REALANSWERS

DO. OR DO NOT.

Yoda, Jedi MasterTHERE IS NO TRY.

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6 7

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

JOANNE WILSONActive New York angel investor with a

portfolio of over 90 companies. Organizes

the Women’s Entrepreneur Festival,

which will be hosted in Berlin June 2017.

THE HUNDERT // FOREWORD

© David Johnson

Throughout my travels and over 20 years of working in the

startup community, I’ve come to love the ever-changing, vi-

brant and supportive nature of the female founder community

in Europe. Simply put: I am a huge fan of the female found-

er, and I could give a million reasons why. Although female

founders generally take longer to build businesses, this slow

and steady mindset wins the race. Failure is not an option, so

it’s important for female founders to have their ducks in a row

before stepping on the gas. Every woman entrepreneur I have

worked with has been tenacious, scrappy and team-oriented.

But even more important than listing out these qualities is

the data that backs it up. Female founders have better return

on investments than their male counterparts. That doesn’t

surprise me, as I have been investing in female founders for

almost a decade and have seen it myself. Almost 70 percent of

my 90 portfolio companies have female founders.

The Hundert’s celebration of these women founders is a great

thing for European entrepreneurship. Since co-founding the

Women’s Entrepreneur Festival, an event that allows women

who are in the trenches of starting their businesses to con-

nect and be heard, I have witnessed the women’s founder

movement grow and prosper. The goal of the Hundert Issue

Number 8 is to highlight 100 strong female entrepreneurs in

Europe, and ultimately inspire more women to bring their

own ideas to life. When reading through the stories of these

women, you will find that there’s no typical path to entrepre-

neurship – but rather a common thread of determination and

passion to make great change in the world.

My private bank.

Private Banking for Successful Entrepreneurs:Time to Talk.

Weberbank has been providing comprehensive investment advice for successful entrepreneurs for over 65 years. A permanent, trustworthy, confidential and professional relationship with our clients is the basis of our advise on their private investment portfolio. Please see the article on page 80 for more information. Contact: (+49 30) 8 97 98-234

151202_WB59_AZTheHundert_A4_rz.indd 1 02.12.15 10:56

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KIWENO

10

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

It is my great pleasure to officially welcome you

to the new issue of the Hundert. I’m really excit-

ed and even a bit nervous to see how you react

to it. I’m aware that this is a much more unusual

edition of our magazine. Let’s just say it’s a very

daring one, since we chose a topic that doesn’t

exactly fit to what we’ve been doing so far. The

Hundert has always been centered around the

Berlin startup scene. This time we decided to leave

our city and present 100 female startup founders

from across Europe.Female entrepreneurship is a wonderful and ex-

citing topic that we wanted to dive into. From

the beginning, we knew that we weren’t going

to make a political statement. The aim of the

Hundert has always been building a stage for peo-

ple and companies worth showing to the world.

So our vision for this issue was to to inspire oth-

ers by introducing 100 great stories of fascinating

women, who have succeeded in starting their

own companies.While working on this magazine, reading ama-

zing founders’ stories every day, we knew we

were on a good path. We ourselves feel inspired

by these wonderful women and struck by their

courage; we therefore opted for an audacious de-

sign. Furthermore it led us to completely rethink

the concept of the Hundert and brought up many

ideas that we’ll implement in the future. So be

prepared for big changes ;)As usual, the final list of the 100 is not a rating

and the sequence of appearance is not a ran-

king. It is a colorful overview of various paths,

our founders chose. So you’ll meet startup be-

ginners, serial entrepreneurs, scientists or career

changers. Women, who built their startups out

of passion, who saw a niche in the market or a

problem to be solved. Women who were pas-

sionate about entrepreneurship since childhood,

and those who didn’t even think about owning

a company before. This amazing mix of stories

reflects the present generation of female startup

founders in Europe. Their founding paths super-

sede borders and show that the startup spirit is

everywhere! Despite varying economic situations

and the general opinion that it’s harder for wo-

men to be founders, this issue should prove, that

it is possible to achieve success wherever you are,

whatever situation you’re in and whatever you’ve

done before! You just have to be brave and dare to

take initiative.I’m convinced that this edition of the Hundert

has a real inspiring power. It’s a testament to the

startup community and our tireless small team:

Chris Lennartz, who made this project her own,

spent long hours in the office and spread an un-

usual amount of enthusiasm no matter what, and

Daniela Rattunde, who also put all of her heart

into the project and used every free moment to

work, when not having to take care of her one-

year-old daughter. Thank you, girls, for your

engagement and making this issue happen!

We all truly hope the Hundert will reach as many

women as possible. So please pass it to your sis-

ter, mother, girlfriend or colleague as a source of

inspiration. Remember, the magazine can also be

downloaded for free on the-hundert.com.

Yours,

Kata Oldziejewska

TABLE OF CONTENTS08 Participants Overview

12 Wise Words

30 No Risk, No Fun - No Business

46 European Coworking Partners

62 The Perfect Startup Crash Course

78 Women Supporters

80 Klaus Siegers, Weberbank

93 Helping to Provide Reliable Cooling

94 Tips for Female Founders

109 Business Shopper from Bellevory

150 the Hundert at Events

156 Berlin Partners 158 Network Partners

162 Thank You! 163 Media Partners

164 Index / Europe Map

166 Imprint and Contact

DEAR

REA

DER THANK YOU!

Our premium sponsors

the Hundert is proudly produced by NKF Media, home of:

Our production partners

WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF OUR SPONSORS, PRODUCTION AND FREE

DISTRIBUTION OF THE HUNDERT WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE.

11

12

THE HUNDERT // STATEMENTS

Axe l le LemaireFrench Deputy Minister for Digital Affairs

Women are often underrepresented in poli-

tics or the economy. The tech sector is a

prime example despite many women building

incredible startups, apps and products. Being

a woman means that you have to ‘fight’ more

than men do to succeed. Not because you are

less talented, but because we live in a male

dominant society and not in perfect parity

and equality. In France, networks as Girlz in

Web or Les Pionnières help women develop

their startups. It is a way to empower each

other and become more visible. We all need

to set more successful examples so that asso-

ciating ‘woman’ and ‘entrepreneur’ becomes

more commonplace in everyone’s mind.

Bruno G iussan iEuropean Director of TED

Women leaders need to get more familiar with

microphones. Too many conferences’ programs

are overwhelmingly male, especially in tech

and business. But don’t blame it on the orga-

nizers only. In years of curating TED events

around the world, including several with a

majority of female speakers, my colleagues and

I have noticed that women are far more likely

to decline invitations to speak, and also more

likely to cancel. When women decline speaking

opportunities, they contribute to the impres-

sion that the world lacks female leaders: if the

world doesn’t see women talking about their

work, how will anyone know they’re there?20 prestigious international personalities address women,

who dream of starting their own business, but hesitate doing so.

WISE WORDS

Tine ThygesenDigital strategist, board member and

entrepreneurThe first step is the hardest. You’re

stepping outside the norm. Any woman

old enough to start a business has been

through decades of priming, receiving

signals of unconscious bias that rewar-

ded her when she did the expected and

disparaged when she did otherwise. Of

course it’s scary. But scary is brave. It’s

courageous people like you that walk

new paths, set new norms and change

unconscious stereotypes. Not only will

you realise that you can do much more

than you think, but you’ll also be setting

the scene for the next generation.

@ FHH

Se lma Prodanov ic Founder & CEO 1millionstartups.com

Creating and running your startup is one

of the most rewarding experiences in life!

When I started, none of the existing (boxes)

jobs fitted my needs so I decided to create

my own. I was a mom of two babies, setting

up my business in a new field, with no mo-

ney and no network but with a big vision.

In fact, being an entrepreneur is taking the

freedom to choose and create your own path

to success – you set the rules! You don’t like

glass ceilings? Makes sure there is none in

your company. You want to work in a fa-

mily-friendly environment? Set an example.

Dare to be authentic and follow your passion.

Dare to create your ‘dream’ startup!

© G

eorg

Sch

nel

lnb

erg

er

© C

lau

s B

oese

n

© P

atri

ck V

edru

ne

Steff i CzernyDLD Founder and Managing Director

The so-called failure culture is so hip

nowadays that to me it becomes some-

what boring. Doesn’t “always make

new mistakes” rather mean: Don’t put

too much pressure on yourself and

stay open-minded when taking on

new challenges. From my personal

experience you need to be persistent,

courageous and absolutely confident

of what you are doing to succeed. I also

encourage you to take vocal coaching

and professional advice on body lan-

guage to best pitch your idea. In the

end, never forget to stay authentic and

keep a good sense of humor.

© Hubert Burda Media / Andreas Pohlmann

Mathias DöpfnerCEO of the Axel Springer Media Group

Women are still in the minority in Europe

when it comes to setting up new businesses.

According to the German Startup Monitor, only

13% of German startups are founded by women.

That’s not much. And it’s a pity. Women have

good reason to start their own companies. As

entrepreneurs, you will be in a modern, trans-

parent environment, free from outdated gender

roles or quotas. You will be independent and

can shape your own corporate culture and iden-

tity. Stay curious and take the initiative. Best of

luck and success to you.

13

14 15

Nee l ie KroesSpecial Envoy for StartupDelta

and former vice-president of the

European CommissionNever give up, keep dreaming and

follow your dreams. Trust yourself

and your gut feeling. Put yourself

out there to realize your dreams.

Visualize your goals and go for it.

Now, there might be times that you

fail but don’t let it hold you back.

I have failed many times, but it

always made me more determined

to push forward and become more

resourceful. So be creative, be fear-

less and try, try again. I encourage

you to take the risk. If you have

started your own company, then

congratulations for being a risk-

taker. But that is merely the start

because you have to keep pushing

boundaries, obliterate them, and

motivate yourself to excel.

Nenad Marovac Founder and CEO of DN Capital

Love what you do and believe in the value propo-

sition that you’re offering your customers. If

you’re just in it for the money, chances are high

that you will fail. Remain true to yourself and

build a sustainable, lasting company where you

don’t rely on investors. Make sure that your

unit economics work and that there is a path to

profitability. And choose your venture capita-

lists carefully: find someone who is experi-

enced, likes what you are doing, and who you

like spending time with. You must constantly

iterate and create the best product or service

and continue to get feedback from your custo-

mers and stakeholders and continue to improve

your business in every dimension.I rena Go ldenbergPartner at Highland Capital Partners

Best to think of your founder journey as a

marathon – to be approached with incredi-

ble determination and tenacity. Once you’ve

decided to go for it, I have three tips. First,

show passion. Startups face a path strewn with

obstacles and without passion, potential hires,

investors and customers are tough to win over.

Second, do what you can without funding – it is

powerfully indicative of what you will achieve

with it! Third, there are lots of great ideas out

there, which is why how you pull them off is

what counts. Focus on building a team and a

board that can help bring your vision to life.

Thomas Satte lbergerFormer Member of the Executive Boards of Deutsche

Telekom AG, Continental AG and Lufthansa German Airlines

In my career, I have so far met many wonderful and successful

female founders and entrepreneurs and I am delighted to hear

that more and more women are taking initiative, founding a

startup, and fulfilling their dream. The fact that the startup

scene is still predominantly male will soon be looked back

upon in history as a mere trifle. Europe and, even more so, the

customers will need female entrepreneurship.

Soph ie V . VandebroekChief Technology Officer, Xerox

Three concepts that I live by and recommend:

1. Make smart choices on where to spend your time.

2. Lean In and dedicate time to those choices.

3. Lean Out everything else: say no, simplify and out-

source. Being an entrepreneur is important and very

fulfilling but never forget to take care of yourself. I

could have not achieved both: a loving family and

leading Xerox’s global research labs otherwise. The

way you respect your health and close relationships

will reflect on your company. I dedicate time to my

partner, kids, health and work. I Lean Out every-

thing else to create more precious time.

© Tom Kates

© Rory Linsday

Armgard von RedenExpert in the field of Gender Diversity,

Teacher at the Leibnitz University in

HannoverEvery entrepreneur will get tons of (unso-

licited) pieces of advice. These three worked

well for me and I advice them to you:

1. Customers don’t give us their trust, they

only lend it to us, if we don’t justify it, they

take it back. It simply does not make sense to

get a short term advantage, when in the lon-

ger term you loose the trust of a customer.

2. You don’t get what you expect, but what

you inspect. You probably experienced

this yourself.

3. The only person a manager really needs

to manage is him-/herself. Doing that is dif-

ficult, putting the blame on others is easy.

E lzb ieta B ienkowskaEuropean Commissioner for Internal Market,

Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Male entrepreneurs outnumber women by more than

two to one in Europe. This is not a good situation. Europe

needs to encourage women entrepreneurs and use their

commitment and entrepreneurial spirit. The European

Commission is actively supporting women’s entrepre-

neurship. What is lacking is often information about the

possible support. This year we will open a one-stop shop

in the form of an online platform for women who want to

start, run and grow a business. Another source of inspira-

tion can be the Women Business Angels network which

also offers interesting opportunities. We must encourage

creation of new businesses in Europe, we must encour-

age more women to be engaged in business activities. I

hope that our actions will bring concrete results that will

contribute to restoring the steady growth and creating

more jobs in the EU.

THE HUNDERT // STATEMENTS

© European Commission

16

THE HUNDERT // STATEMENTS

Hemdat Sag iHead of Economic and Trade Mission to

Germany, Embassy of Israel

Take advantage of the skill set and

strengths that mainly appeal to wo-

men, i.e, multitasking, minute-to-minute

efficiency, good instincts, focus and trans-

parent communications. These are key

factors to a successful company. I often

meet decision makers who prefer to in-

vest in female-founded startups because

of these advantages. Surround yourself

with smart people and build a good sup-

port system and network of motivated,

talen-ted people who will help you along

the way. Lastly, I encourage you to adopt a

well known Israeli virtue called Chutzpah:

it’s not rudeness or being too direct. It is

da-ring to want what others can’t dream

of, to challenge authority, question every-

thing and not being afraid to fail!

Paddy Cosgrave Founder of Web Summit

My advice to female entrepreneurs is

go for it! Think deeply about your idea,

research it relentlessly, evaluate care-

fully what the market opportunity

is, take lots of advice and then get on

with it. I mean, what’s the risk in try-

ing something? Above all, think about

your team and hire carefully. Last

year we launched our Commitment

to Change program where we have

given away 10,000 free tickets to tal-

ented female entrepreneurs. The tech

industry needs female entrepreneurs,

which is why we want to see you at

our events.

Ursu la Schwarzenbart

General Manager, Talent and Diversity Management

at Daimler AG“There is a special place in hell for women who

don’t help other women.” This quote from Madeline

Albright always makes me think how often wom-

en face situations where they are less supported

than their male counterparts. Passing on the know-

ledge, the expertise, and the motivation makes us all

stronger. It is our obligation to extend both hands to

those just starting out. If we don’t, women not only

fail in business but we all fail humanity miserably as

well. This means we should always try to be the best

human beings we can be, all the time.

Rob in WautersCo-Founder and Editor in Chief of

tech.euAs a woman, you’re unlikely to

be successful at your startup. As a

woman, you’re unlikely to raise mil-

lions in funding, and the odds are

against you ever selling your com-

pany. In fact, chances are you’re

going to end up disappointed if

you dream of getting rich. As a wo-

man, you should consider careful-

ly if you want to give up time with

your family and friends, and perhaps

even your health, to build a startup.

Guess what? The same goes for men.

It doesn’t matter what’s between

your legs, all that matters is what’s

between your ears and in your heart.

If none of the above can stop you,

then don’t let ‘anything’ stop you.

Jud ith C leggCEO of Innovation Agency Takeout,

Founder of charity LiveKind and angel investor

I’d like to share with future female entrepre-

neurs that the world most definitely needs you

and that kindness in business is a strength. The

words of two acclaimed female authors helped

to galvanize me and I hope that they do the same

for you. Elif Shafak says, in some European coun-

tries, “in terms of women’s rights we have been

sliding backwards”, “the streets belong to men”

and that “we need diversity for democracy”.

Her words highlight an important role for

female entrepreneurs - to advance freedom and

equality for ALL. “It’s food for thought that a lot

of businesses seem to do so well when they start

to do charitable activities or acts of kindness.”

C.E. Chevalier Female Entrepreneur, Author,

Founder and CEO of Animals Actually Ltd.

Anne RavanonaFounder and CEO of Global Invest Her

If you are reading this, you want to become

an entrepreneur or are one already, I

applaud you! Creating a company to solve

a real problem is an adventure. Are you

ready? Pick an important problem to solve,

one you truly care about. Pick Your Passion!

You need energy to seize opportunities and

overcome obstacles. Your passion will car-

ry you through both. Be brave: expect and

embrace no’s on the journey to yes. Own

your mistakes, fix them and move on. Ask

for more money when seeking funding, at

least 18 to 24 months runway. I can’t wait

to see what you achieve!

© Maria Mikulas

© Magali Papale

L indsey Nefesh-C larke

Founder and Managing Director,

W4 (Women’s WorldWide Web)

Create a strong, supportive network. There’s

no such thing as individual success. The

future is the collaborative edge. Cultivate a

supportive network of friends, family, team

members, investors, mentors, advisors and

role models. People who you can rely on

for advice, resources, constructive criticism

and support. What makes your entrepre-

neurial adventure meaningful, gratifying

and ultimately successful is the people you

build and share it with. They can coach you

and help you to be your own best ally. They

can inspire in you the strength to remain

Chief Believer when the ride gets rough.

17

18

When I say m

y path has been anything but linear,

it sounds unusual, but it’s actually quite comm

on

when you’re founding a startup. I w

as born in 1989

in Ljubljana and studied to become a sculptor in

Helsinki. During m

y studies, I discovered the mate-

rial that I loved to work w

ith most: w

ood. That

was to becom

e an inspiration for Bellabeat’s health

tracking smart jew

elry, the LEAF, and kickstarted

my journey in designing devices to track the health

of wom

en throughout different stages of their lives.

When I m

et Sandro, we becam

e a couple and ended

up co-founding Bellabeat in 2013.

I believe the most dangerous thing w

e can do in life

is limit ourselves. It doesn’t m

atter if you are a doc-

tor, a sculptor or a programm

er – we can build great

things together. Technology does not materialize by

itself, but rather it grows from

cooperation between

different fields and from people w

ho envision the

future without lim

itations.

Urska, 26, is the co-founder and CPO of

Bellabeat, a Silicon Valley com

pany design-

ing the future of healthcare. Urska was

chosen by Forbes as the ambassador of

the Technology field for its first European

Top 30 Under 30 list launched in January

2016. Bellabeat has offices in San Francisco,

London, Shenzhen, and Zagreb. The compa-

ny employs 80 people.

be l labeat .com

NEVER L IM IT

YOURSELF !

HOW

DO YO

U REA

CT

TO OBSTACLES?

I have them for breakfast.

Urska Srsen

Co-Founder and CPO

Be l labeatCROAT IA

18

THE HUNDERT // ONLINE COMPARISON

From an early age, I’ve been a very independent

person. I don’t like following anyone’s rules and

would rather be in charge of succeeding or failing

on my ow

n. Knowing this about m

yself pushed me

to new ventures and into entrepreneurship.

While studying at Colum

bia University, I had a tight

budget and bought groceries at 99 cent stores. I had

a terrible, expensive grocery store next to my apart-

ment and soon realized I could save tim

e and money

by comparing grocery store prices. I presented the

concept of a price comparison service in one of m

y

classes at Columbia and kept the idea in m

y mind.

My passion for transform

ing ideas into real ser-

vices or products led me to found m

y first startup, a

premium

space for mobile phone services, in 2004.

Then, in 2010, I founded Risparmio Super. I learned

to risk my ow

n money, survive w

ithout a salary for

months w

hile I was paying em

ployees, and function

on just a few hours of sleep. Startups are not about a

quest for money or success, but rather the pleasure

of making an im

pact with your ideas.

Barbara is both founder and CEO of Risparm

io

Super, a web and m

obile service that compares gro-

cery store prices throughout Italy. She launched

her first startup in 2004 in the field of premium

mobile services. Risparm

io Super launched in 2010,

and now has a team

of 23 people divided between

Catania, Rome and M

ilan. Barbara has a degree in

Political Science, a Fulbright scholarship and a mas-

ter’s degree from Colum

bia University in New

York.

r isparmiosuper . it

BE THE ONE THAT

MAKES TH INGS

HAPPEN

HOW

DO YO

U DEA

L

WITH

STRESS?

I actually don’t, I just

embrace stress, I use

it to be focused 24h a

day, to get things done

and to push my team

in moving faster.

Barbara Labate

Co-Founder and CEO

R isparmio Super

I TALY

THE HUNDERT // DIGITAL HEALTH

19

© Amanda Sm

ith

21

THE HUNDERT // HEALTH AND FITNESS

Before

co-foundin

g Endom

ondo, I w

orked at McKin

sey & C

ompany,

where

I m

et my tw

o oth

er foundin

g mem

bers. A

lthough I

enjoyed

workin

g there

, I w

as m

issin

g a g

reate

r purpose. W

e felt

a desir

e

to m

ake an im

pact on th

e way p

eople li

ve, so in

2007, w

e left

to

pursue o

ur entr

epreneuria

l dre

am. I

’ve a

lways

had this

desire to

build som

ethin

g tangib

le. I

guess y

ou could sa

y it’s

in m

y genes. M

y

grandfa

ther st

arted a

reta

il chain

in 1947 a

nd kept i

t in th

e fam

ily,

so I gre

w u

p witn

essin

g this

entrepre

neurial l

ifest

yle. L

eaving m

y

job b

ehind w

as a b

it dauntin

g, but i

t felt

like th

e right m

ove.

When m

y two c

o-founders a

nd I set o

ut to cre

ate E

ndomondo, w

e

wante

d to h

elp p

eople le

ad more

activ

e lives

by giv

ing th

em th

e

motiv

ation to

exercise. I

t wasn

’t alw

ays easy

to g

et oth

ers to sh

are

our enth

usiasm

, but I

’m a

com

petitiv

e person, a

nd I get e

nergized

when som

eone says

someth

ing can’t

be done. Sure, th

ere have

been setbacks a

nd obst

acles.

But this

journey h

as help

ed me g

row

,

and has h

elped E

ndomondo gro

w as w

ell. L

ast y

ear, w

e join

ed forc

-

es with

Under A

rmour.

I know

that t

his is

only th

e begin

ning a

nd

I can’t

wait

to see w

hat the fu

ture

hold

s. I s

till f

eel lik

e we a

re ju

st

getting st

arted.

Mette

is th

e co-fo

under and C

EO of o

ne of

the le

ading h

ealth a

nd fitn

ess a

pps in

the

world

, Endom

ondo. She is

35 a

nd lives

in

Copenhagen. She co-founded Endom

ondo

back in 2

007 with

a m

issio

n of m

aking fi

t-

ness m

ore f

un. When it

firs

t st

arted, t

he

team

consiste

d of th

ree people

. Today, it

has gro

wn to

more

than 50 te

amm

ates w

ho,

since jo

inin

g Under A

rmour i

n 2015, f

orm

part of U

nder Arm

our Connecte

d Fitn

ess.

endomondo.com

TURN ING

DOUBTS INTO

POS I T IVE

ENERGY

WH

AT G

IVES Y

OU

POW

ER?

If so

meo

ne says i

t can’t

be done,

prove t

hem w

rong.

Mette Ly

kke

Co-Founder , Endomondo

DENMARK

© Ale

xander A

lbl

I use

d to r

un a s

tart

up in N

ew Y

ork.

During th

at tim

e, I li

ved in th

e heart

of

the sh

opping dist

rict o

f Soho – and even

as a st

yle lo

ver, I h

ad neith

er th

e tim

e

nor the m

eans to sh

op. I st

arted to

pla

y

with

the id

ea of c

reatin

g the n

ext gen-

eratio

n shoppin

g experie

nce on m

obile

– a s

ort o

f Inst

agram

that a

llow

s st

yle

lovers

to sh

op everyth

ing th

ey see.

Style

icon a

nd influencer A

lexa C

hung

share

d this

vision, a

nd we s

tart

ed the

journ

ey launchin

g our se

rvic

e from

New

York

in th

e fall

of 2015.

I both

love and h

ate b

eing an entr

epre-

neur. O

n the o

ne hand, i

t is h

ard work

to cre

ate and b

uild som

ethin

g new

. On

the o

ther h

and, I li

ke to ta

ke chances

inst

ead of

walk

the b

eaten p

ath, a

nd

take a

ction m

ore th

an talk

. In g

eneral,

I thin

k wom

en are

too a

fraid

to ta

ke

chances. You h

ave to ta

ke chances i

n

order to w

in. A

nd when y

ou make m

is-

takes –

because w

e all

do – it

pre

pares

you and teaches y

ou how

to w

in in

the

end. My si

ngle m

ost im

portant a

dvice

is to

be re

ady to a

djust

your c

ourse as

you set o

ut on y

our journey. I

t is l

ike

a saili

ng trip

, as y

ou can never fo

resee

the w

eather o

r challenges a

head.

Jeanette is

the fo

under of

Vill

oid, th

e

next genera

tion sh

opping se

rvic

e, whic

h

she c

o-founded in

2014 w

ith s

tyle

icon

Ale

xa Chung, e

-com

merc

e expert

Karin

Källman,

and so

cial

gamin

g expert

Jarle S

nertin

gdalen. V

illoid

is a

ctive in

180 countrie

s, has

10 emplo

yees, and

is base

d out o

f offi

ces in

Oslo

and N

ew

York. Jeanette

holds

a Mast

er in

Law

from

the U

nivers

ity o

f Berg

en, Norw

ay.

vi l loid .com

LEARN ING TO

ADJUST THE

SA ILS ALONG

THE JOURNEY Jeanette Dyhre Kv

isv ik

Founder and CEO , V

i l loid

NORWAY

THE HUNDERT // SOCIAL SHOPPING

WH

AT A

RE YO

U

PA

SSION

ATE A

BOU

T?

My com

pany is

my big

gest p

assio

n.

V fo

r Vill

oid!

© Fili

p Loebbert

20

23

Everythin

g starte

d when I

was a

kid

in m

y gra

ndfath

er’s sh

op, where

I

was c

razy about s

elling to

ys to p

arents

. My fa

vorite gam

e was t

o identif

y

their n

eeds and fi

nd the rig

ht toy fo

r them

. The fe

eling o

f achie

vement

has been fi

rmly

pla

nted in

my h

eart ever si

nce. I w

orked for th

e big

gest

companie

s in th

e world

as a

markete

r, but a

t som

e poin

t I re

alized th

at I

didn’t

find it

meanin

gful t

o sell one m

ore m

ascara. I

wasn

’t fe

eling u

seful

in socie

ty, a

nd was n

ot cre

ating th

e changes I w

anted.

There cam

e a d

ay when I

had to v

isit a

docto

r, and th

e pro

cess w

as lik

e a

blind d

ate. I

t seem

ed so unaccepta

ble in

2012, a

nd I decid

ed to change it

.

That was i

n January, and b

y May o

f the sa

me y

ear I had a

lready st

arted

Doctora

nytime. A

frie

nd of m

ine fu

nded the b

usiness

at t

he begin

ning.

I knew

noth

ing about i

nternet b

usiness

, but h

ad a cle

ar pic

ture

of h

ow a

proper h

ealth sy

stem

should

be. N

ow, I

love w

hat I d

o and g

et valid

ation

when I

speak to

docto

rs who a

dmit

Doctora

nytime h

as made a

serio

us

change in th

e health

syst

em, o

r when p

atients

thank u

s for th

e care th

ey

get. I f

eel honor,

resp

ect, and re

sponsib

ility

!

Eleft

heria, 34, is

proud to

have disrupt-

ed the health

indust

ry in Gre

ece and

Belgiu

m w

ith D

octora

nytime, a

com

pany

starte

d in 2

012 that h

as sin

ce gro

wn to

30

emplo

yees. She li

ves in G

reece a

nd touch-

es the m

ost im

portant s

ide o

f hum

an lives

and health

every

day. Docto

ranytim

e

helps p

eople id

entify th

e rig

ht docto

r for

them

and book an appointm

ent onlin

e

inst

antly. E

left

heria h

as st

udied b

usiness

in G

reece and in

the U

SA, a

nd has w

orked

for P

rocte

r & G

amble

and L’O

réal.

doctoranyt ime.gr

FROM SELL ING

TOYS TO

D ISRUPT ING TH

E

HEALTH SYSTEM

Elefther ia

Zourou

Founder and CEO

Doctoranyt ime

GREECE

THE HUNDERT // DIGITAL HEALTH THE HUNDERT // CYBER SECURITY

My jo

urney starte

d in Jablo

nec nad Nisou, a

small

city n

orth o

f Pra

gue. I w

as quie

t, pre

tty

geeky and generally

refu

sed to fo

llow

the rule

s.

So perhaps i

t isn

’t su

rprising th

at my corpora

te

career in

netw

ork technolo

gy and r

adio e

ngi-

neering w

as short-l

ived. I

alw

ays found m

yself

wantin

g to d

o my o

wn th

ing. I

now

see c

yber

security a

s a b

lue o

cean opportu

nity – a

race to

capture

market s

hare. I

’m d

riven b

y a s

ense of

urgency and a

miss

ion to

pro

tect p

eople f

rom

hacking –

the c

onsequences of

whic

h can b

e

devastatin

g. My te

am o

f ex-h

ackers know

just

how b

ad thin

gs can get.

Sometim

es w

hen I need to

cle

ar my m

ind a

nd

regain

a s

ense of

balance, I

travel d

eep insid

e

the f

orest

s and e

njoy m

oments

of

medita

tion

among th

e trees,

moss

and stones.

This pre

-

pares m

e for th

e challe

nges ahead. A

s a le

ader,

it’s

importa

nt th

at I w

ake up e

very day e

ner-

gized a

nd ready t

o insp

ire m

y team

to g

o out

and make th

e dig

ital w

orld a

safe

r pla

ce. That

sense of

purpose keeps

me g

oing w

hen tim

es

are to

ugh. Oh, a

nd pla

ying w

ith cats

help

s, to

o.

Vla

dka, 35,

is CO

O of

Prague-

and

London-based

cybersecurity

start-

up Tesk

aLabs. Founded

in

2014,

TeskaLabs

prote

cts in

divid

uals and

enterprises f

rom

mobile

and IoT cyber

thre

ats. A

long w

ith her co-fo

under,

Vla

dka steere

d the 15-p

erson com-

pany thro

ugh two accele

rato

rs in

2015, in

cludin

g Techst

ars London.

TeskaLabs

is V

ladka’s

fourth

sta

rtup

and the b

iggest

challe

nge she’s

taken

on so far.

teska labs .com

MED I TATION ,

CATS AND

CYBER SECUR ITY

HOW

DO Y

OU

RELA

X?

With

out people,

with

animals.

V ladka Teskova

Co-Founder and COO

TeskaLabs

CZECH REPUBL IC

HOW

DO Y

OU

REA

CT

TO OBSTA

CLES?

I challe

nge them

!

22

24

THE HUNDERT // MARKETPLACE

After eight years in the US, m

y husband and I deci-

ded to move back to Turkey and raise our son closer

to the rest of our family. W

e arrived in Istanbul on

a snowy Sunday, and that w

as the start of our chal-

lenging relocation story. Finding a mover and a

painter was such a negative experience and I thought

there should be an easier way to connect w

ith them

online. People I initially spoke with rejected the idea,

saying it wouldn’t w

ork in Turkey.

I was offered another great job position and put m

y

idea on hold for awhile – that is, until our son got

sick and spent two nights at the hospital. It w

as the

wake-up call for m

e that life is too short to postpone

a dream. O

nce we cam

e back home, I told m

y hus-

band, ‘I’m quitting tom

orrow to pursue this idea.’ H

e

said, ‘Okay, goodnight.’ A

nd to everyone’s surprise,

I resigned from m

y job the next morning. It w

as a

choice between regretting not trying and confront-

ing a risk of failure. I certainly made the right choice

and haven’t looked back since.

Arm

ut, my com

pany name, m

eans ‘pear’ and comes

from an old Turkish saying about lazy people w

ait-

ing for something to happen: ‘H

ey pear, get ripe and

fall into my m

outh!’ Our m

ission is to use technology

to make it easy to find local service providers online.

Basak, 37, studied civil engineering at

Bogazici University, got her MBA

from

Koc, and earned an MSIM

C from Loyola

University, Chicago. After a brand m

an-

agement career m

ostly in the United States

with Revlon, N

ielsen, and Coca-Cola, she

quit her corporate career to found armut.

com in 2011. It is now

the leading local ser-

vices marketplace in Turkey, w

ith more

than 1.2 million m

onthly visitors and a cus-

tomer satisfaction rate of 98 percent.

armut.com

DON ’ T WAIT

AROUND FOR

THE PEAR TO

R IPEN

Basak Tasp inar-Deg im

Co-Founder , Armut

TURKEY

WH

AT D

RIVES YOU

CRAZY?

Prejudice. People should

be treated as equals and

acknowledged for their

actions and not only be

seen as Adam

s and Eves

of the world.

© Erd

em E

rol

The desire to become an entrepreneur cam

e to me early and naturally, as

I was alw

ays searching for freedom. I chose to go to university at ISC Paris

because I believed its associative system w

ould be a good way to start m

y

entrepreneurial career. There, I chaired a charity called Accède, w

hich helps

unemployed people return to w

orking via entrepreneurship.

Before Genymobile, m

y leadership experiences dealt with problem

s that

had clear solutions. But in 2011, Android w

as not an obvious solution for

the mobile needs of businesses. M

aking it one was a real gam

ble for me

personally and professionally, but entering a market w

ith a clear issue and

finding a new solution w

as a risk that I wanted to take. In order to overcom

e

this challenge, I knew I needed a top notch team

, strong company foun-

dation and excellent culture. I’ve often noticed that the best creativity at

Genymobile em

erges from friendships betw

een colleagues. Passion, atmo-

sphere and employee involvem

ent are the keys to our growth. W

hen you

enter any one of our offices in San Francisco, Paris or Lyon, you get the same

message: m

ake yourself at home!

Angélique is a 30-year-old entrepreneur

living in San Francisco. Passionate about

technology and mobility, she co-founded

Genymobile in Paris in 2011 after hold-

ing a

business engineering

position

at Linagora. With 67 em

ployees and

10,000 enterprise customers including

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Uber and

Samsung, Genym

obile has become the

number one Enterprise A

ndroid solu-

tion in the world.

genymobi le .comFR IENDSH IPS

INSP IRE CREAT IV I TY

Angél ique Zettor

Co-Founder and CEO

Genymobi le

FRANCE

WH

AT IS SOM

ETHIN

G PEOPLE

DON

’T KN

OW A

BOU

T YOU

?

I am passionate about clim

bing,

hoping one day to attempt the

El Capitan climb in Yosem

ite.

THE HUNDERT // COMPUTER SOFTWARE

25

26 27

THE HUNDERT // MARKETINGTHE HUNDERT // TRAVEL

As a founder and CEO

of Yonderbound, I’ve learned that there is

only one constant in the startup world: change. N

either the corpo-

rate world – nor m

y MBA

at Columbia University – prepared m

e

for the roller coaster experience of managing a startup! From

the

beginning, I knew I had to be flexible and resilient, m

ake no assump-

tions and test and track everything (if we can’t m

easure it, it simply

does not exist). But most im

portantly, I made sure to follow

what I

believed in.

The inspiration for creating Yonderbound stemm

ed from travelling –

a true passion of mine. W

orking in travel is like working in the hap-

piness industry. We’re at a point w

here there is an abundance of

information on the internet, and this can be confusing for travelers.

We decided to create a one-stop shop for unique trips, w

hich ulti-

mately can m

ake travelers happier.

I know that Yonderbound w

ill inspire others to support the won-

ders of travel with innovative initiatives. M

y next goal? Convincing

my husband Roberto that w

e should get a dog.

Barbara, 42, lives in Monaco and

founded Yonderbound

togeth-

er with tw

o co-founders in 2014.

Before, she was CM

O at M

SC Cruises,

SVP M

arketing and Sales Europe of

Silversea Cruises, and spearheaded

marketing at other leading com

pa-

nies. Yonderbound is the world’s

largest collection of bookable trav-

el stories, having become a trusted

marketplace w

here travelers can buy

unique experiences

directly from

others’ stories.yonderbound .com

EMBRACING CHANGE

AND BE ING RES IL IENT

HOW

DO YO

U RELA

X?

Yoga and sunshine!

Barbara Muckermann

Founder and CEO

Yonderbound

MONACO

26

Milda, 30, is the co-founder of

Vinted – the w

orld’s largest pre-

loved fashion

marketplace.

It

started as a hobby project in 2008

and now includes 11 m

illion mem

-

bers worldw

ide, from the United

States to Europe. Headquartered

in V

ilnius, Lithuania,

Vinted

employs

250 people

globally.

Vinted is M

ilda’s first business.

She created its concept while she

was studying culture m

anagement.

vinted .com

CREAT ING A BUS INESS

FROM AN ADD ICT ION

WH

AT’S TH

E FIRST

THIN

G YOU

DO

WH

EN YO

U GET

HOM

E FROM W

ORK?

I listen to music and

take my m

ind off work.

Mi lda Mitkute

Co-Founder , Vinted

L I THUAN IA

© Bon Bon

When I w

as a student, I had a serious shopping addiction and used

to spend 90 percent of my salary on clothes. M

y closet was full of

clothes, but I still had nothing to wear! In som

e shops, sales people

even knew m

e by name. The m

oment of truth cam

e when I w

as

moving from

my native tow

n to Vilnius and I had to review

all

of my w

ardrobe. I found around 150 items I’d never w

orn. Most

of them still had tags. Then, the idea of an online m

arketplace

for girls like me popped into m

y mind. I had a feeling I w

asn’t the

only one in the world w

ith this addiction. The prospect of open-

ing thousands of other girls’ closets seemed am

azing to me.

The idea came true w

hen I met Justas Janauskas, a talented

developer and an old acquaintance. I told him about the idea at a

party at 2 a.m. First, he w

as skeptical. He couldn’t believe w

omen

had this addiction. Now

, I’m happy he believed m

e. With V

inted,

we created an incredible w

orldwide m

ovement of shopping m

ade

personal. We also achieved m

y original dream.

THE HUNDERT // PRODUCTIVITYTHE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

Since I

was

a little

girl,

my m

other

taught m

e to st

rive fo

r know

ledge a

nd

be the b

est a

t w

hatever

I do. D

uring

my s

tudie

s, I w

as devote

d to e

mbra

c-

ing k

nowle

dge and got very

pass

ionate

about e-c

omm

erce. I

was

also e

xcited

about com

petitio

ns and

considere

d

them

a w

ay to p

rove m

yself.

I w

as 21

years old

when I w

on “Most

Innovativ

e

Business

Plan”

in a natio

nal com

pe-

titio

n and got fu

nding to

start

my

business

. Full

of energ

y and a

mbiti

on,

I was r

eady to s

eize o

pportuniti

es and

dive in

to th

e busin

ess w

orld. T

he new

business

model o

f gro

up buying se

emed

to b

e a perf

ect initi

ator f

or e-c

omm

erce

developm

ent in m

y em

ergin

g countr

y.

I la

unched the le

ading e-c

omm

erce

site w

hen less

than o

ne perc

ent of t

he

populatio

n was

buying o

nline. W

here

others

saw

obst

acles,

I saw

a challe

nge

to change th

e e-com

merc

e mark

et. The

path w

as not e

asy b

ut every

barr

ier w

e

overcam

e made u

s str

onger and w

iser.

