Roman has been living in Silicon Valley for over 7 years, co-founded two companies, released three products; currently, he is working on SafeRoom a secure mobile messenger for businesses. He advises several startups in the US and Germany to supports entrepreneurs. He consults regularly with C-level managers from all types of organizations and inspires many others in keynote presentations and workshops as Director San Francisco for Germany’s Future Candy GmbH. His passion is to bridge the gap from the Valley to his home country and to empower entrepreneurship.
Roman loves to share his experiences as a startup founder, and the life as an entrepreneur with all of its challenges, struggles, and successes. Open, honest and bold.
Insights:
• How do you grow a business
• Viral vs purchased growth
• How to decide whether to scale
• Pivoting
• Type of users
• Building a business in Berlin vs Silicon Valley
Key Discussion Points:
[1:35] Idea – The pitch
[3:45] What did you do with the funding?
[5:00] How did you get your girlfriend to move?
[5:55] What about scaling
[8:45] Do you have intensive users
[10:45] Scaling is about testing
[13:35] What did you pivot to
[19:45] Grow, Grow, Grow! Money later.
[21:30] How do you keep up with Silicon Valley culture and your German culture?
[29:05] What is innovation
[30:00] How does evolution affect you
[32:10] What to teach your kids
Interesting Quotes:
“If you sell a dream anything is possible”
“You don’t need users, you need fans”
“You can throw spaghetti at the wall all night long”
“The world is getting better not worse”
