WalkingTheTalk Melissa Oppermann

Meet Romain! Founder and CEO of Uzufly, a Swiss startup that produces ultra-photorealistic 3D digital models of infrastructure and urban projects to enhance the planning phase. Uzufly just turned one, so Romain and I used the occasion to talk about the past year and reflect on the startup's development so far. Enjoy! 

00:00 - Intro & Welcome 01:00 - Rapid Fire Questions 04:10 - What is Uzufly? How did your entrepreneurial journey start? 09:35 - What problem are you addressing in the market with Uzufly?  13:58 - What are the challenges when you try to establish yourself in the market as a young startup? 16:25 - Are you in contact with other startups in Switzerland to support each other? What are you learning from each other? 19:00 - What difficulties did you face during this past year? 26:45 - How did your experience at a VC prepare you for founding your own business? 32:10 - How do you feel about failure? 34:50 - You seem like someone who is naturally resilient, visionary, confident or did you have to learn these character traits? Do you think that these are traits that can be learned? 38:00 - What is your vision for Uzufly in the future? 41:55 - Romain's message for fellow entrepreneurs

Connect with Romain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romainkirchhoff/

Connect with Melissa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaoppermann/ or https://www.instagram.com/melissa.oppermann/ 

Learn more about Uzufly at: https://www.uzufly.com/

Learn more about WalkingTheTalk at: https://walkingthetalk.io/

Meet Gianmarco! Co-founder of Nai Nami, a social enterprise in Nairobi, Kenya that offers guided tours through downtown Nairobi through the eyes of former streetchildren. Gianmarco beautifully described the tour as a "fun, sad, exciting, dramatic, frustrating, everything all-in-one experience. It's a 3-hour movie with ups and downs." This is the story of a truly unique venture that has changed the life of these former streetchildren forever. Enjoy!



00:00 - Rapid Fire Questions

03:40 - Introduction Gianmarco and the social enterprise Nai Nami 

06:28 - What does it mean to be a streetchild in Nairobi? What does it mean to be a former streetchild who is now in their 20s or 30s? 

10:20 - Who came up with the idea to start this "guided tour through the eyes of a former streetchild" business? Gianmarco acted as a catalyst to co-create Nai Nami 

14:40 - How were you able to build a relationship and trust with the original three guides (Kissmart, Cheddaz, and Donga) 

18:40 - Embracing the skills they acquired on the streets, but for a different purpose now: Sharing stories

19:55 - First company ever and in Nairobi: How did you know how everything worked and what you needed to do (e.g. registering the company etc.)? 

23:10 - Creating a strong advisory board and partnerships (spoiler alert: my former guest Manuel Eppert is one of the advisors :-))

28:23 - Innovation at Nai Nami when Covid-19 hit: Guided online tours

33:10 - NGO vs. for-profit business - why choose one over the other in this situation?

39:15 - Giving back - now the guides are role models to current streetchildren 

40:40 - Why is it important to show the world this perspective, that of former streetchildren, on Nairobi? 

43:43 - Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs



Find Gianmarco and Nai Nami online:

Website: https://nai-nami.com/

Instagram: @nai.nami

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd7jBKcOA53X8Kw4k5pXfkw

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianmarco-marinello/



Find Melissa and WalkingTheTalk online: 

Website: https://www.walkingthetalk.io/

Instagram: @walkingthetalk.io

TikTok:@walkingthetalk.io

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG14T8egUwJt7e_ZSQZ0SYw

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaoppermann/

Meet Manuel! Co-founder and managing partner at Alvicus, a Swiss company that helps startups and other companies grow and tackle important challenges. We had a super fun and insightful conversation about his entrepreneurial journey, his business and so much more. Enjoy!

00:00 - Rapid Fire Questions 

04:10 - Intro to Manuel & Alvicus

12:45 - Future-oriented approach: Growth strategies, segment strategy, next generation topic, female clients - What is this approach about? Why do you follow this approach in the first place?

20:00 - Are you the right guy to sell to women? Do people ever give you "the look" for it?