With

hard w

ork,

a motiv

ated te

am,

good organiz

ation, const

ant le

arnin

g,

support

from

frie

nds and fa

mily

and

a bit

of lu

ck, anyth

ing c

an be a

ccom-

plished (a

nd it can b

e fun)!

I was b

orn in

the 9

0’s in

Bulg

aria. T

hese w

ere v

ery tu

rbule

nt tim

es of

transit

ion fr

om a

pla

nned to m

arket e

conomy in

whic

h many p

eople

start

ed busin

esses t

o seiz

e open m

arket o

pportuniti

es. M

y mom

was

one of t

hese entr

epreneurs

, so I’v

e been th

inkin

g about busin

ess fo

r as

long as I

can rem

ember –

wheth

er it b

e company n

ames o

r repurp

osing

old b

usiness

cards a

nd invoic

es into

my o

wn p

rete

nd com

pany docu-

ments

. I g

rew

up b

elievin

g that w

ork is

not s

ometh

ing th

at you g

et,

but som

ethin

g you c

reate

. So n

atura

lly w

hen I gra

duated u

nivers

ity

and was s

upposed to

start

a care

er, I c

ould n

ot put m

y min

d to it

. All

I

wante

d was t

o create

thin

gs I lo

ve with

the p

eople I

like. T

his bro

ught

me to

gether w

ith K

asper a

nd Stefa

n, my tw

o co-founders

, who are

the

most

bril

liant p

eople I

know a

nd who fe

lt th

e sam

e way I

did. D

id w

e

know e

xactly w

hat we w

anted to

do a

t the ti

me? N

o. Were

we e

xpe-

rienced e

nough? No. D

id e

veryone te

ll us w

e would

fail?

Yes.

Yet, w

e

didn’t,

because

we fo

llow

ed a si

mple

rule

: do w

hat you lo

ve with

the

people y

ou like and b

ecome th

e best

at it.

SEE ING A

CHALLENGE

WHERE

OTHERS SEE

AN OBSTACLEDO W

HAT YOU LO

VE

WITH TH

E PEOPLE

YOU L IKE

WH

AT D

O YO

U

LIKE T

HE M

OST

ABO

UT Y

OURSELF?

My en

ergy and

passio

n, posit

ive

attitu

de,

progre

ssiv

enes

s

and liveli

ness. W

HA

T MA

KES

YOU

HA

PPY?

Chocolate!

Nin

a Angelo

vska is

a 27-year-o

ld

entrepre

neur w

ho la

unched th

e

first

deal p

latfo

rm in

Macedonia

in

2011 and transf

ormed th

e e-com

-

merc

e market.

She comple

ted her

bachelor’s

and m

aster’s

degrees

in

e-busin

ess

at th

e Faculty

of

Economic

s, Ss.

Cyril and M

ethodiu

s

Universit

y in S

kopje. S

he is curre

nt-

ly w

orking on her PhD, aim

ing to

turn pra

ctice in

to scie

nce. Today,

Grouper.m

k is th

e leadin

g e-com

-

merc

e site

in M

acedonia w

ith a te

am

of 15 p

eople.

grouper .mk

Yana Vla

tchkova is

the co-fo

under of Sw

ipes,

a com

pany that

is build

ing a

connecte

d work-

space fo

r your p

roje

cts a

cross

apps.

Swip

es w

as

founded in

2013 in D

enmark, and its

six-p

er-

son team

is curre

ntly sp

lit betw

een offices

in

Sofia, B

ulgaria

and P

alo A

lto, C

alifornia

. Yana is

leadin

g the o

peratio

ns and c

reatin

g a c

ompany

culture

focused o

n happin

ess. H

er backgro

und is

in m

arketing m

anagement.

swipesapp .com

Nina Ange lovska

Co-Founder and CEO

Grouper

MACEDONIA

Yana V latchkova

Co-Founder and COO , S

wipes

BULGAR IA

© Ilija

Zogovs

ki

2928

30 31

THE HUNDERT // ADVERTORIAL

NO RISK, NO FUN – NO BUSINESSKPMG’s Anne Schäfer met with Ingeborg Neumann, founder of the Peppermint Group and honorary president of the Confederation of the German Textile and Fashion Industry and Verena Pausder, founder of Fox&Sheep, to talk about female entrepreneurship in Berlin.

Anne Schäfer: Ms. Neumann, you were actually working at an

accountancy firm on the fast track down the career path to

being partner, only to then establish your own company via

the former GDR privatization agency Treuhandanstalt. What

were your reasons, how did it actually come to that point?

Ingeborg Neumann: I am a business administrator, first

started in the US at Arthur Andersen and then made it to

auditor. The German reunification came and I was sent to the

Treuhand as a partner for six months. From that point on

my life changed completely. This was pure entrepreneurship.

Eventually six months turned into three years and privatizing

was my essential task. I have noticed that I enjoy the establish-

ing and designing of companies very much, crowned with the

successful search for great investors. The most important thing

to me was to shape something with an entrepreneurial spirit.

In a public bidding process I, together with two partners,

have therefore acquired five companies from our managed

portfolio in the light industry, i.e. shoes, leather and textiles -

a truly difficult terrain.

Today my company, the Peppermint Group, produces at

six locations in three countries.

AS: So you are saying that you more or less stumbled

into this industry?

IN: Yes that is true, but it was a great fit. I like textiles,

always did. Today I am also the honorary president of the

Confederation of the German Textile and Fashion Industry.

Textile is a material, which often expands into other branches

of industry. About 60 percent of our revenue is not earned

through clothing, but through textiles for aerospace,

automotive engineering, medical technology, construction

technology and many other innovative areas of application.

AS: Verena, one could say you are a child of digitalization.

You only worked in a corporation for a short period of time.

What made you want to found a company so early on?

Verena Pausder: My roots lie in a family of textile entre-

preneurs from Bielefeld, meaning I am from a household of

consummated entrepreneurs. My father is now managing

our family business in the 9th generation, my mother, who is also

an entrepreneur, manages her own company. I think seeing your

parents constantly reinvent themselves and continue to do so

every day really leaves an impression on you.

Insofar I was always sure that I also wanted to do my own thing.

First I studied business administration with emphasis on financ-

es and controlling in St. Gallen and then proceeded to work at

Munich Re, so actually a quite traditional path. But I was always

tempted to put my ideas into practice. My sister and I opened

a sushi restaurant in Bielefeld when we were 19 and 16 years

old, though it was more of a family project. The real company

founding was for Fox & Sheep – apps for kids – what I have been

doing for five years now. That was my first idea I actually liked

so much that I decided: now is the time to jump.

AS: So you had role models in your family?

VP: Yes exactly. Your own inhibition levels are much lower.

Not only because of my family but rather because I am not

afraid to take risks. Neither does it scare me nor do I perma-

nently think about what could happen if something were to

go wrong. We’ll just find another way then. The worst thing

I could imagine would be to think back one day and say to my-

self: Man, was my life boring, doing the same thing for

forty years just to be on the safe side. That is far worse to me

than to run aground three times.

IN: Did you ever run aground before?

VP: You bet! Once with a salad bar chain concept I saw in

New York and wanted to implement here. We gave ourselves

one year and said: If we are not going to launch then, we’ll stop.

Twelve months later everything was done, from the concept

to the recipes, up to the processes – but we didn’t have a retail

space. That was back in 2004 / 2005 when Nordsee, Häagen

Dazs and Kamps conquered the inner cities. We closed shop

before we ever even opened it. 240.000 Euro of the 400.000 Euro

investor’s money was left but we didn’t achieve anything.

That was the first failure, with 25. Additionally, two years

ago a company went bankrupt that I, as the managing direc-

tor, was supposed to save from a threatening imbalance.

That is ok though, as long as you have serious backbone and

give it your best effort. I think it only gets problematic when

people halfheartedly run aground and don’t learn anything

from their mistakes.

AS: Ms. Neumann, which qualities helped you during founding

and your business activities?

IN: Perhaps first also to a loss of mine: I was once president

of a football club in the German second league. After the relega-

tion we finally had to file for bankruptcy and on top of that

I personally lost money.

You asked which qualities are needed? You definitely need

a willingness to take risks and a keen understanding of balanc-

es and figures – with that you can calculate the opportunities

and risks fairly easy. Furthermore you have to analyze and

implement business models. You need a lot of curiosity and

great enthusiasm, you have to learn the ropes and have passion,

work hard. I take a lot of thoughts concerning work with me

into the weekend, they are always there. Our motto is:

Trade and Passion – these are qualities you need.

AS: Did you have specific role models or mentors that helped

you along your professional life?

IN: I never had actual role models. I did have companions

in every phase of my life that supported me. I would have

never walked this path alone.

AS: Do you think that entrepreneurship feels different in the

various phases of life? Would you say that 20 years ago there

were more restrictions and inhibitions to deal with than today?

IN: Back in 2000 we went through the downswing with our

first venture capital fund, which I built up independently from

my textile group – we should have achieved more then.

The entrepreneurs and founders of today are more advanced,

more secure and know better what to expect. They also under-

stand more of founding companies. Nowadays there are overall

more women that are daring and confident. Nevertheless they

are still too few. I also love that young people already want

to found and quickly sell startups while they are still studying.

That is a great breeding ground. I myself want to bring my

textile group to the next generation. The appeal for me is to

develop and enlarge an already existing company.

AS: Verena, you founded Fox & Sheep and about one year ago

you made the exit. You are still a shareholder but what has

changed for you as a founder because of the sale?

VP: Nothing because it is still 11 percent my company. I love

the digital world for kids and it still offers so many more

opportunities. This means all ideas that I have always go in

the direction of digital education for children and teenagers.

At the moment we are building digital workshops where we

teach children programming and coding, 3D printing and

design. I am thinking about establishing STEM schools with

the goal of training students in STEM within a fun and

sustainable environment.

AS: In some industries there are not yet many women that

found startups. How could that be changed?

VP: I strongly believe in the power of role models. If you want

to get young women to found, you have to show them how

and that it works. Three and a half years ago we developed a

Ladies Dinner together with KPMG at which female founders

from the Berlin tech scene can meet and get to know each

other. We started with 25 women and are now at 125. That is

proof for me that being a good role model is more important

than fulfilling a quota.

AS: Ms. Neumann what advice would you give new founders?

IN: You should always think of the phrase: cash is king,

because it obviously takes some time to find customers and

investors which often means you need more money than

previously expected. You always have to make sure that

enough cash is at hand. The second lesson is to make the

experience that business plans never work. With these two

insights I have managed to navigate quite well so far.

VP: Founding a company is extremely hard and permanent

work. But it is also so much fun that it doesn’t really seem like

a lot of work. The rumor is spreading around in Berlin that

the life of a founder is so hip and so cool and we only sit

around in super food stores and work with our laptops on our

knees. Yes, that might be the brainstorming session for startup

ideas with the salary from the last job, but it doesn’t really

reflect reality.

IN: I agree completely but would like to add something: when

you look at the Berlin startup scene you see a lot of “me too”

mentality, meaning successful ideas are often imitated or cop-

ied. I on the other hand believe in the outstanding importance

of disruptive innovations and business models, even if no one

likes to hear this term anymore. These new ideas may fail and

they need a lot of time but they eventually bring us forward

because they change the world for the better. This doesn’t only

concern the startup scene but also the established industry.

The question is how do you breathe fresh new life into those

industries? That is a big topic for our medium-sized enterpris-

es and also for me personally.

From left to rig

ht: Ingeborg Neumann, Verena Pausder a

nd Anne Schäfer

33

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT THE HUNDERT // ADVERTORIAL

AS: Both of you aren’t here in Berlin by accident. Here is a vast

startup scene, mutually inspiring each other. Is that enough?

What is missing in Berlin?

VP: A lot of what happened here has model character, even

internationally. Up until a couple of years ago one may have

still derided it as a hype but now Berlin is a successful startup

ecosystem. It works because the next person I can talk to is

right around the corner. Because of that the inhibition towards

founding a startup declines. Berlin is now also internationally

relevant, just last year we superseded London in terms of

venture capital – two or three years ago that was inconceiv-

able. Meanwhile I could list 30 companies that are extremely

relevant and market-leading in their respective fields.

IN: Moreover, many international teams are here. They found

startups because of highly diverse reasons and I think that is

great. It works despite a lack of or poor policy frameworks.

For example, the Federal Government still hasn’t brought the

Venture Capital Act forward, even though it is extremely im-

portant for funds. Fundraising outside of the IT sector is still

very difficult. I myself am involved in this sector and manage

two funds. The Venture Capital Act would really help here.

But I am not one to only cry for policies – the entrepreneurs

should take the first step.

AS: Verena, if you could change two things from the general

conditions of founders, what would those be?

VP: First of all I would let specialists come to Germany,

procure them actively, roll out the red carpet for them at the

airport if someone wants to come here. Despite the Blue Card it

is still extremely difficult to get non-European specialists into

Germany. They are missing here - we are training too few

and in actuality don’t even have an answer to the issue of

skills shortage.

Secondly, investing in education, and I mean in every area of it.

I don’t think that we reflect the reality of our future living and

working environment at our schools. We are a country with a

higher average age and skills shortage, therefore we should do

everything in our power to properly train our children.

AS: Ms. Neumann, is this also a topic of discussion for you?

IN: Yes, we have to better convey in our schools what economy

actually is.

Our economy is the backbone of our prosperity. At the moment

education is far too narrow. A certain variety is extremely

important, a more interdisciplinary approach paired with the

conveyance of the vast cultural diversity that widens our

horizons and enables creativity.

AS: The key word is creativity – it is essential for both of

your companies, as well as your employees and yourself.

How do you encourage that?

IN: Of course here in Berlin we don’t have time clocks, we offer

an independent time management and have no problems with

home office work, especially for parents. For me personally a

fixed workplace is important though, especially for the per-

sonal exchange. This will be a topic in the digital world: I like

talking to people. This gives me new energy and new ideas. At

Peppermint we like to venture into various areas, for example

fine arts and music, and in this way try to produce creativity.

Contemporary art is hanging on our walls – not calendars.

AS: What do your employees think about that?

IN: They love it. You just feel the energy that art can have.

We also like to regularly go on guided museum tours with our

managerial staff. These effects cannot be measured but I am

sure that it produces creativity.

AS: So the physical work place does play a role?

VP: Not really in our case. What brings us together is the

feeling of creating something new, that hasn’t been done before.

Despite different time zones the spark ignites. In the end this

feeling unites us that we created something now available on

the homepages of 135 App Stores around the world. The great

advantage of this working style is: you don’t have to necessar-

ily find someone at your present location, you just have to find

the best – no matter where they are.

EIN KLICK–UND DIE GUTE MUSIK

HÖRT NIE MEHR AUF.**ES SEI DENN, DU DRÜCKST ”STOP”

HOLT EUCH JETZT DIE NEUE APP VON FLUXFM!

KOSTENLOS FÜR ANDROID UND iOS.

32

34 35

THE HUNDERT // EMPLOYEE RELOCATIONTHE HUNDERT // SPORTS

I took a leap of faith and became a founder out of sheer curiosity. I

wanted to do som

ething new and see w

hat the world of entrepre-

neurship could offer me. I didn’t quite know

what I w

as getting

myself into, but that w

as part of the fascination. I wasn’t afraid

and prepared myself to learn on the go. Because I w

as still a stu-

dent, my studies had to be put on hold for m

e to focus fully on

starting a company. A

lthough raising money is typically an issue

for founders in the beginning, we w

ere lucky to get backed by

top-tier investors quite early on. This gave us the chance to start

scaling our business quickly.

The people I’ve met over the years of being a founder have been

my biggest influences. I’ve had the pleasure of w

orking with and

gaining support from som

e of our experienced investors, who

have been an invaluable help in sharing their entrepreneur-

ship expertise. I believe it is very important to absorb as m

uch

information from

others as possible. Everyone has their own

experiences, and with those experiences their unique ideas and

thoughts. These mentors have increased m

y understanding of

entrepreneurship in its many form

s and put me on the right path

to success with m

y own com

pany.

Brynne is 32 years old and based in both

London and San Francisco. She is the found-

er and CEO of M

OVE Guides, the leading

provider of tech and services for employee

relocation. MOV

E Guides began in 2011 during

Brynne’s MBA

at London Business School. The

company now

has over 100 employees, oper-

ates across four offices worldw

ide, and has

raised more than $25 m

illion in total VC fund-

ing. Brynne also holds a BA in H

istory from

Yale University.

moveguides .com

ABSORB AS MUCH

INFORMAT ION

FROM OTHERS

AS POSS IBLE !

HOW

DO YO

U

DEAL W

ITH

STRESS?

By going to the

gym to train w

ith

my friends.

Emma Huov inen

Co-Founder and CEO

MyNextRun

F INLAND

Moving around regularly during m

y years working as an

investment banker caused m

e a lot of frustration. I founded

MOV

E Guides after a particularly challenging move from

Asia

to London to start my M

BA program

at London Business School.

At that point, I w

as determined to m

ake moving easier for

everyone. With a clear vision in m

ind, I began MOV

E Guides.

It was exciting to em

bark on this journey and stare down at

the face of uncertainty.  I didn’t know if m

y vision was valid

or crazy, or if I could make it happen. But I had confidence in

myself and knew

that I would do everything possible to m

ake

it a reality.

The idea has since evolved to transform not only the w

ay indi-

viduals relocate around the world, but also the w

ay companies

manage and m

ove their global talent – from new

hires to proj-

ects to expatriates.

Now

adays, I am constantly back and forth betw

een our two

headquarters in London and San Francisco. I get my strength

from m

y strong team, supporters and m

entors. They encourage

and inspire me to m

ake MOV

E Guides a success.

Emm

a, 29,

lives in

Helsinki

and w

as

a student

at the

Helsinki

School of

Economics and an e-com

merce entrepre-

neur. In 2010, she founded MyN

extRun,

the online

destination for

running.

MyN

extRun helps runners to discover

their next running adventure by listing

over 10,000 running events worldw

ide

in a calendar. MyN

extRun also provides

running-related content such as articles,

blogs and social media coverage.

mynextrun .com

MAKING A MOVE

ON SUCCESS WITH

A CLEAR V IS ION

WH

AT IS

SOMETH

ING

PEOPLE

DON

’T KN

OW

ABO

UT YO

U?

I was a form

er

elite level

gymnast for the

United States.

Brynne Herbert

Founder and CEO

MOVE Gu ides

UN ITED K INGDOM

© Maija Saarem

a

© Claire Beckenstein

36 37

THE HUNDERT // DATA VISUALIZATION

Before

Info

gram

, I w

as doin

g desig

n pro

jects

in

differe

nt fie

lds –

both

in agencie

s and as a

free-

lancer.

When I

founded a st

artup, I

realiz

ed the

best th

ing a

bout workin

g on it

is th

at no m

an-

agers, boss

es or clie

nts a

re in

volved w

hen you

bring y

our idea to

life

! It w

as just

me.

The Info

gram

idea w

as born w

hen two o

f the

thre

e founders

were

workin

g for t

he big

gest

media

company in

the B

altics.

Creatio

n of d

ata

visualiz

ation w

as on th

eir daily

agenda, a

nd at

some p

oint w

e realiz

ed that t

his pro

cess sh

ould

be autom

ated. C

hanges in th

e indust

ry encour-

aged it, t

oo. Media

moved fr

om p

rint t

o dig

ital,

a world

in w

hich th

e mess

age must

be v

isually

impre

ssiv

e in o

rder to c

apture

readers’

atten-

tion. T

hat’s w

here In

fogra

m cam

e in.

Apart f

rom

truly

belie

ving in

the d

emocra

tiza-

tion o

f data

visu

alizatio

n, I g

ot insp

ired b

y the

startu

p com

munity

. It i

s built

aro

und sharin

g

knowle

dge and h

elpin

g each o

ther to

becom

e

success

ful.

I was a

bit

afraid

to q

uit everyth

ing,

and I had to

jum

p into

the u

nknown, b

ut every

victo

ry that I

nfogra

m w

on – inclu

ding p

rizes i

n

confere

nces and tr

ust fr

om th

e first

custom

ers –

encouraged m

e to contin

ue.

Alis

e, 28, is th

e co-founder of

Info

gram

, a data

visualiz

ation pla

tform

that

brings

out th

e best

in d

ata. I

nfogra

m s

tarte

d in 2

012 and h

as sin

ce

grow

n to a te

am of 3

0 people

. Info

gram

is b

ased in

Riga a

nd has o

ffices i

n San F

rancisco a

nd Sydney.

Alis

e’s backgro

und is in

gra

phic d

esign, a

nd her

passio

n for dig

ital

products

led her to

mast

er’s

studie

s in h

uman-c

ompute

r inte

ractio

n.

infogr.a

m

ONLY YOU CAN

BR ING YOUR

IDEA TO L IF

E

HOW

DO Y

OU

RELA

X?

By gettin

g away fr

om

scre

ens o

f all s

izes and

being offl

ine.

A l ise Semjonova

Co-Founder , Infogram

LATV IA

Startin

g a b

usiness

was i

nevitable

for m

e, as b

oth o

f my p

arents

are

very entrepre

neurial a

nd that s

pirit w

as pass

ed dow

n to m

e and my

two si

sters.

The thre

e of us o

ften ta

lked about w

orking to

gether,

and

in 2

012 we to

ok that l

eap when w

e co-fo

unded Pro

wlst

er, w

hich

eventually

grew

into

Opsh

.

Our lo

ve for

online sh

opping le

d us t

o build

a sh

opping “n

irvana” –

a single

dest

inatio

n where

every b

rand, p

roduct a

nd pie

ce of c

ontent

was c

atere

d to th

e tast

es, in

tere

sts,

price p

oints

and sizes o

f our f

emale

audience. In

short

, we m

ade a platfo

rm w

e would

like to

use

ourselv

es!

Buildin

g a b

usiness

is te

rrifyin

g. You h

ave to w

ear multi

ple h

ats a

t

once and r

apidly

learn n

ew la

nguages and w

ork pro

cesses

(legal,

financin

g, invest

ment,

technic

al, opera

tional,

staffi

ng). A

lthough,

that i

s all

part of b

eing a

n entr

epreneur a

nd you m

ust h

ave a w

ill-

ingness

to le

arn and a

dapt. M

y busin

ess m

otivatio

ns com

e from

my

fam

ily a

nd the in

credib

le te

am w

e have b

uilt at O

psh. M

y personal

recip

e for su

ccess is

to h

ave the u

tmost

trust

in y

our foundin

g team

.

Do the re

search, s

o that y

ou can be u

nwaverin

g in y

our visi

on. Ask

for h

elp and o

ffer h

elp, a

nd don’t

forget t

o celebra

te th

e mile

stones!

Jennie

, 32, i

s the c

o-founder a

nd

CEO of O

psh a

long w

ith h

er tw

o

siste

rs, Sara

h and Grace. Je

nnie

studie

d at t

he London C

ollege o

f

Fashio

n and has a

mast

er’s degre

e

in A

rts

Managem

ent. She has

work

ed across

multi

ple in

dus-

trie

s in

business

developm

ent

role

s. Opsh

is t

he third

ventu

re

from

the M

c Gin

n sist

ers, w

ho are

seria

l entr

epreneurs

.

opsh.com

RESEARCH ,

WORK HARD AND

CELEBRATE TH

E WINS !

WH

AT G

IVES

YOU

POW

ER?

Not t

aking N

O

for a

n answer

.

Jennie Mc G inn

Co-Founder and CEO , O

psh

IRELAND

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

© Ale

x Huch

inso

n

© Fili

ps Sm

its

THE HUNDERT // DIGITAL HEALTH THE HUNDERT // SUSTAINABILITY

I am originally a particle physicist, and m

aybe

still am at heart. A

fter discovering the Higgs

boson, I quit my job and sw

itched fields to wom

-

en’s reproductive health to develop the smart

algorithm behind N

atural Cycles – a company

I co-founded together with m

y husband.

We started the com

pany due to our own needs.

We w

ere looking for a safe and user friendly

natural birth control, and there wasn’t one

on the market. By analyzing w

omen’s body

temperatures, the N

atural Cycles mobile app

identifies fertile days for the purposes of both

preventing and planning pregnancy. In the

beginning, I was excited and terrified at the

same tim

e. I think there is almost nothing m

ore

incredible and fun than creating your own

business and product from scratch and reveal-

ing it to the world. A

big challenge for me as a

founder was to accept that at som

e point you

have to delegate responsibility to others and

give up some control. To grow

a business means

that you will not be able to do everything your-

self; you have to allow other people to w

ork for

you, even if they approach things differently.

Elina, 32, is a particle physicist who w

orked

for six years at the CERN laboratory in

Switzerland. She w

as one of the leading

researchers who discovered the H

iggs boson,

which led to a N

obel Prize in physics in 2013.

Today she is the co-founder of Natural Cycles,

a natural birth control app. She won m

ulti-

ple awards for her w

ork, including Wom

an

in Tech 2015. In February 2016, Elina was

named one of the m

ost powerful business-

wom

en in Sweden.

natura lcyc les .com

FROM PART ICLES

TO PREGNANCY

PLANN ING

El ina Berg lund Scherwitz l

Co-Founder and CTO

Natura l Cyc les

SWEDEN

WH

AT IN

SPIRES YOU

?

All the pow

erful and

wonderful w

omen in the

world. It is a great privilege

to work w

ith something

every day that affects

wom

en’s lives.

What do you really need for a good life? This is the question that

started everything for me. W

ith climate change and all the w

asted

resources in the world, I w

as always convinced that things can’t go

on like this. But I was lacking a clear alternative for w

hat I could offer

to really make things different. W

hen Christian came up w

ith the

idea of a fully self-sustained living unit called a ‘Wohnw

agon’, I was

imm

ediately fascinated by the concept. We both envisioned m

ore

than just a product, but a political and philosophical statement on

how living in the future could be m

ore climate friendly – and fun!

Building this company w

as not a walk in the park, but I’ve alw

ays

been convinced it is the right thing to do. Together with our team

and a great network, w

e always found w

ays to make things happen.

We are now

looking to scale our idea and have started building an

online platform for sustainable and independent living, w

here you

can buy separate parts and modules of the W

ohnwagon. W

e want

to inspire people and make possible new

ways of self-sustainable,

natural living.

Theresa, 26, studied comm

unication and economic

managem

ent in Vienna. She started her first com

-

pany, an agency for comm

unication and design, at

the age of 21. A business partner, Christian Frantal,

came up w

ith the idea of Wohnw

agon and Theresa

not only became its first big fan, but also the CEO

and co-founder. They started Wohnw

agon in

March 2013. Today they w

ork in a team of ten peo-

ple and sell Wohnw

agons all across Europe.

wohnwagon.at

RETH INK L IV INGTheresa Ste in inger

Co-Founder and CEO

Wohnwagon

AUSTR IA

WH

AT IS SOM

ETHIN

G

PEOPLE DON

’T KN

OW

ABO

UT YO

U?

I really used to struggle

with netw

orking and

talking to strangers at the

beginning, but I grew w

ith

the challenge and love to

connect with others now

.

3938

© Thom

as To

pf

40 41

THE HUNDERT // INTERNET OF THINGS

My jo

urney starte

d when I

was

22 years old

studyin

g at t

he Univ

ersity o

f Zagre

b and w

orking

on mH

ealth solu

tions

in th

e CEE regio

n. I w

ent

thro

ugh a f

amily

health

situ

ation d

uring w

hich I

observed som

ethin

g inte

rest

ing a

bout th

e health

syst

em: E

ven with

am

azing d

octors,

oftentim

es a

patient’s

em

otional s

tate

is n

eglecte

d even th

ough

it is

highly

correla

ted to

the o

utcom

e of t

reatm

ent.

We d

ecided to

explore

this

area and cre

ate our ow

n

solutio

n – one th

at would

appro

ach the p

atient i

n a

frie

ndly, s

oothin

g way.

My d

ecision to

be an entr

epreneur w

as very u

ncon-

ventional,

as I w

as the fi

rst in

my fa

mily

to re

ceive

a college e

ducation. B

eing a

n entrepre

neur seemed

like a

less

reputa

ble a

nd secure

optio

n com

pared

to bein

g emplo

yed in th

e public secto

r. A

part

from

that,

the s

ector I

wante

d to jo

in w

as partia

l-

ly u

ndeveloped w

ith li

mite

d access

to c

apital.

My

tools

were

a b

ook and a

ny info

rmatio

n availa

ble

online. B

ut m

y motiv

ation w

as st

ronger t

han all

the o

bstacle

s, and T

eddy The G

uardian is

now

a

company tr

usted b

y invest

ors and cust

omers a

like.

I’ve le

arned to care

fully

choose my b

attles,

because

buildin

g a company is

a mara

thon – n

ot a sp

rint.

During an in

ternsh

ip at

a managem

ent

consulta

ncy, my b

oss o

nce said

to m

e, “w

e

welc

ome you here

, but you sh

ould re

ally

become a

founder.”

Fiv

e years l

ater,

after I’d

held vario

us posit

ions

at BCG and Rocket

Inte

rnet/Gro

upon, he tu

rned out to b

e right.

The idea fo

r Am

orelie

developed in

2012.

One d

ay, my g

ood acquain

tance, S

ebastia

n,

told

me about a

n onlin

e shop fo

r desig

n fur-

niture

and accessorie

s selli

ng huge am

ounts

of vib

rato

rs. I,

in t

urn, told

him

about

my

journey

from

M

unich

to

Berlin

during

whic

h I’d n

oticed m

any people

readin

g 50

Shades of G

rey, b

asically

erotic

lite

ratu

re, i

n

public! S

ometh

ing w

as changin

g in o

ur soci-

ety. T

his w

as an epip

hany for m

e.

Until n

ow, p

eople h

aven’t had a com

forta

ble

place to

shop fo

r artic

les

for th

eir love li

fe

with

out feelin

g uneasy

or goin

g underc

over

while

ente

ring a

dodgy sex sh

op. We d

ecid-

ed to re

volutio

nize sensu

ality a

nd sexuality

and push

the q

uality to

a h

igher le

vel. W

e

want p

eople to

appre

ciate

their o

wn b

odies

and the b

odies o

f oth

er, and in

dulge in

that

apprecia

tion. T

his is

a visi

on I fe

el str

ongly

about, w

hich a

llow

s me to

work h

ard daily

to achie

ve great t

hings f

or Am

orelie

.

Josipa is

the fo

under and C

EO o

f ID G

uardian, a

London-

based com

pany that a

nalyzes b

iom

etric

data

and cre

ates

smart d

evices w

ith b

iosensors,

helpin

g people

and c

om-

panies

world

wid

e to ta

ke care of

their overa

ll health

.

Josipa is

the m

ain v

isionary b

ehind ID

Guardia

n’s pro

d-

ucts a

nd overa

ll st

rate

gy, whic

h was r

ecently re

cognized

by Fortu

ne 100 c

lients

glo

bally a

nd TIM

E Magazin

e as

one of t

he most

innovativ

e pro

ducts o

f the y

ear.

teddytheguard ian .com

Lea-Sophie

, 28, is

the co-fo

under of Am

orelie

,

an onlin

e shop fo

r your lo

ve life

establis

hed

in January 2

013. The c

ompany n

ow c

ounts

90 emplo

yees. Lea-S

ophie w

as pre

viously

Vic

e Presid

ent, A

sia at

Groupon. She also

sits o

n the b

oard of C

onrad E

lectr

onics a

nd

founded Sta

rstrik

e Ventu

res,

a company

that

supports

and invest

s in

other young

founders a

nd their st

artup id

eas.

amore l ie.com

UT I LIZE TH

E

TOOLS YOU

HAVE IN FRONT

OF YOU , EVEN

IF THEY ARE

L IMITE

D

CREAT ING A

REVOLUT ION

WITH A STRONG

V IS ION

WH

AT’S T

HE F

IRST T

HIN

G

YOU

DO W

HEN

YO

U G

ET

HOM

E FROM

WORK

?

Consider

if m

y team

and I

spen

t the d

ay work

ing on th

e

most

import

ant thin

gs.

WH

AT W

OU

LD Y

OU

DO IF

YO

U H

AD

MORE

SPARE T

IME?

Traveli

ng the w

orld.

Josipa Maj ic

CEO and Founder , I

D Guard ian

CROAT IA Lea-Soph ie Cramer

Co-Founder and Managing

D irector , A

more l ie

GERMANY

© Gora

n Rusm

ir

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

42 43

Running a startup requires constant attention and success is not

guaranteed. Nevertheless, I do not see it as a job, but rather as m

y

mission and a source of joy and learning. I w

as always inspired

by my parents, w

ho encouraged me to be free and m

ake my ow

n

decisions.

At the age of 26, I founded Leetchi w

hile I was helping to organize

a welcom

e weekend for fellow

students at my university. I cam

e

up with an idea to replace the traditional w

ay of collecting money

with an online platform

. The project was an im

mediate success in

France, and Leetchi was voted by W

ired as the startup of the year

in 2013. That same year, w

e spun Leetchi.com’s in-house devel-

oped payment solution as a standalone service for the sharing

economy, crow

dfunding platforms and m

arketplaces.

Today, Mangopay is processing m

ore than €200 million per year

with over 1,000 clients. Being a fem

ale entrepreneur has never

felt like a disadvantage to me. I actively encourage w

omen to w

ork

in tech and start their own businesses. Take the risk, it’s w

orth it!

I was finishing m

y studies in architecture at La Cambre, Brussels,

when m

y brother – now CEO

at our company – started talking to

me about an idea for a business. By m

y second year of master’s,

we w

ere working full-tim

e on Take Eat Easy and joining the first

ever Belgian startup incubator, NEST’up. N

eedless to say, it was a

very intensive and tricky year for me and I w

as happy to gradu-

ate with honors w

hile launching Take Eat Easy at the same tim

e.

I have always been passionate about food, and before joining our

startup as a founder, I was dedicating all m

y free time to m

y blog

(brusselskitchen.com), w

riting about and photographing exciting

new food venues in Brussels and organizing pop-up dinners w

ith

the hottest chefs in town.

Launching Take Eat Easy meant enabling people to get food deliv-

ered from their favorite spots in tow

n. It’s the right recipe of great

food from places they love, prepared by chefs they know

, in an

atmosphere they enjoy – and w

e aim to be a reliable and unique

way to get delicious food on the table w

ithin minutes.

Céline is

the 33-year-old

founder and

CEO

of Leetchi

Group, the

parent com

pany of

Leetch.com, an online m

oney pot service, and

Mangopay, a paym

ent API. M

ore than 50 people

work at Leetchi in Paris, London, Luxem

bourg

and Berlin. Céline founded Leetchi as a 26-year-

old student and sold the company in 2015 to the

bank Crédit Mutuel A

rkéa. It was France’s first

FinTech exit.l eetch i .com

Chloé is based in Brussels, and is one of

the four co-founders of Take Eat Easy.

Aged 26, she has been w

orking on the

business for more than three years, even

before she earned a master’s degree in

Architecture Studies. Take Eat Easy is a

food tech startup connecting the best

restaurants in European cities with pas-

sionate bike couriers and food-loving

customers through an application and

website, providing a reliable w

ay to get

great food delivered in minutes.

takeeateasy .com

TAKE THE R ISK ,

I T ’S WORTH I T !

POP-UP D INNERS ,

BLOGG ING AND UN IQUE

FOOD DEL IVERY

WH

AT A

RE YOU

MOST PRO

UD OF?

I am very proud of our team

and how far w

e’ve come.

WH

AT M

OTIVA

TES YOU

?

Getting to see the impact

of our investment, daily.

Cé l ine Lazorthes

Founder and CEO

Leetch iFRANCE

Ch loé Roose

Co-Founder and

VP of Brand

Take Eat Easy

BELG IUM

© Lucien Pérochon

© Hailing Wang

THE HUNDERT // FOODTHE HUNDERT // FINTECH

© Haili

ng Wang

44

When I w

as little, my parents alw

ays told

me that I have to becom

e independent.

In 2010, I founded Appticles alongside

two university colleagues w

ith whom

I’d previously founded an outsourcing

business. We w

ere the first Romanian

startup to join the first Startupbootcamp

accelerator in

Europe. M

y co-found-

ers and I packed our bags and moved to

Copenhagen for three months, w

hich

was a roller coaster of em

otions and a

great learning experience.

I personally made a lot of m

istakes along

the way, hesitating to m

onetize the prod-

uct and working w

ith people who didn’t

belong in a startup. Investors and men-

tors gave us a lot of advice, but I realized

that my co-founders and I w

ere the ones

who w

ere pushing this business forward

and knew best w

hat had to be done.

Being your own boss is m

ore work than

fun but the growth opportunities and

potential outcomes are too attractive for

me to ignore. I realize I still have m

uch

to learn, and hopefully, this time next

year, I will have plenty m

ore interesting

stories to share.

Alexandra, 32, is the co-founder

and CTO at A

ppticles. She has a

technical background

and pre-

viously ow

ned an

outsourcing

company. She is passionate about

startups and

entrepreneurship,

and likes to get involved in vari-

ous activities to help wom

en with

careers in computer program

ming.

Appticles.com

is an SaaS platform

that helps online publishers bet-

ter target their mobile audience

by packaging their content into

mobile and tablet applications.

appt ic les .com

BE ING YOUR

OWN BOSS IS

TOO ATTRACT IVE

TO IGNORE

Alexandra Anghe l

Co-Founder and CTO

Appt ic lesROMANIA

WH

AT D

O YOU

HOPE

FOR THE FU

TURE?

Growth, success, happiness.

THE HUNDERT // BIOTECH

When I w

as a kid, I wanted to be a scientist

and was very good at m

ath. I followed that

passion, studied mathem

atics and earned my

PhD in molecular evolution and bioinform

at-

ics. Working at the university, I realized that

this kind of science probably only reaches oth-

er scientists and not consumers. I w

anted to

make m

y research more functional.

The real transformation in m

y career came

when I realized that food m

olecules contain

a tremendous am

ount of health benefits. I

decided to focus my research on food devel-

opment and food evolution. W

hen I saw that

people couldn’t do what I w

as doing, and that

companies – w

hether food, pharmaceutical

or cosmetics – w

ere looking for these kinds

of ingredients, I decided to leave university

and found Nuritas. It took m

e more than a

year to make this decision of leaving a safe job

and industry, one in which I w

as recognized

worldw

ide, and venture into the unknown.

But I never regretted my decision.

Starting your own com

pany forces you to

learn a lot about yourself. One of the m

ost

important things I alw

ays promised m

yself is,

‘Don’t settle for less.’ You won’t reach Google

status right away, but don’t let others say it’s

impossible. I w

as told that quite often but

always continued to m

ove forward.

Text by Paulina Baginska, shefounded.com

Nora is an aw

ard-winning speaker and

highly published mathem

atician and

scientist, living in Dublin. Her innova-

tive inventions have been recognised

by the likes of Forbes, Wired, and the

EU comm

ission. In 2014 Nora founded

Nuritas, the first com

pany in the world

introducing artificial intelligence to the

food arena with the aim

of creating the

future of health by discovering new

disease-beating molecules from

food.

Today Nuritas em

ploys 13 people.

nur itas .com

DON ’ T SETTLE

FOR LESS !

Nora Kha ld i

Founder and CSO

Nur itasIRELAND

HOW

DO YO

U REA

CT

TO OBSTACLES?

Bring them on!

