Mostly Awesome

By Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM)Technology

Mostly Awesome episodes

May 28, 2025 #43 Marc Klingen: On Building Trust, Shipping Fast, and Staying Open in AI
Insights from Marc Klingen CEO and co-founder of Langfuse, the open-source LLM observability platform.
In this episode, we dive Marc shares his journey of moving back to Europe post-YC and establishing a high-agency, high-trust team culture. We delve into the complexities of building an open-source community, the hurdles in exciting developers about your product, and strategies for monetization. Marc also shares observations on the current state of AI applications, highlighting common use cases like customer support, market research, and software development.
00:36 - The "WHY" of decisions
02:27 - The Langfuse Story
04:18 - Pivoting
05:09 - The "YC" effect
08:14 - Building high trust and high talent team
10:02 - Team Motivation
11:01 - Reasons not to start a company
12:21 - Building a Company in Europe
14:01 - Speed and Progress in AI
15:50 - Why open source?
19:49 - Creating a developer community
22:51 - Patterns in AI teams
26:58 - What do teams get wrong?
28:43 - Moats in AI applications
30:56 - Missing in Stack
34:08 - Afraid of and optimistic about....
35:01 - Running from and running towards
40 min
April 08, 2025 #42 Clemens Meyer: On supporting nobel prize winning research teams
In conversation with Clemens Meyer, Technical Director @ Google DeepMind.
This time we first dive into Clemens’ journey from startups to joining DeepMind and making an impact in interdisciplinary teams. Then how to balance exploitation and exploration in research, with a focus on measurable progress tracking and finally Google’s early role in the AI race, and reflections on the exponential nature of AI progress. Clemens also shares behind-the-scenes insights into AlphaFold’s success—how it began and how ongoing team efforts helped shape its impact.
00:30 Clemens's responsibilities @ DeepMind
01:53 The shift from startups to managing research teams
07:17 Teams @DeepMind
09:55 How to make sure that teams are making progress
11:28 Exploration vs Exploitation
12:48 Communication is key
14:11 The DeepMind team structure
15:29 The AlphaFold story
24:55 The Gemini story
27:07 Google joining the transformer race
29:11 What to look for in people when making a team?
30:29 The AI hype and what people are missing
32:31 Advice to create impact
35:05 Final thoughts on what should be changed or encouraged @ CDTM
37 min
January 22, 2025 #41 Viet Le: Building, selling, and investing at the application layer of AI
Insights from Viet Le, an Early-Stage VC and Partner @ General Catalyst: Betting on Young, Naive Founders and Navigating the AI Hype
In this episode, we dive into a conversation with Viet who shares his unique investment philosophy focused on young, naive first-time founders. The discussion covers controversial opinions on the current AI hype and the importance of building and selling efficiently in the early stages. Viet also provides personal background on transitioning from a founder to a VC and offers insights on making independent investment decisions. Various topics such as defensibility in AI software, opportunities in the application layer of AI, and the importance of a bias for action in building startups are explored, along with the potential for AI-native companies to disrupt traditional industries.
00:00 Diving Right In: No Introductions Needed
00:30 Controversial Opinions in AI and VC
01:48 Founder Preferences: Young vs. Experienced
02:56 The Importance of Building and Selling
03:22 From Founder to VC: A Personal Journey
04:33 Making Independent Decisions in a FOMO Market
04:59 Investing in Gen AI: Insights and Examples
07:10 Defensibility in AI Software
09:23 The Future of AI in Coding and Applications
15:52 Consumer AI: Opportunities and Challenges
16:51 Essential Skills for Founders
22:37 Startup Advice: Action Over Whiteboards
25:56 Rapid Fire Questions and Final Thoughts
28 min
June 10, 2024 #40 Thomas Kirchner: How to scale up a hardware startup and sell it for hundreds of millions
In this episode, we are talking to Thomas Kirchner. Thomas is an entrepreneur and founder of ProGlove, a company that sells smart gloves used in countless German and international companies for speeding up the manufacturing process. The idea of ProGlove is simple, yet brilliant: every time you scan a barcode of a part when you assemble, for example, a car, you have to pick up a scanner from your pocket, scan the barcode of the item, and put back the scanner. This is frustrating and time-consuming. So what if you could just... wear the scanner?
In this episode, we talk to Thomas about his life, his previous ventures, how he and his cofounders came up with the idea, how they scaled up the company from zero to millions in revenue, how they sold it for lots of money and how he's now giving back to other founders.
Stay with us, because you're not gonna want to miss this episode! This is the CDTM Mostly Awesome Podcast.
58 min
January 15, 2024 #39 Hamza Tahir: From indie-hacking in Pakistan to raising $6.4 Million for his AI startup in Germany
Hamza Tahir is a software developer turned ML engineer. An indie hacker by heart, he loves ideating, implementing, and launching data-driven products. His previous projects include PicHance, Scrilys, BudgetML, and you-tldr. Based on his learnings from deploying ML in production for predictive maintenance use-cases in his previous startup, he co-created ZenML, an open-source MLOps framework for creating production grade ML pipelines on any infrastructure stack.
