Follow the Gradient

Follow the Gradient
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Insider knowledge and real stories about how to build a business from Europe while staying sane. Each week founders Melanie Gabriel and Christian Woese dive deep into one specific topic on a founder's or startup operator's mind and share how to solve the challenge together with an expert. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned. https://followthegradient.io/

  1. The SaaS playbook is dead. What replaces it? | Andreas Goeldi, b2venture

    1D AGO

    The SaaS playbook is dead. What replaces it? | Andreas Goeldi, b2venture

    Most founders think they can save their SaaS business by sprinkling AI on top. They're wrong. The entire playbook that powered the last two decades of software is being rewritten. In this conversation on Follow the Gradient, Andreas Goeldi, Partner at b2venture and a serial entrepreneur with 30+ years in technology, breaks down how AI is fundamentally reshaping what software businesses look like, how they price, and who survives. This is not a conversation about AI features or hype cycles. It is a clear-eyed examination of which business models are emerging, which are dying, and what separates the founders who adapt from those who get left behind. We talk about: Why the traditional SaaS playbook with 80% margins is incompatible with real AI integration The shift from selling tools to selling outcomes, and why customers have always wanted this Two categories of AI startups that are almost guaranteed to fail How general-purpose agents are becoming the "Excel of AI" and eating niche products Why half of all developers refuse to use AI coding tools and what that means for their careers What happens to organizations when middle management layers start disappearing This episode is less about what AI can do and more about what it forces you to decide. Andreas brings the rare combination of someone who built companies for two decades before switching to investing in them, and his frameworks cut through the noise with uncomfortable clarity. Our biggest takeaways, including Andreas's reality check on where most founders are dangerously delusional about AI: https://www.followthegradient.io/p/andreas-goeldi-podcast  Where to find Andreas Goeldi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agoeldi/  b2venture: https://www.b2venture.vc  Blog (Innospective): https://innospective.net/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 02:22 The biggest delusion in AI right now 04:55 Four buckets of AI business models 07:58 AI pricing in times of vibe coding 13:55 The real moats left in AI: data, regulation, and user experience 17:48 Two startup ideas you should never build right now 22:17 What existing SaaS founders must do to survive 25:49 Why middle management is about to disappear 33:01 How AI is transforming venture capital from the inside 37:11 Do startups still need VCs when four people can hit millions? 43:03 Rapid fire: thin wrappers, CTO hiring, and European quality

    48 min
  2. Europe's talent flywheel has finally kicked in | Tom Wehmeier, Atomico

    FEB 26

    Europe's talent flywheel has finally kicked in | Tom Wehmeier, Atomico

    Most European founders believe the ecosystem is catching up. What if the real constraint isn't capital or talent, but the collective psychology that keeps us from acting like we've already arrived? In this episode of Follow the Gradient, we sit down with Tom Wehmeier, Partner at Atomico and the architect behind the State of European Tech report for over a decade. Tom has a rare vantage point: he tracks ecosystem fundamentals through data and sees how they play out firsthand through Atomico's investment portfolio. This is a conversation about what the numbers actually say versus what founders feel, where European tech has genuinely compounded, and where fragility still hides in plain sight. We talk about: Why sentiment and belief remain Europe's most fragile infrastructure, even as fundamentals have never been stronger How talent is flowing from US megatech into European startups and why that shift took a decade to pay off The three things blocking pension funds from venture allocation, including one nobody talks about: in-house talent Why 30% of companies at Series C relocate abroad and the gravitational pull that drives it How breakout companies like DeepL, Lovable, and Framer share a common thread: narrative clarity Why fragmentation across European markets is what built global resilience in companies like Spotify and Booking This episode is not a cheerleading session. It is a clear-eyed look at where conviction is earned, where it is borrowed, and where the gap between data and narrative still needs closing. Our biggest takeaways, including Tom's view on what founders consistently misread about Europe's exit data: https://www.followthegradient.io/p/tom-wehmeier-podcast  Where to find Tom Wehmeier: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwehmeier/  Email: tom@atomico.com  State of European Tech: https://stateofeuropeantech.com  Atomico: https://atomico.com  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 03:07 Europe's ecosystem fundamentals have never been stronger 10:51 Where the friction shows up: go-to-market and fragmentation 13:21 What will improve soon vs what founders must design around 17:09 Europe's 4.6 million tech workers and where the talent advantage breaks down 19:52 The compounding talent flywheel across generations 24:38 Why 30% of companies relocate abroad at Series C 28:45 The pension fund bottleneck: perception, regulation, and talent 37:20 What breakout European companies do differently 43:59 Rapid fire