© Fre

d MacG

regor

45

THE HUNDERT // PUBLISHING

´

46 47

THE HUNDERT // COWORKINGS

EURO

PEAN

COW

ORKI

NGS

Th

ank

s to

ou

r E

uro

pea

n C

owo

rkin

g P

artn

ers,

th

e H

un

der

t w

ill b

e av

aila

ble

to r

ead

ers

all o

ver

Eu

rop

e.

Oslo, Norway 657 Oslo is a coworking space that offers a place for freelancers,

entrepreneurs and businesses within the creative industries and

communication industry to work.

We have about 180 people spread

over 86 companies at six floors in

Fredensborgveien 24 D. As a mem-

ber at 657 Oslo you will get access

to a unique network, mentoring programs, maker space, photo studio

and invitations to our events. 657.no

Rome, Italy Cowo|360 is a comfortable personal

space in an open environment that

goes beyond the traditional idea of

„the office“; there are desks for nomad

or fixed workers, an event and a meeting room, as well as a kitchen

for lunch break. Every month it’s possible to participate at networking

and training events. coworkingroma.com

Kyiv, Ukraine Founded in 2012, Chasopys is the

intellectual, business and cultural

space for work, meetings, events and development, located in the heart

of Kyiv, Ukraine. To us coworking

is all about people and a good infrastructure. chasopys.ua

Lisbon, Portugal Coworklisboa first opened in 2010

and is a reference among the new

shared workplaces in beautiful Lisbon. Ana and Fernando manage

this space in the only way they know:

with their hearts. It’s not about work anymore! Designers, scientists,

translators, programmers, architects,

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the ingredients of a great creative

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Poznan, Poland Inspiration Avenue is a place for busi-

ness and education but above all, a

place created out of the desire to build

relationships between people. We

attach great value to the atmosphere.

On 170 sqm on two levels, our guests

find 21 workplaces, conference rooms,

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chillout zone for inspiration, reflec-

tion and relaxation. cowalski.pl

Helsinki, Finland HUB13 is a leading independent startup hub with office, meeting

and learning spaces in downtown

Helsinki. Entrepreneurs need all the

help they can get – before money, it’s

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hub13.fi

www.coworkl isboa .pt

www.coworkl isboa .pt

Stockholm, Sweden Impact Hub Stockholm is a collaborative workspace where

the collective action of its diverse

members accelerates inspiration

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and far beyond. Part business incubator, part innovation lab, and

part social enterprise community,

we offer you a unique ecosystem

of resources, inspiration and collaboration opportunities to

maximize the impact of your business and projects. impacthub.se

Budapest, Hungary Kubik coworking provides an inspir-

ing atmosphere on nearly 400 m2

in the heart of Budapest. It offers workstations, fully equipped offices,

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Flexible services include legal and

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Istanbul, Turkey An interaction and creativity platform

that gathers an interdisciplinary network of designers, makers, entre-

preneurs and more under one roof. It

is a new generation workspace where

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With a strong technology infrastructure

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Wrocław, Poland IdeaPlace is a professional coworking

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the rest for you! ideaplace.pl

Vienna, Austria Loffice is a new-generation office where

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Tel Aviv, Israel Mundspace offers an unique co-work-

ing experience on 6.000m² of stylish

and inspiring workplaces in top locations in Tel Aviv. Our beautiful

and inspiring workspaces are crafted

for teams of all sizes, from entrepre-

neurs to early-stage startups to small

businesses. With stunning meeting

rooms, communal kitchens, dedicated

services and curated design, you’ll love

your new coworking space. mindspace.me

Amsterdam, Netherlands An inspiring place for people who

want to work, meet, learn, connect

and find solutions for the world’s most pressing issues. Located in a

beautiful restored schoolbuilding at

the heart of the city, embedded into a

global network of people and places

dedicated to driving positive change,

filled with all the tools and trimmings

needed to realize impactful ideas and

develop new ventures. #co-working

#accelerator #growth amsterdam.impacthub.net

Sofia, Bulgaria betahaus Sofia has made a big name

in the startup ecosystem in Bulgaria

and is widely used as a synonym to

coworking. Since the very beginning

we host, educate and boost a new

generation of leaders. We have a pow-

erful web of affluent partnerships

with coworking spaces around the

world, with leaders in the VC industry

and in media & technology sectors.

Currently we host over 200 members

on a daily basis and welcome more

than 1500 guests in our cafeteria and

event spaces each month. betahaus.bg

48 49

THE HUNDERT // COWORKINGS

Barcelona, Spain MOB is a collaborative community

where professionals in the fields of

creativity, innovation and entre-preneurship share space to generate

content. We promote real life practice

of innovative ideas and new dynamics

and implement them by providing

tools in the form of the newest maker

technologies, skill-sharing workshops,

and open-sourced knowledge sharing.

mob-barcelona.com

Vienna, Austria In the 19th century, a blacksmith found his working space among these

ancient factory walls in the heart of

Vienna. Since 2007, it is again a place

to forge - ideas and entrepreneurship!

50 businesses and entrepreneurs share

a working, learning and developing

space. A space that forms a growing

network of like-minded people, a homely atmosphere to work in and an

inspiring community to be part of.

rochuspark.at

Paris, France Mutinerie offers independents work-

ers and entrepreneurs a stimulating

place to work and an ecosystem to

help them be free but not isolated.

Creative minds will find resources but

also superb networks and skills. We

offer a workstation, a meeting room,

a kitchen, a living room and many

services. Come and join us, you’ll soon

know if Mutinerie fits your needs.

mutinerie.org

Sofia, Bulgaria SOHO provides easy and flexible access to a fully equipped workplace

for freelancers, entrepreneurs and

professionals from the creative sector.

Renting a desk, an office or an event

space also comes with value-added

business services and opportunities

for professional development, cultural

enrichment and relaxation – all happening “at home”. soho.bg

Copenhagen, Denmark Republikken is a creative co-working

space for freelancers and small busi-

nesses that offers an array of services

and facilitated knowledge sharing in

a vibrant professional network in the

heart of Vesterbro. Over 125 members

working independently in individual

companies with architecture, graphic

and furniture design, coding, engineer-

ing, media, journalism and more. republikken.net

Bratislava, Slovakia The premiere place for startups in

Slovakia. We built a space for cre-

ative and innovative people with an

entrepreneurial spirit to cooperate,

get educated, help each other and get

inspired. We help them start their

businesses and constantly encourage

them to higher goals. We are home

to more than 70 creative and ambi-

tious people on 750 m2 of space in

the heart of the city. And of course

we offer good coffee! thespot.sk

spotthe

Vienna, Austria Stockwerk Coworking offers 55 desks

on 3 floors, partially air conditioned,

2 kitchens, the finest event space in

town, 3 meeting rooms and table tennis! Our location is a beautiful

old building close to Westbahnhof

railway station. It’s a meeting point,

coworking and event space and a sec-

ond home to many different people,

organizations and companies. stockwerk.co.at

Athens, Greece The Cube stands out as a hub of innovation and ‘the place’ to be and

hang out for the do-ers of our city. We

bring together people who are open to

new ideas, love innovation and seek

change through applicable initiatives.

Throughout the seven floors of the

building we provide offices, meeting

rooms, seminar rooms, a workshop

and an event space. thecube.gr

Milano, Italy Talent Garden is the first international

network of coworking spaces with a

focus on digital. In our 12 campuses,

we bring together tech/digital/creative

entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups,

companies and all the digital ecosys-

tem members to meet, work, learn and

collaborate with each other in a cre-

atively designed work environment.

milano.talentgarden.orgAmsterdam, Netherlands

The Thinking Hut is the new and fresh creative co-working space in

Amsterdam. These 500sqm once filled

with horses have been renovated to

re-open doors to a collaborative work

environment where different people

can feel comfortable working on their

own projects, while having the possibil-

ity of sharing, engaging and in essence,

creating together with others. thethinkinghut.com

London, UK TechHub is the global community for

tech entrepreneurs. It is a unique en-

vironment where technology startups

can start up faster. We nurture an

international network of like-minded

and focused tech entrepreneurs, pro-

viding places where they can work,

meet, collaborate, network, learn and

have fun. By getting the right people

together in a physical space, good

things happen. techhub.com

Riga, Latvia The Mill Riga is hottest developers

and designers space in the heart of

Riga. It is a coworking and event space

for new success and collaboration

between industries in order to create

greater value and fast growing ventures. Developers, programmers,

designers and business minded people

in one place. millriga.com

London, United Kingdom Innovation Warehouse is a coworking

accelerator based above the historic

Smithfield Market. As well as supplying

coworking space, we also provide men-

toring, training and investment to high

growth digital startups. Every day, over

200 entrepreneurs, angels and mentors

work together in our community. innovationwarehouse.org

52

THE HUNDERT // PR SOFTWARE THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

I come from

an entrepreneurial

and creative family. M

y mother

is an artist and my parents ow

n

a business in the furniture indus-

try. This had a big influence on

me in becom

ing an entrepreneur.

Starting my ow

n business was a

very logical thing to do, as I love to

be creative myself. I designed and

made quite a bit of furniture in m

y

time, w

hich I proudly showcase in

my ow

n living room. I often visit

design fairs, but noticed that after

the fairs are over, the small and

unique designers often disappear.

This is how Crow

dyhouse was

born; I wanted to give designers a

platform to show

case their work

at any time.

What I like m

ost about my start-

up is combining the creative w

ith

the business aspects, and helping

other designers sell their work all

over the world. M

y biggest strug-

gle starting my ow

n company w

as

finding a good balance between

my personal and professional life.

There was a point w

hen every-

thing was about Crow

dyhouse

and it consumed m

e at all hours of

the day. Of course that passion is

a good thing, but you also need to

be able to step back and put things

into perspective. I started to play

a lot of sports and made an effort

to see my friends m

ore often.

Now

that I’ve found this balance,

it actually helps me run m

y com-

pany more efficiently.

Before starting Prowly, I ran m

y own PR agency and never understood

why our industry didn’t em

brace new technology. A

longside my colleague,

Sebastian, I decided to build a tool that would m

ake my PR job easier.

I wasn’t sure if the industry w

as ready to embrace such a tool, but Prow

ly

was a solution based on real needs. Fortunately, Sebastian m

ade sure the

software w

orked. Our friends and PR pros offered to test Prow

ly before it

was released and provided useful, constructive feedback. A

ll that made m

e

confident it would w

ork.

Prowly is m

y first startup. I constantly need to learn new things and find

new paths. The sam

e goes for the team – w

e all need to learn extremely

fast, otherwise w

e would stop grow

ing. The hardest part of running a tech

startup is this neverending race against time – but no m

atter what, if you

believe in your product and your people, you should never give up. This is

the advice my father gave m

e. Keep doing what you started and don’t be

afraid to fail, as with every failure there com

es new know

ledge.

STARTUP L IFE IS

A BALANC ING ACT

A L IFE OF

CONSTANT

LEARN ING AND

ADAPT ING

WH

AT D

O YOU

LIKE TH

E

MOST A

BOU

T YOURSELF?

My m

ix between business

and creativity.

WH

AT A

RE YOU

PASSION

ATE A

BOU

T?

Watersports and travels – w

hen I’m not

at work, you can m

eet me kitesurfing in

some exotic places around the w

orld.

Suzan is 30 years old and lives in Am

sterdam.

She studied psychiatric nursing, and after a short

career in healthcare, she co-founded Crowdyhouse

in 2013 alongside Mark Studholm

e. Crowdyhouse

is the premier (launch) platform

and marketplace

for the world’s best designers and m

akers. Team

Crowdyhouse counts seven full-tim

e employees.

Suzan is responsible for the designer comm

unity

and operations.

crowdyhouse.com

Joanna, 30, from W

arsaw, Poland, co-founded

Prowly in M

ay 2013 with the goal of solving the

needs of the PR industry. Today, Prowly em

ploys 17

people and operates globally from offices in Poland

and the US. The company w

orks with brands

like Spotify, IKEA and Hill+Know

lton Strategies.

Joanna graduated in Journalism and European

Studies at University of Warsaw

.

prowly .com

Suzan C laesen

Co-Founder and COO

Crowdyhouse

NETHERLANDS

Joanna Drabent

Co-Founder and CEO , Prowly

POLAND

© Filip Klimaszewski

53

54 55

THE HUNDERT // AGRITECH THE HUNDERT // FOOD

Simple m

emories from

my childhood ended up having a

huge impact on m

y life. I used to pick out bad grains from the

bunch before my m

om cooked porridge. Surprisingly, years

later, people are still having to manually sort out contam

i-

nated grains. In fact, this causes a 25 percent loss of harvest

each year. Such losses are not sustainable. Moreover, there is a

growing dem

and for healthier and better quality food.

I’ve always set m

yself very ambitious goals and w

orked hard

for them. I did it because I knew

they would help m

e make a

positive contribution to society, which is im

portant for me to

feel complete in life. In 2010, as a student at Zurich University,

I didn’t miss m

y chance to be a part of an exciting founder’s

journey. Today, our team at Q

ualySense is working passion-

ately to deploy our invention worldw

ide with the goal of

improving quality of food and solving the w

aste problem.

My biggest challenge is still ahead of m

e. Taking opportunities

and trying my best are the principles ruling m

y life, and they

are the reasons I’ve achieved all my past goals. I believe these

qualities are essential for any entrepreneur.

Olga, 27, is co-founder of Q

ualySense, a

Swiss com

pany aiming to im

prove qual-

ity and reduce waste of food w

orldwide.

The company is developing and m

arketing

unique and proprietary devices for sorting

grains, seeds and beans by biochemical and

visual properties at a high speed. With an

education in economics, O

lga co-founded

QualySense in 2010. Today, the com

pany

has a fast-growing, m

ulticultural team of 22

highly motivated people.

qua lysense .comA S INGLE MEMORY CAN

GU IDE YOU FOR A L IFET IME

HOW

DO YO

U

REACT TO

OBSTACLES?

I sort them out.

O lga Peters

Co-Founder and CFO

Qua lySense

SWITZERLAND Anita, 36, is the co-founder and food

technologist of the Sofia-based Roo

Brands. Before she created the alter-

native energy bar, Roobar, in 2012,

Anita studied graphic design and had

a professional background in the food

industry as co-owner of an organ-

ic store and a vegan deli cafe. Today,

her company has 75 em

ployees and

Roobar is the European leader in the

organic raw food bar category, reaching

46 countries on four continents.

roobar .comA

turning point in my life cam

e during my second

pregnancy, when I becam

e vegetarian and enthusias-

tic about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. Working as

a freelance designer wasn’t enough anym

ore. My hus-

band and I opened the first organic store in Sofia, where

I created a three ingredient energy bar for my kids.

People loved it, and I imm

ediately wanted to share m

y

sweets w

ith the world. I had discovered a niche prod-

uct that I could improve. In order to m

ake this happen,

we found one m

ore business partner to join us.

Coming from

a family of entrepreneurs, I know

n that

I have to dream big and be patient to succeed. M

y big-

gest challenge was to break the habit of w

orking on my

own. A

llowing m

yself to connect with the right part-

ners led to Roobar’s fast success.

I’m very detail-oriented in m

y work, including business

concept, recipes and design. Now

I tend to look at the

bigger picture, stay authentic and focus on my talents

by doing more of w

hat I’m best at. Sharing the idea of

simple food turned into a w

orldwide success sim

ply

because I chose to do what I love.

SHARE RESPONSIB IL I TY

WITH THE R IGHT PEOPLE

AND STAY AUTHENT IC

WH

AT IS SOM

ETHIN

G

PEOPLE DON

’T KN

OW

ABO

UT YO

U?

I am in love w

ith swing

dancing. It’s my quick

reminder to alw

ays play

and dance with life and

circumstances.

Anita K lasanova

Co-Founder , Roobar

BULGAR IA

© Sim

eon Levi

5756

THE HUNDERT // TRANSLATION SERVICES THE HUNDERT // CLOUD SOLUTIONS

WH

AT’S TH

E FIRST

THIN

G YOU

DO W

HEN

YOU

GET HOM

E

FROM W

ORK?

Navigating the startup

roller coaster, running

keeps me healthy and sane.

We began our startup by physically going from

door-to-door to ask

people if they would be interested in our w

ebsite concept. We created

Smart Bill because of a change in invoicing legislation – so it w

as a

product for us to use, too. This was a very busy and exciting tim

e, as

my partner and fiancé, Radu, and I w

ere programm

ing all day, doing

support and planning our wedding. I w

as also still in school.

I had actually never considered starting a company; the decision w

as

made on the spot. I enjoyed being creative w

henever I built something

and always put in extra effort, but I believed I w

ould be a programm

er.

Switching to product m

anagement w

as quite hard, although I found a

new passion in creating products that help people and that people enjoy

using. It’s a different way of building stuff com

pared to programm

ing.

Starting and growing a com

pany is not easy, but it is an exciting ride

with plenty of ups and dow

ns. There were m

oments w

hen we w

ere

ready to give up – sales were not great and all our tim

e was dedicated

to the company. Even after m

oments w

hen we questioned w

hether or

not it was w

orth it, we pulled ourselves together and m

oved forward.

Eventually I think the effort paid off!

Ioana, 31, lives in Sibiu, Romania and has a

degree in Computer Science. In 2006, w

hile still

a student, she co-founded Intelligent IT together

with her fiancé, Radu, and a good friend, M

ircea.

In 2007, they developed an invoicing software,

Smart Bill, for the Rom

anian market. W

ith 35

employees and m

ore than 33,000 customers, the

company received an investm

ent of €1 million

from tw

o VC funds in 2016.

smartb i l l . roBE OPEN TO NEW

PERSPECT IVES

AND REAP THE

REWARDS

WH

AT D

O YOU

LIKE

THE M

OST ABO

UT

YOURSELF?

I believe it is the way

an innocent animal

opens my heart.

Ioana Hasan

Co-Founder and

Product Manager

Smart B i l l

ROMANIA

Coming from

a family of entrepreneurs, I’ve alw

ays heard business

being discussed at the table. It felt only natural to start my ow

n!

In 2006, I got the chance to join TIMW

E, a startup selling mobile

entertainment content. M

y business school friends thought I was

crazy; why join a sm

all company nobody ha d ever heard of? Tech

startups were not cool yet, but I saw

the potential.

A fter TIM

WE , I w

anted to meet m

ore tech people in Portugal, but

there was no platform

to make this happen. That’s w

hy I helped

start Beta-i. We organized m

eetups, mentoring program

s and pitch

competitions. It w

as also the first project Vasco and I w

orked on

together, and it made us w

ant to work on som

ething even bigger.

Unbabel emerged tw

o years later. Vasco and João, tw

o of my four

co-founders, have studied languages. We w

ondered why language

barriers haven’t been eliminated yet. W

e thought the connection

between technology and translators w

as broken and that we could

mend it by com

bining Artificial Intelligence and translators w

ho

work on sm

artphones.

During these ten years of building companies, I’ve kept a m

otto:

‘Keep calm and try again.’ Every tim

e I experiment, I learn – w

hether

I win or lose in the end. That’s w

hat motivates m

e the most.

Sofia, 36, is based in Lisbon and San

Francisco. She is a co-founder of Unbabel,

a Y

Combinator

company

combining

Artificial Intelligence and professional

translators to deliver fast translation ser-

vices with hum

an tone and nuance. The

company w

as founded in 2013 and now

employs 26 people. Sofia studied Business

Managem

ent at

Nova

University in

Lisbon. Her areas of expertise include

growth and people m

anagement.

unbabe l .com

KEEP CALM

AND TRY AGA IN

Sofia Pessanha

Co-Founder and CMO

Unbabe lPORTUGAL

58 59

Before starting my ow

n company, I w

orked in the luxury sector

and often attended sample sales w

ith my friends and colleagues.

Taking advantage of the great prices, I bought a lot of pieces and

gradually ran out of room in m

y closet. I had to sell some of m

y

clothing to free up space, but couldn’t find suitable websites

on which to do so. There w

as clearly a need for a specialized

site that allowed fashion lovers to securely buy and sell their

pre-loved treasures. I then had the idea to launch Videdressing.

I was fortunate to have found a great business partner w

hose

skills complem

ented my ow

n, which I think is vital to building

a successful startup.

Stagnation and complacency are m

ajor hindrances to success,

especially in the tech sector where innovation is at the heart

of all that we do. I try to constantly find w

ays to improve our

product and services and to encourage my team

to do so as well.

Success is also so much dependent on talent, including finding

the right people, motivating them

and giving them the space in

which they can innovate and bring the com

pany forward.

Meryl, 36, is an A

merican of Indian origin w

ho

grew up in M

innesota. She holds a BA from

Sarah

Lawrence College in N

ew York and a M

aster of

Marketing and Com

munication from

ESCP Europe

in Paris. She launched Videdressing.com

in 2009

with her partner, Renaud Guillerm

. Videdressing

is a leading comm

unity platform for people to buy

and sell fashion and luxury items. It operates as

a trusted third party between buyers and sellers,

securing all steps of the transaction and guaran-

teeing authenticity of all items.

videdress ing .com

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

WH

AT D

O YOU

HOPE

FOR THE FU

TURE?

I hope that more w

omen

will be inspired to be-

come entrepreneurs, in

tech and in other fields.

Mery l JobCo-Founder , Videdress ing

FRANCE

THE HUNDERT // FASHION THE HUNDERT // PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

© Frédérique VeyssetM

y role as CEO of ProdPad is the culm

ination of pur-

suing my curiosities and not quite know

ing where

they’d take me. It took a few

pit stops to find a cause

I could really dedicate myself to. I started a custom

-

er support job at a tech company in M

ontreal, where

they soon promoted m

e to Junior Product Manager.

Than I moved to London to join the then nascent tech

scene, where I found m

yself organizing a comm

unity

of product managers through a series of events. It w

as

then that I began noticing that product managers had

no software tools designed for their w

ork. I jumped

at the opportunity to solve a problem I cared so m

uch

about. At the very beginning, it w

as just me and m

y

co-founder, hacking away to build the product. The

day that we got our first paying custom

er, everything

changed, and it kicked off a whole new

set of challeng-

es. There was som

ething simply inherently satisfying

about just getting the chance to try. Each step along the

way, w

e’ve learned something, and it’s that constant

cycle of learning and improving that keeps us m

otivat-

ed. I think of ProdPad as ‘the one’ – and now I’m

exactly

where I w

ant to be.

Janna, 30, heads up ProdPad from a

cozy office in the buzzing seaside city

of Brighton – just an hour outside of

London. Before starting ProdPad, she

was

imm

ersed in

the London

tech

scene, working as a product m

anager

by day and organizing Product Tank –

a now global m

eetup – by night. Janna

is also co-founder of Mind the Product,

the twice-a-year conference for prod-

uct people held in London and San

Francisco. prodpad .com

THE S IMPLE

SAT ISFACT ION

OF TRY ING

Janna Bastow

Co-Founder and CEO

ProdPadUNITED K INGDOM

WH

AT M

AK

ES

YOU

LAUGH

?

Dilbert

60 61

Being a founder was not on m

y road-

map ten years ago. But tow

ards the

end of my studies, I m

et my future

co-founder at

an entrepreneurship

workshop. Tw

o years later, in 2010, we

decided within m

inutes upon meeting

again that we w

ould start a business

together. Boxcryptor was planned as

an in-house solution to protect our

own Dropbox account. W

hen we pub-

lished the download link, w

e saw it w

as

downloaded m

ore than 1,000 times

within one w

eek. This was a turning

point for us.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for five years

now and I love it. It’s a crazy m

ix of

feelings from enthusiasm

to fear – all of

which m

ake me feel alive. To know

that

I am sitting in the driver’s seat instead of

just being a passenger is what I appreci-

ate most. M

y only regret? That I did not

think about this career path earlier in

my life. N

ow, I regularly visit schools

and tell students how I becam

e an

entrepreneur. I hope that I can inspire

them to broaden their m

inds. Maybe

one day I’ll get a message from

one of

them telling m

e that they’ve founded

the next unicorn company!

Andrea, 28, lives in Augsburg and studied

law and econom

ics at the University of

Augsburg. In 2011, she started Boxcryptor

together w

ith her

co-founder Robert

Freudenreich. Boxcryptor is an encryption

software for cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox).

Customers from

more than 190 countries

worldw

ide use their encryption solution

to protect their data in the cloud. The

Boxcryptor team consists of 26 people, all

located in Augsburg.

boxcryptor .com

BE THE DR IVER ,

NOT THE PASSENGER

Andrea Pfundmeier

Founder and CEO

Boxcryptor

GERMANY

WH

AT IS SOM

ETHIN

G

PEOPLE DON

’T KN

OW

ABO

UT YO

U?

If nobody sees me, I talk to m

y

dog like she were a real person.

And I sw

ear, she understands

every single word.

In 2011, I was diagnosed w

ith type 1 diabetes. Being

data-driven and learning to cope with m

y disease, I decid-

ed to manually track m

y life – including food intake,

sleeping patterns and blood sugar – to see if there were

insights to be gleaned from all these channels together.

This led to a revised diagnosis, a rare type 1.5 diabetes,

which allow

ed me to better adapt to m

y new condition.

Neura w

as born out of the realization that correlating sev-

eral streams of inform

ation from people’s lives can lead to

better products that understand and adapt to users.

My m

ain challenge was w

orking together with m

y hus-

band, who is one of our co-founders. It takes a lot of

patience to learn how to w

ork together, appreciate each

other in complicated situations and get through disagree-

ments – but still m

eet the person you love at the end of

the day.Running m

y own startup gives m

e a sense of purpose. It’s

a fulfilling journey, but founders must alw

ays find ways

to recharge themselves. For m

e, it’s sports, time w

ith

friends and gardening. I also get energy back from our

team. Their m

otivation and dedication keeps me m

oving

when the going gets tough!

Triinu, 36, co-founded Neura in 2013 to em

power

people through technology that is both person-

alized and contextually relevant to their lives.

The company is headquartered in the US, but

all development happens in Israel, w

here Triinu

lives and works. Before founding her startup,

Triinu worked for the Estonian e-governm

ent

initiative and RSA. She holds m

aster’s degrees in

Mathem

atics and Computer Science.

theneura .com

FROM A RARE MEDICAL

D IAGNOS IS

TO STARTUP

INNOVAT ION

HOW

DO YO

U DEA

L WITH

STRESS?

Gardening gives me balance. It im

pacts

body and soul like sport. It makes m

e

feel that I have achieved something,

created beauty around me.

Tr i inu Magi

Co-Founder and CTO

NeuraISRAEL

THE HUNDERT // INTERNET OF THINGS THE HUNDERT // IT SECURITY

62 63

A N Z E I G E

Chancellor Angela Merkel brings it to the point: “Everything

will be digitized that can be digitized.” The German Minister

of Economics, Sigmar Gabriel’s current digitization initiative

speaks a similar and definite language: German

companies are lagging behind. An unacceptable status that

has to change immediately!

The current situation is all the more regrettable because

Germany’s flourishing startup scene is working hard to create

and realize the digital future. More than 5,000 German startups

are getting ready for the digital revolution: Disruption is

the keyword, severely feared by global players worldwide.

No matter who – banks, insurance companies,

car manufacturers or service providers – all sectors are facing

fundamental changes. And the movement has a clear message:

No stone shall be left unturned.

Berlin is Germany’s epicenter in this movement, simply flour-

ishing with digital splendor. Around 50 percent of German

startups were founded in the capital city or have moved their

headquarters here. Digital startups are the city’s fifth largest

employer and received investments of more than two billion

euros. Thus, Berlin managed to push London off the throne

being Europe’s best ecosystem.

WHAT STARTUPS CAN TEACH CORPORATES

A tanker needs twelve kilometers to come to a hold – hence,

the frequently quoted comparison: Corporates are tankers,

sluggish and immobile. Startups are speedboats, agile and fast.

Rapid growth accredited to a new mindset and highly efficient

business processes. The modern thought process is digital and

mobile, up-to-date and visionary.

It’s meanwhile also no big surprise that top graduates prefer

a career in the startup scene to a mainstream one in corporate

business. Established companies must stay connected and act

immediately. Possibilities to enter the startup world vary: Some

companies invest in startups and others acquire them completely.

Adidas, for example,bought the fitness app Runtastic for

220 million euros and therefore incorporated a viable model

for the future, including a gigantic user base. Another option

is founding a digital accelerators or incubator. Axel Springer or

Metro opted for this route. And other corporates come to Berlin

and open Digital Labs (Lufthansa, Visa, Cisco, RWE and others).

TAILORED SOLUTIONS AS A TEST RUN

Corporations can develop a first feel for startups, a program

hosted and organized by NKF Media - the publisher behind

the startup magazines Berlin Valley and the Hundert.

„A wonderful event and a great platform that enables us to

convince an international brand manufacturers of our innovation

pipeline.“

Thomas Köhl, Founder and CEO of Orderbird

THE PERFECT STARTUP CRASH COURSEThe publishing house NKF Media specializes on digital startups and is now offering corporates and companies the unique opportunity to dive into the startup scene.

CUSTOMIZED DEMO DAYS

Established companies meet eight to ten individually selected

startups. The primary objective lies in exchanging ideas,

identifying common interests and seeking out opportunities.

NKF Media recently organized a Demo Day for Diageo – a global

leader in the spirits industry (Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker) with

a total revenue of more than EUR 20 billion and the advertising

agency Carat. Numerous top startups from the food & beverage

sector, but also logistics companies, digital POS systems and

point-of-sale applications and services presented their solutions.

They came together at the legendary Berlin startup café Sankt

Oberholz at the Rosenthaler Platz. Diageo and Carat received a

startup crash course and got valuable insights into the opportu-

nities that startups have to offer. The event was a perfect start

that left all enthusiastic and motivated.

„The two-day long event organized by Berlin Valley offered a fantastic insight

into the Berlin’s startup world. The meeting was very important for us,

for our own thought-process and for the development of potential

partnerships in this exciting branch.“

Jonathan Ansel, New Tech & Media Innovation of Diageo

„Getting to spend a day with hand-picked founders and their projects is pretty amazing. But being able to then spend the evening with the same people, vivaciously discussing ideas

over dinner and cocktails in a stylish and laid-back environment is a one-time experience. I am excited to incorporate NKF’s offer into our Innovation and New Business Process.“

Branko Presic, Head of Strategy of Carat

„Fantastic opportunity to get to know the industry and to

play with the idea of possible cooperations.“

Jochen Wolf, Co-Founder of Eating With The Chefs

Interested in an exclusive Demo Day?

NKF MEDIA GMBH

BILGEN YAYLALI

GUSTAV-MEYER-ALLEE 25

13355 BERLIN

TELEFON: +49 30 46 777 250

E-MAIL: BY@NKF.MEDIA

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

I was i

n my fi

nal year o

f colle

ge when I

met m

y boyfr

iend, w

ho had a w

eb agen-

cy and w

as aim

ing t

o build

a s

calable

business

. I h

ad inte

rnational e

xperience

from

my colle

ge years a

nd thought,

why

not go fo

r the glo

bal market?

I decid

ed to

help h

im in

stead of t

aking an in

ternsh

ip

that h

ad recently

been o

ffere

d to m

e.

In th

e beginnin

g, w

e were

just

four

co-founders

and did everyth

ing our-

selves.

I fe

lt a gro

win

g resp

onsibili

ty

when c

ustom

ers st

arted t

o pay u

s and

we s

tarte

d hirin

g. I t

hought to

myself,

‘Are

we r

eally a

ble to

handle

this?

’ My

biggest

challenge w

as to

find st

abili-

ty a

s an e

ntrepre

neur – to

take c

are o

f

myself

first

, and t

o also le

ave tim

e for

fam

ily and fr

iends.

When y

ou fly on th

e

airplane, t

hey tell

you to p

ut your o

wn

mask

on fi

rst, a

nd I th

ink th

is concept

also fits

with

entrepre

neurship

. You

can only

help

oth

ers, or y

our busin

ess,

if you ta

ke care o

f yourself!

We’v

e all gro

wn u

p since w

e starte

d. All

the fo

unders got m

arried, a

nd we e

ven

starte

d a fam

ily. But

our miss

ion and

motiv

ation st

ill re

main

s, and I

am excit-

ed about what t

he futu

re b

rings u

s.

Zsuzsa

is co-fo

under and C

MO of A

ntavo,

a loyalty

mark

eting s

oftware

for

e-com

-

merc

e com

panies.

Anta

vo’s pro

ducts

have help

ed over 25,0

00 busin

esses s

ince

2011. Zsuzsa

is an experie

nced speaker

on sta

ge and a

writ

er at i

ntern

ationally

renow

ned business

blogs.

She has w

orked

as a ra

dio jo

urnalis

t and b

een recognized

by the E

uropean C

omm

issio

n. She li

ves in

Szeged, Hungary

with

her

husband a

nd

daughter.

antavo .com

PUT YOUR OWN

MASK ON F IRSTZsuzsa Kecsmar

Co-Founder and CMO

Antavo

HUNGARY

WH

AT W

OU

LD Y

OU

DO IF

YOU

HA

D M

ORE SPA

RE TIM

E?

I would

work

out more

. It w

ould

be gre

at to go tw

o to th

ree t

imes

to th

e gym

each

wee

k. I fe

el sm

arter

too w

hen I

am fi

t and st

rong.

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

1/2 ANZE IGEIBB

64

IBB_AZ_210x148,5_The Hundert_gründen_1_2_RZ.indd 1 01.03.16 11:28

© Tam

as Szu

gyi

66 67

THE HUNDERT // FASHION TECH

I discovere

d onlin

e fash

ion s

hopping w

hen I had m

y

second child a

nd found m

yself w

ith a

lot l

ess ti

me fo

r

many th

ings,

inclu

ding sh

opping fo

r cloth

es. But I

soon

noticed th

at the o

nline sh

opping experie

nce seemed to

lack s

ometh

ing: W

hy could

n’t I t

ry on c

loth

es onlin

e

before

buyin

g? H

ow c

ould I

know if

the it

ems

I was

inte

rest

ed in w

ould w

ork in an o

utfit?

I st

arted to

play w

ith th

e idea of

a simple

try-o

n

experience f

or onlin

e shoppers.

I wante

d to c

reate

a

solutio

n that w

ouldn’t

require

ship

ping p

roducts

back

and forth

, as

that

would

be b

oth u

nfrie

ndly f

or the

environm

ent and to

o slo

w fo

r the fa

st-p

aced fash

ion

indust

ry. There

fore

, the c

ore o

f our s

olutio

n has b

een

to u

se existin

g photo

s fro

m fa

shio

n bra

nds.

Startin

g and running a com

pany has r

equired risk

-tak-

ing, p

ersiste

nce and a great t

eam. It

has b

een an amazin

g

learnin

g opportu

nity, a

lthough I

am o

ften su

rprised at

how m

uch I st

ill h

ave to le

arn. My m

ost v

aluable

ass

et

is m

y driv

e. I w

ant to tu

rn onlin

e shoppin

g into

a more

inte

ractiv

e and creativ

e experience.

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR

DR IVE AL IVE

© Antti

Verk

asalo

I was

always

obsessed w

ith t

he idea o

f runnin

g my o

wn c

om-

pany. At n

ine y

ears old

, I u

sed to h

and out b

usiness

cards i

n the

playgro

und with

the a

spira

tional,

albeit

fictit

ious,

address

of

1

Beverly H

ills,

New

York. C

learly

geography w

as not m

y forte

, but

I loved s

potting g

aps in

the m

arket fro

m a

n early

age. F

rom

an

online st

ore selli

ng CDs a

nd books,

to a

custom

ized to

y com

pany

(Cuddly

Coutu

re), t

o dim

sum

– m

y min

i ventu

res w

ere fu

eled b

y

the d

esire to

create

someth

ing th

at people

felt

cool bein

g a part o

f.

When I w

as 16, I

founded a b

log and gre

w it

into

one of the b

iggest

online je

welry m

arketpla

ces in E

urope – v

alued at o

ver $5 mill

ion.

Alo

ng the w

ay, I in

terned a

t V

ogue, dro

pped out

of univ

ersity

and raised m

oney. With

no fa

mily

backgro

und in b

usiness

, I ju

st

hustle

d my w

ay from

one e

xperience to

the n

ext, le

arning a

s I

went a

long a

nd overc

omin

g challenges l

ike h

iring a

nd managin

g

a team

. As a

n only fo

under, I d

iscovered th

at it’s

importa

nt to li

nk

up with

oth

er entrepre

neurs who are

on th

e sam

e journey as y

ou

and who can re

min

d you to

keep b

elievin

g. Sure

, it’s

fine to

piv

ot

and fail,

but p

erserverance is

what r

eally counts

.

Am

ber learned to

code fr

om a

n ear-

ly a

ge on a

nd set u

p her fi

rst o

nline

business

at th

e age of nin

e selling

books and C

Ds. A

fter m

odeling a

nd

appearing on TV

, A

mber fo

unded

her m

ulti-m

illio

n pound

jew

elry

company, M

y Fla

sh T

rash

, when s

he

was 1

6 in 2

007. She w

as recently

fea-

ture

d in th

e Forbes

30 Under 3

0 list

and judged at t

he Natio

nal Ente

rprise

Challenge F

inals.

Am

ber is a fr

equent

speaker at g

lobal c

onfere

nces, schools

and univ

ersitie

s.

myflashtra

sh .com

HUSTL ING FROM ONE

LEARN ING EXPER IENCE

TO THE NEXT

Amber Atherto

n

Founder and CEO

My F lash Trash

UN I TED K INGDOM

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

WH

AT D

RIVES Y

OU

CRA

ZY?

When

I w

atch p

eople visi

t

our web

site,

load u

p their

cart

... and th

en le

ave! I’m

obsess

ed w

ith im

provin

g

our use

r journ

ey.

Jutta

is th

e founder

of Sty

lew

hile, a

Finla

nd-base

d fash

ion te

ch company

provid

ing an onlin

e try-o

n experience.

The company firs

t la

unched an iPad

app with

Saks

Fifth A

venue in 2

013

and has s

ince becom

e the Sty

ling R

oom

provid

er fo

r onlin

e fash

ion st

ores.

Jutta

studie

d inte

rnatio

nal busin

ess,

and prio

r to S

tyle

while

work

ed for a

n

Am

erican g

ames p

ublisher,

where

she

built a

nd led g

lobal s

ales c

hannels fo

r

digita

l conte

nt.

sty lewhi le.com

Jutta Haaramo

Founder and CEO

Sty lewhi le

F INLAND

WH

AT W

OU

LD Y

OU

DO IF

YO

U H

AD

MORE

SPARE T

IME?

I would

spen

d more

time o

utsid

e in th

e

Finnish

archip

elago.

68 69

THE HUNDERT // SUPPLY CHAIN THE HUNDERT // BIG DATA

Afte

r I fi

nished m

y studie

s, I w

anted to

be a business

wom

an. I a

ccepted th

e pro

positio

n for

a rese

arch

proje

ct in

pro

duction o

ptimiz

ation b

ecause I

had

a real

inte

rest

in te

chnology. A

fter

one year of

rese

arch, I

saw

so m

any opport

unities t

o contin

ue

with

in th

e field

and teach. A

t the end o

f my th

esis,

I receiv

ed subsid

ies f

rom

the R

egion B

ruxello

ise to

convert th

e rese

arch in

to a

finish

ed pro

duct fit

to

mark

et. For

thre

e years

, I w

orked a

s an e

ntrepre

-

neur w

ith t

he safe

ty n

et of

an em

ployee. I

t w

as

exciting to

mold

my s

olutio

n to c

ustom

ers’ n

eeds.

