus deep space to leather jackets and late nights.

    45 Min.
  2. #51 Pip Klöckner: On Tech, Podcasting, AI and Building in Germany

    25. FEB.

    #51 Pip Klöckner: On Tech, Podcasting, AI and Building in Germany

    In this episode, we talk to Pip Klöckner, tech analyst, angel investor, and host of Doppelgänger, Germany's leading tech podcast. Pip started doing data entry at Idealo, climbed through marketing and product, advised Rocket Internet and KKR, and now invests his own money and breaks down tech for a living. We get into how he actually never wanted to start a podcast and kept saying no until his co-host found a way to get him to do it anyway. He talks about why podcasting works surprisingly well for introverts, how he processes 115 newsletters without burning out, and what his inbox management has in common with social media. On AI he's refreshingly pragmatic. He makes a case for why doing nothing might actually be the smart move for most companies right now, and has a pretty blunt take on whether Europe has any realistic shot at competing with US labs spending 50 billion a year. He also opens up about growing up in East Germany, what selling vegetables with his grandma taught him about economics, and why he thinks there's an integration problem in Germany that nobody really talks about. We ask him what single skill matters most in a world where AI makes intelligence cheap. We wrap up with a rapid fire round covering everything from dropping out of uni to Munich's reputation.

    41 Min.
  3. #50 Magnus Grünewald: On AI Sovereignty, Deep Tech Infrastructure and Building High-Performance Teams

    20.12.2025

    #50 Magnus Grünewald: On AI Sovereignty, Deep Tech Infrastructure and Building High-Performance Teams

    In this episode, we sit down with Magnus Grünewald, the 23-year-old founder and CEO of Lyceum, who recently raised a massive €10.3M pre-seed round to challenge US hyperscalers. Rather than just a story about a young founder raising capital, this conversation offers a revealing look into what it takes to build "impossible" deep tech from Europe. Magnus shares how his tenure as Chief of Staff at Enpal served as a crucial lesson in losing the fear of "heavy assets." He candidly admits that starting out required a healthy dose of "delusion" to dare compete with established Tech Giants. He argues that while software is often about rapid iteration, building industrial infrastructure demands a fundamental mindset shift from tweaking buttons to moving mountains. We explore Lyceum’s core thesis of transitioning from "renting computers" to "consuming compute." Magnus breaks down his "power socket" philosophy, where AI engineers manage server uptime no more than a smartphone user manages the electrical grid. He also outlines why digital sovereignty is far more than a regulatory checkbox, becoming a critical competitive necessity for industries like BioTech. Finally, Magnus opens up about his leadership style of "extreme delegation" and how he unites PhDs and industry veterans behind a shared mission by hiring for a unique blend of "high urgency" and "conscientiousness." He concludes with a sharp perspective on the AI market, arguing that we should ignore the funding bubble and focus entirely on enterprise adoption.

    33 Min.
  4. #49 André Petry: On Agency, Ambition, and Building Europe’s Industrial Future

    26.11.2025

    #49 André Petry: On Agency, Ambition, and Building Europe’s Industrial Future

    In this episode, André Petry, co-founder and CEO of Tacto, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about ambition, agency, and what it means to build from Europe. We trace André’s journey from a 400-person village to CDTM, Berkeley, and eventually to founding one of Germany’s rising industrial software companies. Along the way, he shares how discovering a community of optimistic, self-directed peers at CDTM reshaped his sense of what’s possible and why that shift in mindset ultimately led him to entrepreneurship. André reflects on his early experiments building websites, online marketing projects as unlikely training grounds for developing self-reliance and problem-solving. He explains why agency, rather than pedigree, is often the defining factor in whether people actually change things, and how this belief guides Tacto’s culture today. We dive deep into Europe’s industrial backbone and why André believes the continent’s greatest opportunity lies in doubling down on manufacturing, robotics, and industrial AI. He challenges the narrative that ambitious founders must leave for the U.S., arguing instead that the strongest companies are built where domain expertise, customers, and talent are closest. He also opens up about the responsibility he feels toward the system that supported him, how ambition can be cultivated through narrative, and why optimism must shape Europe’s strategy.

    48 Min.
  5. #48 Julia Gottfriedsen: On Future of Space Tech, AI in Climate Resilience, and Leadership

    08.09.2025

    #48 Julia Gottfriedsen: On Future of Space Tech, AI in Climate Resilience, and Leadership

    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.

    41 Min.
  6. #47 Judith Dada and Hanno Renner: 11 years later - on what makes CDTM special

    20.08.2025

    #47 Judith Dada and Hanno Renner: 11 years later - on what makes CDTM special

    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.

    51 Min.
  7. #46 Erik Muttersbach: On building ambitiously, scaling wisely, and betting on Europe

    02.08.2025

    #46 Erik Muttersbach: On building ambitiously, scaling wisely, and betting on Europe

    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.

    59 Min.
  8. #45 Verena Pausder: Why Germany must bet on bold founders and digital education

    26.06.2025

    #45 Verena Pausder: Why Germany must bet on bold founders and digital education

    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 entrepreneurship How AI can transform classrooms and tutoring Why Verena is optimistic about the new generation #Startups #AI #Germany #Education #Leadership #VerenaPausder #Podcast #CDTM

    36 Min.
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Mostly Awesome is a podcast about the personal journeys of innovators. We talk to the doers and thinkers of our time to understand what motivates them and why they do what they do. Together we reflect upon their decisions, wins, and setbacks. Meet our inspiring yet relatable guests from the world of entrepreneurship and technology to find out what may help you to become an innovator of tomorrow! Get ready for bi-weekly episodes on Wednesdays. We are looking forward to our guests and your feedback to podcast@cdtm.de. Mostly Awesome is brought to you by the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) in Munich. For more information, check www.cdtm.de/podcast. And now lean back, listen in, and learn from the thought leaders of our time!

Informationen

  • Erstellt von
    Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM)
  • Jahre aktiv
    2020 - 2026
  • Folgen
    58
  • Bewertung
    Anstößig
  • Copyright
    © Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM)
  • Sendungswebsite
    Mostly Awesome

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