26:50 - Growth strategies for Alvicus - how to scale a consulting business? 

33:50 - Consulting work for a social enterprise in Africa

42:16 - Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

Learn more about Alvicus at https://www.alvicus.com/

Learn more about WalkingTheTalk at https://www.walkingthetalk.io/

Connect with Manuel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/manueleppert/

Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaoppermann/

Meet Afonso! One of three co-founders of RAIZE, a Portuguese fintech startup. RAIZE is one of the largest peer-to-peer lending marketplaces in Portugal and Iberia. 

00:00 - Intro & Rapid Fire Questions 

04:00 - DId you plan to build your own company? Who had the initial idea? Were you ever scared about whether or not this is going to work? 

08:50 - What difficulties did you face building RAIZE? How did you know to overcome them? 

app or no app... that's the question

18:50 - Speaking of tech: Are you a techie? 

21:15 - What have been / are your everyday activities in the business? What does your day-to-day role look like? Are you enjoying what you are doing?

24:55 - What's next? Are you thinking about moving on from RAIZE to another project or a new company? How is your long-term plan related to your choice of financing for RAIZE?

30:35 - What are the main benefits for RAIZE as a listed company? 

31:25 - Exploring the Portuguese fintech ecosystem and RAIZE's position in it

38:10 - Afonso's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs



Learn more about RAIZE at https://www.raize.pt/

Learn more about WalkingTheTalk at https://www.walkingthetalk.io/

Connect with Afonso on LinkedIn https://pt.linkedin.com/in/afonsoeca

Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaoppermann/

Meet Ana - Founder and managing partner at GetFundedTools! GFT is helping impact-positive startups to raise money through clear business value communication in Pitch Decks, pitches and investor communication. Anastasia is a host in Impact Club, where they connect impact investors with impact entrepreneurs. Also, Ana is a mentor in 500Startups, an international speaker, ex-CEO of Silicon Valley startups. Anastasia helped raise more than $30M. She is also famous in the venture community for her #StartupTiktoks. Enjoy!

00:00 - Welcome & Rapid Fire Questions 

03:35 - The Origin of GetFundedTools: Mission to help founders, reach out to investors, with the right communication 

07:30 - How serendipity brought Ana into the start-up space in the first place: How did she build credibility as a founder and fundraising expert? 

18:36 - Content creation Webinars, TikTok Investor videos - Using Edutainment to show founders in a fun way how they can communicate better with investors. Provide as much value as possible to as many people as possible. 

23:56 - Are founders open to receiving support? Are they usually aware of the fact they might need it? Some insights from Ana's experience

35:40 - Ana's message to aspiring entrepreneurs

Learn more about Ana or GetFundedTools on www.getfundedtools.com or connect on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/anastasiagreen

Learn more about Melissa or WalkingTheTalk on www.walkingthetalk.io or connect on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/melissaoppermann

Meet Nuno! Founder and one of four partners at CR Ventures (Clinical Research Ventures). This week's guest is a scientist, but also an entrepreneur, investor, professor and even lobbyist at times. He has been building all kinds of science-based ventures, turning scientific knowledge into economic or social value. He truly enjoys the uncertainty of doing things that have not been done before, which is something I find fascinating!

00:00 - Intro & Rapid Fire Questions 

07:30 - Bridging the gap between science and business: How do you decide what projects to pursue? What are you looking for in a project? What is it like to enter the world of business as a scientist?

21:37 - Not everyone enjoys the high risk of binary fields: How do you handle projects that did not work out? Was there a key moment, when you knew that it was not going to work? 

27:00 - Scientist, entrepreneur, investor, professor, lobbyist: Which one role is most prominent these days? What does your day-to-day look like in that role? 

36:40 - A special VC fund: CR Ventures - What do you invest in? What is unique about your fund? 

45:10 - Nuno's message to aspiring entrepreneurs

Learn more about CR Ventures at www.cr-ventures.com or connect with Nuno on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/nunoarantesoliveira/

Learn more about WalkingTheTalk at www.walkingthetalk.io or connect with Melissa on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/melissaoppermann/