So, with

the help

of tr

ainees

in in

form

atics,

we

built a

tool t

o help

people

visu

alize, q

uantify a

nd

optimiz

e their

facto

ry p

lants

.

In th

e end, I

did

turn

out t

o be a

busin

ess w

oman

in te

chnology, a

nd the s

olutio

n develo

ped durin

g

my th

esis is

just

a sm

all part

of t

he pic

ture

. I lo

ve

being com

plete

ly auto

nomous,

organiz

ing m

y tim

e

and achievin

g all m

y objectiv

es. I l

ike to

work

with

dynamic

and creativ

e young people. If

you give

them

autonom

y, they w

ill b

e very

involv

ed.

At

the age of

12, I re

ad Dr. Phili

p Kotler’s

Mark

eting

Managem

ent, w

hich h

elped m

e realiz

e that s

ociety

can

be impro

ved thro

ugh busin

ess. I

n that m

oment,

when I

decided to

eith

er becom

e a m

arketin

g specia

list o

r ru

n

my o

wn c

ompany. S

even years

late

r, I f

ounded my fi

rst

company and b

egan a journ

ey in w

hich I

made n

early all

the m

istakes o

ne can make w

hile ru

nning a st

artup.

I’ve sin

ce start

ed two m

ore com

panies,

got an M

Sc in

Strate

gic M

arketin

g and s

pent so

me y

ears in

corp

orate

positio

ns. I’v

e always

enjoyed fix

ing th

ings

and chal-

lengin

g myse

lf. O

nce an o

pportunity

to d

isrupt f

ashio

n

e-com

merc

e cam

e up, I

quit

my w

ell-paid

corp

orate

job

in b

anking and m

oved to C

openhagen to st

art E

asySiz

e.

I now

try to

follo

w a fe

w si

mple

rule

s that h

elp m

e becom

e

a bette

r entr

epreneur.

First,

never sto

p learn

ing. W

hether

it’s l

istenin

g to p

odcasts o

r readin

g art

icles a

nd books,

try

to le

arn s

ometh

ing n

ew e

veryday t

o becom

e an e

xpert

in y

our field

. Second, s

urround y

ourself

with

rig

ht peo-

ple. D

on’t be th

e smart

est p

erson in

the ro

om, a

nd inst

ead

choose p

eople w

ho can motiv

ate y

ou and push y

our lim

its.

Finally

, work

hard

to achie

ve great t

hings!

PASSION ,

AUTONOMY &

ORGANIZAT ION

S IZ ING UP THE

REALM OF FASH ION

E-COMMERCE

WH

AT H

ELPS YO

U F

OCUS?

Keepin

g a posit

ive e

nergy is

not only

good for m

e but a

lso

for m

y team

and my busin

ess.

WH

AT M

AK

ES YO

U L

AUGH

?

Cute ca

t GIF

s, an ep

isode o

f

The Daily

Show

or som

eone

smili

ng at me.

Emm

anuelle,

37, is

an electr

omechanic

al

engineer and a re

al IT

girl. She liv

es in

Brussels

with

her husband and tw

o chil-

dren. E

mm

anuelle f

irst b

egan her c

areer a

t

universit

y, combin

ing her PhD in

produc-

tion o

ptimiz

ation a

nd workin

g as a

teachin

g

assist

ant in m

echanics.

Her p

assio

n for p

ro-

cess im

provem

ent le

d her to fo

und AM

IA

System

s in

2014. It is

now a com

pany of

seven people th

at pro

poses soft

ware

solu-

tions

for f

actorie

s lo

oking to

optim

ize th

eir

process

es and p

lannin

g.

amia-systems.com

Gulnaz, 2

6, has f

ounded thre

e start-

ups in

e-c

omm

erce, t

echnology a

nd

mobile

. She h

olds a

n MS in

Str

ategic

Marketin

g and h

as experie

nce in b

ig

data te

chnologie

s fr

om w

orking as

Head of

Unit in

one of th

e largest

banks in

Russ

ia. S

he late

r moved to

Copenhagen and founded Easy

Size

in 2014, w

hich sh

e runs alo

ngside

eight

team

mem

bers. Easy

Size is

a

measu

rem

ent-fre

e, photo

-free t

ech-

nology th

at pre

dicts

correct c

loth

ing

size fo

r onlin

e shops.

easysize .me

Emmanue l le Vin

Founder and CEO , A

MIA Systems

BELG IUM

Gu lnaz Khusa inova

Founder and CEO

EasyS ize

DENMARK

© Haoch

en Xu

70 71

THE HUNDERT // CATERING

Alth

ough I st

udied e

conomic

s and m

anagement,

I went t

hrough a

phase in m

y life

of r

ejectin

g the p

rofit

-centr

ic m

otives o

f busin

ess.

Over ti

me, h

owever,

I cam

e to re

alize th

at the b

usiness

sector con-

tain

s a h

uge amount o

f resourc

es that c

an be u

sed in p

ositiv

e ways,

and that b

y evolvin

g busin

ess p

ractic

es we can cre

ate a b

etter soci-

ety. I

then cam

e full

circle

back to

the ro

ots of m

y studie

s. I h

ad also

watc

hed my fa

ther s

tart a

nd gro

w h

is ow

n busin

ess w

hen I w

as

grow

ing u

p, so th

e entrepre

neurial s

pirit cam

e to m

e natu

rally

.

Makin

g peace w

ith th

e concept o

f busin

ess sp

arked my h

uge pas-

sion fo

r conscio

us busin

ess p

rincip

les a

nd gave m

e the m

otivatio

n

to st

art my o

wn c

ompany th

at not o

nly fi

lled a

gap in

the m

arket,

but did

n’t com

prom

ise my v

alues.

I wante

d my b

usiness

– w

hich

doesn’t

place em

phasis o

n pro

fit –

to m

ake a d

iffere

nce in th

e lives

of not o

nly it

s cust

omers,

but also it

s em

ployees,

the e

nvironm

ent

and wid

er com

munity

. The c

hallenges

of st

arting t

his com

pany

have had a m

assiv

e impact o

n me and fo

rced m

e into

pric

eless

per-

sonal gro

wth

.

Yasmin

, 28, f

ounded the G

rass

y

Hopper in

2013 and now

emplo

ys

more

than 2

0 people

over th

ree

outlets

. Yasm

in re

turned b

ack to

her hom

eland, M

alta, a

fter d

oing

a bachelo

r’s degre

e in E

conomic

s

and Managem

ent and a

Mast

er

in In

ternatio

nal Develo

pment a

t

the U

niversit

y of B

ristol.

Before

startin

g her v

egetaria

n cate

ring

business

, she fo

unded and ran

an NGO

in th

e human rig

hts

field

and worked w

ith severa

l

other st

artups.

thegra

ssyhop

per.co

m

VALUE ISN ’ T

JUST ABOUT P

ROF I T

WH

AT M

AK

ES

YOU

HA

PPY?

Feelin

g like I

am

serv

ing so

met

hing

greate

r than m

yself.

Yasmin de G iorg io

Founder and CEO

The Grassy Hopper

MALTA

Fotocredit: Berta Tiana

I alw

ays say to

people

who th

ink about b

ecomin

g a st

artup fo

under, ‘If

you can d

o someth

ing e

lse, then d

o someth

ing e

lse!’ At s

ome p

oint i

n

my li

fe, I

could

n’t th

ink a

bout doin

g anyth

ing o

ther th

an foundin

g a

startu

p. My h

usband a

nd I st

arted ta

lkin

g about t

he idea fo

r the c

om-

pany ages b

efore

actu

ally d

ecidin

g to ta

ke the p

lunge. W

e eventu

ally

realiz

ed that w

e were

lookin

g at a

busin

ess w

ith a

huge m

arket that

made p

erfect u

se of o

ur skill

sets

and e

xperience –

and b

est o

f all,

it

inte

rest

ed us.

We d

ived in

.

The reason I

say, ‘

Do som

ethin

g else if

you c

an,’ is

that

foundin

g a

startu

p is to

ugh – much to

ugher than y

ou can imagin

e. It’s

kin

d of l

ike

having a

baby; y

ou’ll n

ever really

know

what i

t’s li

ke until

you h

ave

one. But f

or me th

ere a

re tw

o main

benefit

s, above a

nd beyond every-

thin

g else: N

ot a d

ay goes

by that I

don’t

learn s

ometh

ing n

ew. A

nd,

I am

my o

wn b

oss. O

f course I

work a

round th

e clo

ck, and a

mill

ion

thin

gs keep m

e up at n

ight.

But no one can te

ll m

e I can’t

pick u

p my son

from

pre

school. That’s

a huge d

eal, and n

ot just

for fe

male

founders.

Tamar i

s the T

el Aviv

-base

d founder

and CEO o

f Pre

en.Me, a

next g

ener-

ation m

arketin

g pla

tform

that

helps

brands

use cust

omer

voices

to te

ll

their

storie

s. Pre

en.Me d

rives c

ontent

and convers

ation o

n a m

assiv

e scale

for

LVM

H,

Coty and Est

ee Lauder

brands,

among oth

ers. T

amar g

rew

up

in N

Y and Isra

el, liv

ed in L

ondon, and

was p

revio

usly a

senio

r executiv

e at

companie

s lik

e PokerS

tars

and b

win

,

where

she le

d larg

e team

s and m

an-

aged sizable

P&Ls.

preen .me

BE YOUR OWN BOSS

AND LEARN SOMETH ING

NEW EVERY DAY

WH

AT IS

TH

E FIR

ST TH

ING

YOU

DO W

HEN

YO

U G

ET

HOM

E FROM

WORK

?

Envelope m

y son in

hugs

and kiss

es (w

hen h

e let

s me).

Tamar Yan iv

Co-Founder and CEO

Preen .Me

ISRAEL

THE HUNDERT // INFLUENCER MARKETING

© Tum

er Gentu

rk

When I decided to becom

e a stay-at-home m

om,

blogging came as a relief and enabled m

e not to

feel alone in my new

motherhood role. It w

as

then that I realized, alongside Natalie Levi and

Catherine Lamprou, that there w

as a huge gap

in the marketplace for connecting m

oms w

ith

childcare experts easily and safely through the

web. N

annuka was born of this realization, and it

became a hallm

ark to our careers, collective cre-

ativity and passion.

What really keeps us going is our relevance to

other families – the m

any “thank you” emails

from parents w

ho are happy with their choice

of babysitters, and from babysitters w

ho found

the jobs they deserved. It wasn’t easy, but w

e

succeeded because we did not let things get in

the way of our vision. It m

ay sound cliché, but it

always w

orks out this way. If you don’t think you

can make it, don’t even bother trying. Believing

that you can is just one step away from

actually

making it.

I started my first com

pany at age

22. It was a part-tim

e project that

coincided with starting m

y first

job at an asset managem

ent firm.

I liked the job, but thought that a

startup would let m

e get results

much

faster. N

evertheless, it

took a while to launch it (w

e had

no idea about lean startups back

then), but once we got funding

from a UK accelerator, I had no

second thoughts about quitting

my job at 25.

That startup did not survive, nor

did the second one I co-founded.

How

ever, the lessons learned

were im

mensely helpful at m

y

third startup, 3D design mar-

ketplace CGTrader.

I joined

co-founder Marius Kalytis and

we grew

CGTrader to one of the

top players in the market. This

included fundraising,

landing

thousands of

customers

and

building the team of 20 people.

I enjoy startups because of the

large impact you can have on

them. There are very few

things

you cannot change in a startup,

so the responsibility for the com-

pany and growth starts and ends

with you. This is w

hat makes

failure painful, but also what

makes

success so

extremely

rewarding.

BEL IEV ING

IN YOURSELF

IS HALF THE

CHALLENGE

STARTUP RESPONSIB IL I TY

STARTS AND ENDS

WITH YOU

WH

AT IS TH

E FIRST THIN

G

YOU

DO A

FTER WA

KIN

G UP?

Alw

ays stretch and smile.

WH

AT GIVES

YOU

POWER?

Am

bition.

Lela is the co-founder of Nannuka, an online

startup marketplace launched in 2014 that has

since grown to 12 em

ployees and is planning its

European expansion. After completing her studies

in public relations and advertising and continuing

with a M

aster in International Journalism at City

University, London, Lela worked in the m

arketing

and comm

unication field, focusing mainly on m

an-

aging promo events and com

munication strategies.

nannuka .com

Dalia, 31, is co-founder and CEO of CGTrader.

CGTrader is one of the largest 3D design market-

places in the world, w

ith over 220,000 3D models

and 400,000 3D designers on board. Its customers

come from

advertising, video production, gam-

ing, design, VR/AR, and 3D printing industries.

CGTrader is backed by Intel Capital and Practica

Capital. Before CGTrader, Dalia worked in asset

managem

ent and co-founded two other startups.

cgtrader.com

Le la Dr itsa Psarros

Co-Founder , Nannuka

GREECE

Da l ia Lasa ite

Co-Founder and CEO

CGTraderL I THUAN IA

© Kost

as Deko

© Sim

as Bern

otas

THE HUNDERT // MARKETPLACE

7372

THE HUNDERT // 3D DESIGN

75

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

I’d b

een work

ing f

or Rocket

Inte

rnet

when I

met

my fu

ture

co-founder,

Julia

, and out

of our

work

grew

a

stro

ng frie

ndship

. For

her birt

hday,

we w

ent to N

ew Y

ork to

gether.

There,

we m

et a fr

iend of o

urs w

ho had h

ired

a personal st

ylist

for

$100 per hour.

Our frie

nd had n

ever been a b

ig fa

n of

shoppin

g, but t

his tim

e he w

as re

ally

happy and looked am

azing afte

rward

s.

In th

at mom

ent, th

e idea fo

r Outfi

ttery

hit us.

We th

ought th

at every

man

should

have access

to h

is ow

n pers

onal

stylis

t at a

n afford

able p

rice.

When w

e were

back in

Germ

any, we

put our heads

togeth

er and brain

-

storm

ed. I h

ad alw

ays wante

d to run

my o

wn b

usiness

– even more

so after

my ti

me at R

ocket Inte

rnet. O

f course

there

were

many sk

eptics s

aying th

at

this

service w

ould o

nly a

ppeal to a

niche audie

nce, but

those naysa

y-

ers never m

ade us

change our m

ind.

Today, Outf

ittery is

the m

arket lead-

er in personal sh

opping. A

lways

be

optimist

ic a

nd don’t

let

others

make

you doubt your ow

n business

idea.

The thin

g that

provid

ed me w

ith

a real s

ense of

safe

ty w

as havin

g a

trust

worth

y business

partner.

It is

importa

nt to

believe in

your team

and trust

your gut f

eeling.

In 2

012, I w

orked as a

n emplo

yee in a st

artup b

uild-

ing a

pla

tform

for t

he Italia

n univ

ersity

netw

ork. I

t

was a

gre

at challe

nge for t

wo y

ears, b

ut I so

on felt

I

wante

d to m

ake an even bigger d

iffere

nce and stand

out. A

lthough I

was c

onfuse

d about w

hich st

eps to

take n

ext, I s

uccessfu

lly jo

ined a

pro

gram

for e

ntre-

preneurs

in It

aly. T

hat’s w

here I m

et my co-fo

unders

and the id

ea of

Ato

oma c

ame to

be. I

sta

rted th

is

venture

as

co-founder

and CM

O. I le

ft m

y job, b

ut

nothin

g seem

ed to sc

are m

e regard

ing th

e risk

s.

Today I th

ink th

at was t

he most

compelli

ng action I

have taken in

the la

st th

ree y

ears, re

gardless

of t

he

hundreds o

f obst

acles I

have fa

ced, I d

o not r

egret

anythin

g. The e

nergy and m

otivatio

n I’ve g

ained

from

this

decision w

ill p

ay back m

y effo

rts b

oth in

success

or fa

ilure

. I c

an say th

is experie

nce is g

iv-

ing m

uch more

in t

erms

of le

arning a

nd gro

wth

than m

any years o

f pro

fess

ional e

xperiences a

s an

emplo

yee ever c

ould. A

long th

e way I

also becam

e

a moth

er, and I

carry my s

on on m

y back to

tech

confere

nces. I w

ant to o

vercom

e the ju

dgments

we

as wom

en entr

epreneurs a

nd moth

ers have to

deal

with

every day.

Anna, 3

1, is th

e co-founder of O

utfitt

ery,

a personal sh

opping servic

e for m

en.

The company w

as la

unched in 2012

and has s

ince g

row

n to 3

00 em

ployees,

operatin

g in 8 countr

ies

and serving

about 300,0

00 custom

ers. A

nna studie

d

in F

reib

urg and P

aris, a

nd sta

rted h

er

career a

t Rocket I

nternet i

n Berlin

. She

was

head of

IT a

t a S

wiss

onlin

e com

-

pany befo

re s

he fulfi

lled h

er dre

am o

f

startin

g Outf

ittery.

outf itte

ry .com

Gioia

, 30, l

ives

in R

ome, I

taly

, and h

olds

an

MBA

focused on te

chnology ventu

res.

She

has over e

ight

years of

experience in

pro

d-

uct m

arketing, entr

epreneursh

ip and socia

l

media

managem

ent in st

artups a

nd big

com

-

panies i

ncludin

g Delo

itte 5

00 fast

est g

row

ing

companie

s. H

er startu

p is A

toom

a, founded

in 2

012 and c

ounting 1

0 dedic

ated e

mplo

y-

ees to

day who h

elp g

row

ing Io

T com

panies

sharpen th

eir pro

ducts w

ith R

esonance AI, a

n

IoT A

rtific

ial I

ntelli

gence pla

tform

.

atooma.com

ALWAYS BE

OPT IMIST IC

!

DON ’ T FIND

FAULTS,

F IND

REMEDIES

HOW

DOES IT

FEEL T

O RUN

YOUR O

WN

BUSIN

ESS?

It is

amazin

g to ex

perien

ce

that n

othin

g is im

possib

le!

WH

AT D

O YO

U H

OPE

FOR TH

E FU

TURE?

I hope b

ig com

panies and

start

ups will

build in

no-

vation to

gether

; too m

uch

lip se

rvice i

s paid

today.

Anna A lex

Co-Founder and CEO

Outf itte

ry

GERMANY

Gio ia P isto la

Co-Founder and CMO

Atooma

ITALY

THE HUNDERT // INTERNET OF THINGS

74

77

THE HUNDERT // MARKETING

Before

Tie

ndeo, I w

orked for m

any years a

t Genera

l Ele

ctric

as a

n IT

proje

ct manager.

From

there

, I m

oved on to

Siem

ens, w

here I

worked

in p

roductio

n. I re

ally li

ked what I

was d

oing a

nd it w

as with

heavy

heart that I

quit

my jo

b, but I

wante

d to e

xperience b

uildin

g som

e-

thin

g from

scratc

h alongsid

e some o

f my fr

iends.

My si

ster,

Eva, Jonath

an and m

yself are

pass

ionate

about n

ew te

ch-

nologie

s. The id

ea of Tie

ndeo was s

uggested to

us b

y a frie

nd who w

as

tired of r

eceivin

g dozens o

f reta

il cata

logs.

By dig

itizin

g and geolocat-

ing th

em, o

ur tool n

ow a

llow

s consu

mers

to b

row

se cata

logs

from

nearby reta

ilers

on any d

evice. I

n February 2

011, we la

unched the

first

beta

and entere

d a startu

p competit

ion. W

e won it

and capture

d

the a

ttentio

n of L

uis M

artin C

abiedes,

our first

invest

or and o

ne of

the p

eople w

ho has m

ost clo

sely fo

llow

ed the p

roje

ct ever si

nce.

In th

e begin

ning, w

e had to

do a

bit

of everyth

ing –

wheth

er it w

as

comm

ercia

l, fin

ancial o

r pro

gram

min

g. I h

ad to d

o the sa

les p

art and

I was

not very g

ood at i

t! It’

s im

portant t

o surro

und yourself

with

people y

ou belie

ve in a

nd can have fu

n with

to h

elp y

ou cope durin

g

the d

iffic

ult tim

es.

Maria

, along w

ith her sis

ter Eva and

Jonathan

Lemberger,

co-founded

Tiendeo,

the le

ading porta

l fo

r reta

il

catalo

gs and o

ffers.

Tiendeo is

locate

d in

Barcelo

na and has a

presence in

35 coun-

trie

s, w

here it

has a

lready g

ained m

ore

than 25 m

illio

n uniq

ue users p

er month

.

Maria

studie

d Indust

rial E

ngineerin

g at

the P

olyte

chnic U

niversit

y of C

atalo

nia

and the É

cole C

entrale

de P

aris. B

efore

Tiendeo, M

aria w

orked at S

iem

ens and

General E

lectr

ic.

t iendeo .com

LEARN ING TO DO A

B I T OF EVERYTH ING

Maria Mart í

n

Co-Founder and CMO

T iendeo

SPA IN

WH

AT M

OTIV

ATES Y

OU

?

To learn

ever

yday and to

grow

as a p

erso

n in m

y

work

and per

sonal li

fe.

THE HUNDERT // HR TECH

Afte

r tw

elve y

ears w

orkin

g as a

n IT m

anager, I’d

hit

a wall

in

my p

rofe

ssio

nal gro

wth

and k

new it

was t

ime to

move o

n. So

when P

hilip Sta

ehelin – m

y co-founder,

mento

r and gre

at frie

nd

– pre

sente

d me w

ith th

e idea b

ehind V

ideo R

ecruit,

I in

stantly

dropped m

y cushy jo

b and dived head firs

t into

entrepre

neurism

.

I w

as all

too fa

mili

ar with

the dauntin

g task

of tr

ying to

identif

y the best

job candid

ates

amongst

numero

us in

dis-

tinguish

able C

Vs

– and th

is is

where

our s

tartu

p idea c

ame

into

pla

y. Inviti

ng pro

spectiv

e candid

ates

to r

ecord a v

ideo

inte

rview

on th

eir ow

n tim

e and r

espond s

pontaneously

to

recruite

r quest

ions s

eemed li

ke a b

rillia

nt alte

rnative to

the

standard C

V re

cruitment m

odel.

Was I

scared? V

ery! With

two y

oung childre

n, not m

uch idea

of how

to b

uild a

com

pany and a

husb

and with

an in

terna-

tional

conducting care

er, it

seemed hig

hly irra

tional.

But

it gave m

e such a

n incre

dible

feelin

g of b

eing a

live a

gain. I

was i

nstantly

hooked. W

hen pla

ying c

ompetit

ive sp

orts, m

y

fath

er alw

ays told

me ‘S

o long a

s the g

ame is

n’t over,

you still

have every chance of w

innin

g.’ It i

s this

min

dset of n

ever giv-

ing u

p that h

as gotte

n us t

o where

we are

today.

In 2011, a

t the age of 4

1, Annabelle

founded V

ideo

Recruit, a Pra

gue-based st

artup th

at has

since

grow

n to a

14-p

erson com

pany. Alre

ady pre

sent

on four c

ontinents

, Vid

eo Recruit

has re

cently

launched a

new

pro

duct, lu

sk.io

, a h

iring a

ppli-

cation conceptu

alized as a

n A-to

-Z fo

r recruite

rs.

Annabelle

studie

d compute

r science a

nd worked

for m

any years a

s Regio

nal IT D

irecto

r for H

avas

World

wid

e Pra

gue.

video-recru it .com

BE ING AN

ENTREPRENEUR

MAKES YOU

FEEL AL IV

E

Annabe l le D iamant ino

Co-Founder and CEO

Video Recru it

CZECH REPUBL IC

WH

AT’S T

HE F

IRST T

HIN

G

YOU

DO W

HEN

YO

U G

ET

HOM

E FROM

WORK

?

In a w

ord, f

amily

–

primaril

y takin

g care

of

our tw

o wonder

ful c

hildre

n.

76

DIGITAL

LEADE

RSHIP I

NSTITUT

E

The Dig

ital L

eadership

Inst

itute

(DLI)

work

s

to b

ridge th

e gender g

ap and d

igita

l div

ide

worl

dwid

e by p

rom

oting g

reate

r upta

ke

of ESTEA

M (E

ntrepre

neurship

, STEM

and

Art

s) sk

ills a

mong g

irls

and wom

en. DLI

carrie

s out g

rass

roots

activ

ities a

ddress

ing

the le

aky pip

eline in

tech, a

nd advocate

s for

greate

r part

icip

ation o

f gir

ls and w

omen in

digita

l fie

lds,

especia

lly entr

epreneurs

hip.

DLI is f

ounder of t

he Ada A

ward

s, re

cogniz-

ing to

p Euro

pean gir

ls and w

omen in

tech,

the M

ove It F

orward

fem

ale d

igita

l sta

rter

weekend, a

nd the D

igita

l Muse

Gir

l Tech

Fest.v

bki.de

dlii.o

rg

GEEKETT

ES

The Geekette

s are

a global c

omm

unity d

edicate

d

to h

elpin

g aspirin

g and establis

hed fem

ale te

ch

innovato

rs. Founded in

2012 b

y Jess E

rickson and

Denise P

hilipp, t

he Geekette

s have gro

wn fr

om

a din

ner table

of e

ight i

nto a 9

000-str

ong com-

munity

of m

embers,

spannin

g over n

ine chapte

rs

and two contin

ents. I

n addition to

month

ly com

-

munity

events th

at pro

vide w

omen w

ith st

rong

networkin

g opportu

nities,

the G

eekettes h

ave led

fem

ale m

entorsh

ip in

itiativ

es for p

artners s

uch as

Deuts

che Tele

kom, S

ony Mobile

, SA

P, and G

oogle.

geekettes.i

o

GIRLS

IN TECH

Girls i

n Tech (G

IT) i

s a glo

bal non-p

rofit

focuse

d on th

e engagement,

education and

empow

erment o

f girl

s and w

omen w

ho are

passio

nate about t

echnology. G

IT w

as launched

in F

ebruary

2007 b

y Adria

na Gasc

oigne.

Today, GIT

offe

rs a v

ariety

of r

esourc

es and

curric

ulum

for m

embers

, inclu

ding w

orksh

ops,

entrepre

neur bootc

amps,

start

up pitc

h events

and mento

ring o

pportuniti

es. GIT

is h

eadquar-

tere

d in San F

rancisc

o, Calif

ornia

, and h

as

58 chapters

with

more

than 2

9,000 m

embers

locate

d round th

e world

.

girlsi

ntech

.org GLO

BAL INV

EST HE

R

Global I

nvest H

er is a

trust

ed glo

bal com

mu-

nity fo

r wom

en entrepre

neurs, f

ocused o

n

helpin

g them

learn

about fundin

g in a

safe

place to

becom

e invest

or-re

ady. Our o

nline

platfo

rm, b

log a

nd events h

elp y

ou unders

tand

the fu

nding g

ame a

nd how

to p

lay it

, to ra

ise

the m

oney you n

eed, then g

et back to

build

ing

your busin

ess. M

embers

access

exclusiv

e

inte

rvie

ws w

ith su

ccessfu

lly fu

nded wom

en

entrepre

neurs about h

ow th

ey did

it a

nd in-

vestors

who sh

are w

hat look fo

r befo

re

invest

ing. A

lso in

cludes a

mento

ring

progra

mm

e and a

webin

ar seri

es calle

d Ow

n

The Mom

ent – H

ow to

Pitc

h to M

ale In

vestors

.

globalin

vesther.c

om

GEEK G

IRLS C

ARROTS

Geek Gir

ls Carr

ots is

a g

lobal o

rganiz

ation

support

ing w

omen in

IT. A

t their

events a

nd

work

shops,

they cre

ate a

frie

ndly sp

ace for

exchanging k

nowle

dge, experi

ences, and

contacts

. The com

munity

support

s, m

oti-

vates,

show

s poss

ibili

ties o

f develo

pment

and emplo

yment.

This is

how G

eek Gir

ls

Carrots

realiz

e their

miss

ion – att

ractin

g

wom

en to IT

. They w

ant gir

ls to

dre

am

about becom

ing d

evelopers

and cre

ating

start

ups just

like th

ey dre

am to

day about

being m

odels and a

ctress

es. Geek G

irls

Carrots

is p

rese

nt in 3

1 cities,

14 countrie

s.

geekgirlsc

arrots

.org

WECONNE

CTW

EConnect Inte

rnatio

nal is a

corpora

te-le

d non-p

rofit

that h

elps

build su

stain

able com

muniti

es and

economic

gro

wth

by em

poweri

ng wom

en

business

ow

ners to

succeed in

glo

bal

mark

ets – w

e’re tr

ying to

connect up m

ore

majo

rity

ow

ned wom

en’s busin

esses

(those

that a

re at l

east 5

1% o

wned, m

anaged

and controlle

d by o

ne or m

ore w

omen)

into

the corp

orate

supply

chain. W

EConnect

Inte

rnatio

nal corp

orate

mem

bers re

prese

nt

over US$1 tr

illio

n in a

nnual purc

hasing

power a

nd are

true p

ioneers

in in

clusiv

e

sourc

ing a

nd glo

bal supplie

r develo

pment.

weco

nnectin

tern

ational.o

rg

WEFOUND

Wom

en’s pote

ntial f

or success

is u

nlimite

d.

We k

now th

at with

an entr

epreneuri

al min

d-

set,

more

wom

en will

realiz

e their

busin

ess

potentia

l and cre

ate fu

lfillm

ent in li

fe. W

e

motiv

ate th

rough events

, giv

e train

ings a

nd

provid

e pow

erful o

nline re

sourc

es to connect

with

co-founders

, mento

rs a

nd invest

ors.

Wefo

und is a

glo

bal support

ive com

munity

of fem

ale entr

epreneurs

who w

ant to m

ake a

differe

nce. Curr

ently o

ur netw

ork re

aches

more

than 5

,000 p

eople.

wefo

und.org

WOMEN

SUPPOR

TERS

Start

ing y

our ow

n company is

tough – y

ou will

face countle

ss challe

nges

and opport

unities.

It is

our g

reate

st p

leasure

at the H

undert to

part

ner

with

these

magnifi

cent org

anizatio

ns, w

ho dedic

ate th

eir tim

e and energy

to su

pport w

omen in

busin

ess th

rough v

arious w

orksh

ops, confe

rences,

and furt

her initi

atives.

THE HUNDERT // WOMEN SUPPORTERS

© DLI

© Chris

tian K

ruse

© Mate

j Kast

elic

© Bria

n Birz

er

© Cailtlin Krause

Wom

en at DLI i

n

Brussels

Move It

Forward

for

digita

l sta

rtups

Geekettes

Team

Berlin

Leadership

Skill-b

uildin

g

Boot cam

p San

Francisc

o, 2015

How

to tu

rn

failu

res i

nto

fortu

ne event

in Z

urich at

Evernote off

ice.

Netw

orkin

g in actio

n

at the W

EConnect

Inte

rnational D

ay event in

Austin

, Texas,

June 2015

Help

ing w

omen

entrepre

neurs b

ecome

investo

r ready

thro

ugh Webin

ars,

Events, M

entorin

g &

Inte

rview H

ub.

7978

80 81

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

As a Berlin-based private bank, Weberbank has a basic

interest in the prosperity of the city. It has always seen itself

as a partner to entrepreneurs in the German capital.

Weberbank specializes in asset management and investment

consulting and has a particular focus on the individual needs

and requirements of entrepreneurs. This is a crucial point

since the circumstances which result from owning a company

or being a partner in a company must be considered when

allocating and managing assets.

The bank is primarily focused on the financial objectives of

entrepreneurs in their private sphere. Only those who have

made robust private plans and obtained the corresponding

level of security can act freely in the world of business,

equipped to face all possible risks. It is necessary to consider

many individual facts, from the amount of available resources

to general stage of life, family background, career plans and so

on. After all, those who dare do not always win. There are vary-

ing factors that connect the private and professional spheres.

Therefore, tailored solutions are important and will always

provide the best results for clients. Keywords in this context

KLAUS SIEGERSCEO at Weberbank, a Berlin-based Private Bank offering a broad range of financial services for successful entrepreneurs.

include, for example, the legal form of the company,

a testament or will and powers of attorney to exercise own-

ership rights in case of illness. Weberbank offers support and

advice in a wide range of these and many other important fields.

In addition, the individual relationship between Weberbank

client advisers and entrepreneurs is essential because the

necessary level of trust can only exist between people who

understand each other. As a result, banking relationships take

on a special significance for professional cooperation: On the

one hand, there is greater willingness of entrepreneurs to

engage in various investment instruments in principle,

which often entails a deeper pool of experience. On the other

hand, entrepreneurs are accustomed to making their own

decisions and are careful to select relationships only with

people they can trust. The team at Weberbank acknowledges

this and always considers the personal preferences of clients

to achieve an optimal fit when selecting a client adviser.

Best regards,

Klaus Siegers

ANZE IGETHE HUNDERT

THE HUNDERT // ADVERTORIAL

82 83

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

Before even wanting to becom

e an

entrepreneur, I

knew

I w

anted to

work on projects that m

ade a differ-

ence to the world and not just to m

y

bank account. As the co-founder of a

technology company, I’ve learned a lot

on my journey so far. Starting out as

a founder is tough, and doing it while

young is even tougher. But doing it as

a female in a m

ale dominated sector is

the toughest of all! That’s what really

drives me. I love shaking up the status

quo and using what m

akes me unique

to make m

y company stand out.

The idea for TaDaweb w

as something

completely cutting edge that m

ade me

quit everything in New

Zealand and

move to the other side of the w

orld.

When first starting the com

pany, we

encountered many different opinions

– from investors and advisors alike –

about which m

arket could derive the

most value from

our technology. It was

an important m

ilestone for us as found-

ers when w

e learned to be discerning

about advice, and to place more em

pha-

sis on our own view

s. Going with your

gut, embracing failure and pivoting

quickly are key in the business world.

I’ve always kept a list of random

thoughts and possible business ideas.

While earning m

y PhD in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, this list got

too long and my inner urge to create som

ething was just too strong. A

s a

result, my co-founder, A

rmin Strbac, and I not only founded finderly in

2010, but also Shpock just two years later – the latter being a flea m

arket

app for beautiful things.

In retrospect, finderly was an im

portant precursor for Shpock. Back then

I learned that building a startup means facing challenges you never expect-

ed. You have to be prepared to battle many setbacks. That’s w

hy I always

compare the startup life to a roller coaster ride: it goes up and dow

n and up

again – often multiple tim

es within a day. W

ithout this know-how

, Shpock

wouldn’t be as successful as it is today. In the beginning, w

e aimed to build

the best marketplace for the sm

artphone generation. Now

we are extrem

e-

ly proud to see that more than ten m

illion second-hand lovers in four major

European markets buy and sell their pre-used products on Shpock.

After w

orking on a startup focused

on bringing solar energy to the devel-

oping Marshall Islands w

hile still at

university, Genna’s passion for build-

ing meaningful com

panies lead her to

Europe where she and her co-found-

er, Francois Gaspard, teamed up to

start a company. Founded in 2011,

TaDaweb now

has 20 employees and

is a pioneer in the field of Small Data,

providing government and corporate

customers alike the pow

er to exploit

highly precise, yet extremely rele-

vant online data points in order to

help solve complex “real life, right

now” challenges.

tadaweb.com

Katharina, 34, is a Vienna-based entre-

preneur and

co-founder of

Shpock.

With m

ore than ten million users and

70 team m

embers, the flea m

arket

app for beautiful things is one of the

most popular shopping apps in Europe.

Shpock, which w

as launched in 2012,

wasn’t Katharina’s first project. W

hile

ear-ning her PhD in Entrepreneurship

and Innovation Managem

ent, she and

her co-founder Arm

in Strbac founded

finderly, a recomm

endation platform

for electronic products.

shpock .com

L ISTEN TO

YOUR GUT

AND BE D ISCERN ING

STARTUP L IFE IS L IKE

A ROLLER COASTER R IDE

HOW

DOES IT FEEL TO

RUN YO

UR OWN

BUSINESS?

Running your own business is

about acknowledging the m

onsters

in the room from

the outset.

Genna E lv in

Co-Founder , TaDaweb

LUXEMBOURG

Kathar ina K lausberger

Co-Founder and CEO

ShpockAUSTR IA

WH

AT H

ELPS YOU

FOCUS?

Three pull-ups in the office are enough

to clear the mind and focus again.

© Brici Photography

THE HUNDERT // SMALL DATA

84 85

THE HUNDERT // ADVERTISING

I’ve a

lways f

ound the In

ternet t

o be

an inte

rest

ing socia

l phenom

enon

and wante

d to s

ee if I

could c

reate

someth

ing t

hat w

ould r

eally a

ppeal

to p

eople w

ho use it

. My h

usband,

Dawid

, and I are

both book lo

vers,

and we w

eren’t

able to

find a nic

e

solutio

n to sh

are book re

censions

online. I

n 2011, w

e decid

ed to b

uild

the p

latfo

rm w

e both

wante

d to u

se.

We c

alled it

the ‘F

acebook for B

ook

Readers.’ Sin

ce then, BookLik

es has

changed quite

a b

it (it

is n

ow a

pla

t-

form

for b

ook bloggers).

Our pla

tform

is hig

hly in

fluentia

l in th

e book b

log-

ging c

omm

unity. T

he change in

our

company w

as accom

panied by our

more

global a

pproach and U

S launch.

I th

ink th

e most

importa

nt asp

ect

of build

ing y

our ow

n com

pany is to

stay p

ersiste

nt in th

e face o

f adversi-

ty, w

hich w

ill d

efinite

ly b

e pre

sent.

Oft

en it’s

in th

e form

of a m

omenta

ry

lack o

f liq

uidity

. Alw

ays be p

repare

d

for th

at, and d

on’t be afr

aid of f

ailing.

Even if y

ou fail,

so w

hat? In

every

failu

re th

ere is

a less

on: you m

ust get

up and start s

ometh

ing n

ew again

.

Joanna, 34, i

s a gra

duate o

f Polis

h philo

logy a

nd

law

. She h

olds a

PhD in

Lin

guistic

s and is

a p

ro-

fess

or of C

omm

unicatio

n and L

inguist

ics a

t the

Universit

y of

Poznan, Pola

nd. She c

o-founded

the la

rgest Polis

h service fo

r prom

otions

and

sale

s, O

kazjum

.pl,

and the glo

bal aw

ard-win

-

ning servic

e for b

ook readers,

BookLikes.

Aft

er

selling O

kazjum

.pl

to Bauer M

edia Gro

up in

2015 and BookLik

es in 2016 Joanna and h

er hus-

band are alre

ady workin

g on som

ethin

g new

.

book l ikes .com

EVEN IF

YOU FA IL ,

SO WHAT?

Joanna Grze lak-P iaskowska

Co-Founder and COO

BookL ikes

POLAND

WH

AT A

RE YO

U

PASSIO

NA

TE ABO

UT?

Hist

ory, s

ociety

, new

med

ia and te

chnolo

gies.

I am

a b

uilder

and a m

aker at h

eart a

nd have a

lways

approached jo

bs

with

an e

ntrepre

neurial m

indse

t. Befo

re c

o-foundin

g Celtr

a, I w

orked in

the g

amin

g indust

ry fo

r pro

bably th

e most

well-

known e

ntrepre

neur in

Slovenia

. He gave m

e proof t

hat com

mon se

nse pre

vails, a

nd work

ing w

ith

him h

elped m

e develo

p a d

efined w

ay of t

hinkin

g for m

y ow

n ventu

re. I

now co-r

un a company o

f 170 p

eople and h

is m

indse

t stil

l insp

ires m

e.

