Project A Podcast

Project A Team

About

Project A is a European venture capital investor. With €500m under management, the company focuses on early-stage startups. In addition to capital, Project A provides its portfolio companies operational support from over 100 experts across the startup building stack.

The Project A Podcast is the place to go for entrepreneurs and founders looking for expert advice and actionable tips to take their startup to the next level.

We know it can be a long, difficult journey. Challenges are infinite and resources limited. In this podcast, you’ll learn from our experience as an Operational VC working with 100+ early-stage startups and find the inspiration you need to get going.

Featuring our in-house Marketing, BI, and Organizational Building experts, as well as fellow founders from our broad portfolio of companies, we give you valuable insights on what it takes to build a successful company.

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178 episodes

Talks with a CMO: The Unconventional Path to Hypergrowth with Revolut | PAP#164

In our first episode of our “Talk to the CMO” podcast series, Luke Costley-White, Head of Acquisition at Project A sits down with Wiktor Stopa, Head of Growth DACH at Revolut, one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups. Luke and Wiktor discuss the transition from a hyper-growth startup to a global scaleup and the strategies you should be using to make this transition as seamless as possible.

20m
Apr 19, 2023
42 Answers Leonie Althaus from traide AI | PAP#163

In this episode, Leonie Althaus, co-founder and CEO of traide AI shares her experience of building a company that combines cutting-edge AI technology with the expertise of long-standing customs professionals.

39m
Apr 06, 2023
The rise of RevOps as a discipline: landscape, trends, and professional skills | PAP#162

How much sales and marketing knowledge do you need to get into Revenue Operations? What are the latest trends in RevOps? In this episode, Evan Dunn, Director of Growth Marketing at Syncari, answers these questions and talks about the RevOps discipline and what it can do for an organization.

33m
Mar 22, 2023
Fundraising for out-of-network entrepreneurs and technical founders

How do you build a business as an out-of-network and technical founder in a foreign country without a support group? Alina Bassi, CEO of Kleiderly and Co-Founder at Founderland shares her experiences and tips on how to navigate such circumstances with a 360° lens.

28m
Mar 15, 2023
The role of brand and marketing in the investment and wealth management space | PAP#160

In this episode, Florian Heinemann, Founding Partner at Project A, welcomes Christian Schneider-Sickert, Founder and CEO of LIQID Investments. In the conversation with Florian, Christian talks about LIQID's mission and culture and the role of marketing and branding in the wealth management space.

26m
Mar 01, 2023
42 Answers Tim Schumacher from World Fund | PAP#159

In this episode we welcome Tim Schumacher, Managing General Partner at World Fund, angel investor, and multiple times founder. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Tim shares his insights and experiences from over 20 years of experience founding and investing in startups, and explains why he focuses on ESG investing.

46m
Feb 22, 2023
42 Answers Fabian Niedballa from Sharpist | PAP#158

In this episode we welcome Fabian Niedballa, co-founder of Sharpist, a coaching-based, results-oriented people development platform. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Fabian talks about why he believes company culture is an ongoing project that needs to be recalibrated and explains why and when the product or engineering team should take the lead in a founding team.

1h 12m
Feb 09, 2023
We need to talk about RevOps | PAP#157

In this episode, David Kübler, Senior Sales Consultant - Revenue Operations at Project A, welcomes Alicja Arts, Head of Sales Operations at Sennder, to discuss the emerging topic of Revenue Operations and how RevOps roles can help organizations scale.

38m
Jan 26, 2023
42 Answers Marius Hepp from Junto | PAP#156

In this episode we welcome Marius Hepp, Co-Founder of Junto, a B2B upscaling platform empowering young talents to learn from work-class operators. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Marius shares his learnings from founding a company in the EdTech space and talks about the importance of a strong technological infrastructure to scale successfully.

28m
Jan 11, 2023
42 Answers with the leadership team at Project A | PAP#155

In this special edition of our 42 Answers from founders to founders, our Operating Partner & MD Rainer Berak sits down with our leadership team at Project A. From People, Tech, and Growth all the way to Data and ESG, our Project A experts answer the questions every founder wants to know on how to grow a company successfully.

