The OMR Podcast International – Go inside the minds of the biggest names in digital and tech

Jeff Kolovson is COO at Faire, a B2B wholesale eCommerce platform that Techcrunch described as “Indie Amazon.” But with capital raised north of USD 800m, a valuation of 12.5b US as of May 2022 and a recent partnership with Shopify, all obfuscates Faire’s size. But at its essence, the label fits: retailers can access, via subscription, millions of products by 100,000 brands on the platform and use some very clever filters to ensure that the products align with retailer values. We discussed the robust offering of features and tools the platform offers, the retailer and brand-friendly features aimed at attracting and aiding new users build their shops and the impact of partnering with Shopify.

Today, we are talking about the future of our mobility and our cities with Dance mobility co-founder and CEO Eric Quinedus-Wahlforss. Dance is a Berlin-based mobility startup offering its users eBikes and eScooters on a subscription basis to have and to hold as their own. In today's pod, we discussed the challenges of overcoming the sodded reputation of eBikes and how Dance succeeded in selling those “clunky contraptions” most-commonly associated with unathletic retiree-types to the hipster, chic types in Europe’s major metro areas. We explored the business model, the community, the value of high-profile investors and Eric’s vision of the city of tomorrow and why he’s confident that cities will continue to move away from cars and incorporate new forms of mobility.

Quentin Bordage is the founder and CEO of Kolsquare, a leading European SaaS service that connects influencers and KOLs with companies and brands. Originally founded in 2010 as Brands & Celebrities, Kolsquare in its current form has been around since 2018, acting more as a self-service platform for companies to find, vet and connect with KOLs, or key opinion leaders. In this episode of the OMR Podcast, Bordage sat down with host Scott Peterson to discuss the current state of influencer marketing, why the 2018 pivot was more natural evolution that hard paradigm shift, as well as the nuts and bolts of the platform. We also touched on best-case practices and absolute no-gos for brands and companies new to working with KOLs.

Today's episode features Johanna Dahlroos and Emma Tracey, co-CEOs and co-founders of Berlin-based creative brand agency Sceal. Its focus lies primarily in helping tech companies grow at scale, finetune brand values, overall brand presence, products and brand campaings. This episode is driven by the atypical founder stories that Johanna and Emma have. Johanna transitioned from a career as a painter in her Native Finland to digital designer and now founder, while Emma is a serial entrepreneur having founded Honeypot, an IT job platform that Emma sold in 2019 for 57m. We talked about bootstrapping, the current startup landscape, marrying a career with family and their client portfolio including storied Berlin techno club Tresor.

Nikolas Bullwinkel is co-founder and CEO of food delivery startup Circus. Based in Hamburg, the venture launched in May 2022 and has set as its mission nothing short of creating what it calls the "Kitchen of the future." In this episode of the OMR Podcast, Nikolas spoke about his plans to redefine kitchens, incorporating AI into the back of the house and why he left Flink.

We all know it's important, but only a few of us know where to start: safeguarding and safe handling of data. Fortunately, Thomas and Kivanc are two of the aforementioned few, having built the number 1 PIC solution that now serves over 3,000 organizations worldwide. Dataguard is essentially one-stop shopping for privacy, information security and compliance matters. Thomas and Kivanc discussed current privacy regulations and mandates, how Dataguard assists companies in self-inspecting their data setup for vulnerabilities and compliance issues, as well as differences in privacy policies between the EU and US and why having a secure data setup need not come at the expense of performance.

Christopher Leidinger is a branding expert as founder LIT Create. He has been instrumental in the rebranding of major fintech players in Nuri and Solarisbank, as well as smaller scale enterprises ranging from a chemistry startup and a chocolate startup to an AI food delivery startup, a craft spirit brand and even an underground techno club in Berlin. Furthermore, LIT has worked with Airbnb, Volkswagen and Hyundai on various image and ad campaigns. We discussed the state of branding, what it is, how it’s evolved and why every company, big or small, should be cognizant of the image it projects and also got Christopher’s take on Twitter’s rebrand to X.

Last year, Figma was headline news around the globe. Adobe announced it had reached a deal to acquire Figma for over USD 20 billion—which would make it one of the largest startup exits ever. While that deal is being held up in regulatory limbo, it is nevertheless an impressive feat for a company that only launched seven years ago. Figma is a collaborative design platform that is used by millions around the world. Yuhki Yamashita is Chief Product Officer at Figma, a position he's had since June of 2022. Yuhki joined me for a chat ahead of Figma's annual CONFIG conference to talk about design, the creative process and, of course, what the future for Figma in the Adobe ecosystem figures to be.

Konstantin Baum, Germany's youngest-ever Master of Wine, runs one of the world's largest wine channels on YouTube. In this episode of the OMR Podcast, we spoke about the business of wine on social media, his YouTube channel, monetization and community-building strategies, and other business verticals revolving around his passion for vino.

In this episode of the OMR Podcast, we're talking with CEO and founder of Hinge Justin McLeod, the dating app "designed to be deleted. We talked about Hinge's long road to success, the company business model, why he completely tore down Hinge back in 2015 and why the company has no need for standard performance metrics like retention and engagement.