    48 min
  3. The Hire Most Founders Make Too Late | Kate Connolly, KaaS

    FEB 19

    The Hire Most Founders Make Too Late | Kate Connolly, KaaS

    Investors don't invest in you to be a very expensive administrator. So why are you still managing your own calendar at Series A? In this conversation on Follow the Gradient, Kate Connolly, founder of KaaS and former Chief of Staff at DeepMind, breaks down why most founders wait too long to get executive support and what it costs them when they do. This is not a conversation about hiring an assistant. It is about how operational leverage changes the speed of every decision a founder makes, from fundraising to hiring to product. We talk about: Why you cannot solve the strategy problem before you solve the operational problem The concrete difference between an EA and a chief of staff, and which one you actually need first What VCs privately tell Kate about founders who refuse to delegate How a 60-minute calendar audit can reveal where your week is leaking Why the most common chief of staff hires fail within months due to role scoping What great EAs do before they are asked, and how to interview for that instinct This is not a playbook for outsourcing tasks. It is a conversation about what changes in a company when the founder stops being the bottleneck, and what it takes to get out of your own way. Our biggest takeaways, including Kate's view on where founders misjudge their own leverage: https://www.followthegradient.io/p/kate-connolly-podcast  — Where to find Kate Connolly: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateconnollylondon/  Website: https://withkaas.com  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 02:30 When founder mode becomes the bottleneck 07:29 EA vs Chief of Staff: defining the roles clearly 11:24 The 15-person chief of staff trap 14:46 The cost of waiting too long: velocity 17:08 The 60-minute calendar audit 19:09 Building your EA into a second brain 26:37 What to look for when hiring an EA 32:41 When everything compounds: 12-24 months in 34:41 Working with C Levels 46:01 Rapid fire

    48 min
  4. Why Great Founders Fire Earlier Than They’re Comfortable With | Paddy Lambros, Dex CEO and ex Atomico

    FEB 12

    Why Great Founders Fire Earlier Than They’re Comfortable With | Paddy Lambros, Dex CEO and ex Atomico

    What actually breaks a startup first: moving too slowly, or hiring the wrong people too fast? Founders often think speed is the answer, until speed quietly becomes the problem. Follow the Gradient sits down with Paddy Lamb, Talent Partner at Atomico, who has helped scale teams from the first hire to hundreds of people across multiple continents. Drawing on a decade inside fast growing startups and venture portfolios, Paddy brings a grounded view on what really compounds and what quietly erodes a company early on. This conversation is less about hiring tactics and more about how founders make irreversible people decisions under pressure. It surfaces the trade offs behind growth, quality, accountability, and the standards that shape a company long after the first few hires. We talk about: Why hiring one month later is often cheaper than fixing a rushed hire for a year How to design early teams around capabilities instead of default job titles What strong employer branding looks like when you have no budget and no name Why hiring pipelines should be built to eliminate risk, not to collect yeses How to spot hunger and ownership without mistaking confidence for signal When holding on too long damages culture more than letting go early Rather than offering a checklist, this episode explores how founders think when the answers are unclear. It is about judgment calls, standards, and accepting discomfort as the price of building something that lasts. Our biggest takeaways, including Paddy’s view on where founders consistently misjudge people decisions: https://followthegradient.io/p/paddy-lambros-podcast-video  — Where to find Paddy Lambros: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricklambros/  Dex: https://meetdex.ai/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 02:49 The  journey from startup to VC 05:19 Hiring slower versus scaling at all costs 07:01 Deciding early roles from first principles 08:39 Attracting talent without brand or budget 11:40 Clarifying your employer value proposition 14:04 Structuring the hiring funnel like sales 17:56 Using case studies and workshops effectively 20:51 Evaluating hunger and long term potential 24:04 Onboarding for time to first value 26:44 Holding a high bar during probation 29:56 Executing layoffs with clarity and focus 35:56 Founder evolution and role layering over time

    41 min
  5. Hustle Nearly Cost Me Everything | Adrian Locher, Serial Founder and Investor