Celtra b

egan when m

y husb

and (boyfr

iend a

t th

at tim

e) and fo

under,

Mih

ael Mik

ek, and I

took a

risk

. We h

ad com

e to th

e US fo

r our m

as-

ter’s

degrees,

and had n

othin

g to lo

se aft

er we g

raduate

d. We w

ere b

oth

curious a

bout the b

ig m

arket for m

obile advertis

ing, s

o we v

isualiz

ed our

dream

and b

egan executin

g on it

. I fe

lt very li

berate

d when w

e starte

d

the c

ompany. I

knew

back th

en it w

as the rig

ht thin

g for m

e, but I

don’t

thin

k it’s

the rig

ht thin

g for everyone; a

lot o

f people

decid

e to d

o a start-

up because th

ey are

attracte

d to th

e life

style

, whic

h I th

ink is

the w

rong

reason to

do it

.

Startin

g your o

wn c

ompany c

an be a

long a

nd lonely

rid

e until

you

get som

e tractio

n and v

enture

capita

l, and u

ntil y

ou build

a solid

team

.

My a

dvice is

to le

arn what t

he big

trends a

re in

the n

ext ten o

r twenty

years, and th

en you’ll

always h

ave the w

ind at y

our back!

Maja

is a

Babson C

ollege M

BA g

raduate

and th

e

CFO a

nd co-fo

under of C

eltra, t

he glo

bal leader

for ric

h media

mobile

advertis

ing a

nd analy

tics.

Prior t

o sta

rting C

eltra w

ith h

er husb

and and

CEO, Mih

ael Mik

ek, and C

PO, Mate

vz Kla

njsek,

Maja

was

based in Slo

venia and w

orked as a

CRM M

anager for m

obile o

perato

r Sim

obil and

as a m

arketing d

irecto

r in th

e gamin

g indust

ry.

ce ltra .com

DREAM, VISUAL IZ

E

AND EXECUTE

Maja Mikek

Co-Founder and CFO , C

e ltra

SLOVEN IA

WH

AT A

RE YO

U

MOST P

ROUD

OF?

Stickin

g to m

y

intr

insic

belief

s and

values

when

being

press

ured and h

igh

stakes

are on th

e table.

© Marin

Mest

er

THE HUNDERT // SOCIAL CATALOGING

87

The concept

of 24m

e cam

e out

of m

y ow

n life

challe

nges.

I built

a b

eautiful f

amily

with

thre

e kid

s in

less

than fo

ur

years, w

hile re

locatin

g to th

e USA

, persu

ing m

y EM

BA a

nd

workin

g full

time. I

was

strugglin

g with

my m

ost p

recio

us

resourc

e: tim

e. I r

emem

ber that

day when I

was

late

for a

meetin

g, got a

late

paym

ent fee fo

r one o

f my b

ills a

nd had

zero ti

me to

fill

the re

frig

erato

r with

gro

ceries.

I thought t

o

myself

– there

must

be a

bette

r way t

o juggle

everyth

ing!

That was t

he mom

ent Gila

d, my p

artner in

life

, and I

decided

to b

uild a

virtu

al personal a

ssist

ant. W

e wante

d to c

reate

a

technolo

gy that w

ould h

elp p

eople all

over the w

orld m

anage

their li

ves effi

ciently

, so th

ey would

have m

ore ti

me to

enjoy

the th

ings t

hey love to

do.

We st

arted develo

ping 24m

e from

our baby’s ro

om,

and

quickly

rolle

d out th

e first

proto

type. W

e got a w

onder-

ful r

esponse a

nd were

featu

red b

y Apple

in m

ore th

an 100

countrie

s world

wid

e as o

ne of t

he 10 E

ssentia

l pro

ductivity

apps. But e

ven with

all th

at atte

ntion, w

e kept o

ur feet f

irmly

plante

d on th

e ground, r

emain

ed focused o

n our p

roduct a

nd

continued w

ith o

ur visi

on to cre

ate re

al valu

e for p

eople.

Liat, 37, is

from

Isra

el. She is

a pass

ionate

entrepre

neur w

ho always

seeks

ways

to

impro

ve lives.

She founded 24m

e Smart

Personal A

ssist

ant in

2013 w

ith a

miss

ion

to re

volutio

nize the w

ay people m

anage

their

day-to-d

ay livin

g. Liat

holds

a BA in

Compute

r Scie

nce and a

n EM

BA fro

m t

he

USA. She w

as nam

ed by F

orbes m

agazine as

one of ten fe

male

founders

to w

atch in

Isra

el.

twentyfour .m

e

CHANG ING THE

WAY WE MANAGE

OUR L IVES

HOW

DOES IT

FEEL

TO RUN

YO

UR OW

N

BUSINESS?

Mix

of fee

lings:

fun, s

cary

, am

azing,

rew

ardin

g and for t

he

most

part

– no lim

its!

L iat M

ordechay Hertanu

Co-Founder and CMO

24me

ISRAEL

A t

errible

hote

l experie

nce with

my k

ids

coupled w

ith

insp

iratio

n from

Cam

eron D

iaz a

nd Kate

Win

slet i

n the

hit ro

mantic

com

edy ‘The H

oliday’ s

parked the id

ea of

Love Hom

e Swap w

hile I w

as 30,0

00 feet i

n the air.

While

the c

oncept of h

ome sw

apping is

not n

ew, t

he space w

as

sleepy and re

quired a re

fresh

ing, f

un bra

nd that r

eflecte

d

the tr

ue hom

e swappin

g experience. C

omin

g from

a fa

m-

ily o

f fem

ale e

ntrepre

neurs, I f

elt natu

rally

pre

pared to

tap in

to a gap in

the m

arket.

It to

ok roughly

18 m

onths

of experim

enting t

o find o

ut

what w

orks t

o get L

ove Hom

e Sw

ap off

the g

round, b

ut it

is th

at thoro

ugh pre

paratio

n that m

ade Love H

ome S

wap

what

it is

today: t

he larg

est h

ome s

wappin

g clu

b in t

he

world

, with

more

than 100,0

00 propert

ies i

n 190 countrie

s.

Being an entr

epreneur is

n’t easy

and it re

quires g

rit to

run

a busin

ess. H

aving st

aying p

ower m

atters m

ore th

an the

initi

al (and, o

ftentim

es, fle

eting) e

nthusia

sm th

at com

es

with

an id

ea. But o

nce you see th

at idea tu

rn into

realit

y,

the h

ard work is

more

than w

orth it

. It’s

like p

lantin

g a

seed, and w

atchin

g it fl

ourish and gro

w.

Debbie

is a seria

l entr

epreneur and

invest

or fro

m L

ondon. An O

xford

MA

gra

duate, s

he is a

form

er man-

agement c

onsulta

nt, la

unching h

er

first

busin

ess a

t age 2

5 befo

re la

t-

er selling it

to L

oewy G

roup. N

ow,

Debbie

is C

EO a

nd founder o

f Love

Hom

e Swap,

the w

orld’s

largest

home sw

apping clu

b. Pow

ered b

y a

team

of 6

0, Love H

ome S

wap h

elps

thousa

nds enjo

y better holid

ays

thro

ugh swappin

g.

l ovehomeswap.com

QUEEN OF THE

SHAR ING ECONOMY

WH

AT IS

TH

E FIR

ST

THIN

G YO

U D

O AFTER

WA

KIN

G UP?

I exer

cise a

nd end it

by

unwin

ding w

ith a bath

and

a scro

ll thro

ugh Inst

agram

–

food and fi

tnes

s blo

ggers

are m

y guilt

y plea

sure

.

Debbie Wosskow

Founder and CEO

Love Home Swap

UNITED K INGDOM

THE HUNDERT // TRAVEL

© M

eytal M

ordech

ay Sch

wartz

THE HUNDERT // PRODUCTIVITY

86

89

I started my Ph.D studies in the early days of

the Web 2.0, and soon got distracted by m

aking

everything – including clothes, furniture, build-

ings and food – clickable and part of the new

internet. In 2008, I set up an office in our garage

and started building a self-funded prototype of

a service that allows people to annotate things

they see in images. I did m

y best to balance tak-

ing care of two sm

all kids and developing the

early idea of ThingLink. I raised seed funding in

2010, and in the first two years w

e focused on

product and technology. I moved to the US w

ith

my kids several years later, and shortly after w

e

acquired an interactive video platform.

The hardest part of this journey has been to stay

on course under extreme pressure and m

anage

time, resources, investor expectations and som

e-

times com

plicated family m

atters. In 2015, we

realized that ThingLink can support annotating

360 degree images and videos, and let anybody

create stories for virtual reality. As a result, m

il-

lions of publishers, educators and marketers can

now use ThingLink for m

aking everything click-

able in virtual reality. Seeing my early vision

come true feels like a trem

endous win.

Ulla, 42, is the founder and CEO of

ThingLink and a pioneer in interactive

digital media. ThingLink founded in

2010 in Helsinki and used by m

ore than

three million publishers and educators

globally, adds layers of information

to images, videos, and virtual reality.

With a m

aster’s degree in Economics

and doctoral

degree in

Behavioral

Sciences, Ulla leads ThingLink’s prod-

uct vision, strategic partnerships, and

funding from Palo A

lto, California.

th ing l ink .com

WRITE YOUR

OWN STORY AND

SEE I T THROUGH

WH

AT A

RE YOU

MOST PRO

UD OF?

Keep building towards the original

vision while m

anaging time and

resources under pressure.

U l la Engestrom

Founder and CEO

Th ingL inkF INLAND

THE HUNDERT // INTERACTIVE MEDIA

© Liis

a Joki

nen

I started working at age 18, w

hich is quite early for

Belarus. I tried several companies and positions,

always doing m

y best to bring some benefit to each.

Then I was lucky enough to be hired at Sport.com

,

where I w

orked my w

ay up from M

arketing Manager

to Head of M

obile Games. W

hile my friends had fun

on Friday evenings, I often sat in front of my com

put-

er preparing documents or m

anaging ad campaigns.

This experience made m

e strong and self-confident.

Soon I realized that I don’t need anyone to tell me

how to m

anage a business – I felt that I could do it on

my ow

n. I quit my job and founded m

y own m

obile

business with tw

o friends. We w

ere sure that our

combined skills w

ould cover all our bases. The first

year was very hard, w

ith plenty of unpredictable

issues coming up. I learned a lot. H

aving two m

ore

partners helped, especially when one of us had som

e

hard times. W

e could support each other and ensure

none of us gave up. Having your ow

n business gives

you more freedom

, but you need to learn how to enjoy

more com

mitm

ent and responsibility along with it!

And above all, you need to be a good problem

solver.

Liubou, 30, is the co-founder of Red Rock Apps –

a mobile fitness applications developer focused

on weight loss. The com

pany has 21 mobile appli-

cations for iOS and A

ndroid, with m

ore than

6.5 million users. The team

includes eight people.

Liubou holds a Master in System

Analysis from

Belaruski Dzjaržauny Universitet Informatyki i

Radyjoelektroniki.

redrockapps .com

THE WORK

DOESN ’ T STOP

AT THE WEEKEND

WH

AT D

O YOU

HOPE FOR TH

E

FUTURE?

Technology will

give us an ability

to help more people

live healthier.

L iubou Pashkouskaya

Co-Founder and Bus iness

Deve lopment

Red Rock Apps

BELARUS

THE HUNDERT // FITNESS APP

88

90

THE HUNDERT // EDTECH THE HUNDERT // SOCIAL MARKETING

Driven by passion and the insatiable need to always

challenge the status quo, I first challenged myself as

the CEO of a successful online PR agency w

ith pre-

mium

clients. Together with m

y team, I decided to

sail the unpredictable waters of the startup w

orld.

The decision wasn’t easy, but it felt right, and that

feeling pushed us to start developing a platform

that would engage genuine, relevant internet users

to talk to their friends about our clients – in other

words, to give brands a hum

an voice. This was som

e-

thing the marketing and advertising industry w

as

desperately craving, and that’s how BeeShaper w

as

born two years ago. N

ow, w

ith more than 400,000

registered users on our platforms, our reach exceeds

nine million internet users and represents the big-

gest e-word-of-m

outh and bloggers network in the

former Yugoslavia region. W

hat exactly took us

here? There’s really no secret recipe; it’s all about

hard work, dedication, focus, im

mense care for oth-

ers, passion and never comprom

ising on quality.

I’ve been a professor, a consultant and a manager at

different points in my life, so the natural next step

was for m

e to become an entrepreneur. I w

as fed

up with reading new

spapers talking about Italian

structural weakness in m

athematics w

ith no pro-

posals for solutions. It was also the right tim

e to start

giving something back to m

y country. My passion

drove me to start a business that could potentially

have some real im

pact in Italy, both now and in the

future: a startup in STEM education!

I love to make things happen and dem

onstrate that

nothing is impossible. I also feel the urge to give

a positive example to m

y daughter and son and to

the next generations, being a lucky wom

an from

Generation X m

yself.

I have my husband and supportive friends to thank

for continuing to motivate and stand by m

e during

the startup journey. I vow to never stop learning,

and this proves to be my recipe for success!

YOU DON ’ T NEED

A SECRET REC IPE .

JUST PASS ION

BE A POS I T IVEEXAMPLE FOR

GENERAT IONS

TO COME WH

EN W

E SAY

“TEAM

” WH

AT

DO YO

U TH

INK

?

Ideas, inspiration,

support, fun and

positive energy.

WH

AT GIVES YO

U POW

ER?

Passion, curiosity and a smile!

Dragana “Gaga” is an internet strategist and lectur-

er. She is CSO of Bee Premium

Group, and CEO and

co-founder of BeeShaper eMarketing. A

s a represen-

tative of EUPRERA & the Euroblog A

ssociation, Gaga

is an honorable mem

ber of the jury for the Social

Media A

wards and a respectable am

bassador of the

Webit Congress of SE Europe. A

dditionally, she was a

jury mem

ber for the Euro ICT awards in Luxem

bourg.

beeshaper .com

Dragana D jermanovic

Co-Founder and CEO

BeeShaper

SERB IA

Chiara, 49, feels lucky to have been born in Milan, Italy.

After her graduation and PhD in Business A

dministration in

Bocconi and the CEMS M

aster, she decided to start working

as Associate Principal w

ith McKinsey & Co. and as a top m

an-

ager in UniCredit Group. She is also a non-executive director

in listed and unlisted companies. Chiara is the co-found-

er, president and CEO of redooc.com, an EdTech com

pany

founded in 2013 that focuses on gamifying STEM

subjects.

redooc .com

Chiara Burber i

Pres ident and CEO , Redooc

I TALY

© Giorgio Amici

91

93

THE HUNDERT // FITNESS AND HEALTH

I’ve a

lways

wante

d to w

ork independently

. At

MSU, m

y

frie

nds and I

had a d

ream

of s

etting u

p a m

arketing c

on-

sulti

ng firm

. That d

ream

did

n’t com

e true in

the end, b

ut all

my fr

iends b

uilt e

xtrem

ely su

ccessfu

l care

ers and th

is w

as

very insp

iring to

me.

Aft

er com

pletin

g my m

aster’s

in L

ondon, I c

hose a r

ather

uncanny care

er path

in th

e film

busin

ess. T

hat job ta

ught

me a lo

t, but m

ost im

portantly

it b

rought i

rrepla

ceable p

eo-

ple in

to m

y life

. One o

f the m

ost v

aluable

less

ons I le

arned

was t

hat I w

as more

com

forta

ble w

orking in

a sm

all, v

ola-

tile st

artup th

an a st

able corpora

te entit

y.

The inKin

journey began w

hen my co-fo

unders and I s

tarte

d

paying atte

ntion to

fitn

ess a

nd health

weara

bles.

We cam

e

up with

the id

ea of a

socia

l pla

tform

that a

llow

s fa

mili

es,

frie

nds and c

oworkers

to g

et activ

e togeth

er and m

onitor

their lo

ved ones’

health p

aram

eters.

It w

as my fi

rst st

artup,

so there

were

many th

ings I

needed to

quic

kly le

arn from

scratc

h. I h

ad to fi

nd a w

ay to b

alance th

e pro

ject a

nd my

fam

ily, w

hich h

as been th

e hardest

challenge fo

r me – esp

e-

cially

since I h

ad to tr

avel betw

een the te

am’s

headquarters

in Y

erevan and m

y hom

e in D

ubai.

Zara,

31, curre

ntly re

sides

in Dubai,

UAE, a

nd com

es fro

m a

marketin

g and

managem

ent backgro

und. She hold

s

a BS in Econom

ics

from

Lomonosov

Moscow

State

Universit

y and an MS

in M

anagement

from

Cass Busin

ess

School, London.

She cre

ated

inKin

in N

ovember of

2014 togeth

er with

frie

nds and fa

mily

. inKin

, now

a te

am

of fiv

e, is a

free s

ervice fo

r users w

ith

differe

nt fit

ness and health

trackers

to c

onnect, com

pete, s

ocializ

e and g

et

active to

gether.

ink in .com

SURROUND

YOURSELF WITH

SUCCESSFUL

PEOPLE

WH

AT M

AK

ES

YOU

HA

PPY?

Happin

ess i

s a st

ate

of min

d, so I

believ

e

that b

eing h

appy is

very si

mple.

As l

ong

as your l

oved ones

are h

ealth

y and well

.

Zara Mart irosyan

Co-Founder and

Bus iness Deve lopment

inK in

ARMENIA

92

THE HUNDERT // ADVERTORIAL

Coolar is a cooling system company that preserves life-saving medicines by providing electricity independent refrigerators. As global finalists of the social entrepreneurship contest Chivas. The Venture, the founder Julia Römer and her team are hoping for support in the competition’s public voting process. Starting on 9 May, your vote will decide who receives up to $250,000 in funding for their project.

Julia Römer initiated Coolar in 2014 and has since focused

on developing the technology on which the cooling system

is based. Coolar’s innovative cooling system enables doctors

to preserve life-saving medicine such as vaccines in a reliable

and eco-friendly way by providing refrigerators that run in-

dependently of the power grid and are close to carbon neutral.

The system uses warm water that is easy to generate through

solar energy and easy to store in a water tank. Additionally,

it does not use any moving parts, hazardous cooling fluids or

lubricants. Therefore, Coolar provides the cheapest, most dura-

ble and sustainable solution for vaccine, medicine and

food storage in off-grid regions.

COOLAR: HELPING TO PROVIDE RELIABLE COOLING FOR COUNTRIES OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Chivas The Venture aims to find exceptional start-ups that

use business innovatively to transform communities and solve

global challenges. More than 2,500 of the world’s new gener-

ation of social entrepreneurs and innovators from around the

globe applied. Coolar is just one of 27 startups with a mission

to create positive change that have been selected as finalists

in Chivas The Venture. After the public vote, the finalists will

attend a jury pitch in New York, which will further reward

the most convincing social start-ups with a share of $750,000

in funding. Julia and her team now have the chance to receive

a part of The Venture’s total $1 million fund and connect with

influential mentors to accelerate their growth – and ultimately

transform the world.

VOTE FOR COOLAR:

www.theventure.com/global/en/finalists/coolar

“Our system addresses two major

issues for more than 50 countries

of the developing world: the

over heating of drugs, vaccines

and food, and also the ability

to be powered in off-grid

locations. Al though it depends

on the vaccine and the size of

the fridge, one Coolar fridge can

generally cool vaccines for up to

4,000 people. This year, we are

conducting pilot tests in Ethiopia,

Rwanda and the Philippines with

partners like Medecins Sans

Frontieres (MSF or Doctors

Without Borders).”

Julia Römer

An electricity independent refrigerator: Coolar.

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

9594

TIPS FOR FEMALE FOUNDERS

Our founders know best what it takes to make it in the business world.

We asked them for their best pieces of advice they would give to other founders.

THERE’S NO PERFECT TIMING TO

FOUND A STARTUP

It’s like jumping into an ice-cold

pool on a hot summer’s day: scary, but it

feels good later.

Gina Tost,

Co-Founder and CEO of Geenapp

BE BRAVE, BUT DO THE

CALCULATIONS

Go ahead with unorthodox ideas and

solutions, but do not forget to do your

homework: research, analyse and base

your decisions on hard facts.

Anna Andersone,

Co-Founder of Froont

BE PROFITABLE

Focus on making your startup profitable

as early as possible. If your advisors tell

you otherwise, fire the advisors.

Ulla Engestrom,

Founder and CEO of ThingLink

FALL DOWN, STAND UP,

STRAIGHTEN YOUR CROWN,

CARRY OWN!

Christina Kehl,

C-Founder and Fintech Evangelist

of Knip

BE LIKE A CAT

Be curious and courageous. Don’t hesitate

to show if you like something or not, but

more purr, less claws. Because even if

you’re not like a cat, people will treat you

like one. Some will love you, some will

hate you. Some will be allergic to you and

others will be scared of you. But at the

end, who cares, if you’re a cat? ;)

Vladka Teskova,

Co-Founder and COO of TeskaLabs

BE UNIQUE

Use your uniqueness to charm a

situation, but don’t forget the

power of words are more impor-

tant than the power of seduction.

Genna Elvin,

Co-Founder of Tadaweb

TRY TO SAVE YOUR

WOMAN NATURE

Do not become “a man in a skirt”.

Remember: you always have one more

advantage when you wear a dress.

Maryna Kuzmenko,

Co-Founder and CEO of Petiole

BE A WOMAN

1) believe in your team, support and

inspire them, and they will have your

back in return.

2) show your customers that you genu-

inely care about them and their needs.

Zara Martirosyan,

Co-Founder and Business Development

of inKin Social Fitness Platform

HAVE COURAGE!

Move forward, even when

you’re absolutely terrified.

Sarah Wood,

Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Unruly

ATTEND TECH CONFERENCES

Tech conferences are the only places

where there is no line for the ladies’

restroom. Let’s change that!

Yana Vlatchkova,

Co-Founder and COO of Swipes

SEIZE OPPORTUNIES

Always on the lookout for

ways to turn a problem into

an opportunity for success.

Rossi Mitova,

Co-Founder and CEO

of farmhopping

ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY!

Amber Atherton,

Founder and CEO of My Flash Trash

YOU DON’T HAVE TO WEAR

MAKEUP

Forget what parents or school have

taught you about men and women roles.

No, you don’t have to wear makeup, high

heels or be humble. Only if you wish to.

It is a choice, not a duty.

Sona Pohlová,

Co-Founder of Ecocapsule

PLAY LIKE A MAN, WIN

LIKE A WOMAN... HAVE

FUN LIKE A GIRL!

Chiara Burberi,

Co-Founder, President and

CEO of Redooc

9594

THE HUNDERT // TIPS FOR FOUNDERS

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

97

CHILDREN AND STARTUPS

If you love your children you do the best

to them. And you are good mother even

when you run a startup.

Triinu Magi,

Co-Founder and CTO of Neura

STAY YOUR FEMALE YOURSELF

In business as a women you are often

treated differently. You want to be more

equal, even try to think and behave like

men. Do not give up your female your-

self, use as a differentiator.

Kinga Jentetics,

Co-Founder and CEO of PublishDrive

PUT ON A THICKER SKIN

Things go wrong every single day, not

everybody will like the business, get over

it and move on.

Debbie Wosskow,

Founder and CEO of Love Home Swap

HATERS GONNA HATE

Take criticism seriously - but remember

that some people will just always want to

rain on your parade.

Bianca Gfrei,

Co-Founder and CEO of Kiweno

TRAVEL THE WORLD AND MEET

NEW PEOPLE

When you travel you see how big the

world is and that you are not the centre

of it!

Anushka Beltram,

Co-Founder and CEO of Travel Starter

DON’T BE A PRINCESS!

You need to do everything yourself at

the beginning - even to cook coffee. But

it’s for a good reason: Your own business.

So get dirty!

Andrea Pfundmeier,

Founder and CEO of Boxcryptor

KNOW YOUR SELF WORTH

It’s easy to confuse your self worth with

the growth rate of the company, how

much money you raised, or how many

times you heard “no”. Learn to separate

yourself from your business.

Sofia Pessanha,

Co-Founder and CMO of Unbabel

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH

PEOPLE YOU TRUST

At the beginning things like trust and

eagerness in your team mates are more

valuable than knowledge or experience.

Urska Srsen,

Founder and CEO of Bellabeat

96

THE HUNDERT // TIPS FOR FOUNDERS

MIT BÜROS, LÄDEN, HALLEN UND VIELEM MEHR.

SCHNELLER ZUR PERFEKTENGEWERBEFLÄCHE.

Anz_TheHundert_M3_210x297_1604-bel.indd 1 19.04.16 12:12

98

THE HUNDERT // EDTECH

Studying abroad has been my dream

since school, but neither I nor

my parents had enough m

oney to pay for it. This strong aspiration

enabled me to w

in a scholarship from the British Council and I spent

a year in the UK. I also got a chance to intern for the UN H

eadquarters

in New

York and later in Spain. A lot of m

y friends then asked me to

consult or assist them in finding suitable program

s abroad. I saw that

they were definitely m

otivated, and I gradually realized how m

any

talented young people miss their educational opportunities because

of money issues or lack of inform

ation.

After graduating from

university, I decided to engage in internation-

al education and help students from Russia and CIS countries find

affordable programs around the w

orld. Along w

ith my co-founders,

I started StudyQA. It is priceless to see that our w

ork makes people

happy by connecting them to universities and experiences abroad.

Sasha, 27, is the co-founder of StudyQA –

a smart search platform

for universities and

academic program

s that connects university

reps and talented students around the world.

It was launched in 2014 and now

consists of a

team of nine em

ployees and almost 20 volun-

teers located in St. Petersburg, Russia. Holding

a master’s degree in International Relations,

Sasha has been working in the sphere of inter-

national education for the last eight years.

studyqa .com

ENABL ING EDUCAT ION

AROUND THE WORLD

WH

AT IN

SPIRES YOU

?

The people around

me and m

y team.

Sasha O len ina

Co-Founder and CEO

StudyQARUSSIAN FEDERAT ION

Fascinated by science and possessing an

independent nature and appreciation for a

good challenge, I’ve always follow

ed a pretty

clear path to entrepreneurship. During my

PhD. in nanotechnology for cancer therapy,

I could see the real need for a platform to

centralize scientific information, encourage

interdisciplinary collaboration and facilitate

the general public’s access to science. So, as

soon as I had my degree in hand, I created

the platform I envisioned.

I had a great sense of freedom to achieve

many things. It w

as up to me to carry out an

idea; to create, name and build a site; to sur-

round myself w

ith people I wanted to w

ork

with. I knew

it was the beginning of a great

adventure, which ultim

ately brought me to a

life in San Francisco.

You have to believe in the success of your

project all the way. M

anage all the people

involved – the team, investors, com

munity –

and transmit your vision to them

. You also

need a big dose of courage, perseverance

and hard work. To m

e, entrepreneurship is

an endurance sprint!

Virginie, 33, is the CEO

and co-found-

er of

MyScienceW

ork. She

created

MyScienceW

ork with Tristan Davaille

in 2010 in Paris. The company head-

quarters are located in Luxembourg

and Virginie currently lives in San

Francisco. She is a biotech engineer

by training and has a Ph.D. in biology.

Today, MyScienceW

ork has a team of 15

people. The MyScienceW

ork platform

makes science m

ore open, accessible

and collaborative.

mysciencework .com

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS

AN ENDURANCE SPR INTVirg in ie S imon

Co-Founder and CEO

MySc ienceWork

LUXEMBOURG

WH

AT D

RIVES YOU

CRAZY?

That wom

en entrepreneurs are

still not represented enough in

Europe. If you have a great idea,

go for it!

THE HUNDERT // SCIENCE PLATFORM

99

100 101

I w

as bro

ught up in

an a

ll-entr

epreneur h

ousehold, a

s

both m

y pare

nts w

ere e

ntrepre

neurs and I

could w

atch

them

take r

isks a

nd com

e up w

ith n

ew id

eas every d

ay.

I’ve s

ince lo

ved the id

ea of

running m

y ow

n busin

ess,

but all

the a

ttem

pts I

made a

t sta

rting m

y ow

n com

pany

didn’t

work o

ut. Eith

er the id

ea was t

oo small

or the e

xe-

cution w

as off.

Then th

e iPad cam

e out i

n 2011, a

nd it w

as

very clear to

me th

at these m

obile d

evices w

ould change

the w

ay my k

ids –

aged o

ne and th

ree –

would

pla

y and

learn in

the fu

ture

. Moritz

and I

founded F

ox & S

heep to

create

apps f

or kid

s and h

elp p

arents

guid

e their child

ren

thro

ugh the d

igita

l world

, sin

ce pare

nts c

ouldn’t

refe

r-

ence their o

wn c

hildhood w

hen it c

ame to

setti

ng rule

s

with

technolo

gy.

When s

tartin

g your o

wn b

usiness

, the h

ighs

are h

igher

and the lo

ws a

re lo

wer com

pared to

what y

ou experience

as a re

gular e

mplo

yee. But w

e loved th

e inte

nsity o

f this

rolle

r coast

er rid

e, not k

nowin

g if w

e’d be z

ero o

r hero

.

In F

ebruary 2016, w

e opened th

e first

“Dig

italw

erkstatt”

for k

ids

in B

erlin w

here w

e teach c

hildre

n ages

6 to 1

2

how to

code, l

earn 3D p

rintin

g and e

nsure

that t

hey not

only c

onsum

e the d

igita

l world

, but l

earn the rig

ht tools

to b

ecome cre

ators.

Vere

na studie

d Business

Adm

inist

ratio

n at

the U

niversit

y of S

t. Galle

n and fo

unded Fox

& Sheep in

2012. S

he won M

cKinsey’s

CEO

of the F

uture

aw

ard in 2

007 and w

as nam

ed

one of t

he Top W

omen in

Tech in

Germ

any.

In 2015,

she st

arted th

e non-pro

fit in

itia-

tive w

ww

.startu

pteens.d

e to t

each stu

dents

entrepre

neurial

skill

s. In

February

2016

she w

as nam

ed Young G

lobal L

eader by th

e

World

Econom

ic F

orum. V

erena is

a su

pport-

er of A

shoka and organiz

es Ladie

s D

inners

across

Germ

any to c

onnect fem

ale fo

unders

in th

e tech in

dustry.

foxandsheep.com

SUCCESS IS MORE TH

AN MAXIMIZ ING

DOWNLOADS - I T ’S ABOUT M

AKING K IDS SMILEH

OW D

O YO

U R

EACT

TO OBSTA

CLES?

Face them

with

a smile

.

Verena Pausder

Founder and CEO , Fo

x & Sheep

GERMANY

THE HUNDERT // MOBILE APPS

© Petra

Bosa

nska

During m

y univ

ersity s

tudie

s, I w

orked in

various a

rchite

cture

studio

s and g

ained re

al

insig

ht fr

om th

e beginnin

g. But th

anks to

these experie

nces, I r

ealized th

at workin

g for

someone else is

not m

y career p

ath. I

needed

to expre

ss m

y ideas w

ithout t

he influ

ence of

others’

decisions

– to h

ave cre

ative p

rocess

as a d

ialo

gue, but w

ith p

ossib

ility

of h

aving

the fi

nal word. A

few

month

s aft

er my gra

d-

uation, w

e set up o

ur studio

where

we w

ere

to b

uild o

ur first

pro

ject.

Many p

eople h

ave

asked if

I w

as scare

d to d

o it s

o early

, but

I rem

ember fe

eling p

retty

confident a

bout it.

Ecocapsule

, th

e re

sulti

ng st

artup

that

I

co-founded, w

as a natu

ral

continuatio

n of

previo

us success

es. It

was d

iffere

nt, th

ough,

because it

wasn

’t handed to

me a

s an a

ssig

n-

ment,

but ra

ther

it w

as our

own v

ision o

f

freedom

. The fi

rst b

ig ri

sk cam

e with

invest

-

ing our o

wn m

oney to build

a proto

type; a

fter

all, w

e couldn’t

just

show

nic

e visu

alizatio

ns

fore

ver! It

turn

ed out

to b

e a g

reat

success

and an im

portant m

ilest

one for u

s. W

e got a

huge resp

onse a

nd a re

al inte

rest

from

peo-

ple. I

t help

ed us f

ully c

omm

it to

the p

roje

ct,

and show

ed me th

at in o

rder t

o achie

ve real

success

you m

ust le

ap into

the ri

sk.

Sona, 31, l

ives i

n Bra

tisla

va, Slo

vakia. S

he

studie

d archite

cture

in Bra

tisla

va and

Barcelo

na and is head of

the arc

hitec-

ture

and design st

udio N

ice A

rchite

cts.

In

2014, sh

e co-fo

unded Ecocapsu

le,

a mobile

sm

art house p

owere

d by s

olar

and win

d energy. I

t aim

s to b

e affo

rdable

housing fo

r wid

espre

ad usage w

ithout

the n

eed to b

e plu

gged in. E

cocapsule

is

Sona and her co-founders’

vision fo

r a

futu

re w

ay of l

ivin

g and usin

g resourc

es.

ecocapsu le .sk

TURN ING V IS ION

INTO REAL I TY

IS A BEAUT IFUL

CHALLENGE

WH

AT D

RIVES Y

OU

CRA

ZY?

When

som

eone is r

epea

tedly

late

for

mee

tings o

r with

dea

dlines

.

Sona Poh lová

Co-Founder , Ecocapsu le

SLOVAKIA

© Jennife

r Fey

THE HUNDERT // SUSTAINABILITY

103

THE HUNDERT // CYBER SECURITY

Since I

was

14, my p

roje

cts h

ave contin

uously

transf

ormed f

rom

idea to

realit

y – f

irst w

ithin

the id

ealistic

sector,

and late

r in b

usiness

. I th

ink

my m

issio

n has a

lways b

een the sa

me: t

o make

the w

orld a b

etter p

lace. W

hen I sta

rted m

y first

tech c

ompany, I

knew

noth

ing a

bout technolo

-

gy or b

usiness

. But I

knew

what I

wante

d for m

y

kids a

nd myself,

and w

ith th

at in m

ind, I

thre

w

myself

into

deep wate

r and learned to

swim

.

I was a

young m

other o

f thre

e and re

alized th

at

kids a

re n

ow v

ery young w

hen they g

ain a

ccess

to m

obile devic

es. So in

2010, w

e launched

Bipper w

ith Tele

2 and Viv

acom to

give p

arents

a

parenta

l contr

ol servic

e. But t

he key id

ea in th

is

product

ended up b

eing a

safe

ty a

larm

, whic

h

I late

r used in

my n

ext idea: a

safe

ty servic

e for

wom

en. Today, b

Safe is

the m

ost u

sed person-

al safe

ty a

pp in th

e world

. I th

rive w

hen I can

impro

ve the w

ay thin

gs w

ork and c

hange the

statu

s quo fo

r the b

etter.

In o

rder to in

novate,

you need to accept

the poss

ibili

ty of

failu

re.

Failing is

hard, b

ut it’s

one o

f the m

ost v

aluable

less

ons you can get!

Silje,

37, is

an award w

innin

g seri-

al entr

epreneur

and id

ealist

with

decades of

experience s

tartin

g inte

r-

national o

rganizatio

ns and com

panies,

rangin

g from

hig

h pro

file confe

rences,

to y

outh g

overnments

, to te

ch compa-

nies.

World

Econom

ic F

orum h

onored

Silje as

a Young Global

Leader and

she w

as also n

amed a

top 2

0 busin

ess

thin

ker in th

e Nordic

s. Silj

e lives

in

Bergen, Norw

ay.

getbsafe .com

TO UNLOCK

REAL INNOVAT

ION ,

ACCEPT THE

POSS IB I L I TY

OF FA ILURE

WH

AT IN

SPIRES Y

OU

?

People

who th

ink outs

ide

the b

ox. If y

ou want t

rue

leader

ship

and true i

nnovation,

redefi

ne your b

oxes.

Si l je Va

l lestad

Founder , bSafe

NORWAY

‘I w

as born

to m

ake a d

iffere

nce with

my w

ork.’

That was m

y motto

that h

elped d

irect m

e to a

life

in st

artups.

Before

I re

alized th

at calli

ng, I w

as a

univers

ity st

udent w

ith w

ork experie

nce as a

mark

eting consu

ltant a

t Zuric

h Fin

ancial S

ervic

es

and as

a dig

ital m

arkete

r in

the m

usic in

dustry

.

Afte

r se

eing m

y moth

er ru

nning h

er ow

n sm

all

business

, I re

alized I

wante

d to m

ake a d

iffere

nce

with

my p

assio

ns of w

ritin

g and readin

g.

I’ve a

lways

been a b

ookworm

, writi

ng my o

wn

poems a

nd readin

g ple

nty o

f books,

so there

was

no questio

n that

I w

anted to

publish m

y own

thesis

durin

g univ

ersity. T

he pro

cess o

f self-

pub-

lishin

g was t

ime c

onsum

ing a

nd resu

lted in

a lo

t

of mist

akes in th

e end. T

his bro

ught a re

al busi-

ness o

pportunity

to m

ind: a

sim

ple solu

tion th

at

helps s

mall

publishers a

nd auth

ors publis

h glo

b-

ally. F

rom

that i

dea, Publis

hDrive w

as born.

The foundin

g was

not easy

. With

out a sa

lary

and the r

ight

partners,

I had t

o confr

ont m

any

obstacle

s alo

ne. But t

he real s

uccess c

ame w

hen

I focused w

ith a

ll m

y heart o

n Publis

hDrive a

nd

dropped any negativ

e outsid

e influ

ences. This

road st

rength

ened me a lo

t em

otionally

, and I t

ru-

ly b

elieve th

is is

just

the b

eginnin

g.

At 2

5, Kin

ga sta

rted h

er ow

n com

pany

when sh

e was s

till a

univ

ersity st

udent

in B

udapest in

2013. B

y publis

hing h

er

own th

esis d

igita

lly, s

he saw

an o

ppor-

tunity

in

th

e publis

hing

indust

ry:

a sim

ple s

oftware

solu

tion th

at em

pow-

ers sm

all publis

hers and auth

ors to

go

global

with

only one clic

k. Kin

ga has

lived in

London and now re

sides

in

the U

SA, w

here s

he is g

row

ing P

ublish

Drive’s

current t

eam of s

ix p

eople.

pub l ishdr iv

e .com

BE TRUE TO

YOURSELF AND

LET GO OF TH

E

NEGAT IVE

Kinga Jentet ics

Co-Founder and CEO

Pub l ishDr iv

e

HUNGARY

THE HUNDERT // PUBLISHING

WH

AT D

O YO

U H

OPE

FOR TH

E FU

TURE?

Hard

work

fille

d with

adventu

res a

nd fun!

102

104

THE HUNDERT // WEARABLES

Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve

believed in my ow

n superpowers.

I owe that to m

y father, who told

me that the ability to change the

world is a m

indset that starts from

looking into the mirror and say-

ing, “I can.” That encouragement

changed my w

hole course of my

life. I founded my first com

pany

at the age of 16, which m

ade me

the youngest inventor in Estonia.

Being an

entrepreneur soon

became

my

passion; altogether

I’ve founded three companies and

directed five.

By 29 years old, I had already built

a successful career in the Baltics

and wanted to use m

y skills some-

where else in the w

orld, but the

only cross-border work opportu-

nities I could find were for farm

work or teaching English. I real-

ized there was so m

uch untapped

potential in highly skilled pro-

fessionals ready

to travel,

and

someone needed to build a plat-

form to connect these people w

ith

international teams. A

little over a

year ago, I decided to gather a team

of my ow

n and build it. I spent my

own “jobbatical” helping an early

stage startup in Silicon Valley, and

I had the time of m

y life! Now

I’m

helping people find their own.