In this podcast, we dive into Hamza's initial projects, how he got into entrepreneurship, as well as his struggles with balancing his entrepreneurial career and personal responsibilities. We also talk about his outlook on the AI space, limits to current model architectures, existential risks, and much more. We hope you enjoy the episode!
57 min
January 15, 2024 # 39 Hamza Tahir: From indie-hacking in Pakistan to raising $6.4 Million for his AI startup in Germany
Hamza Tahir is a software developer turned ML engineer. An indie hacker by heart, he loves ideating, implementing, and launching data-driven products. His previous projects include PicHance, Scrilys, BudgetML, and you-tldr. Based on his learnings from deploying ML in production for predictive maintenance use-cases in his previous startup, he co-created ZenML, an open-source MLOps framework for creating production grade ML pipelines on any infrastructure stack.
In this podcast, we dive into Hamza's initial projects, how he got into entrepreneurship, as well as his struggles with balancing his entrepreneurial career and personal responsibilities. We also talk about his outlook on the AI space, limits to current model architectures, existential risks, and much more. We hope you enjoy the episode!
57 min
May 26, 2023 #38 Gyri Reiersen: Secure a future for generations by achieving net zero emissions
We just released a brand new episode of our podcast featuring an in-depth conversation with the co-founder and chief product officer of Tanso, Gyri Reiersen, a groundbreaking company revolutionizing carbon accounting and emission reduction processes.
Join us as we delve into the world of sustainability and technology, exploring how Tanso automates processes in carbon accounting while building the analytical basis for effective emission reduction. Discover their innovative solutions that are helping organizations make a tangible impact on climate change.
Tune in to this enlightening episode to learn more about Tanso's mission, their success stories, and the future of carbon accounting and emission reduction. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a climate enthusiast, or simply curious about the intersection of technology and sustainability, this conversation is a must-listen!
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to gain insights from a visionary leader in the field. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to us and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Together, let's create a greener, more sustainable future!
38 min
May 04, 2023 Teaser Season 5 with our hosts Ruby, Claudia, and Ali!
Welcome to the new season of the Mostly Awesome podcast!
Our first episode will drop on May 10, but before that we wanted to give you all a sneak preview of what season 5 is all about. Over this season, we will be chatting with different changemakers and innovators – we can’t wait for you to hear! We’re also stoked to have Ruby Zhang, Claudia Dalmau, and Ali Raza as our fearless hosts.
3 min
November 15, 2022 #37 Gesa Biermann: Enabling sustainable forestry and making your grandma proud
When you think about trees, what comes to mind? In most of our heads, they are probably the prime example of “something good for the environment”. Even though it is by far not the only way to capture carbon, there is an increasing trend to quantify and enhance the environmental benefit of sustainable forestry. We are happy to have Gesa Biermann as our guest today. Gesa is a Co-Founder of Pina, a startup that quantifies and rewards sustainable forestry.
Before founding Pina she was a Center Assistant at CDTM, did her Ph.D. in the area of sustainable food consumption, and co-founded the Munich Branch of 180 Degrees Consulting.
Over the course of the episode, we will dive deeper into Gesa's journey in the field of sustainability and social impact. We will hear how the CDTM shaped her and also how both the idea and founding team for Pina were impacted by the Center. Finally, we will deep dive into Gesa's view on the future of sustainability and the voluntary carbon market.
As always, we end the episode by getting insights into Gesa's personal toolbox.
49 min
November 02, 2022 #36 Johannes Hussak: Automating privacy related processes
Today we welcome Johannes Hussak in our podcast, one of the co-founders of Kertos, a platform that automates data privacy operations.
Always fascinated by technology, Johannes did his bachelor and master at Technical University of Munich in Energy and Process Technology and went to an abroad semester at Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai.
It was during his studies when one of his friends drew Johannes attention to Manage and More - an entrepreneurship scholarship by UnternehmerTUM in Munich. At Manage and more Johannes discovered his passion to build products and teams around them.
Together with Kilian Schmidt on the legal side and Alexander Prams on the tech side, he found a perfect team match for Kertos.
Over the course of the episode, we speak to Johannes about his experience of founding a company in the middle of the pandemic, the story of how the Kertos founding team came to be, Johannes's take on the future of the compliance industry, and his personal advise on maintaining work-life balance.
As always, at the end of episode, you will hear Johannes's prompt answers and recommendations to our toolbox.
37 min

About Mostly Awesome

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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!