    FEB 5

    Hustle Nearly Cost Me Everything | Adrian Locher, Serial Founder and Investor

    Apply the concept of "Your personal Energy Audit" Adrian mentions here: https://followthegradient.io/p/how-to-protect-mental-health-with-the-energy-audit What happens when the traits that make you win are the same ones that quietly undo you? Most founders learn how to push. Few learn when stopping is the harder, necessary move. Follow the Gradient sits down with Adrian Locher, Managing Partner at Merantix Capital, a multi time founder and early stage investor who has seen the cost of relentless ambition firsthand. After exiting a previous company, Adrian pushed harder than ever, until burnout, depression, and personal loss forced a reset . This conversation explores how high performance actually works over decades, not months, and what founders miss when they treat endurance as a personal flaw rather than a design problem. We talk about: Burning out at the peak of success, not during failure Why founders’ greatest strengths often become their most dangerous liabilities The moment productivity collapses when fear quietly replaces curiosity Separating family time and work to eliminate the constant guilt loop Treating recovery as a non optional phase, not a reward Leading teams by modeling boundaries instead of preaching balance This episode is less about fixing habits and more about examining how founders relate to fear, ambition, and self worth when no playbook applies. It offers a lens for thinking clearly under pressure, before pressure turns personal. Our biggest takeaways, including Adrian’s view on what founders misread about endurance: https://followthegradient.io/p/adrian-locher-podcast-burnout  — Where to find Adrian Locher: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianlocher/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 03:52 Burnout at the peak of founder success 05:26 Ignoring early symptoms until everything stops 12:56 Therapy and structuring life around three buckets 20:09 Building companies as a marathon, not a grind 23:49 Leading through authenticity instead of toughness 28:06 Fear as a hidden driver of overperformance 32:25 Helping yourself before helping the company 33:58 Mentoring founders to avoid the lowest lows 37:48 Redefining success beyond money and status

    42 min
  6. Europe Isn’t Behind, It’s Playing the Wrong Game | Judith Dada, Visionaries Club

    JAN 29

    Europe Isn’t Behind, It’s Playing the Wrong Game | Judith Dada, Visionaries Club

    What happens when Europe stops cheering itself on and starts taking responsibility for the outcome? In this episode of Follow the Gradient, we sit down with Judith Dada, Partner at Visionaries Club, to unpack one of the most uncomfortable conversations in European tech right now. Drawing on her work as an investor, writer, and ecosystem builder, Judith brings a rare mix of conviction and realism to questions many founders quietly avoid. This conversation is not about tactics or trend-chasing. It is about agency, moral responsibility, and what it really means to build companies in Europe at a moment when technology, geopolitics, and personal choices are colliding. We talk about: Why performative Euro-optimism can be just as damaging as constant pessimism The hidden risk of Europe settling for the application layer while conceding models and infrastructure How statistics about Europe obscure the difference between averages and outliers founders could still become What founders miss when they treat Europe like a marketplace instead of something they help build Why AI’s impact feels invisible to most organizations while accelerating at the frontier The personal cost of ambition, from childcare trade-offs to deciding when silence becomes complicity This episode offers a lens, not a manual. It explores how founders make decisions when the stakes are unclear, the odds are uneven, and opting out feels easier than staying in the fight. Our biggest takeaways, including Judith’s view on what founders fundamentally misjudge about responsibility and long-term impact: https://followthegradient.io/p/judith-dada-podcast  — Where to find Judith Dada: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-dada/  Visionaries Club: https://visionaries.vc/  Opensource Nanny: https://opensourcenanny.com/  Relativity Collective: https://relativitycollective.com/  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 02:30 Why European tech sovereignty suddenly feels urgent 05:39 Why realism and agency must coexist 08:58 Where Europe is too optimistic about AI layers 10:01 Why statistics don’t define Europe’s future 12:22 AI as a civilizational rather than technical shift 15:05 The widening gap between AI frontier and reality 20:12 Choosing hard problems despite low odds 25:29 Realizing no one else is driving the bus 27:56 From leaving Europe to fixing its foundations 30:21 Speaking up when silence feels safer 35:31 Parenting ambitious careers without pretending it’s easy 45:14 Building peer environments that raise ambition 48:37 Rapid fire questions

    51 min
  7. Why Shipping Faster Isn’t Enough in the Age of AI | OpenAI’s Laura Modiano

