Entrepreneurial Realities

It is not obvious that all Tech Entrepreneurs are charismatic figures like some of the greatest entrepreneurs. Many aspiring students at Munich TUM need some form of encouragement and confidence. Too many believe that their technological prowess is only what they need to succeed on their ventures.

Richard Tedlow is Professor of Business History at the Harvard Business School. Immediately after his first “retirement” from HBS, he joined the Apple University where he stayed until 2018. He is an “emeritus” Professor of both institutions.

He has published several very important History Books: the complex relation between Watson father and son at IBM , the definitive biography of Andy Grove, CEO of Intel and my personal favorite "Denial, Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face--and What to Do About It".

He speaks on his last book: The Emergence of Charismatic Business Leadership and on this podcast, discusses some of the inspiring characteristics of leading entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.

Peter Raulerson is a former SW CEO - Technology Consultant. He has worked on a large number of engagements related to Go-to-Market redesigns for HW and SW Companies.

Along with former Plantronics Europe GM Jean-Claude Malraison and Antoine Leboyer, Current MD of the TUM Venture Lab for Software and AI, he has co-written Building Routes to Customers: Proven Strategies for Profitable Growth.

One of the cornerstones of the book is the framework developed by Goeffrey Moore in Crossing the Chasm which explains the various stages through which new technologies go through to be adopted by consumers.

Peter gives an introduction to this framework which is fundamental for Technology Entrepreneurs.

One of the many misconceptions on Entrepreneurship is that it is linked with innovation and reserved for brilliant young graduates.

At the Harvard Business School, Professor Royce Yudkoff has done a comprehensive study of different types of entrepreneurs that, at a stage in their career, want to use their experience and position to become entrepreneurs by acquiring an existing company with their means and running it.

Our discussion centers on the dynamics of such a project, the risks, and the returns. The characteristics of these are not so different from other entrepreneurs.

And Royce’s book: HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business is recommended reading to go further.

Bill Reichert is a founder of Garage.com, a legendary Tech investor, and a current partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures.

He is also the writer of the great and essential: "Getting to Wow!" Silicon Valley Pitches Secrets for Entrepreneurs, which is simply the best book I have read to understand how to make a strong pitch to a VC.

He speaks to us from Silicon Valley about how to make a good pitch, the current state of the Venture business, and how Covid has changed investing.

Harvard Business School Emeritus Professor Bill Sahlman has run several of the most influential classes on Entrepreneurship which have inspired many entrepreneurs worldwide.

His research has had an immense influence. His book on How to write a business plan is a major classic. His case studies are being taught at TUM and in every Entrepreneurial minded university worldwide.

TUM CDTM Professor Hana Milanov teaches several of his cases for this special episode and joins us to interview Professor Sahlman.

Prof. Sahlman discusses entrepreneurship, the importance of hypothesis testing, how entrepreneurship has evolved in the last years, the value of Ventures for social progress, and being financed with VCs.

This is a major episode of our series of Entrepreneurial Realities.

(and since Pr Sahlman refers to the importance of mothers for entrepreneurs, this episode is dedicated to all mothers.)

Daniel Garnitz is the Co-Founder and CEO of FAAREN, a Wurzburg-based provider of solutions to enable car dealers to offer car subscriptions to their customers.

FAAREN was founded three years ago. They recently closed a significant funding round which values them in the double digits range. Daniel talks about the fundraising process, which was not an easy one, and presents valuable insights, lessons learned, and best practices for founders:

This is a crucial episode of Entrepreneurial Realities for all startups we work with at TUM. They are very strong on technology but lack marketing experience and sensitivity but need to gain visibility and market insight to get prospects and clients.

This is a similar experience I went through personally in my former company. The person who helped us overcome this challenge and build a fantastic Marketing Engine is Meryll Moreau, my former VP of Marketing.

Meryll gives us an excellent overview of Marketing for startups which is simply essential listening for every Tech Entrepreneur.

Do not miss this podcast which will ensure you will understand the principles of Marketing for Tech Startups, how to implement them practically and how to get your startups to progress.

Of all Early Stage/Deeptech Venture Capital Firms, UVC Partners is unique for us given its proximity to Munich TUM and the impressive set of successful companies they have invested in and supported.

Today, we speak with Andreas Unseld, TUM Alumni and partner at UVC, on a series of topics: how he became a Venture Capitalist, what he is looking for in projects he invests in … and as always, what he is looking for is his advice to students and entrepreneurs.

Music: Gabriela Montero

This is a follow-up to last week's podcast where we interviewed Tom Eisenmann from the Harvard Business School.

In this conclusion of our two-part series, we now turn to Martin Bitzinger. Martin is Group Vice President Product Management at Canadian Telecom Giant Mitel. He is also a TUM Alumni 2001 whose personal story you simply have to hear.

Yes, Entrepreneurship is hard and even the best entrepreneurs have failures and multiple starts, but the real Entrepreneurs learn and restart.

We now embark on a two-part series about the challenges of entrepreneurship.

Professor Tom Eisenmann is co-Chair of the Harvard Business School Center of Entrepreneurship.

He recently wrote an important book called Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success, which is an essential complement to the “Lean Startup”.

It looks at ventures which followed this approach and yet failed. It is a fabulous book that reminds us that failure can happen even if you are a hard-working entrepreneur. It helps identify some patterns and also explains how to "fail well" and to restart.

Entrepreneurship is hard, and studying successes and failures is a source of learning and inspiration. This will be the object of next week's podcast so stay tuned.