In this episode, Michael Dargie sits down with Manuel Prinz, a co-founder of the AI e-commerce startup Keep Converting, calling in from a sunny Friday in California. Manuel spends his days between product management, opening new markets, and pointing cutting-edge AI at the sort of thorny problems that keep e-commerce brands up at night. But the conversation quickly leaves the boardroom and heads somewhere more interesting: how a kid from rural Germany ended up building companies half a world away. Manuel grew up near Stuttgart, in the shadow of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Bosch, where becoming an engineer for a car manufacturer was less a dream than a default. A hands-on internship, all tooling and hard labour, quietly closed that door. He pivoted to business and economics, and there he found a one-sided exchange with UC Santa Barbara buried at the bottom of his university's agenda, so overlooked that nobody had used it in years. He drilled down, made contact, and made it happen. Landing in California was, in his words, all explosions and fireworks. The polished SUVs at the airport, the investment banker, skateboarder, and homeless person sharing a single block in San Francisco's financial district. For someone raised where everyone lived the same levelled, middle-class life, watching people chase their own individual dreams cracked something open. He wanted in. That curiosity turned into a career. Manuel joined an early payments startup, Paymentwall, an early answer to what Stripe would become, and helped grow it across nearly every continent. He reckons he's now been to more than a hundred countries. He talks warmly about Vietnam, a Hanoi office, and a local chef who served the team fish soup at eight in the morning, and about the balut he bravely tried on a beach in the Philippines. Woven through the travel stories is a quiet philosophy. Manuel shares his move for any new city: get the rundown from a talkative taxi driver, then find a local bar that first night and go with the flow. He talks about needing two or three days to settle before a holiday actually feels like one, because sitting still makes him anxious. And he lands on the thing he wishes the world knew, that the journey is the goal, that there's no end state where complete happiness finally arrives. For the rebels in waiting, the ones stuck between wanting and doing, Manuel's advice is plain: if an idea won't leave your head, even when you try to talk yourself out of it, that persistence is a signal. Get a solid read on it, then go. You might run into a wall. It happens. His own motto sits underneath all of it: never stop running. It's a warm, funny, well-travelled conversation about daring to chase the thing you can't stop thinking about. Episode Highlights [01:16,000] No two days the same | Manuel describes life as a co-founder of an AI e-commerce startup, splitting his days between product, new markets, and hard problems. [02:12,000] Out of stealth | He reveals the company name, Keep Converting, launching after a stretch in stealth mode. [02:54,000] A Stuttgart childhood | Growing up near Mercedes, Porsche, and Bosch, where becoming an engineer felt like the default future. [04:23,000] The internship that redirected him | A hands-on tooling internship shows him mechanical engineering isn't his path, and quietly opens a new one. [05:22,000] The hidden exchange | He unearths a forgotten UC Santa Barbara exchange buried in his university's agenda and makes it happen. [07:16,000] First taste of Silicon Valley | Roommates pull him to San Francisco, where he sees tech and the Valley for the first time. [07:57,000] Fireworks off the plane | Polished SUVs at the airport and a city block holding an investment banker, a skateboarder, and a homeless person at once. [10:09,000] What gets him up | His favourite part of the work: talking to other founders and brands to see what's left and right. [10:58,000] A hundred countries | Joining Paymentwall put him on the front line of global growth, and passport stamps in more than a hundred countries. [12:24,000] Vietnam and the fish soup | A Hanoi office, a chef at the market by 5am, and being served unforgettable fish soup at eight in the morning. [16:22,000] The landing playbook | His move for any new city: a long taxi ride for the rundown, then a local bar that first night. [19:24,000] The bravest bite | The craziest thing he's done, trying balut on a beach in the Philippines, and feeling great after. [24:12,000] Can't sit still | Doing nothing makes him anxious; it takes two or three days before a holiday actually feels like one. [27:09,000] The journey is the goal | The one thing he wishes the world knew: there's no end state, so embrace the working-toward. [30:08,000] For the rebels in waiting | If an idea won't leave your head, that's a signal. Get a solid read, then just go for it. [32:59,000] Never stop running | Manuel shares his personal motto and where to connect with him afterward. Links From This Episode Manuel Prinz on LinkedIn Keep Converting Paymentwall UC Santa Barbara Full show notes, transcript, and more: https://rebelrebelpodcast.com/episodes/the-journey-is-the-goal