While w

orking as an international

tech consultant, I was connected

to email over 16 hours a day. This

ultimately led to a burnout; m

y

need to be connected around the

clock meant that I w

as never fully

present in any situation, and nev-

er fully comprehending em

otions

to their fullest extent. During a

two w

eek digital detox, I contem-

plated what it m

eant to be happy

in my life. M

y answer w

as “being

surrounded by inspirational peo-

ple, being creative and learning

more about m

yself.”

After m

y detox, I set out to improve

my digital habits (i.e. reducing the

time spent interacting w

ith tech-

nology) in order to create space in

my life for m

ore meaningful activ-

ities. How

ever, I quickly realized

that I didn’t have the necessary

tools to make this a reality. That’s

how the idea for our first product

line, Altruis, w

as born. Three years

later, we are still going strong.

2015 saw us take our m

ission one

step further by launching our lab,

where w

e explore the relationship

between hum

ans and technology.

As a CEO, I’m

most proud of m

y

amazing team

. We w

ouldn’t be

where w

e are now w

ithout the

right people.

THE POWER OF “ I CAN”

STAY ING FULLY

PRESENT ON THE

STARTUP JOURNEY

WH

AT

INSPIRES YO

U?

The understanding

that I can actually

change the world.

WH

AT W

OU

LD YO

U D

O IF

YOU

HA

D M

ORE SPARE TIM

E?

Read philosophy books, play piano

and have long late night existential

debates with friends about the

meaning of life.

Karoli is the founder and CEO of Jobbatical, a start-

up founded in 2014 that connects professionals

with short-term

international career adventures.

These 6 to 12 month opportunities em

power expe-

rienced tech, business and creative pros to combine

their work and travel dream

s, and give teams in

every corner of the globe access to the best talent.

Jobbatical’s 14-person team is currently headquar-

tered in Tallinn, Estonia.

jobbat ica l .com

Kate, 28, is a creative technologist, mathem

atician

and designer living in Shoreditch, London. She has

a 1st Class Hons BSc M

athematics & Statistics and

MSc Econom

ics from Edinburgh University. Before

setting up Vinaya in 2013, Kate was w

orking as

a technology consultant at Accenture. Vinaya is

a research and design house whose m

ission is to

find new and creative w

ays of using technology to

make people feel better.

vinaya.com

Karo l i H indr iks

Founder and CEO

Jobbat ica l

ESTON IA

Kate Unsworth

Co-Founder and CEO

VinayaUNITED K INGDOM

© Joe K

it Yong

105

THE HUNDERT // RECRUITING

106 107

I’ve a

lways b

een intr

igued b

y new

thin

gs, pla

ces and p

eople,

although I

never thought I

would

becom

e an e

ntrepre

neur.

I st

udied m

acroeconom

ics,

and if som

ebody would

have

asked m

e about m

y care

er path

, my a

nswer w

ould’v

e been

the o

pposite o

f ‘st

artup fo

under’. But u

pon retu

rning fr

om a

sum

mer w

orking in

the U

nited S

tate

s, I c

o-founded a

travel

agency while

I was s

till a

student.

I haven’t

looked b

ack since.

Founding a com

pany has a

llow

ed me th

e freedom

to decid

e what

I want t

o do in

life

. I’m

alw

ays searc

hing fo

r the n

ext endeavor,

and my driv

ing fo

rces a

re sp

orts,

travelin

g and fam

ily. A

s a k

id, I

was a

competit

ive sw

imm

er. W

ater a

nd ocean have alw

ays kept

me ca

lm a

s a fo

rm o

f medita

tion in

this

hectic

life. T

ravel i

s lik

e

readin

g books to m

e – it’s

my fu

el for n

ew id

eas and pro

jects.

Last

but not l

east, m

y fam

ily is

my sa

fe h

arbor.

In b

oth m

y priv

ate a

nd busin

ess li

fe, I

go w

here m

y heart

leads m

e. I d

o the th

ings I

am

pass

ionate

about a

nd surro

und

myself

with

like-m

inded p

eople.

Anush

ka, 38, studie

d at th

e Faculty of

Economic

s in

Ljublja

na, Slo

venia,

and

starte

d her o

wn t

ravel a

gency 15 y

ears

ago. She h

as sin

ce turned it

into

one o

f

the big

gest m

arket pla

yers in

Central

Europe. In

2015, she b

egan TravelS

tarte

r –

an innovativ

e cro

wdfu

nding p

latfo

rm in

the to

urism in

dustry – aft

er becomin

g

inte

rest

ed in cro

wdfu

nding te

chnologie

s.

It help

s sm

all busin

esses

raise m

oney

while

also g

ivin

g tourist

s auth

entic a

nd

unique tr

avel experie

nces.

trave lstarte

r .com

LET YOUR HOBB IES

BE YOUR FUEL

WH

AT D

RIVES Y

OU

CRA

ZY?

Men

driv

e me c

razy! :)

Anushka Be ltram

Co-Founder and CEO

Trave l S

tarter

SLOVEN IA

Startin

g my o

wn b

usiness

cam

e pre

tty n

atura

lly to

me.

I was r

aised in a

n entr

epreneuria

l enviro

nment,

having

worked fr

om a

very y

oung age a

longsid

e my d

ad at h

is

reta

il sh

op. That e

xperience ta

ught me m

any thin

gs and

shaped m

e into

what I

am

today; b

ut most

importa

ntly,

it sh

owed m

e the u

ps and d

owns o

f takin

g chances a

nd

creatin

g a busin

ess.

For the la

st s

even years,

alongsid

e my c

o-founder,

I’ve

been build

ing b

usiness

es. Som

e of t

hem w

ere s

uccesful

and oth

ers faile

d. Teach ’n

Go w

as born o

ut of n

ecessity

while

we w

ere runnin

g our te

aching b

usiness

, as a

ll th

e

student

managem

ent sy

stem

s w

e trie

d were

outdate

d,

overpriced or ju

st to

o complic

ated to

use. W

e had to

fix it

,

and that w

as our m

otivatio

n.

My b

iggest

personal c

hallenge h

as alw

ays been f

ear of

failu

re, b

ut I a

ddress

it b

y doin

g my h

omew

ork. Build

ing

products

that p

rovid

e valu

e for o

ur cust

omers

and sur-

roundin

g myself

with

gre

at people

contin

uously m

ake

this

awesom

e entrepre

neurial j

ourney even bette

r.

As c

o-founder a

nd CTO

of T

each ’n

Go, Nata

lie, 3

0, is h

elpin

g train

ers,

tuto

rs, and b

usiness

ow

ners m

ini-

miz

e tim

e spent o

n adm

inist

ratio

n

and maxim

ize ti

me sp

ent on te

ach-

ing.

Aft

er graduatin

g from

the

Universit

y of Cyprus

and before

foundin

g Teach ’n Go in

2013,

Nata

lie w

orked for tw

o years as

a web develo

per and co-founded

several e

-com

merc

e site

s.

teachngo .com

TAKE CHANCES AND

TREAT PEOPLE W

ELL

WH

AT G

IVES

YOU

POW

ER?

Makin

g people

smile

.

Nata l ie Masru jeh

Co-Founder and CTO

Teach ’n Go

CYPRUS

THE HUNDERT // EDTECH

© Urb

an Šte

bljaj

THE HUNDERT // TRAVEL

109

THE HUNDERT // TECHNOLOGY

I’ve always loved technology, and I alw

ays wanted to

become an entrepreneur. I seized the first opportunity to

start my ow

n business when I w

as 23, and even though it

hasn’t always been easy, it’s the best decision I have ever

made. N

othing beats building your own com

pany. When I

started Improve w

ith Joelle, many people thought w

e were

crazy – but I’m pleased to say w

e proved them w

rong and

are now an established nam

e next to the big US players.

When others say one of m

y ideas is impossible to achieve,

I always think, ‘W

hy?’ I focus on grabbing opportunities.

Problems are there to be fixed. In addition to Im

prove,

Joelle and I have started Inspiring Fifty, an initiative to

make fem

ale role models in technology m

ore visible and

to show young w

omen that a career in tech is both achiev-

able and rewarding. Our ultim

ate aim is to address the

gender imbalance in tech. A

s part of that initiative, I have

also published a book for young girls called Project Prep.

I F YOU CAN SEE I T ,

YOU CAN BE I T

WH

AT D

O ONLY O

THER

ENTREPREN

EURS

UNDERSTA

ND

?

That you are not crazy, just

a passionate entrepreneur.

Janneke, 39, lives in Breda and is a serial tech entre-

preneur. She is co-founder and CIO of Improve

Digital, the advanced monetization technology

platform for publishers. She co-founded the com

-

pany with Joelle Frijters in 2008, and has grow

n

it to more than 125 em

ployees and more than

250 premium

publishers. She has been named

EY Entrepreneur of the Year and received other

awards and nom

inations with Im

prove Digital.

improvedigital.com

Janneke N iessen

Co-Founder and C IO

Improve D ig ita l

NETHERLANDS

THE HUNDERT // WEBSITE BUILDER

108

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feet won’t be let on the loose without being clad in footwear

by labels like Elefanten and Superfit’s, which give growing feet

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NWB-AnzeigeTheHundert.indd 1 15.04.16 16:43

110 111

MAXIMAL STARTUP-KNOW-HOW!

All previous editions available for download

berlinvalley.com/download

112 113

I am an entrepreneur at heart, and m

y drive to succeed in business

was clear at an early age. M

y parents served as great role models,

encouraging my freedom

and exploration of who I am

and what

I want to do. They had com

pletely different backgrounds but

always let m

e go my ow

n way. I started m

y first company at the

age of 19, selling it five years later.

Building your own business is the m

ost amazing journey you can

go on, but it’s also the toughest. Most w

omen are expecting stabil-

ity from a job, and this is definitely not som

ething you get when

you’re a founder. I didn’t have any idea how things w

ould develop

and couldn’t predict my com

pany’s path – mostly because Knip

was one of the first com

panies in the FinTech industry at the

time. You have to have the guts to accept that you m

ight fail. For

anyone looking to become an entrepreneur, I recom

mend gaining

initial experience in the startup field – perhaps by working for

a startup incubator. Being a part of a startup meant that, for the

first time in m

y life, I could meet people as crazy as I w

as who

shared my w

ay of thinking. This is what really helped m

y future

as a founder.

Text by Paulina Baginska, shefounded.com

THE HUNDERT // FINTECH

Christina, 31, is a co-founder of

Knip, a digital insurance broker.

She has a diploma in Germ

an and

European Law from

University

of Wuerzburg and is just finish-

ing her PhD. In 2013, together

with

her co-founder,

Dennis

Just, she decided to conquer the

FinTech insurance industry. Two

years later, Knip has 110 employ-

ees w

orking in

Switzerland,

Germany and Serbia.

kn ip .ch

BU I LD ING A STARTUP

IS THE MOST AMAZING

JOURNEY, BUT ALSO

THE TOUGHEST

HOW

DO YO

U REA

CT

TO OBSTACLES?

Relaxed and cheeky.

Chr ist ina Keh l

Co-Founder and

F intech Evange l ist

Kn ipSWITZERLAND

THE HUNDERT // CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

I’ve always been a busy bee w

ith a huge need for

independence. When I graduated, I quickly found a

job as an online marketer at a top business school.

Although I w

as always full of ideas, m

ost of the

time I hit brick w

alls.

During a trip that my partner, Joeri Pansaerts, and

I took in 2010, we talked about dream

s of creating

our own digital agency. H

e was a developer w

ho

also felt trapped in his job. Without fully think-

ing things through, I quit my m

arketing job. Four

months later, Joeri did the sam

e and joined me.

We started building applications and w

ebsites for

businesses. Soon, we dream

t of bigger and better

things – of a business that could grow beyond us.

We needed to create a product.

In Decem

ber 2014, alongside our new partner,

Bram D

e Vos, w

e launched Hello Custom

er. We

were all very excited about building a product that

would m

ake a difference in the world. W

hen our

advisor, Wim

, invested €500,000 in us just a few

months after, it gave m

e the most aw

esome feeling

having someone believe in us. I am

now grateful to

be growing a com

pany that inspires me every day.

Leslie is the co-founder and CEO of H

ello Customer.

She is 31 years old and lives in Bruges, Belgium.

Leslie holds a master’s degree in Linguistics. She

founded her first company, a digital agency, at the

age of 24. Together with tw

o partners, she founded

Hello Custom

er five years later. It now serves as an

intelligent feedback platform providing insight into

customer experience and satisfaction.

he l locustomer .com

GROWING A BUS INESS MEANS

GO ING BEYOND YOURSELF

Lesl ie Cotten je

Co-Founder and CEO

He l lo Customer

BELG IUM

HOW

DO YO

U RELA

X?

A good book on m

y

balcony with a scenic

countryside view

relaxes me everytim

e.

´

115

THE HUNDERT // CONSUMER MARKETPLACE

My e

xperience b

efore

Alls

et was i

n rese

arch a

nd con-

sulti

ng, which

I so

on realiz

ed was n

ot my tr

ue calli

ng.

I am

the p

erson w

ho pre

fers

work

ing in

-house

and pos-

sess

ing a

deep k

nowle

dge of a

pro

duct; I

like to

see a

ll

process

es and pro

blem

s and ra

ise th

e product

like a ch

ild.

The first

pro

ject I

was i

nvolved in

was i

n the re

stau-

rant s

phere and I w

as very enth

usiast

ic about t

he idea.

How

ever, I w

as also scare

d about my la

ck of expertis

e

in m

any are

as (th

is is

comm

on am

ong young e

ntre-

preneurs).

I soon r

ealized t

hat in

experience d

oesn’t

matte

r. If

you have a

pass

ion fo

r what y

ou do a

nd are

determ

ined to

make it

happen, y

ou will

alw

ays fin

d

a way. I

was l

ucky to m

eet the m

ost fe

arless

busin

ess

partner w

ho was a

lways m

aking m

e feel c

onfident.

I

now st

rongly

belie

ve that a

solid te

am is

what m

atters

the m

ost in

entrepre

neurship

.

Life alw

ays brin

gs big

challenges,

and I alw

ays choose

to ta

ke them

on. T

his is

the e

ntrepre

neur min

dset; it

helps m

e to gro

w p

ersonally and d

evelop sk

ills I

never

knew I

could h

ave. This

feelin

g alo

ne is w

orth a

ll th

e

hard work.

Anna is

the U

krain

ian c

o-founder o

f

Alls

et, a com

pany operatin

g in San

Francisco and N

ew York.

In 2014,

Anna and her partn

er starte

d to

develop th

e idea in

Ukrain

e before

success

fully

launchin

g it in

the U

SA.

Anna s

tudie

d inte

rnational b

usiness

and marketin

g, and w

as on th

e path

tow

ards a c

areer a

s a m

arketing sp

e-

cialis

t w

hen she m

ade the sw

itch

to w

orking in

a s

tartu

p. Sin

ce then,

she h

as built

thre

e com

panies

in th

e

rest

aurant s

phere.

a l lsetnow.com

INEXPER IENCE

DOESN ’ T MATT

ER –

JUST CHOOSE

TO SAY YES

HOW

DOES IT

FEEL TO R

UN Y

OUR

OWN

BUSIN

ESS?

Grow

ing y

our

busines

s fee

ls lik

e

garden

ing. Y

ou have

to be p

atient a

nd do a

lot o

f hard

work

. And

it’s a

non-st

op job.

Anna Pol is

hchuk

Co-Founder and COO

A l lset

UKRAINE

Before

foundin

g Bra

yola, I

was a

softw

are develo

per for m

any

years a

nd, most

recently

, an in

vestm

ent manager a

t Carm

el

Ventu

res.

I founded a

nd coded m

y firs

t com

pany, mit4

mit,

eleven y

ears a

go and it

went o

n to b

ecome Is

rael’s

most

suc-

cessfu

l weddin

g pla

tform

.

Bra s

hopping h

ad alw

ays been le

ss th

an ideal f

or m

e, as

it

usually

require

s goin

g to a st

ore to

be m

easure

d by a stra

nger.

Afte

r rese

archin

g existin

g optio

ns for b

ra sh

opping, I

discov-

ered th

at alth

ough bra

nds and re

taile

rs w

ere th

inkin

g about

using d

ata to

solv

e the fi

tting p

roble

m, t

hey faile

d to addre

ss

an inta

ngible

aspect:

personal p

refe

rences.

That was m

y aha!

mom

ent for B

rayola

, when I

got the id

ea to cro

wdso

urce n

ot

only m

easure

ment,

but also

wom

en’s pre

fere

nces to

cre

ate

the b

est w

ay to sh

op for b

ras o

nline.

The launch o

f Bra

yola w

as su

ch an im

portant t

ime in

my

business

and pers

onal life

. Sim

ultaneously

, I gave b

irth to

my

son, D

aniel, s

o it re

ally d

id m

ark th

e begin

ning of e

veryth

ing

life-c

hanging. T

here a

re so

many changes t

hat occur a

lmost

every day in

the st

artup w

orld, s

o in ord

er to gro

w a busin

ess,

you have to

be w

illin

g to c

hange const

antly. A

nd I alw

ays

rem

ember

this

quote fr

om M

ario A

ndretti

: ‘If every

thin

g

seem

s under c

ontrol, y

ou’re ju

st n

ot goin

g fast

enough.”’

Orit

is th

e Founder a

nd CEO

of B

rayola

,

a lin

gerie

reta

il sit

e th

at le

verages

crow

dsourced data

to cre

ate a m

ore

personalized bra

shoppin

g experience

for w

omen. O

rit is

a serial e

ntrepre

neur

with

more

than 1

5 years

of experie

nce

in s

oftw

are a

nd busin

ess d

evelopm

ent.

She is a

form

er invest

ment m

anager at

Carmel

Ventu

res

and founded Isr

ael’s

most

success

ful w

edding p

latfo

rm, m

it-

4mit.

co.il, w

hich sh

e coded herself.

brayo la .com

IF EVERYTH ING ’S

UNDER CONTROL ,

YOU ’RE NOT MOVING

FAST ENOUGH !

Orit Hashay

Founder and CEO

Brayo la

ISRAEL

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

WH

EN W

E SAY

“TEA

M” W

HA

T

DO Y

OU

TH

INK

?

Love the t

eam

you

pick, t

hey’re

going

to bec

ome y

our

fam

ily aft

er all.

114

116

WH

AT M

AK

ES

YOU

LA

UGH?

The funny fa

ces of

my tw

o daughte

rs.

HOW

DOES IT

FEEL TO R

UN Y

OUR

OWN

BUSIN

ESS?

I fee

l like I

had fo

und

a purp

ose in

my lif

e.

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

I w

as w

orking happily

as a con-

sulta

nt, tr

aveling th

e world

– o

ne

day in L

ondon, the n

ext in Sydney,

and the n

ext Munic

h. I v

ery much

enjoyed m

y life.

Had you ask

ed

me th

e min

ute prio

r to m

aking

the d

ecision to

be a

n entrepre

neur

if I w

as pla

nning to

do it

, I w

ould

have said

no! B

ut then K

athrin

sat

in f

ront o

f m

e and to

ld m

e about

how h

er idea fo

r tausendkin

d was

evolvin

g, and that

she w

as lo

ok-

ing f

or som

ebody to s

hare in

the

foundin

g adventure

. Suddenly

I

knew th

is w

as exactly

the th

ing

I wante

d to d

o. When I

express

ed

my posit

ive th

oughts,

we w

ere

both e

lectr

ified a

nd excite

d about

the p

rosp

ects. W

e still

are!

To me,

entrepre

neurship

is about

continually

grasp

ing opport

unities

amid

st am

biguity

. Furt

hermore

,

it is

about re

sponsib

ility

– for

our

custo

mers

, our

emplo

yees and

our in

vestors

. We h

ave com

e very

far,

and tause

ndkind now

has 70

emplo

yees and

is su

pported

by

investo

rs su

ch as

Iris,

Capnamic

and IBB B

et. Furt

her gro

win

g tau-

sendkin

d and m

aking it

pro

sper

is

Kathrin

’s and m

y heart

felt

ambiti

on.I a

lways

wante

d to b

e independent.

I sta

rted w

orking a

t

age 16 a

nd had a

schola

rship

, so I

didn’t

need to b

orrow

money fr

om m

y fam

ily. H

owever,

I quic

kly n

oticed th

at liv

-

ing o

n my o

wn re

quired a

gre

at deal o

f fin

ancial p

lannin

g.

I trie

d a fe

w a

pps that w

asted to

o much o

f my ti

me, a

nd if

I miss

ed addin

g a couple

of e

xpenses, I h

ad to st

art all

over

again. T

his m

ade me fe

el lik

e the fi

nancial w

orld w

as lack-

ing som

ethin

g importa

nt.

This is

why w

e decid

ed to b

uild F

entury –

a sm

all accoun-

tant t

hat is

always

with

you a

nd advisi

ng you o

n how

to

impro

ve your fi

nancial h

abits. M

y key to

success

was,

and

still

is, t

o never g

ive u

p and le

arn fro

m e

very situ

ation,

even when th

e signs a

re p

ointin

g tow

ard failu

re. S

tartu

ps

are st

ress

ful a

nd inte

nse to la

unch, and I’

ve had m

y share

of sle

epless

nig

hts th

inkin

g about a

ll th

e thin

gs I n

eed to

do. But t

hen I realiz

e I’m n

ot just

doin

g it fo

r myself,

but a

lso

mill

ions o

f young p

eople aro

und the w

orld.

F IND ING

YOUR

HEARTFELT

AMBIT ION

BU ILD W

HAT YOU

FEEL IS LA

CKING

IN THE WORLD

© Dinu Bubulici

Anik

e is th

e co-founder of

tausendkin

d,

a Berlin

-based

e-com

merc

e com

pany fo

r

baby and c

hildre

n fash

ion, t

oys, access

ories

and furnitu

re. T

ogether w

ith K

athrin

Weiß

,

Anik

e founded t

ausendkind in

2010. A

nike

holds

a diplo

ma and Ph.D

in Busin

ess and

Economic

s and w

orked as a consu

ltant

for

McKin

sey & C

ompany fo

r seven years i

n the

financia

l servic

es in

dustry. She is

marrie

d

and has t

wo y

oung childre

n.

tausendk ind .de

An ike v . G

agern

Co-Founder and

Managing D irector

tausendk ind

GERMANY

L isa Te

rz iman

Co-Founder and CMO

Fentury

MOLDOVA

THE HUNDERT // FINTECH

Lisa,

21, is

the

Chisinau-b

ased

co-founder of

Fentury,

a company

starte

d in Septe

mber 2014.

Fentury

is a m

oney savin

g ass

istant t

hat help

s

you cut off

unnecessary sp

ending

and pla

n ahead. T

he app is

availa

ble

in m

ore t

han 50 c

ountrie

s, in

cludin

g

Germany. L

isa h

as st

udied c

ompute

r

science, f

inance and b

anking, a

nd was

a volu

nteer w

ith g

reen o

rganizatio

ns

before

startin

g Fentu

ry.

fentury .com

117

118

THE HUNDERT // INTERNET SECURITY

I have always been inspired by taking action and challenging

the status quo. For example, I w

as against going to school as

I disagreed with the w

ay we w

ere taught and felt that the

classroom stifles all creativity and individuality. I refused

to go, and cramm

ed my exam

s for the next two years into

one year. I spent that spare year travelling around Bulgaria,

where I discovered the charm

of the countryside and recon-

nected with nature.

During my final year at school, a big challenge cam

e along.

Michael, a longtim

e friend and my co-founder of farm

hop-

ping, wanted m

y help to save a farm in Bulgaria. I saw

a

perfect opportunity to combine three of m

y biggest passions:

nature, food and business. In that mom

ent, farmhopping w

as

born. The most challenging part of starting the business w

as (and

still is!) learning to be a good leader. This includes selecting the

right team and m

otivating them w

hile keeping the structure

of accountability and performance. It requires a lot of trial

and error. I always take into account the feedback from

our

mentors and m

y team and w

ork really hard on improving.

Rossi, 28, is the co-founder and CEO of farm

hop-

ping – an online marketplace w

here farmers can

create and manage their ow

n online storefronts

and sell their products directly to customers.

Farmhopping w

as founded in 2013 and has grown

to 12 employees and over 90 farm

s. The company

operates in Bulgaria and is currently working on

expanding internationally. Rossi graduated with

a degree in Financial Risk Managem

ent from

Cass Business School in London.

farmhopping .com

SAV ING FARMS

WITH E-COMMERCE

TECHNOLOGYW

HA

T ARE

YOU

MOST

PROUD

OF?

I just don’t

give up despite

the challenges!

Rossi M itova

Co-Founder and CEO

farmhopping

BULGAR IAFive years ago, I m

oved from Stockholm

to Silicon

Valley to execute m

y business plan of working

closely with internet thought leaders, scaling m

y

company’s internet security technology and helping

create a more secure internet. Som

e people said that

our half page business plan was not serious enough

– just a sketch and a dream. But it w

as our dream,

and together with Google’s security engineers, w

e

created a new internet security standard. It’s nam

ed

U2F (Universal 2nd Factor), and is today supported

by Gmail, Dropbox and the UK governm

ent. In the

near future, it will enable billions of internet users

to log in securely to online services, and save billions

of dollars lost in online identity fraud.

My journey has taught m

e that if you are bold, kind

and comm

itted, it is likely that great people will

come your w

ay to help you and share in your vision.

My advice to other entrepreneurs is sim

ple: don’t lis-

ten to all advice you hear. Find a real problem that

you want to help solve and keep your focus.

Stina is the CEO and founder of Yubico.

With an education in industrial prod-

uct design, she is also the co-creator

of her company’s core invention, the

YubiKey – a small USB and NFC key

used for easy and secure login to com-

puters, networks and online services.

Deployed by eight of the top ten inter-

net companies, Yubico’s technology is

loved by millions of users in m

ore than

150 countries.yubico .com

BE BOLD AND

OTHERS WILL

FOLLOW YOU

WH

AT IN

SPIRES YOU

?

To solve real problems,

with great people.

St ina Ehrensvard

Founder and CEO

Yub icoSWEDEN

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

© Mihail Novakov

© Johanna Ehrensvard (Stina’s daughter)

119

120 121

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT THE HUNDERT // TELEMEDICINE

The idea for my ow

n business came from

a personal situation. I wanted to

help my grandm

other who has faced som

e very serious health issues. I was

constantly wondering about her w

ellbeing, but wasn’t able to take care of

her all the time or be in constant contact w

ith her. So I came up w

ith the idea

of a telemedical w

ristband.

The vision of having my ow

n startup – creating a device that would be

useful for everyone, making new

job opportunities, expanding on interna-

tional markets and supporting the w

hole health system – m

ade me feel very

motivated and full of energy. A

fter a year and a half, the best hospitals and

clinics in Europe are using these devices and I can see how far w

e’ve come

on this journey. I also know that w

ithout passion, love, and perseverance,

we w

ouldn’t be where w

e are now. W

earables, IoT, and healthcare are areas

with a lot of prospective grow

th, but they are also very challenging.

I still have plenty of concerns. How

ever, an entrepreneur has to focus on

achieving goals instead of worrying. I have a great team

that works hard

every day, and thanks to this I know that w

e can accomplish everything.

GREAT CHALLENGES MEAN

GREATER OPPORTUN I T IES Edyta Kocyk

Co-Founder , S iDLY

POLAND

WH

AT D

O YOU

LIKE TH

E

MOST A

BOU

T YOURSELF?

I like my determ

ination and

passion from m

y work.

ANZE IGEMEDIA NET

media.net berlinbrandenburg presents

media.net berlinbrandenburg presents: DWOMEN platform for women in digital businessDWOMEN – The exclusive matchmaking opportunities for female executives in digital industry. Networking, changing perspectives and widening the horizont, iniciated by Andrea Peters, CEO of media.net berlinbrandenburg, and Sonja Kardorf, chairwoman of the Investitionsbank Berlin.

An intiative of

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contact: beyschlag@medianet-bb.de

JOANA BREIDENBACH(betterplace.org)

STEPHANIE CASPAR(WeltN24)

upcoming VERENA PAUSDER(Fox & Sheep)

On a regular basis, powerful

women of Berlin's digital

industry are invited to an

interbranch meetup to share

their insights. We accompany

their stories with a portrait of

each DWOMEN. Check out:

Edyta, 27, earned a doctoral degree

from the W

arsaw School of Econom

ics

and is a graduate of the Faculty of

Cybernetics at the Military University

of Technology, University of Warsaw

and European Academ

y of Diplom

acy.

Her startup, SiDLY, w

as founded in

2014. The company has developed the

telemedicine

wristband,

SiDLY Care,

and facilitates the development of m

edi-

cal telematics in Poland and Europe.

sid ly .eu

122 123

THE HUNDERT // BIG DATA

In 1

999, I w

as w

orking a

t Coca-C

ola E

nterprises

in

Belgiu

m and re

alized h

ow im

portant t

he inte

rnet was

becomin

g. I fe

lt I h

ad to w

ork in th

at secto

r! Alo

ngside

my husb

and, François

Derbaix

, I th

ought about

a

niche: r

ural t

ourism. O

ur frie

nds in

Spain

had b

een

flippin

g thro

ugh books l

ooking fo

r houses t

o stay in

on vacatio

n; we w

anted to

create

a si

te w

ith a

search

engine, p

hotos a

nd opin

ions.

So we le

ft o

ur jobs a

nd

went t

o Spain

. Fra

nçois fo

unded Toprura

l.com

in o

ur

house, and I help

ed him as

co-founder.

Two years

late

r, in

2002, I

founded R

entalia

.com. I

n 2012, I

also

founded Soysu

per, a solu

tion th

at help

s users

buy

their g

rocerie

s in b

ig o

nline su

permarkets

with

com-

plete

pric

e transp

arency.

Workin

g on a startu

p is lik

e a rolle

r coaster rid

e.

Sometim

es you’re

motiv

ated, s

ometim

es you’re

afraid

–

but you h

ave to le

arn to enjo

y and control b

oth. W

ork

and life

blur to

gether.

You are th

e first

and last

person

to ro

w in

the st

artup b

oat, so y

ou’d bette

r be p

repare

d

to m

ake enough space in

your li

fe and m

ind. T

he free-

dom to

ship

new

thin

gs to m

arket at y

our ow

n pace

and with

your own visi

on – and witn

ess how

the

market r

eacts – is

stro

ng motiv

ation to

overc

ome a

ny

obstacle

s as a

founder.

Marta

, 42, g

raduate

d in Econom

ics

in th

e UA

M, S

pain a

nd earned a

n

MBA

in Louvain

, Belg

ium

. She

founded Renta

lia and co-fo

und-

ed Toprural,

both of

whic

h sold

in

2012 to

id

ealista

.com

and

Hom

eaway.com

. Sin

ce th

en,

Marta

is th

e founder a

nd CEO

of

Soysuper,

an aggregato

r of nin

e

online su

permarkets

in Spain

. She

is also an in

vestor in

other pro

jects

such

as In

dexaCapital.c

om

–

the fir

st Spanish

robo-a

dvisor –

Famili

aFacil.es,

11870.com

and

Vin

ogusto.com

.

soysuper .com

LEARN ING TO

MANAGE

MOT IVAT I

ON

AND FEAR

Marta Esteve

Founder , Soysuper

SPA IN

WH

AT IN

SPIRES Y

OU

?

The fre

edom

of usin

g new

tech

nologies

to h

elp p

eople

with

their

daily

lives

.

I wasn

’t dest

ined fo

r entr

epreneursh

ip –

in fa

ct, I s

tud-

ied li

tera

ture

. Yet,

after a

very sh

ort care

er in te

aching,

I was l

ooking fo

r more

risk, a

dventure

and challe

nge in

my li

fe. T

hen I had a

n epiphany. I

realiz

ed that c

reatin

g

a com

pany would

be th

e best

optio

n to a

chieve th

ese

desires,

and all

I needed to

do w

as develo

p an id

ea and

quit m

y form

er job.

The sto

ry of

Gemm

yo began in

2011, w

hen my n

ow

co-founder,

Charif, ask

ed me to

marry him

and we

began searc

hing fo

r an e

ngagement r

ing. T

he searc

h –

whic

h should

have b

een ple

asant –

was

disappoin

ting

and exhaustin

g. We w

ent fro

m sh

op to sh

op to fi

nd the

perfect d

esign, b

ut cust

omiz

ation w

as hard to

com

e by

and there

were

alw

ays hid

den cost

s. That i

ntimid

ating

experience c

onvinced m

e to c

reate

a n

ew k

ind o

f jew

-

elry bra

nd: Gem

myo. S

ince b

eginnin

g the c

ompany, I

have been d

eeply in

vested in

its s

uccess w

ith a fo

cus on

value p

roposit

ion, c

ustom

er experie

nce and m

arketing.

I realiz

e now

that t

aking s

o much r

isk is

exactly

why

Gemm

yo gre

w so q

uickly

; it f

orced u

s to b

e nim

ble a

nd

innovate

in every p

ossib

le w

ay.

Pauline,

32, is

the co-fo

under and

CMO

of Gem

myo – th

e first

digita

l

fine je

welry b

rand. S

he first

stu

died

English and A

meric

an litera

ture

in

Lyon and worked as

a teacher,

but

late

r embarked on a n

ew p

ath in

busi-

ness at

HEC Paris.

She co-founded

Gemm

yo in 2

011. Today th

e company

has 23 em

ployees.

gemmyo.com

R ISK MORE ,

GROW MORE

Paul ine La

igneau

Co-Founder and CMO

Gemmyo

FRANCE

WH

AT D

RIVES

YOU

CRA

ZY?

Being in

telle

ctually

dishones

t.

THE HUNDERT // LUXURY

124 125

THE HUNDERT // TRAVEL

I’ve b

een travelin

g all

my li

fe, a

nd at s

ome p

oint I

realiz

ed that t

ravelin

g is

about people

, not p

laces.

This w

as the id

ea behin

d Trip

4Real – to

connect

travele

rs fro

m a

round th

e world

with

local p

eople so th

ey can sh

are th

eir

cities a

nd pass

ions.

I quit

my jo

b in A

ustra

lia a

nd moved b

ack to B

arcelo

na,

where

I ju

st ju

mped in

to th

e pool a

nd took th

e risk o

f foundin

g a com

pany.

I sta

rted w

orking o

n the b

usiness

pla

n, websit

e, fundra

ising a

nd build

ing a

team

. We la

unched in F

ebruary 2013.

I belie

ve that o

ne is b

orn an e

ntrepre

neur. I’v

e liked m

y two o

ther care

ers,

but they w

ere to

o theore

tical f

or me. I

was

miss

ing th

e pra

ctical a

spects

.

Even while

workin

g for la

rger com

panies,

I felt

that s

ometh

ing w

as miss

-

ing. I

love actio

n and makin

g thin

gs happen, b

ut could

do w

ithout t

he sam

e

daily ro

utine. M

y key to

success

was t

o cele

brate

every li

ttle a

chievem

ent

inst

ead of w

aiting fo

r som

ethin

g huge. E

ntrepre

neurs lik

e bre

aking r

ules,

and we sh

ould w

alk in

stead o

f talk

! I w

ouldn’t

do anyth

ing d

iffere

ntly if

I

could go b

ack in ti

me. E

very tim

e you fa

il, y

ou learn.

Gloria

is th

e Barcelo

na-based fo

under of

Trip4Real, a

company st

arted in

2013 th

at has

since g

row

n to 1

2 em

ployees.

Trip4Real o

pe-

rate

s in 12 countr

ies a

cross

Euro

pe and is soon

to open a Germ

an branch in

Berlin. Glo

ria

studie

d tourism

managem

ent, m

arketing a

nd

business

managem

ent aro

und the w

orld, a

nd

holds

a mast

er’s degre

e in In

ternet B

usiness

.

She has w

orked for com

panies s

uch as H

ilton

and Hew

lett-

Packard, and h

as been a

Google

partner.

tr ip4rea l .com

WALK THE WALK,

AND CELEBRATE

EVERY ACH IEVEMENT

WH

AT M

AK

ES

YOU

HA

PPY?

The com

binatio

n of

traveli

ng and being

close

to w

ater.

G lor ia Mo l in

s

Founder and CEO , Tr

ip4rea l

SPA IN

THE HUNDERT // DIGITAL HEALTH

When I

was

a kid, I

played st

rate

gy compute

r

games

on the w

eekends – const

ructing m

odern

cities,

Roman em

pires,

medie

val com

merc

e route

s

and more

. I su

ppose that w

as the b

est p

repara

tion

for w

hat cam

e aft

er: build

ing u

p sta

rtups.

Right

after m

y stu

dies,

I moved to

Bangalo

re, I

ndia, t

o

build m

y first

company,

a prem

ium

chocolate

reta

il chain

. Yes,

I know

that’s

a S

wiss

clic

hé, but

it w

as an exciti

ng and cultura

lly enric

hing pro

ject.

When I

exited m

y chocolate

startu

p, I d

idn’t

thin

k

it could

get a

ny bette

r. But t

hen I got t

he excep-

tional

chance to jo

in m

y tale

nted co-fo

unders

with

their a

mbiti

ous visi

on to c

reate

a w

earable

that

precisely

and accurate

ly tr

acks a w

oman’s

cycle. A

fter a

year o

f build

ing u

p the m

arketing

side o

f th

e com

pany in S

witz

erland, I

moved t

o

San Fra

ncisco to b

uild u

p our U

S offi

ce. This

was

the second ti

me m

y startu

ps had ta

ken me abro

ad.

I’m c

urious

now a

bout what w

ill c

ome n

ext. I’v

e

learned t

hat ‘b

eing p

assio

nate’ a

bout your c

om-

pany is n

ot only

a n

ice e

xpress

ion, b

ut a c

rucial

success

facto

r – for y

ourself and y

our entire te

am.

Lea, 26, s

tarte

d Ava in

the fa

ll of 2

014

with

her th

ree co-fo

unders aft

er hav-

ing pre

viously

success

fully

founded

a chocola

te re

tail

chain in

Bangalo

re,

India

. A

va is based in

Zurich and

helps

couples

to c

onceive f

aster a

nd

have happier,

healthie

r journeys

to

a baby. Lea holds

a mast

er’s degre

e

in E

ntrepre

neurship

and is

now

run-

ning th

e San F

rancisco o

ffice o

f Ava,

whic

h has g

row

n to 15 p

eople.

avawomen.com

BE PASS IONATE

ABOUT THE EMPIRE

YOU BU ILD

WH

AT M

AK

ES

YOU

LA

UGH?

Other

people’

s expre

s-

sions w

hen th

ey h

ear o

ur

team

talk

ing lo

udly about

ovulation and m

enst

rual

cycle

s in p

ublic sp

aces.

Lea von B idder

Founder and VP

Market in

g , Ava

SWITZERLAND

126 127

Challenge h

as alw

ays driv

en me in

life – fi

rst w

ith

judo a

nd now

with

my c

ompany, G

uardSquare.

I can n

ow s

ay that s

tartin

g GuardSquare

is te

n

times m

ore e

ducational t

han pro

fess

ional s

ports!

I used to

work a

s an in

dependent soft

ware

engi-

neer, so I

didn’t

have any e

xperience w

orking in

a team

, let a

lone le

ading o

ne. Pro

Guard is w

here

it all

starte

d. Eric

rele

ased his

open-sourc

e soft-

ware

in 2

002 and it

becam

e wid

ely a

dopted b

y

developers.