    JAN 22

    Why Shipping Faster Isn’t Enough in the Age of AI | OpenAI’s Laura Modiano

    What happens when Europe stops apologizing for its ambition and starts executing at full speed? Some founders still believe Europe’s biggest constraint is confidence. This conversation challenges that idea head on. Follow the Gradient sits down with Laura Modiano, Head of Startups EMEA at OpenAI, who works daily with founders across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She brings a rare vantage point from inside OpenAI and from years of supporting companies from first prototype to real scale. This episode is less about hype cycles and more about how ambition, technical depth, and feedback driven execution actually compound over time. Laura reflects on what changes when speed collapses, tools feel like coworkers, and founders are forced to rethink how they learn, unlearn, and decide under uncertainty. We talk about: Why European founders systematically underestimate how fast they can go with today’s AI tooling How collapsing build cycles shift the real bottleneck from ideas to decision quality The execution gap that appears after early traction and why “building small” becomes a hidden ceiling Why technical literacy is no longer optional even for application layer founders How Europe’s fragmented markets quietly train founders to think global from day one What great execution looks like when models evolve faster than product roadmaps Rather than offering a playbook, this episode zooms out on how founders make choices when the ground keeps moving. It’s about taste, timing, and knowing when to ship, when to pause, and when to discard assumptions that once worked but no longer fit. Our biggest takeaways, including Laura’s view on what founders consistently misjudge about speed and scale: https://followthegradient.io/p/laura-modiano-podcast  — Where to find Laura Modiano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-modiano/  Reach out at: startups@openai.com  — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction 02:03 Why Europe Produces Globally Competitive Founders 06:07 What Founders Miss About AI Acceleration 08:52 Building Real Companies Beyond Demo Culture 12:09 Why Technical Depth Wins In AI Startups 15:42 What Switzerland Gets Right About Ecosystems 20:01 Deciding Where To Build In Europe 23:01 What Strong Execution Looks Like Today 26:10 Discovering AI Use Cases Beyond Cost Cutting 28:55 Why Unlearning Becomes A Scaling Advantage 31:26 Maintaining Founder Intensity Without Burnout 41:40 Making High Stakes Decisions With Incomplete Data 44:57 Where Startups Should Focus As Models Advance 46:41 False Beliefs Holding European Founders Back

    50 min
  8. Why the Last Mile Breaks Most Robotics Startups, with Roland Siegwart, Professor at ETH Zurich

    JAN 15

    Why the Last Mile Breaks Most Robotics Startups, with Roland Siegwart, Professor at ETH Zurich

    What actually breaks deep tech startups isn’t lack of vision, but running out of patience before reality catches up. Follow the Gradient sits down with Roland Siegwart, Professor of Autonomous Systems at ETH Zurich and one of Europe’s most influential robotics mentors. Over two decades, Roland has helped shape ETH’s spin-out culture and advised companies like Anybotics, BlueBotics, and 7Sense from research to real-world deployment . This conversation explores how deep tech companies are really built when timelines are long, capital is patient but finite, and founders must constantly trade ambition against survival. We talk about: Why abundant early-stage capital can quietly reduce urgency in deep tech startups The hidden cost of the last 10 percent from prototype to market-ready system How early revenue from “unsexy” applications can enable bigger long-term bets Why Europe’s strength in hardware systems also makes scaling slower and harder The role experienced operators play in grounding PhD-driven founding teams When founders must step aside to prevent becoming the company’s bottleneck Rather than offering formulas, this episode examines how founders learn to make irreversible decisions with incomplete information, balancing engineering rigor with the pressure to move before the window closes. Our biggest takeaways, including Roland’s view on where founders most often misjudge deep tech reality: https://followthegradient.io/p/roland-siegwart-podcast  — Where to find Roland Siegwart: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roland-siegwart-85466912/ — 🎙 Follow the Gradient: conversations about building a business from Europe while staying sane. Follow us:  Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniexgabriel/  Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-woese/  Subscribe to our channels: Newsletter: https://www.followthegradient.io  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthegradient LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/followthegradient/  X: https://x.com/followgradient  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followthegradient/ — 00:00 Introduction  03:51 How Switzerland built a self sustaining robotics ecosystem  05:02 Turning university research into real world companies  07:39 Why Europe struggles to scale deep tech globally  09:46 Funding strategies for long hardware driven timelines  12:16 The painful gap between lab prototypes and products  14:09 Early signals that founders can survive the transition  15:37 Finding a first market with real customer pain  19:00 When pilots turn into scalable robotics businesses  20:47 Bringing business leadership into technical teams  23:24 When founders must step aside to let companies grow  31:49 Navigating dual use and ethical responsibility in robotics

    36 min
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Insider knowledge and real stories about how to build a business from Europe while staying sane. Each week founders Melanie Gabriel and Christian Woese dive deep into one specific topic on a founder's or startup operator's mind and share how to solve the challenge together with an expert. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned. https://followthegradient.io/

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  • Creator
    Follow the Gradient
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    72
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Follow the Gradient
  • Show Website
    Follow the Gradient