REALANSWERS
DO. OR DO NOT.
Yoda, Jedi MasterTHERE IS NO TRY.
Deutsche Börse Venture Network
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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
P.34 // EM
MA H
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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,
photographers and marketeers are
the ingredients of a great creative
and collaborative broth. coworklisboa.pt
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,
private rooms, virtual offices and a
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
practical advice and a great place
to work. That’s what our coworking
spaces are designed for. We produce
branded trainings and events to help
corporations understand and take
advantage of disruptive industries.
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
into realization- creating a sustain-
able impact in the local community
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,
meeting rooms, an auditorium, show-
ers for bikers, a café and even more.
Flexible services include legal and
accounting assistance. kubik.hu
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
members can explore their innovative
potential through collaborative work,
experiential classes and workshops.
With a strong technology infrastructure
and a dedicated team, we seek to offer
the best experience for our visitors. atolyeistanbul.co
Wrocław, Poland IdeaPlace is a professional coworking
space for entrepreneurial, dynamic,
creative and independent people, located in the heart of Wrocław. We
truly implement the idea of cowork-
ing, thereby allowing companies to
freely develop their ideas in a produc-
tive environment. All you have to do
is to bring your notebook and your
mobile phone along - we will try to do
the rest for you! ideaplace.pl
Vienna, Austria Loffice is a new-generation office where
the creative- and the business world
meet. It incorporates working, network-
ing and relaxing, making it a place where
everyone finds the space best suited to
their activity. They are characterized by
an industrial design, recycled furniture,
environmental awareness, ergonomy
and integrating contemporary art into
the work environment. You can also
find us in Budapest! wien.lofficecoworking.com
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: [email protected]
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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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
JOIN OUR NEXT MEETUP12.05.2016 | 9h | Soho House (Politbüro)
contact: [email protected]
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
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
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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
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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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Switzer-land
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Greece
Moldova
Ukra ine
Armenia
Cyprus
Israe l
Be larus
L ithuan ia
Latv ia
Estonia
F in land
Russ ia
Turkey
Macedonia Bu lgar ia
Romania
Ire land
Un ited K ingdom
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
Be lg ium
Luxem- bourg
Monaco
Malta
Nether lands
Germany
Austr ia
Czech Rep .
Po land
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Hungary
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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, [email protected]
Kata Ołdziejewska, [email protected]
Chris Lennartz, [email protected]
Daniela Rattunde, [email protected]
Balázs Tarsoly, [email protected]
Natascha Ungereit, [email protected]
Julia Neuman, ju
Julia Meusel, jm
@berlinvalley.com
Stefanie Enge, mail@
techjournalistin.de
Julia Anna Bader, [email protected]
om
Riccardo Volpato, [email protected]
Johnnie Clapper, [email protected]
Stephanie Renner, m
Joanne W
ilson, 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,
Armgardvon Reden, Hemdat Sagi, Thomas Sattelberger, Ursula Schwarzenbart,
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