When G

oogle in

cluded P

roGuard in

its A

ndroid

SDK, w

e receiv

ed const

ant request

s

for a

dditional f

eature

s. Know

ing th

is w

as a gold

-

en opportu

nity, w

e decid

ed to t

ake the c

hance

and found G

uardSquare.

Today, I le

arn a lot b

y talk

ing to

company le

aders

that

are a fe

w st

eps fu

rther in

their develo

p-

ment.

I don’t

fear m

aking m

istakes,

and I’ll g

ladly

adapt to

the f

eedback I get.

I belie

ve that

con-

stant a

djust

ment i

s the k

ey to su

ccess.

If I h

ave a tip fo

r sta

rtup fo

unders, it

’s this:

don’t look

back. L

earn fr

om y

our mist

akes, but d

on’t lin

ger on

them

for t

oo long. K

eep your g

oal in m

ind and don’t

lose

focu

s. Enjo

y each m

oment t

o the fu

llest!

Heid

i, 47, l

ives

in L

euven, a B

elgia

n uni-

versity to

wn. S

he hold

s a m

aster’s

degree

in Com

puter Scie

nce and worked as

an

independent

softw

are consu

ltant

in th

e

air tra

ffic c

ontrol a

nd tele

com s

ector.

As

a profe

ssio

nal ju

doka, sh

e claim

ed the

bronze m

edal at

the 1992 O

lym

pics.

In

2014, she fo

unded GuardSquare to

gether

with

Eric Lafo

rtune. GuardSquare

devel-

ops DexGuard, t

he most

advanced security

softw

are fo

r Andro

id applic

ations.

guardsquare .com

DON ’ T LOOK BACK

Heid i Rake ls

Co-Founder and CEO

GuardSquare

BELG IUM

WH

AT M

OTIV

ATES Y

OU

?

I lik

e new

challe

nges and

takin

g calcu

lated ri

sks i

n

order

to ach

ieve m

y goals.I

had never consciously

thought

of becom

ing a st

art-

up founder,

as m

y care

er choic

e was

made lo

ng befo

re

startu

p culture

em

erged. At t

he age o

f 19, I

began a

trav-

el agency a

nd ran it

myself

for m

any years.

Aft

er aw

hile,

I felt

ready fo

r new

challe

nges and s

hared m

y desir

e to

try o

ut som

ethin

g new

with

my h

usband, A

lex, w

ho was

already in

volved in

the st

artup com

munity

. We in

stantly

realiz

ed we c

ould b

ecome a

perfe

ct battl

e-test

ed startu

p

team

with

com

plem

entary s

killsets

. Our c

omm

on inte

r-

ests i

ncluded e-c

omm

erce and In

stagra

m, s

o the choic

e for

our startu

p was o

bvious:

an Inst

agram

selling to

ol. I w

as

hesitant a

t first

, as I

knew

littl

e about the IT

indust

ry and

metr

ics.

But I w

as lu

cky to fi

nd pass

ionate

pro

fess

ionals

who f

ormed t

he core

team

of

Inselly

and m

ade every-

thin

g poss

ible

. Now

I cle

arly k

now th

at foundin

g a startu

p

comes w

ith a

learnin

g curve of t

rying th

ings,

faili

ng and

tryin

g again

. Movin

g forw

ard quic

kly a

nd havin

g a g

reat

team

by y

our side are

the k

eys to su

ccess!

Ksenija

, 32, is

from

Rig

a, Latv

ia. S

he has a

bachelor’s

degre

e in T

ravel M

anagement

and ran h

er ow

n travel b

usiness

for m

ore

than te

n years

. In 2013, K

senija

’s husb

and

came u

p with

the id

ea of

a socia

l com

-

merc

e start

up that w

as too exciti

ng not t

o

pursue. In

selly

, an In

stagra

m m

arketp

lace,

was f

ounded the sa

me y

ear and n

ow h

as

five full-

time e

mplo

yees. It

is th

e easie

st

tool f

or m

obile s

elling a

nd a d

estin

ation

for i

nspira

tional I

nstagra

m sh

opping.

inse l ly .com

MOVE FORWARD

QU ICKLY AND HAVE

A GREAT TEAM BY

YOUR S IDE

Kseni ja Rostova

Co-Founder and CEO

Inse l ly

LATV IA

WH

AT D

O YO

U H

OPE

FOR TH

E FU

TURE?

Dee

p pen

etra

tion of

tech

nologies

in our d

aily

lives

, mer

ge bet

wee

n the

offlin

e and onlin

e world

s.

THE HUNDERT // SOCIAL COMMERCE THE HUNDERT // INTERNET SECURITY

© Win

and Van M

eerbeek

THE HUNDERT // HEALTH

Do you k

now th

ose mom

ents in

life

when

you thin

k, ‘W

hat do I

really

want t

o do in

the sh

ort tim

e I’m goin

g to b

e here

?’ For m

e,

the 2005 London bom

bings

sparked th

at

mom

ent. A

lthough I

was

lucky e

nough to

escape the te

rrorist

attack unscath

ed, it

prom

pted m

e to re

-evalu

ate m

y prioriti

es as

I rode th

e Tube to

work th

at day. I

realiz

ed I

wante

d to b

e closer to

my k

ids a

nd to h

ave

more

of a

n impact o

n the w

orld.

When m

y co-fo

unders a

nd I se

t up U

nruly

,

the id

ea of v

iral v

ideos

was

just

takin

g off.

Today, we d

istrib

ute v

ideo c

ontent

to 1

.35

billio

n use

rs and are

priv

ileged to

work

with

many a

mazin

g cam

paigns.

I am

most

pro

ud

of our

inte

rnatio

nal expansio

n, and not

least

of

our acquisi

tion b

y New

s Corp

last

year. The b

est a

dvice I

ever re

ceived c

ame

the n

ight b

efore

my fi

nal exam

s at c

ollege,

and I st

ill b

ring it

to m

ind fr

equently. I

was

absolu

tely

terr

ified a

nd my u

nivers

ity p

ro-

fess

or gave m

e a h

andwrit

ten n

ote th

at just

said

‘Coura

ge!’ I alw

ays try

to re

mem

ber that

note, n

o matte

r the challe

nge in fr

ont of m

e.

While

in h

igh school,

I develo

ped

an inte

rest

in h

earing is

sues

due

to m

y own personal

challeng-

es w

ith t

innitu

s. This

led t

o my

co-founder and I

developin

g a

sound thera

py for people

with

chronic

tinnitu

s. W

e took it

to

an Irish

science fa

ir and were

amazed b

y the in

tere

st a

nd sup-

port. A

t 18,

I co-fo

unded my

company,

Restore

d Hearin

g, to

bring t

his th

erapy t

o the p

ublic.

It w

as a big

step, but

we w

ere

excited by th

e challenge.

Over

the past

six years,

our websit

e

has gro

wn t

o have t

housands

of

users and fo

llow

ers. Util

izin

g our

physics

backgrounds,

we c

reate

d

a new ty

pe of sound absorbin

g

mate

rial

that

works

eight

times

better th

an the st

andard foam

currently

bein

g used t

o pre

vent

overexposu

re to

loud noise. W

e

are pass

ionate

about in

novative

medic

al te

chnology

and have

rele

ntless

ly re

searched, b

uilt a

nd

prom

oted o

ur inventio

ns. H

aving

had tin

nitus

myself,

I em

pathiz

e

with

those w

ho have it

. Bein

g able

to n

ow h

ave an im

pact on h

ow

others

go about

their d

aily li

ves

is extr

emely

touchin

g. I w

ant to

change the w

ay the w

orld h

ears.

Sarah w

as a le

cture

r in A

meric

an Studie

s

before

she d

ecided to

swap h

er academic

job fo

r a tech st

artup.

Together w

ith

two fr

iends,

she fo

unded Unruly,

the

ad tech com

pany that

gets vid

eo cam-

paigns s

een, share

d and lo

ved acro

ss th

e

web. U

nruly n

ow h

as offi

ces in 1

5 citi

es

around th

e glo

be and e

mplo

ys 200 p

eo-

ple. S

arah c

ontinues

to b

e an a

ssocia

te

lectu

rer at t

he Univ

ersity o

f Cam

bridge.

unru ly .co

Rhona is 25 y

ears old

, livin

g in D

ublin and

is curr

ently o

n a sa

bbatical f

rom

a p

hys-

ics degre

e. Rest

ored H

earing w

as founded

in 2009 and now

has five em

ployees.

Restore

d Hearin

g helps

people m

anage

their

tinnitu

s thro

ugh sound th

erapy and

provid

es tu

nable a

coustic m

ateria

ls th

at

reduce h

armfu

l noise

in in

dustry

.

restoredhear ing .com

NO MATTER TH

E

CHALLENGE IN

FRONT .

COURAGE ! THE REWARD IS TH

E

IMPACT YOU HAVE

Sarah Wood

Co-Founder and Co-CEO

Unru ly

UN I TED K INGDOM

Rhona Togher

Co-Founder and CEO

Restored Hear ing

IRELAND

HOW

DO Y

OU

RELA

X?

Watc

hing fu

nny vid

eos

and dancin

g to S

potify

playlists

in th

e kitc

hen

with

my k

ids.

WH

AT A

RE YO

U

MOST P

ROUD

OF?

Cultivatin

g a

comm

unity of

people

passio

nate

about hea

ring and

noise is

sues

.

129128

THE HUNDERT // VIDEO AD TECH

131

I’ve always been passionate about new

technol-

ogies, especially those that make the internet

more accessible to others. Becom

ing an engineer

was som

ething that could allow m

e to contrib-

ute to these technologies. In my early w

orking

days for IT companies, I fell in love w

ith the

web w

orld. I was also excited by the idea to

start something m

yself. It didn’t take long for

me to create a sm

all web agency, together w

ith

my brother, in m

y beloved yet troubled Sicily.

We listened to our custom

ers’ needs from the

very beginning, and that helped drive the prod-

uct. We created a sm

art system to allow

people to

edit their websites w

ith absolute freedom, even

on a small budget. Then, like a lightning bolt, w

e

got the idea that this product could have a much

wider audience and ultim

ately bring people

online who have alm

ost no tech knowledge.

Today we continue to listen to our custom

-

er feedback, and that’s our number one secret

to success. We’ve also successfully laid the

foundation for a company that now

employs

amazing people in our sunny island headquar-

ters, and for that I couldn’t be happier.

SMART SYSTEMS,

SUN AND SUCCESS

HOW

DO YO

U DEA

L

WITH

STRESS?

I can deal with every-

thing with serenity.

Elisa, 35, lives in Catania, Sicily, Italy. After

earning a degree in Engineering in 2006,

she worked as a consultant for Accenture

and other important IT firm

s. In 2010, she

and her brother created a ‘3.0 web agency.’

In 2013, after a funding round of $500,000,

she turned the agency into the interna-

tionally recognized do-it-yourself website

creation cloud company Flazio.com

. Flazio

is currently employing 14 program

mers,

designers and marketers.

flazio.com

El isa Faz ioCo-Founder and CEO

F laz ioI TALY

THE HUNDERT // WEBSITE BUILDER

ANZE IGEGLOSSYBOX

130

THE HUNDERT // WEBSITE DESIGN

v

v

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

ANZE IGELASERL INE

LASERLINE Druckzentrum · Scheringstrasse 1 · 13355 Berlin · Tel. 030 46 70 96 - 0 · www.laser-line.de

No matter what, working at the printing presses, in customer service, or in marketing – LASERLINE employs about just as many women as men in all departments, which is how it has been since the very beginning. In the past years, 20 young women started out as trainees at LASERLINE and work together with their colleagues to continue the Berlin printing center‘s success. DISCOVER THE WORLD OF LASERLINE.

Women at the printing press – daily business at LASERLINEFo

to: ©

Dan

iel I

sbre

cht

134 135

THE HUNDERT // ADTECH

I’ve b

een a te

ch and v

ideo g

ames j

ournalist f

or years.

While

I w

as giv

ing v

oice to

other a

mazin

g pro

jects

in th

e media

, I w

as alw

ays thin

king o

f foundin

g a st

artup

myself.

It fe

lt lik

e a tr

ain th

at I d

idn’t

want t

o miss

. I’v

e led a

team

befo

re w

hen

I was w

orking in

Madrid

, but t

ruth b

e told

, I h

ad zero

experie

nce as a

n entr

epre-

neur. Fortu

nately

, my c

o-founders

helped fi

ll th

e know

ledge g

ap. With

Geenapp,

our mobile

adtech com

pany, it w

as my ti

me to

dem

onstra

te th

at I can go b

eyond the

persona of t

he girl on T

V.

At G

eenapp, we h

ave a v

ery unlik

ely o

ffice: a

house w

ith a

nic

e garden in

a v

ery

wealth

y are

a of B

arcelo

na. We h

ave bre

akfast

and lu

nch in th

e garden, a

nic

e vie

w

from

the offi

ce and fam

ous footb

all pla

yers as n

eighbors.

But a st

artup is

like a sm

all

boat – y

ou have to

be p

addling to

move. W

hen you h

ave a b

ig b

oat, all

the e

ngines

have been w

orking fo

r a lo

ng tim

e and y

ou just

need to

adju

st som

e pie

ces to m

ove

fast

er or slow

er. But u

ntil th

en, if y

ou face a p

roble

m, y

ou must

solve it

with

bra

very

and cleverness

. And b

elieve m

e, you’ll

face p

lenty

of p

roble

ms a

s a gro

win

g startu

p!

Gina w

as born

in Barc

elona, Spain

, a

long ti

me ago. B

efore

foundin

g Geenapp

in 2

013, she st

udied g

raphic d

esign, b

ut

she h

as never b

een a d

esigner.

She was

a vid

eo gam

es and t

ech journ

alist

for

more

than te

n years

, giv

ing s

tart

ups a

voice on T

V, r

adio, n

ewsp

aper and oth

er

media

. While

many in

Spain k

now G

ina

from

her j

ournalis

m, s

he’s now

work

ing

hard to

brin

g a n

ew k

ind o

f serv

ice to

mobile

adtech.

geenapp.com

IDEAS ARE NOTH ING

WITHOUT T

HE R IGHT

PEOPLE BES IDE YOU

HOW

DO Y

OU

DEA

L

WIT

H S

TRESS?

I play act

ion and

adventu

re v

ideo

games

. It’s

like I

am

in anoth

er body,

in anoth

er u

niver

se.

Gina Tost

Co-Founder and CEO

Geenapp

SPAIN

Fotocredit: Berta Tiana

Grow

ing u

p, I a

lways

had busin

ess id

eas and w

as

very curio

us. I s

tarte

d student c

lubs i

n school a

nd

was e

lecte

d leader fo

r two of t

hem. A

fter gra

duating

universit

y, I u

ndertook a

num

ber of m

anagement

positio

ns w

ith

global

companie

s, w

orking

on

challengin

g proje

cts in

volvin

g new bra

nds and

business

, expansio

n of c

ategorie

s and in

ternatio

nal

expansion. A

ll th

e while

, I a

lways s

hopped onlin

e

and was p

assio

nate about f

ashio

n.

I th

en went

to H

arvard Business

School fo

r my

MBA

. Aft

er the fi

rst y

ear, I c

ame to

Turkey and sa

w

a huge p

otentia

l in e

-com

merc

e. Turkey is

a te

xtile

heaven with

high qualit

y manufa

cturin

g oppor-

tuniti

es at

low

cost

s. I d

ecided t

o act

fast

; I b

uilt

a busin

ess p

lan, g

ot angel f

unding, r

ecruited t

he

team

and n

ever looked b

ack. I b

elieve th

at success

comes

from

a c

ombin

ation o

f pass

ion, h

ard work,

a stro

ng team

and persis

tence!

Dem

et is

the f

ounder and C

EO o

f Tre

ndyol,

Turkey’s big

gest fa

shio

n e-com

merc

e site.

Before

Tre

ndyol, sh

e worked a

t a n

umber o

f

global c

ompanie

s in

fin

ance, marketin

g and

operatio

ns ro

les

in th

e US, Japan,

Turkey,

Hong K

ong and S

witz

erland. A

fter h

er first

year at Harvard B

usiness

School,

she d

ropped

out to

build Tre

ndyol.com

. A

mong oth

ers

she w

as nam

ed as

Fortune’s

Most

Pow

erful

Wom

en Entrepre

neur, W

EF Global

Shaper

and Fortu

ne 40 U

nder 40.

trendyo l .com

REAL IZE TH

E POTENT IAL ,

ACT ON I T

AND NEVER

LOOK BACK

WH

AT D

RIVES Y

OU

CRA

ZY?

Lazy peo

ple and lia

rs.

Demet Mut lu

Founder and CEO

trendyo l

TURKEY

THE HUNDERT // E-COMMERCE

© Berta Tiana

136

THE HUNDERT // REVIEW PLATFORM

Founding w

as not m

y initi

al pla

n. I w

anted to

solv

e a p

ersonal p

roble

m,

as I h

ave been su

fferin

g from

severe

food in

tole

rances a

nd found it

very

tirin

g to in

vest so

much ti

me, m

oney and e

nergy in

to fi

nally re

ceivin

g a

diagnosis

. I st

arted lo

oking in

to th

e pro

cess and re

alized th

ere w

as a lo

t of

room

for i

nnovation. W

ith m

y two co-fo

unders on b

oard, I

began a proje

ct

that s

oon develo

ped into

a re

al busin

ess. W

e encounte

red a

lot o

f diff

i-

culties b

etween th

e initi

al idea a

nd the la

unch, whic

h was a

lmost

thre

e

years la

ter.

The hard

est part

was t

o always k

eep on belie

ving in

ourselv

es.

Founding a

startu

p is a

n em

otional r

oller c

oaster r

ide a

nd you w

ill n

ot

get far if

you le

t hard d

ays dra

g you d

own. T

hat’s w

hen you re

ally g

et

to a

pprecia

te y

our team

, learn h

ow to

find c

reativ

e solutio

ns and, m

ost

importa

ntly, e

ncounter y

our own li

mits

and learn h

ow to

outgro

w th

em.

Today, I can’t

imagin

e anyth

ing I’d

rath

er do th

an run my o

wn com

pany.

I learn s

ometh

ing n

ew e

very day, m

ake decisi

ons and a

ct fast

– e

ven if

I don’t

have any guarante

es that i

t will

all

work o

ut.

Bianca, 2

6, is

the c

o-founder a

nd CEO

of kiw

eno. She

starte

d her

entre-

preneuria

l care

er in

2014

and w

as

electe

d Entrepre

neur of th

e Year by

the A

ustria

n Cham

ber of C

omm

erce in

2016. kiweno’s

miss

ion is

to em

power

personal health

care v

ia a

t-hom

e blo

od

test

s and appealin

g visualiz

ations

of

medic

al data

. Prio

r to fo

unding k

iweno,

whic

h em

ploys 2

5 pro

fess

ionals,

Bia

nca

worked fo

r Sw

arovsk

i and w

as manag-

ing d

irecto

r of icons,

a junio

r enterprise.

k iweno.com

Taisiya is

32, b

ased in R

ussia

and hold

s a

mast

er’s degre

e in A

pplied M

athem

atics.

She lived in

Sili

con Valle

y and w

orked

in th

e tele

com in

dustry b

efore

she w

ent

for a

startu

p endeavor o

f her o

wn. H

er

first

company, Tulp

, launched in

2010

and raised a

Serie

s A

round. T

he com

-

pany rapid

ly gre

w to

20 emplo

yees with

more

then tw

o mill

ion u

nique m

onthly

users. Tulp

is th

e ‘Russ

ian Y

elp’ –

a pla

ce

to p

ublish a

nd find re

view

s about l

ocal

business

es. A

t pre

sent Taisi

ya is d

evel-

oping

websa

rafa

n.ru, an

educational

platfo

rm fo

r entrepre

neurs.

tu lp . ru

KEEP MOVING

FORWARD, EVEN

WITHOUT G

UARANTEES

WH

AT IS

TH

E FIR

ST TH

ING

YOU

DO A

FTER WA

KIN

G UP?

I go fo

r a d

aily fr

esh v

eget

able

juice i

nstea

d of coff

ee.

Prefe

rably

hom

emade f

or sure

!

WH

AT H

ELPS YO

U F

OCUS?

Electr

onic m

usic m

akes m

e

concentr

ated, f

ocuse

d, giv

es

me a

n edge a

nd pro

vides

an ener

gy.

Bianca Gfrei

Co-Founder and CEO

k iweno

AUSTR IA Ta is iya Kudashk ina

Founder and CEO

Tu lpRUSS IAN FEDERAT I

ON

© Mark

o Mest

rovic

I’m pre

tty su

re “e

ntrepre

neur” w

as one of t

he firs

t word

s

I knew

how

to sp

ell. T

his w

as the re

sult

of a d

esire ig

nit-

ed by m

y fath

er, as h

e was a

rock clim

ber and a

hero

of

min

e who a

lways

took r

isks.

My fa

ther

knew h

ow to

stra

ddle th

e bord

er betw

een safe

ty and ri

sk, a

nd now

so

do I! I w

orked in

big com

panies a

nd had a gre

at care

er. A

t

the age of 2

3, I w

as appoin

ted as a

pro

duct manager a

nd

managed m

ore th

en ten p

eople o

n my te

am. B

ut fra

nk-

ly, I

was b

ored. I

did

n’t fe

el I w

as contr

ibutin

g enough

of myse

lf, and I

needed a pla

ce where

I could

realiz

e my

desire to

make p

eople’s

lives b

etter.

It can b

e hard

to fi

nd

a good p

lace h

ere in

Russ

ia to

eat,

have fun a

nd rela

x,

as people

don’t

go anyw

here u

nless

they’v

e ask

ed their

frie

nds or o

btain

ed som

e kin

d of r

ecomm

endation. S

o I

decided to

launch T

ulp, a

cro

wdso

urcin

g pla

tform

that

helps p

eople fi

nd these

great p

laces.

I was

never afr

aid to

sta

rt my o

wn b

usiness

. Lookin

g

back now, I

understand th

at I

was

extrem

ely naiv

e

at that p

oint.

I was

playin

g a g

ame. I

thought I

knew

the r

ules,

but in fa

ct, I d

idn’t.

But t

hat’s h

ow it

should

be – o

therw

ise founders

would

never s

tart a

nythin

g!

You should

not b

e concentr

ating o

n the o

bstacle

s, but

rath

er the e

nd goal a

nd visi

on. Just

dre

am a

bout what

you want t

he most

and make th

at a re

ality.

PLAY TH

E GAME,

EVEN IF YOU DON ’ T

KNOW THE RULES

THE HUNDERT // HEALTH-TECH

© Elena Koynova

137

139

Raffaela, 29,

is founder

and CEO

of

CareerFoundry, Europe’s leading destina-

tion for career development in the new

economy.

Raffaela graduated

from

the

University of Durham in Finance before

starting her

career as

an Investm

ent

Strategist for BlackRock in London. She

went on to launch three e-com

merce com

-

panies for Rocket Internet in APA

C before

founding CareerFoundry

in 2013,

for

which she raised €5 m

illion and employs a

team of 30.careerfoundry .com

I’ve always been entrepreneurial, and m

y family has alw

ays placed

high value on independence and aiming for the extraordinary.

I joined Rocket Internet because I thought it would be a good w

ay to

learn how to build an internet com

pany, and boy, it was! A

t Rocket,

I learned that startups are a rocky path full of iterations. It is not

a straight line where everything w

orks from day one. I w

orked a

brief stint at Axel Springer’s Innovation Lab, for w

hich we tried to

hire 150 developers. That was w

hen I realized how difficult hiring

is, i.e. how ginorm

ous the tech skills gap is. And since I like tackling

ginormous challenges, I decided to do som

ething to fill that gap.

I was terrified w

ith so much fear of failure at first. I guess the curi-

osity and ambition w

ere stronger than the fear in the end, and that

has lasted up until today. Even now there are m

any scary passages

as a founder. How

do I cope with them

? First, I’ve simply gotten

used to dealing with uncertainty. Second – and this is w

hat I love

most about being a founder – is that I’ve learned to m

anage my

own em

otions. I’d never have mastered this at the sam

e level in any

other career position.

F ILL ING THE TECH

SK ILLS GAP

WH

AT GIVES

YOU

POWER?

Growth M

indset -

not only learning,

but expanding

yourself constantly

Raffae la Re in

Founder and CEO

CareerFoundry

GERMANY

© Jazz Meyer

–

THE HUNDERT // EDTECH

I think I’ve always been an entrepreneur, as m

y inspiration

came from

my hard-w

orking parents. My father is a brilliant

innovator and my m

other a focused steam train – a killer com

-

bination. Their accomplishm

ents got me creating from

the age

of 13. I sung, taught dance and fitness and was a part-tim

e mov-

iemaker. I used m

y mini jobs to fund m

y university education

and a round-the-world trip at age 18.

From 2007 to 2013, I w

orked for several different companies

in the USA, UK and A

ustralia. I became one of the W

omen and

Leadership Australia graduates in 2012, and from

this time on, I

became hungry to really create som

ething big and meaningful.

I believe an idea or business should come from

a real customer

need in combination w

ith the personal ability to find a solu-

tion. My venture, 7w

rite, was accepted into Startup Bootcam

p

Am

sterdam in 2013 and w

e raised €250,000 from investors

(including an original Paypal investor). I recomm

end trusting

your intuition, learning from others and never doubting your-

self. You can do anything with the right intentions!

Tiffany, 27, is an Australian living in M

unich

who studied Com

munication and M

edia at the

AN

U and UC in Australia. She w

as a product

manager and a dance and fitness instructor

before founding 7write in 2013 w

ith two oth-

er founders. Now

she works as the M

arketing

and Business Developm

ent Manager for Global

Access, a Germ

any cloud company, and has been

running 7write for three years. She also has a

new content m

arketing venture called Innotate

and volunteers for a large Buddhist organization.

7write .com

FOCUS ON B IG ,

MEAN INGFUL

INNOVAT IONS THAT

MAKE A D IFFERENCE

IN OTHERS ’ L IVES

WH

AT M

OTIVA

TES YOU

?

Fearless creativity and

innovation that’s aimed

to benefit others to solve

a REAL hum

an need.

T i ffany Hart

Co-Founder , CEO

and CMO, 7wr ite

NETHERLANDS

© A

leja

ndro A

lvare

z

THE HUNDERT // PUBLISHING

138

140 141

THE HUNDERT // WEARABLES

In 2010, I was ready to m

ove on in my career and began

looking into the possibility of getting an MBA

in the USA.

That same year, m

y longtime friend cam

e home from

a

trip around the world w

ith the idea of growing our hobby

project – organizing tours in Tallinn – into something big-

ger. The chance to share our passion for local travel was

exciting, especially because it’s something w

e had always

done for fun. Getting paid was just a bonus. W

e already

knew w

e worked w

ell together and had complem

entary

skill sets, so this motivated us even m

ore.

We started out organizing off-the-beaten-path tours in

Estonia and publishing printed travel maps for cities in all

three Baltic states. Figuring out how to grow

Like A Local

Guide into a global platform of crow

dsourced tips was the

natural next step. I guess we’re not typical startup found-

ers looking to get bought out by a big corporation. We’d

rather take baby steps. It hasn’t always been rosy, but it’s

much easier to stick w

ith something during the rough

times w

hen your heart is really in it. 

Ülane is

a 32-year-old

serial entrepreneur

based in Tallinn, Estonia. She has an MBA in

Entrepreneurship and

previously w

orked as

Hum

an Resources Manager at Estonia’s largest real

estate agency. In 2012, Ülane co-founded Like A

Local Guide – a website and m

obile app that helps

travelers avoid tourist traps and discover authentic

places off the beaten path. The company has since

grown to seven international em

ployees.

l i kea loca lgu ide .comDO WHAT YOU ’D WANT

TO DO IF YOU WEREN ’ T

GETT ING PA ID

WH

AT M

AK

ES

YOU

HA

PPY?

Discovering

unknown and

abandoned places.

Ü lane Vi lumets

Co-Founder and COO

L ike A Loca l Gu ide

ESTON IA

140

I first became an entrepreneur out of need, since the job I

wanted didn’t exist in the m

arket. Inspired by my strong m

oth-

er, my entrepreneurial role m

odel, I dived into it with courage

and optimism

. My dream

was to find a m

eaningful project in

which I could contribute to a bigger idea. W

hen things got con-

fusing or uncertain, I started to listen to motivational speeches.

I wrote dow

n my objectives and started to really believe that if

I opened myself up to new

experiences, things would happen!

Shortly after, I met A

ndrei, Vector’s founder. W

e instantly

connected and I knew he w

ould be the right person to bring

this project to life. We started to w

ork together on a wearable

idea that soon became the V

ector Watch – a product that m

ade

sense for us in that it was not only stylish, but also brought

real value to people’s lives by letting them focus on w

hat’s

important. M

y role evolved from product designer to program

Manager, as I w

as involved in all aspects of the business except

coding. I’ve done many things, but all of m

y achievements are

related to my ability and passion for building bridges betw

een

different fields.

BUILD ING BR IDGES

IN WEARABLE TECH

WH

AT D

O YOU

LIKE TH

E

MOST A

BOU

T YOURSELF?

The new state of m

ind that I

attained in my 30’s: the positive

feeling that no matter w

hat,

eventually everything will be ok.

I r ina A lexandru

Co-Founder , Program Manager

and Des ign Eng ineer

Vector Watch

ROMANIA

THE HUNDERT // TRAVEL

© Gerry Sulp

© Valentin Catalineanu

Irina, 30, is based in Bucharest, Romania. W

ith a

degree in Product Design, she started her first busi-

ness at the age of 23, distinguishing herself with an

award w

inning design company, AIRA Design Studio.

In 2014, Irina co-founded Vector, the tech startup that

introduces a smartw

atch with a 30-day battery life.

The London-based Vector now

counts more than 40

employees and collaborators w

ith offices in London,

Silicon Valley, H

ong Kong and Bucharest.

vectorwatch .com

142 143

THE HUNDERT // MARKETINGTHE HUNDERT // AGRITECH

The most

importa

nt ta

sk in

one’s lif

e is

to fi

nd your o

wn w

ay and fo

llow

it. I

had

been seekin

g my li

fe jo

urney for a

lmost

15 years,

workin

g in d

iffere

nt fie

lds

and

countrie

s. I h

ad sta

rted m

any endeavors,

but most

of t

hem fa

iled. N

ow I

know w

hy:

I am

com

plete

ly s

ure t

hat entr

epreneur-

ship

in te

chnology is

the are

a in w

hich I’

m

meant t

o achieve m

y goals.

This decisi

on was n

ever based o

n a d

esire

to b

e an IT

girl,

but ra

ther a

deep b

elief

that

info

rmatio

nal te

chnology is

one of

the g

reate

st to

ols to

cre

ate c

hange in th

e

world

. M

y co-founder,

Andrii

Seleznov,

and I had a

frie

nd who is

an a

gricultu

ral

scientis

t and c

ame t

o us

with

a p

roble

m,

whic

h pro

mpte

d us t

o want t

o solve it

.

Now

, I a

m in

spire

d by th

e valu

e and e

ffi-

ciency of

our products

and extrem

ely

thankfu

l for m

y team

at P

etiole

. Actu

ally,

I thin

k that t

he team

is a

beatin

g heart o

f

any startu

p. When y

ou are su

rrounded b

y

the rig

ht people

and work h

ard – sooner or

late

r success

will

come to

you.

Maryna, 31, liv

es in

Kiev and hold

s a

Ph.D in

Business

Law. Pre

viously

, she

worked in

the le

gal fie

ld w

ith p

articu-

lar in

tere

st in

IT. I

n late

2013, t

ogether

with

Andrii

Seleznov, sh

e co-founded

Petiole

– a

mobile

based r

ecomm

enda-

tion sy

stem

for p

recisi

on agric

ulture

to

monito

r dynam

ics

of pla

nt gro

wth

using le

af are

a measu

rem

ent and le

v-

el of

chloro

phyll. In

Novem

ber 2015,

this

proje

ct w

as ra

nked am

ong the 2

0

Hotte

st Sta

rtups o

f the Y

ear by C

NBC.

pet ioleapp .comF IND YOUR

OWN WAY AND

FOLLOW I T

Maryna Kuzmenko

Co-Founder and CEO

Pet iole

UKRAINE

WH

AT IN

SPIRES Y

OU

?

The idea

to m

ake

som

ethin

g bette

r and to

make s

omeo

ne’s lif

e

easie

r and m

ore p

ositiv

e.

Ever since th

e age o

f fiv

e when I

was c

rush-

ing blu

eberries,

bottlin

g them

and selling

them

to neig

hbors to

use as fa

ce cream

,

I’ve had a pass

ion fo

r entrepre

neurship

.

Workin

g at

a law

firm

late

r in li

fe, I

was

researc

hing a

case in w

hich a

company w

as

being su

ed for com

ments

on th

eir Facebook

page. I quic

kly notic

ed that

almost

every

brand w

as re

ceivin

g harm

ful c

ontent s

uch

as spam

, scam

s, ra

cism, p

iracy a

nd defa

ma-

tion. I

was

intr

igued, a

nd decid

ed to ju

mp

off th

e legal p

ath t

o focus

on solv

ing t

his

proble

m. I

put

togeth

er a t

eam o

f som

e of

the b

righte

st p

eople I

found a

nd we st

arted

developin

g technolo

gy to e

nable u

s to

– o

n

real t

ime a

nd with

extr

eme a

ccuracy –

pro

-

cess m

illio

ns of p

ieces o

f conte

nt aro

und the

clock. O

ur solutio

n became popula

r espe-

cially

amongst

global

companie

s in

vestin

g

heavily in

social

media

marketin

g. W

hat

motiv

ates

me daily

is th

at w

e’re help

ing

companie

s solv

e a p

roble

m th

at is c

ontinu-

ously g

row

ing in

siz

e and th

at im

pacts n

ot

only com

panies,

but as

well

the liv

es of

several m

illio

n people

activ

ely e

ngaging o

n

social m

edia. P

ersiste

nce is k

ey to s

uccess

– as is s

olvin

g a pro

blem

that y

ou’re p

assio

n-

ate a

bout solv

ing! I

also a

lways l

ook to h

ire

people m

uch smarte

r than m

yself.

Jenny, 25,

founded Bra

ndBastio

n in

2013 in H

elsinki,

Finla

nd. Jenny h

olds

a mast

er’s degre

e in L

aw a

nd has

also

studie

d marketin

g and managem

ent.

BrandBast

ion pro

tects

companie

s’ ad

perform

ance, bra

nd re

putatio

n and

inte

llectu

al pro

perty rig

hts on socia

l

media

aro

und the clo

ck and w

orks with

governments

and F

ortune 5

00 bra

nds.

The com

pany services t

he market l

ead-

ers of

seven indust

ries

and has been

recogniz

ed as o

ne of 2

0 most

pro

misi

ng

companie

s in F

inla

nd.

brandbast ion .com

SOLV ING THE

DARK S IDE OF

SOC IAL MED IA

Jenny Wolfram

Founder and CEO

BrandBast ion

F INLAND

WH

AT W

OU

LD Y

OU

DO IF

YO

U H

AD

MORE S

PARE T

IME?

I love h

ikin

g and

spen

ding a lo

t of t

ime

outdoors

in n

ature

.

THE HUNDERT // MARKETPLACE

I founded m

y com

pany with

one o

f my b

est fr

iends,

Lara. T

he idea

emerg

ed when w

e were

studyin

g econom

ics a

nd busin

ess a

dmin

is-

tratio

n in P

ortugal.

We p

artic

ipate

d in th

e big

gest entr

epreneurs

hip

competit

ion and w

ere aw

arded se

cond place. That

gave us th

e

validatio

n and m

otivatio

n to m

ove forw

ard a

nd conta

ct m

entors

and invest

ors.

Alm

ost tw

o years la

ter,

workin

g with

such an in

credib

le te

am

insp

ires m

e more

than a

nythin

g else. T

he challe

nge and th

e fulfi

l-

ment y

ou get f

rom

reachin

g mile

stones i

s only

poss

ible

when y

ou

gather a

n outs

tandin

g gro

up of p

eople. T

his ta

kes tim

e, but w

hen it

happens, it

is m

agic.

If th

ere w

as a pie

ce of advic

e I w

ould te

ll m

y 20-year-o

ld self,

it w

ould b

e: ‘List

en to e

veryone, but

follo

w y

our ow

n inst

incts

.’

Everyone will

giv

e you th

eir opin

ions,

but no o

ne will

giv

e you th

e

right a

nswer fo

r how

to c

reate

a s

uccessfu

l com

pany. Be r

eady to

work h

ard and h

ave the c

uriosit

y and in

tere

st to

accept t

he best

that o

thers h

ave to o

ffer y

ou. You ju

st h

ave to b

e confident a

nd fol-

low

the p

ath y

ou belie

ve in.

THE MAGIC OF

A GOOD TEAM

WH

AT H

ELPS

YOU

FO

CUS?

Those m

omen

ts w

hen

you are in

a flig

ht

with

no p

hone and

inte

rnet

access.

F i l ipa Neto

Co-Founder and CEO

Ch ic by Cho ice

PORTUGAL

At t

he age o

f 20, I

was t

he only

IT la

wyer in

Est

onia. I

t was t

he

1990s, and th

e countr

y had o

nly r

ecently r

egained it

s in

depen-

dence. I w

as hire

d by the Prim

e Min

ister’s

office to

write

the

country’s

Dig

ital S

ignatu

res A

ct – one of t

he first

in th

e world

. My

journey to

ok me fr

om th

e Est

onian C

entral S

ecurities D

epository

to a

n executiv

e chair a

t NA

SDAQ

Talli

nn Sto

ck Exchange. I

liked

the jo

bs, but

after t

welv

e years

at th

e exchange, I

fin

ally m

us-

tere

d up t

he coura

ge to b

ecome a

n entr

epreneur.

I thought,

‘If

I don’t

do it n

ow, I

will

regre

t it f

or the re

st o

f my li

fe.’ I

founded

Funderbeam, t

he world

’s st

artup m

arketpla

ce. I th

ink e

ntrepre

-

neurs are

born w

ith p

assio

n to m

ake a diff

erence, b

oth in

our own

lives

and with

in in

dustrie

s th

at have r

emain

ed unchanged f

or

years. If

you belie

ve in y

our visi

on and y

ou know

how

to execute

it, th

en everythin

g is p

ossib

le.

Kaidi,

40, is

the fo

under and CEO of

Funderbeam, th

e world

’s st

artup m

ar-

ketpla

ce founded in

2013. Powere

d by

blockchain

technolo

gy, the m

arketpla

ce

delivers c

apital t

o startu

ps and li

quidity

to in

vestors w

orldw

ide. K

aidi’s

company

now h

as 16 e

mplo

yees. Befo

re s

tartin

g

Funderbeam, K

aidi w

as CEO

of N

asdaq

Tallinn

Stock

Exchange and

of th

e

Central S

ecurities D

epository. T

rain

ed as

a law

yer, sh

e co-a

uthore

d the E

stonia

n

Dig

ital S

ignatu

res A

ct, a la

ndmark of t

he

country’s

boomin

g electr

onic e

conomy.

funderbeam.com

YOU HAVE NOTH ING TO LO

SE BY

BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR

WH

EN W

E

SAY ‘TEA

M’

WH

AT D

O

YOU

TH

INK

?

Get re

ady,

here w

e com

e!

