What advice would you give other founders?
Hold out! And always assume that it will take at least twice as much time as planned until sales/investment/distribution partnerships finally get started.
What surprised you the most when you started out?
How hard it is to get people in Germany to give up old habits and try something new - even when the new ideas are clearly much better.
What do you want from politics and Germany as a business location?
To abandon an old-fashioned mentality that places importance on social hierarchy - something that no longer has a place in the running of businesses or the state. We need to move away from the principle of "working your way up the ladder" in corporations and politics merely by growing older and avoiding problems. Instead, we need to move towards a meritocracy. People with objectively better solutions and stronger motivation must move forward - regardless of age, gender, nationality, or other irrelevant matters.
Why doesn’t Germany have a leading startup ecosystem?
See the above reasons - the consequences of which can not only be seen in the country’s insignificance in terms of software and online services, but also in the diesel debacle. We could be so much better and I believe we have what it takes.