Funderte

am

Kaid i Ruusa lepp

Founder and CEO

Funderbeam

ESTON IA

THE HUNDERT // FINTECH

© Egert

Kamenik

144 145

Filipa

is co-fo

under of

Chic

by

Choice,

Europe’s

leadin

g lu

xury

renta

l m

arketpla

ce th

at allo

ws

wom

en to re

nt desig

ner dress

es

and access

ories

at a fr

action o

f the

reta

il pric

e. Fili

pa was

able to

raise

a €520,0

00 invest

ment f

or the v

en-

ture

at the age of 2

3. She is

currently

managin

g a te

am o

f 20 w

ith o

ffices

in London and Lisb

on, and is also

part of

the Glo

bal Shapers

com-

munity

, an in

itiativ

e of

the W

orld

Economic

Forum

.

chic-b

y-choi

ce.com

146 147

THE HUNDERT // FOODTHE HUNDERT // WEB DESIGN

Froont was not m

y first company, but it surely w

as the big-

gest challenge I had undertaken in my career at that point.

When I w

as about to have my second daughter in 2012, w

e

saw that internet usage on m

obile devices was overtaking

desktop usage and there was plenty of opportunity in the

realm of responsive w

eb design tools. There were no such

tools on the market, and it w

as extremely exciting to take

part in creating something new

and innovative.

When m

y daughter was six m

onths old, my startup w

as

accepted into Finnish accelerator Startup Sauna. I began

each day at 7 am cooking porridge for m

y baby. While w

e

had courses in the Aalto V

enture Garage, a local girl would

come over and take m

y baby on a walk. I cooked lunch and

dinner at the Garage and we stayed there until the last buses

left, just working and training pitches. I put baby Elisa to bed

around 10 pm and continued w

orking until 2 am before get-

ting up at 7 again. This was a real challenge, but I w

ill never

regret my decision. It has been a great journey full of excite-

ment and new

experiences! I feel that I have the obligation to

show m

y daughters that wom

en are a powerful force in this

world and w

e can do great things.

START ING A COMPANY

IS A BALANC ING ACT

WH

AT

MO

TIVATES

YOU

?I am m

otivated

by great ideas.

Anna Andersone

Co-Founder , Froont

LATV IAAnna, 34, is from

Riga, Latvia, and graduat-

ed from the Stockholm

School of Economics.

She started her career in advertising at

McCann-Erickson Riga. In 2008, together

with Sandijs Ruluks, she co-founded the

graphic design studio HungryLab and built

a website engine berta.m

e. In 2012, the

web design m

arket had changed and the

partners decided to found Froont – a web

design tool for professional designers –

to ease the process of building a website.

froont .com

© Kriš

s Karn

itis

Gratis

Newsletter

aktivieren!

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150 151THE HUNDERT AT EVENTS

Becoming a biggest tech meetup of CEE,

Bitspiration Festival gathers startup

founders, investors, entrepreneurs, and

all sorts of tech enthusiasts in one place.

By putting together startup communi-

ties from all over central Europe and

all sorts of tech influencers it creates a

unique space for developing revolution-

ary solutions.

bitspiration.com

Warsaw, Poland, 6.-7.06 2016

The Digital Festival is a 4-day tech festival

that unites innovators, global players,

and tech-fans. Designed as an open eco-

system and organized in circles we create

various sessions around the core zone:

Touchpoints, conferences, hands-on labs,

workshop, and prototyping sessions. The

Festival includes HackZurich - Europe’s

largest Hackathon with 500+ participants

and an output of 120+ prototypes.

digital-festival.org

Zurich, Switerland, 15.-18.09.2016

Where tech innovators build the network

to succeed. Pioneers Festival is the major

event for future technologies and entre-

preneurship. Join the juried and strictly

limited community of 2,500 like-minded

pioneers and build relationships that

matter with startup founders, executives,

investors, and international media in a

unique setting.

pioneers.io/festival2016

Vienna, Austria, 24.-25.05.2016

The Conference for Continuous Delivery,

Microservices, Docker, Clouds, and Lean

Business, the next DevOps Conference

will be presented by JAXenter in Berlin.

The main topics of the conference are

Continuous Delivery, Microservices, Docker,

Clouds, and Lean Business. More than 30

national and international renowned

speakers will share their knowledge in

6 workshops, 38 sessions, and 4 keynotes.

devopsconference.de

Berlin, Germany, 13.-16.06.2016

Rethinking and transforming healthcare

will be the focus of the 2016 Charité

Entrepreneurship Summit. Digital health,

open innovation, value-based medicine,

and genome engineering will be among

the features discussed at this two-day

networking event to foster discovery and

facilitate a collaborative platform for 400+

international entrepreneurs and health-

care industry leaders.

charite-summit.de

Berlin, Germany, 26.-27.06.2016

At the Connexpo tools, tool provider such

as digital experts show how digitisation

of the world of work gets implemented.

Be inspired by hearing success stories of

other companies, try out the latest tools

in various workshops, benefit from the

digital services that support you to

implement a comprehensive digital

strategy and further your education in

discussions, presentations and keynotes.

tools-berlin.de

Berlin, Germany, 15.-16.06.2016

We are in the “Age of Merging”. Disruptive

business models conquer markets and

innovative AdTech-companies change mar-

keting in unprecedented speed. Crossmedia

is everywhere. The digital transformation

is in full swing. At Cross - Digital Marketing

Summit, the pioneers of the industry meet:

40 top speakers from Google to Red Bull,

more than 20 powerful workshops, and a

startup expo are waiting for you.

cross-summit.de

Mannheim, Germany, 25.05.2016

Content marketing is a powerful instru-

ment – done right, you can link your

customers to the company in the long

term. At the Content Marketing Masters,

experts of the industry will show you

their content strategies and give helpful

tips and insights.

contentmarketingmasters.de

Berlin, Germany, 02.06.2016

This year’s Investor Days Thuringia are

taking place from June 14 to June 15

in Erfurt. Meet investors and business

angels at the “Meet the Rising Stars”-Fair

or present your startup idea to judges and

the influential audience at the “Elevator

Pitch”. Deadline for pitchers: 09.05.2016.

thex.de/innovativ/investor-days

Erfurt, Germany, 14.-15.06.2016

Codeanywhere’s Shift Developer

Conference has been bringing together

leaders in development and technology

for 5 years and connects them with the

ancient beauty of Mediterranean.

shiftsplit.com

Split, Croatia, 02.-03.06.2016

“The 24th European Venture Market pres-

ents 15 innovative international startups

in its “Hub” Berlin. Topics: CYBER, Big Data,

FINTECH, Connectivity & Media based on

e-commerce, SaaS, and Cloud. At the EVM

startups have the opportunity to meet the

right international investors. In cooperation

with the Berlin Web Week and our part-

ners VBKI & EY we present the EVM!

Keynoter: Jon Matoins und Florian

Heinemann”

europeanventuremarket.com

Berlin, Germany, 15.06.2016

eTail Europe brings together 1,000

ecommerce directors & VPs from Europe’s

biggest retailers. You’ll learn firsthand

how our 80+ speakers, including 15 of UK’s

top 18 retailers, move their marketing

forward. It’s a hands-on experience, with

roundtables and small group discussions,

and also fun, games, drinks, and a wild

reception that will have you bragging to

your colleagues for weeks to come.

etaileurope.wbresearch.com

London, UK, Germany, 19.-21.06.2016

the Hu

nd

ert will be d

istributed

all over E

urop

e for free,

and

will be av

ailable at the followin

g con

ferences an

d ev

ents:

DEVELOPER CONFERENCEShift

digital. simple. successful.

THE HUNDERT // EVENTS

Powered by Startup-Calendar.com

152 153

THE HUNDERT // EVENTS

Women Speaker Foundadtion and

Deutsche Bahn invite you to a summit

about transformation of leadership!

The actual transformation of the world

of work is not in the factories but takes

place in your office. Discover with us

how these processes of transformation

are specifically designed and how lead-

ership in business functions today.

innovation-summit.de

Frankfurt am Main, Germany,

31.05-01.06.2016

Slush is Europe’s leading startup and

technology event. It connects startups

and tech talent with top-tier international

investors, executives, and media. Slush

is organized by a volunteer community

of entrepreneurs, investors, and students,

and characterized by a very unique ener-

gy and enthusiasm. In 2015, the two-day

event brought together 15,000 attendees

from 100 nations to Helsinki, Finland.

slush.org

Helsinki, Finland, 30.11-1.12.2016

The conference for solutions

to optimize your digital

business offers insights into

web trends and developments

in digital communication and

marketing. Top speakers share

their view on best practices

for content marketing, corpo-

rate communication, customer

experience, marketing auto-

mation, big data, conversion

optimization, and SEO: they

offer actionable tips for you

to implement right away.

relaunch-konferenz.de

Hamburg, Germany,

06.06.2016

The all-day conference “Fempreneur

Summit” welcomes self-employed and

startup interested women. Keynotes of

founders and business experts like Tanja

Bogumil of Kisura, Felicia Mutterer of

Straight magazine, and Masoud Kamali

of WestTech Ventures and many more.

In the evening you will have the opportu-

nity to connect with like-minded people

on the networking party “Fempreneur ‘s

Night Out”. #FemSum16

fempreneur-summit.com

Berlin, Germany, 09.06.2016

This double event provides enhanced

networking opportunities. The Strategy

Summit Marketing & Digital Marketing

offers decision-makers the platform to

discuss current developments in the

Marketing field. Today the pressure for

industry leaders to move to online plat-

forms is growing. The Strategy Summit

B2B E-Commerce & Omnichannel presents

new ideas and deep insights into the

E-Commerce Business.

project-networks.com/ecom

Berlin, Germany, 28.-29.06.2016

The NOAH Conference provides a plat-

form for leaders of the digital economy

to meet and interact, discuss disruptive

trends across industries and understand

how others have successfully managed

challenges and benefited from emerging

opportunities. The target audience spans

from entrepreneurs, investors, corporate

executives, networkers to leading indus-

try journalists.

noah-conference.com

Berlin, Germany, 08.-09.06.2016

What moves Berlin and the future of

retail? E-commerce entrepreneurs and

industry insiders will get ideas on current

market shifts, growth cracks, and inno-

vation potentials. K5 is the Top Event of

experience, backgrounds, and networking

with the biggest e-commerce retailer. The

valuable insights participants will receive

including by keynotes, Q & A sessions,

and panels in “Jochen Krisch Style”

k5-berlin.com

Berlin, Germany, 13.06.2016

Security of Things World is the industry

event for engaged, high level, international

executives from across all sectors that are

affected by the need for security of the

Internet of Things. Connect with over 300

peers to learn, network, and share best prac-

tice strategies at the only dedicated forum

where all stakeholders who play an active

role in the security of IoT come together.

securityofthingsworld.com

Berlin, Germany, 27.-28.06.2016

Tech Open Air is Europe´s leading

Interdisciplinary Technology Festival.

Connect and learn with top-tier entre-

preneurs, artists, and scientists at the

beautiful Funkhaus Berlin. Inspirational

storytelling, interactive panels, know-

shops, pillowtalks, art installations, live

music, and more than 175 satellite events

will transform Berlin’s creative communi-

ty into an interactive hub for tech.

toa.berlin

Berlin, Germany, 13.-15.07.2016

Being Mobile-First is no longer an option

for companies, it is an absolute must for

all B2C business to have a robust and

profitable mobile product that serves and

delights the consumer. The Open Mobile

Summit London is the hub for Mobile

Product Leaders to meet, share, innovate,

and walk away with actionable insight for

their mobile team.

openmobilemedia.com/london

London, UK, 27.-28.06.2016

Held over two summer days at the

Skolkovo Innovations Center, Startup

Village incorporates lively debates, inter-

active startup exhibitions, and the startup

pitch sessions in an open-air festival of

entrepreneurship. The conference brings

together 12,000 participants, including

2,000 startups and 500 investors from

more than 40 countries and over

60 Russian regions.

startupvillage.ru

Moskow, Russia, 02.-03.06.2016

Europe’s leading IoT conference, the IoT

Tech Expo will be arriving in Berlin for

two days of top level content and discus-

sion, introducing and exploring the latest

innovations in the Internet of Things are-

na. There will be 5 dedicated conference

tracks covering Smart Cities, Connected

Living, Developing & IoT Technologies,

Connected Industry, and Data & Security

in addition to a free exhibition.

iottechexpo.com/germany

Berlin, Germany, 14.-14.06.2016

The webinale is the conference for digital

professionals, trendsetters, and deci-

sion-makers in the world wide web.

The conference is the ideal crossover

platform for knowledge transfer,

inspiration, and exchange of experience.

webinale.de

Berlin, Germany, 29.05-02.06.2016

The digital revolution has already

influenced our social structures and

perceptions, disruption is the buzzword.

Companies, from retailers to high tech

parks, must subject themselves to a

process of change. This requires new

approaches to our thinking and quick

action. Business after Future is a unique

conference for those preparing for change

in their business and want to benefit in

the long run.

disruption-conference.de

Berlin, Germany, 06.-07.07.2016

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154 155

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT THE HUNDERT // EVENTS

Whether student, graduate, experienced

professional woman, or just ambitious,

meet more than 100 top employers at

Germany’s most important career fair

for women. Establish new contacts at the

Career-Lounge, explore your individual

career opportunities, and exchange infor-

mation about how women’s careers look

like today and in the future. Attending

the career fair is free of charge!

womenandwork.de

Bonn, Germany, 04.06.2016

STICKS & STONES Career Fair has been

called “The rockstar of all career fairs”,

there is no room for boring mediocracy -

instead rockstars, geeks, and unicorns are

reflecting the infinite complexity of life.

Our speakers and exhibitors are here to

meet people like you - regardless if you

are homosexual or straight, in between

or beyond. 100 exhibitors, 40 speakers,

and 1.000 job offers are awaiting you!

the-rockstar.com

Berlin, Germany, 03.-04.06.2016

THE HUNDERT ANZE IGE

Berlin Buzzwords is a conference focused

on open source software projects in the

field of big data analysis, scalability, stor-

age, and search. It provides a platform for

developers, engineers, IT architects, ana-

lysts and data scientists. The 7th edition

of Berlin Buzzwords will be held on June

05-07, 2016 at Kulturbrauerei.

berlinbuzzwords.de

Berlin, Germany, 05.-07.06.2016

The 8th edition of droidcon Berlin

takes place from June 15-17, 2016 at

Postbahnhof. The Android developer event

will again consist of a barcamp and two

conference days. The idea behind droidcon

is to support the Android platform and

create a strong network for developers and

companies. In 2015 more than 800 Android

enthusiasts came to Berlin.

droidcon.de

Berlin, Germany, 15.-17.06.2016

DMY International Design Festival Berlin,

with motto Odyssey 2016, includes

product and industrial design, fashion and

graphic design, as well as communication

and digital design. The DMY gathers

stakeholders from the creative industries,

players from research and education,

journalists as well as design fans from all

over the world who for four days indulge

in their mutual passion for design.

dmyberlin.com

Berlin, Germany, 02.-05.06.2016

Founders Forum is a unique, not for profit,

and invitation-only event, renowned

for bringing together the top-tier en-

trepreneurs, CEOs, and investors from

technology, media, and digital for dynamic

group brainstorming, open debate, one to

one meetings, and top panel discussions.

Previous guests include Eric Schmidt

(Google), Niklas Zennstrom (Skype), Reid

Hoffman (LinkedIn).

ff.co

London, UK, 16.06.2016

SaaStock is the premier European B2B

SaaS Conference: 700 Founders and VCs

will be in attendance to learn from those

that are building category leading SaaS

businesses. Yet we’ll have global speakers

and global success stories. If you want to

grow you network, get the playbook on

how to build a category leading B2B SaaS

business and want to turn your SaaS to

eleven, this is the conference for you.

saastock.com

Dublin, Ireland, 22.09.2016

Powered by Startup-Calendar.com

100 FEMALE STARTUP FOUNDERS EUROPE

Meet them and read their inspiring stories about starting out as a founder.

Made with love in Berlin

facebook.com/thehundert twitter.com/thehundert

FREE DOWNLOAD AT

THE-HUNDERT.COM

157

Project A is a Berlin-based early-

stage investor and operational VC

in the digital technology space.

With financial support and oper-

ational expertise, Project A helps

startups to build up competences in

key areas such as IT, Performance

Marketing, Business Intelligence

and Organization Building, and

thus contributes to their sustainable

success. Project A has supported

entrepreneurs in building compa-

nies such as Treatwell, nu3, evino,

Catawiki or Tictail.

project-a.com

House of Clouds: One of the big-

gest co-working spaces in Berlin.

Benefits: inexpensive, short contract

periods, an easy and friendly

atmosphere - located in the green

heart of Moabit. All desks are fixed,

we have a fair-use printer flatrate

and 24/7 access is available.

No deposit for desk or room, own

parking spaces. Good local traffic

links with U9, buses (TXL,M27)

and circle line station.

houseofclouds.de

Hi Germany, We’re open! Located at

the heart of Berlin (Friedrichstraße

68) and Hamburg (Rödignsmarkt

9) Mindspace provides the most

inspiring shared and private offices

for you and your company to grow

and succeed. Mindspace offers fully

equipped office space with high

speed internet, 24/7 access, fur-

nished meeting rooms, magnificent

team of community managers and

IT support and all in flexible month-

ly payment plans. Because life is too

short for a boring office..

mindspace.me

During the 4-months program

of the Microsoft Ventures

Accelerator, you will have access

to mentorship, technical training

and support as well as the oppor-

tunity to network with angels,

VC’s, Microsoft executives and

media and industry influentials.

microsoftventures.com

Rainmaking Loft Berlin is home to

more than 35 high-tech startups and

individual entrepreneurs that aspire

to stir up the startup scene in Berlin

and Europe. As Berlin’s hub for

high-tech startups, entrepreneurs

surround themselves with a synergy

of the like-minded. Because magic

happens when the right talent meets

the right environment. Rainmaking

Loft Berlin has become the regular

location partner for the Tech

Open Air, Fuck Up Nights and

the European Digital Health Day.

rainmakingloft.de

Axel Springer Plug and Play:

A Home for digital entrepreneurs.

The Berlin-based startup acceler-

ator provides financing, a global

network, office space, mentoring,

experience sharing and more.

Founders can apply three times a

year. More than 70 startups from

all over the world have participat-

ed with more than 50% of them

raising follow-on investment. The

program is highly selective and has

already accelerated many interna-

tionally successful companies.

axelspringerplugandplay.com

Ahoy! Berlin was established

in 2011 by Nikita Roshkow and

Nikolas Woischnik. Since its

inception, it has become one of the

most popular coworking spaces in

Berlin. After recently moving from

Charlottenburg to a new location

in Mitte, Ahoy offers coworking

desks, team offices, an event space,

conference rooms, a cafeteria and

more spread out over an area of

around 4000 m2.

ahoyberlin.com

betahaus is for people who want to

work on their own projects while

exchanging knowledge, ideas, and

inspiration with others. betahaus

is there to foster entrepreneurship,

creativity, rapid prototyping and

innovative product development.

The community consists of entre-

preneurs, startups, corporate teams,

freelancers, and creatives, who to

various degrees collaborate and

cooperate..

betahaus.com/berlin

Unicorn.Berlin is high-end

coworking, café and event space

in one. In short: Work Eat Meet.

Sophisticated and minimalistic

interior meets healthy, green,

freshly-prepared food and deli-

cious coffee. We offer workspaces

with great atmosphere, meeting

rooms and an event space for up

to 200 people. Visit our locations

at Brunnenstraße 173, 10115 Berlin

and Brunnenstraße 64, 13335 Berlin.

unicorn.berlin

For St. Oberholz, place and space

are essential and a source of

inspiration. In two of their three

café locations, they have infused

the old with new to create places

that house coworking spaces,

team rooms and apartments.

sanktoberholz.de

Hub:raum provides seed funding

for startups that have the potential

to fundamentally transform im-

portant markets for the Deutsche

Telekom. Startups receive capital

to establish market traction as well

as added benefits like co-working

space, mentoring and introductions

to the Deutsche Telekom.

hubraum.com

Roof Up is a coworking space that

doesn’t only offer workplaces but

also room for meetings and events.

Its large terrace is perfect to enjoy

every sunny day. Roof Up also

supports expert and startup com-

munities in Berlin.

roof-up.com

Agora Collective is a project space

founded in June of 2011 in Berlin

Neukölln with the mission to create

a prototype of a community that

reflects on alternative models for

cultural, social and economical pro-

duction today. Agora hosts people

and projects, creating formats of

interactions and methodologies of

work based on a philosophy that

reflects the values of our communi-

ty: diversity, self-organization and

social ties..

agoracollective.org

BERL IN PARTNERS

the Hundert will be distributed at Berlin’s most

important startup spots, coworking spaces and

accelerators. Thanks to our Berlin Partners,

you will always be able to find one of our copies.

THE HUNDERT // BERLIN PARTNERS

156

R OF UP

NETW

ORK

PART

NERS

Software and Support Media is an internation-

al publishing house focused on the IT sector.

The company’s information and service offer

is tailored to IT- professionals of all important

technology markets. The portfolio covers

conferences, trainings, specialist magazines,

online services and books. In Europe, it ranks

as one of the most comprehensive portfolios

of its kind.

sandsmedia.com

project networks GmbH is an indepen-

dent event service provider offering

companies, ranging from medium-sized

enterprises up to large corporations, an

exclusive platform for efficient network-

ing and exchanging ideas and innovations.

project networks‘ Strategy Summits are

designed in close consultation with the

business world. They offer opportunities

to generate interesting business contacts.

project-networks.com

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(CCI) of Berlin is an advocate for compa-

nies, actively promoting Berlin as a place

to do business. As a critical partner of

political institutions, it acts as a market

promoter. As a service provider, the CCI

Berlin supports its 274,300 members

through its services and activities. Some

3,500 voluntarily active businessmen and

women assist the CCI‘s 250 employees.

ihk-berlin.de

dfv Conference Group, the event arm of

dfv Media Group, develops, organizes and

produces executive-level conferences and

conventions. It turns media and informa-

tion into a hands-on experience fostering

professional exchange and networking

throughout the business community.

The majority of the delegates attending

its events come from senior management

and other top-ranking corporate positions.

dfv.de

The digital economy, technology and cre-

ativity are the engines empowering Berlin’s

growth. In collaboration with other partners,

the Senate Chancellery paved the way for the

Berlin Startup Unit in 2014, in order to create

even better conditions for tech entrepreneurs

in the startup capital. The cooperation with

the Hundert, as well as the new platform

www.techberlin.com are fine examples of

what has emerged since then.

berlin.de

As representative and voice of startups,

the Federal Association of German

Startups is very committed towards a

“founder-friendly” Germany. In dialogue

with decision makers in politics, they

develop proposals which encourage a

culture of self-employment and minimize

the obstacles of business formation. As a

network, they connect founders, startups

and their friends with each other.

deutschestartups.orgFor almost 15 years, media.net berlinbran-

denburg ranks among the biggest and

most successful regional networks of the

creative and digital industries in Germany.

Cross-border and cross-sectoral, it rep-

resents more than 400 members including

established companies but also more than

140 startups. The aim of the association

is the cross-linking and representation of

member interests at state and federal level.

medianet-bb.de

Neue Mediengesellschaft Ulm is a leading

media company for tech and retail. More

than 30 journalists cover the following

industries: IT, telecommunications, digital

business, and software development.

The media company also organizes confer-

ences, webinars, and Europe’s leading

e-commerce trade fair Internet World.

nmg.de

TU Berlin combines expertise from research,

education and startup support. A one-stop

shop for startups has resulted from it: the

Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE). The CfE

provides access to the huge potential of seven

faculties to develop and form startup mental-

ity, ideas and teams based on technology and

knowledge. Since 2012, more than 29 startups

from TU Berlin received funding, among these

Panono and TestObject.

entrepreneurship.tu-berlin.de

Founded in 1879, the VBKI is the oldest

and one of the most distinguished busi-

ness associations in Germany. Thanks

to the expert knowledge and varied back-

grounds of its more than 1,800 members,

the VBKI serves as an important crossroad

between key stakeholders from Berlin and

beyond. As a business network and debate

platform, the VBKI connects everybody,

thus shaping the bright future of Berlin.

vbki.de

The business associations Berlin-Brandenburg

(UVB) are the leading associations in econom-

ics and socio-politics in the capital region.

As a parent organization of about 60 trade and

employers’ associations, the UVB is an ideal

platform for the contact between established

companies and startups from the B2B sector.

uvb-online.de

INTERNET WORLD Business is the leading

business magazine for digital professionals in

the German speaking countries. It provides

news and background articles on e-commerce,

digital marketing, and the software tools for

both. The print magazine reaches 40,000

readers. The news portal Internetworld.de has

1,6 million page impressions and more than

730,000 visits per month.

internetworld.de

The German Private Equity and Venture

Capital Association (Bundesverband

Deutscher Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaften

- BVK) is the representative of the German

private equity industry covering private

equity firms, from venture capital through

growth capital to buyouts, as well as insti-

tutional investors. BVK has almost 190 full

and more than 100 associated members.

bvkap.deThe Medienboard is the first stop agency

for creative professionals active in the

film and media industries in Berlin and

Brandenburg. Medienboard’s funding

program for interactive and innovative

content funds the development and

production of games, apps, transmedia,

virtual reality, and other innovative proj-

ects with an annual budget of €1 million.

medienboard.de

Management Forum der Verlagsgruppe

Handelsblatt GmbH is one of the leading

providers of congresses and trade fairs in

the consumer goods industry and retail

area. The mission of Management Forum

is “Excellence in Business Information”

and represents our claim for top informa-

tion, excellent expertise, and networking

opportunity for our participants.

managementforum.com

Get Started is the startup initiative within

Bitkom aiming at connecting startups

with established companies in the digital

sector and at representing startups’ inter-

ests in politics. Overall, Bitkom represents

more than 1,500 companies including

300 startups which can join the associa-

tion at special startup terms.

getstarted.de

The Humboldt University Research

Service Centre and Humboldt-Innovation

are jointly responsible for HU Venture

Service, which supports students and re-

searchers to establish their own company.

The Venture Service assists with applying

for funding and provides office space as

well as networking and training opportu-

nities. It also supports alumni startups.

gruendung.hu-berlin.de

Egon Zehnder qualifies as one of the

leading Leadership Counsels with

420 consultants worldwide. Innovative

medium sized companies, but also global

corporations, long-standing family

businesses and startups rely on us.

In Germany, 50 consultants work at

six different locations for Egon Zehnder,

including Berlin.

egonzehnder.com

We

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THE HUNDERT // NETWORK PARTNERS

158

NKF MEDIA TEAMOur daily enthusiasm and dedication opens our minds for more innovative

projects. Our mission started with the Hundert and was followed by the

birth of our sister magazine Berlin Valley - Berlin’s leading startup maga-

zine. Berlin Valley is more than a magazine. It also is an online platform and

a host to a new series of events about the edition’s topics. The Nonkonformist

(NKF) family has evolved and expanded: we publish our two magazines, list

European startup events in our Startup-Calerndar.com and just launched

our job portal Startup-jobs.eu. We like to think big and turn our dreams and

visions into reality. All of this, however, would have never been possible

without the effort and drive of our great team.

This one is for you! From left to right: Maik Möbius, Jan Thomas (behind the

couch), Daniela Rattunde, Doron Bruck, Jennifer Lorch, Claudia Lunscken,

Bilgen Yaylali, Chris Lennartz, Kata Oldziejewska, Corinna Visser, Florian

Stein, Sebastian Schäfer (on the couch), Magdalena Krygielska, Massimo

Pisati (on the floor), and Anna-Lena Kümpel (who had to stay at home

battling the flu).

www.nkf.media

An open-minded, lively company culture that encourages

the team to take initiative to work on themselves, develop

their skill set while learning and promoting the startup spirit.

We are currently looking to grow and expand our team. If you

are thinking about working in a media house or in the startup

scene, simply opt for both and join us!

161160 161160

© Max Threlfall

WANT WORK WITH US?

WWW.NKF.MEDIA/JOBS

THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

Every issue of the Hundert is a result of collective enthusiasm. Our tiny core team couldn’t accomplish such a huge project

without the collaboration and support of our partners, freelancers and friends. To all of you our most sincere gratitude

from the bottom of our hearts.

Our genuine thanks goes to Natascha Ungereit and the team from Operation Butterfly for this brilliant design and art

direction. Thank you for being responsible and taking care of every detail. Working with you is a real pleasure! Also big

thanks to Balázs Tarsoly, who conceptualized the Hundert and now supports the creative process and to Johnnie Clapper

for taking care of the technical part of the production and being there, when we need him most. A new person at OPB

team, Silvia Geier, also earned a round of applause: she worked with us for the first time and designed most of the female

founders’ articles. Thank you for that! And of course thanks to Riccardo Volpato for an amazing cover. Again! We know

it was hard work and the creative process was quite intricate, but we hope that in the end you’re happy and proud of this

amazing issue we worked on together. A big hug to all of you!

A special ‘thank you’ goes to the good soul of this issue, Stephanie Renner. She suggested female entrepreneurship as

a topic. Thank you, Stephanie, for the inspiration and all your support during production!

Julia Neuman from Silicon Allee helped us again with her fine-tuned intuition of the written word. This time she

examined the quality of all 100 stories, which were submitted by our female founders. She did it with passion and intent.

Julia, it is really great to have you on board!

Big thanks goes to the team of Solokarpfen. Especially to Julia Meusel for coordinating, proofreading and constructive

feedbacks. Thanks to Julia Anna Bader and Stefanie Enge for their support and assistance and a big hug to Christoph and

Marisa Strobel for being there.

The Hundert is a beautiful and quality print magazine, thanks to Steffen Setzer and Manuela Wachs from our printing

partner, Laserline. Thank you for the reliable cooperation, flexibility, understanding and support.

We would also like to sincerely thank Joanne Wilson for her foreword and our 20 international experts on sharing their

thoughts and advice for female entrepreneurs: Elzbieta Bienkowska, Judith Clegg, Paddy Cosgrave, Steffi Czerny, Mathias

Döpfner, Bruno Giussani, Irena Goldenberg, Neelie Kroes, Axelle Lemaire, Nenad Marovac, Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke,

Selma Prodanovic, Anne Ravanona, Hemdat Sagi, Thomas Sattelberger, Ursula Schwarzenbart, Tine Thygesen, Sophie

Vandebroek, Armgard von Reden, and Robin Wauters.

For the first time the Hundert presents startups from all over Europe. This was only possible thanks to many supportive

souls which helped us with our research and helped us with intros and tips. Among many, we would like to highlight:

Emil Abirascid, Zoltán Ács, Caroline Albenque, Jennifer Austin, Paulina Bagińska, Nico Bindels, Georgi Chipanov, Daniela

Dicks, Petra Dobešová, Jess Erickson, Yaniv Feldman, Julie Foulon, Zenia Francker, Stefan Glaenzer, Gabriel Grabner,

Rune Gregers Meyer, Christoph Jeschke, Welix Klaas, Baška Klimek, Maija Kopola, Peter Kovacs, Eliza Kruczkowska, Mira

Krusteff, Lenka Kucerova, Anastasiia Linnas, Adrian Locher, Ivan Lopez Garrido, Scott Mackin, Thomas Madsen-Mygdal,

Riku Mäkelä, Gal Menaged, Jana Martinová, Joseph Michael, Alexander Mihaylov, Tamás Müller, Marija Odineca, Dóra

Pekár, Felix Petersen, Demetrios Pogkas, Aleš Pustovrh, Vukašin Stojkov, Monika Synoradzka, Aslıhan Tekin, Roxane

Varza, Sara Vihavainen and Dominik Wensauer.

Most notably we would like to thank our sponsors and advertising partners again, without whom we would not have

been able to realize the Hundert. For this issue, we would like to especially thank: Tim Dümichen, Marius Sternberg, Julia

Linhart, Anna-Luisa Heim from KPMG; Klaus Siegers, Luzi Teber and Maike Valentin from Weberbank; Matthias Birkholz

and Kristina Karsten from lindenpartners.

Special gratitude also goes to Isabelle Sonnenfeld, Tim Brandt, Markus Kuehn, Volker Schütz, Aleksandra Garyga, Lucie

Volquartz, Ulrike Linzer, Maria Kufeld, Julia Alexandru, Alexander Hüsing, Tilo Bonow, Andrea Peters, Thomas Letz.

Of course, the complete NKF Team for the sustained cooperation and support. Jan Thomas for giving us so much free-

dom and trust for the production of this magazine. It is a pleasure and an honour to continue working on the project

you brought to life. Massimo Pisati for the event coordination and logistics, Florian Stein for his technical assistance and

Jennifer Lorch for her readiness to help. And not to forget Bilgen, Corinna, Claudia, Anna-Lena, Sebastian, Maik, Magda

and Doron. Thanks for all your support!

Last but not least, we would like to thank all the great female founders who shared their stories with us. You are the

reason, inspiration and driving force behind this magazine!

Kata, Chris and Daniela

THANK YOU ! OUR MEDIA PARTNERS

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Founder / Startup Country Page

Alexandra Anghel / Appticles Romania 45Alise Semjonova / Infogram Latvia 37Amber Atherton / My Flash Trash United Kingdom 67Andrea Pfundmeier / Boxcryptor Germany 61Angélique Zettor / Genymobile France 24Anike v. Gagern / tausendkind Germany 116Anita Klasanova / Roobar Bulgaria 55Anna Alex / Outfittery Germany 74Anna Andersone / Froont Latvia 146Anna Polishchuk / Allset Ukraine 115Annabelle Diamantino / Video Recruit Czech Republic 77Anushka Beltram / Travel Starter Slovenia 107Barbara Muckermann / Yonderbound Monaco 26Barbara Labate / Risparmio Super Italy 19Basak Taspinar-Degim / Armut Turkey 25Bianca Gfrei / kiweno Austria 136Brynne Herbert / MOVE Guides United Kingdom 35Céline Lazorthes / Leetchi France 42Chiara Burberi / Redooc Italy 90Chloé Roose / Take Eat Easy Belgium 43Christina Kehl / Knip Switzerland 113Dalia Lasaite / CGTrader Lithuania 73Debbie Wosskow / Love Home Swap United Kingdom 86Demet Mutlu / trendyol Turkey 134Dragana Djermanovic / BeeShaper Serbia 91Edyta Kocyk / SiDLY Poland 120Eleftheria Zourou / Doctoranytime Greece 22Elina Berglund Scherwitzl / Natural Cycles Sweden 39Elisa Fazio / Flazio Italy 130Emma Huovinen / MyNextRun Finland 34Emmanuelle Vin / AMIA Systems Belgium 68Filipa Neto / Chic by Choice Portugal 145Genna Elvin / TaDaweb Luxembourg 82Gina Tost / Geenapp Spain 135Gioia Pistola / Atooma Italy 75Gloria Molins / Trip4real Spain 124Gulnaz Khusainova / EasySize Denmark 69Heidi Rakels / GuardSquare Belgium 127Ioana Hasan / Smart Bill Romania 56Irina Alexandru / Vector Watch Romania 141Janna Bastow / ProdPad United Kingdom 59Janneke Niessen / Improve Digital Netherlands 108Jeanette Dyhre Kvisvik / Villoid Norway 20Jennie Mc Ginn / Opsh Ireland 36Jenny Wolfram / BrandBastion Finland 143Joanna Drabent / Prowly Poland 53Joanna Grzelak-Piaskowska / BookLikes Poland 85Josipa Majic / ID Guardian Croatia 40Jutta Haaramo / Stylewhile Finland 66Kaidi Ruusalepp / Funderbeam Estonia 144Karoli Hindriks / Jobbatical Estonia 104Kate Unsworth / VInaya United Kingdom 105Katharina Klausberger / Shpock Austria 83Kinga Jentetics / PublishDrive Hungary 102Ksenija Rostova / Inselly Latvia 126Lea von Bidder / Ava Switzerland 125Lea-Sophie Cramer / Amorelie Germany 41Lela Dritsa Psarros / Nannuka Greece 72Leslie Cottenje / Hello Customer Belgium 112Liat Mordechay Hertanu / 24me Israel 87Lisa Terziman / Fentury Moldova 117Liubou Pashkouskaya / Red Rock Apps Belarus 89Maja Mikek / Celtra Slovenia 84Maria Martín / Tiendeo Spain 76Marta Esteve / Soysuper Spain 122Maryna Kuzmenko / Petiole Ukraine 142Meryl Job / Videdressing France 58Mette Lykke / Endomondo Denmark 21Milda Mitkute / Vinted Lithuania 27Natalie Masrujeh / Teach ‚n Go Cyprus 106Nina Angelovska / Grouper Macedonia 28Nora Khaldi / Nuritas Ireland 44Olga Peters / QualySense Switzerland 54Orit Hashay / Brayola Israel 114Pauline Laigneau / Gemmyo France 123Raffaela Rein / CareerFoundry Germany 139Rhona Togher / Restored Hearing Ireland 129Rossi Mitova / farmhopping Bulgaria 118Sarah Wood / Unruly United Kingdom 128Sasha Olenina / StudyQA Russia 99Silje Vallestad / bSafe Norway 103Sofia Pessanha / Unbabel Portugal 57Sona Pohlová / Ecocapsule Slovakia 101Stina Ehrensvard / Yubico Sweden 119Suzan Claesen / Crowdyhouse Netherlands 52Taisiya Kudashkina / tulp Russia 137Tamar Yaniv / Preen.Me Israel 70Theresa Steininger / Wohnwagon Austria 38Tiffany Hart / 7write Netherlands 138Triinu Magi / Neura Israel 60Ülane Vilumets / Like A Local Guide Estonia 140Ulla Engestrom / ThingLink Finland 88Urska Srsen / Bellabeat Croatia 18Verena Pausder / Fox & Sheep Germany 100Virginie Simon / MyScienceWork Luxembourg 98Vladka Teskova / TeskaLabs Czech Republic 23Yana Vlatchkova / Swipes Bulgaria 29Yasmin de Giorgio / The Grassy Hopper Malta 71Zara Martirosyan / inKin Armenia 92Zsuzsa Kecsmar / Antavo Hungary 64

WHERE THEY STARTEDFind out where in Europe our featured founders started. Many of them have expanded, opened offices elsewhere and operate globally, but their stories as founders began in Europe.

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THE HUNDERT // SEGMENT

IMPRINT / LEGAL

EDITOR IN CHIEF

(ACCOUNTABLE)

HEAD OF THE HUNDERT

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CREATIVE DIRECTION

ART DIRECTION

TEXT EDITOR

EDITORIAL SUPPORT

COVER ARTWORK

PRODUCTION MANAGER

CO-INITIATOR AND SUPPORTER

WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

EDITORIAL OFFICE

BANKING INFORMATION

PRINTING

Jan Thomas, jt@the-hundert.com

Kata Ołdziejewska, ko@the-hundert.com

Chris Lennartz, chris@the-hundert.com

Daniela Rattunde, dr@the-hundert.com

Balázs Tarsoly, balazs.tarsoly@operationbutterfly.com

Natascha Ungereit, natascha.ungereit@operationbutterfly.com

Julia Neuman, ju

lia@siliconallee.com

Julia Meusel, jm

@berlinvalley.com

Stefanie Enge, mail@

techjournalistin.de

Julia Anna Bader, juliaannabader@gmail.c

om

Riccardo Volpato, riccardo.volpato@operationbutterfly.com

Johnnie Clapper, johnnie.clapper@operationbutterfly.com

Stephanie Renner, m

ail@stephanierenner.com

Joanne W

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