1h 20m
Dec 20, 2022
Growing up the funnel | PAP#154

In this episode, we welcome Paul-Christian Brenndörfer, Strategic Lead at Jung von Matt START. In the conversation with Simon Walter, Chief Brand Officer at Project A, Paul shares his experience working with early-stage startups and discusses how startups and brands can successfully grow up the funnel.

43m
Nov 30, 2022
42 Answers Malte Bedürftig from JoinImpact | PAP#153

In this episode, we welcome Malte Bedürftig, Co-founder & CEO of JoinImpact, a joint group of startups that help people take a positive role in society through activism, volunteering, community building, and entrepreneurship. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Malte shares his learnings as a founder in the ESG space and explains how in purpose-driven companies, culture often builds itself from the common goal that unites every team member.

44m
Nov 09, 2022
From Zero to One: Learnings From the First Steps in a Founding Journey| PAP#152

How do you find your co-founder? When do you start talking to investors? What frameworks do you use for ideation and validation? Andrea Fernandez, Co-Founder of Vitamin, shares her learnings and insights from the early days of building her company.

40m
Oct 31, 2022
42 Answers Sven Lackinger from Sastrify | PAP#151

In this episode, Sven Lackinger, Co-Founder of Sastrify, a virtual SaaS procurement service, shares his learnings from running a company that is 100% tech. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Sven shares why Sastrify is not based on product-led growth, and how a remote-first approach has a positive impact on the company’s culture, diversity, and even environmental footprint.

38m
Oct 26, 2022
42 Answers Alex Melzer from Zolar | PAP#150

In this episode, Alex Melzer, Founder & CEO of Zolar, a digital platform for residential solar systems, shares his experience from founding a company in the ESG sector. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Alex shares why he believes that having strong company values and a common goal is crucial for Zolar’s success and explains how tech enables his customers to make an impact against climate change.

45m
Oct 19, 2022
42 Answers Till Faida from eyeo | PAP#149

In this episode, we welcome Till Faida, Co-Founder and former CEO of eyeo, an ad-filtering technology that aims to create a better value exchange between users, publishers, and advertisers on the internet. In his conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Till shares his learnings from founding a profitable company since the first year and explains why his first hires were self-taught talents who had previously contributed to creating open source projects.

34m
Oct 12, 2022
42 Answers Emilia Theye from clare&me | PAP#148

In this episode, we welcome Emilia Theye, Co-Founder of clare&me, an early-stage startup offering mental health support through artificial intelligence. In her conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Emilia shares her learnings from running a young company with a small team and explains why it is so important for early-stage startups to be close to the audience at a product level.

34m
Oct 05, 2022
42 answers Jochen Engert from Flix | PAP#147

In this episode, Jochen Engert, Co-Founder of Flix, one of the largest long-distance mobility networks worldwide, shares his learnings from growing a small German startup that within 10 years has become the market leader in the field. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Jochen talks about the impact that tech and data have on Flix’s day-to-day operations and how he believes that business, product, and tech need to work closely together for any company to succeed.

58m
Sep 28, 2022
42 Answers Kimberly Breuer from Likeminded | PAP#146

In this episode, Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A welcomes Kimberly Breuer, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Likeminded, a mental health platform that operates in the B2B context. Kimberly talks about how her company aims to break the stigma around the topic of mental health by offering companies support for their employees, and how a strong data and product team are essential to bring forward a successful, user-friendly mental health platform.

41m
Sep 21, 2022
42 Answers David Nothacker from Sennder | PAP#145

In this episode, Rainer Berak, Operating Partner at Project A, welcomes David Nothacker, Co-Founder & CEO at Sennder, Europe's leading digital road freight forwarder. David deep dives into why data is so important for logistics and how their environmental footprint can be significantly reduced by being a data- and tech-enabled company.

45m
Sep 14, 2022
42 answers Henryk Seeger from GNIW | PAP#144

In this episode, Dr. Henryk Seeger, Founder and Managing Director at GNIW, shares his learnings from founding a company in the real estate field with a very unique target audience. Together with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner at Project A, he talks about the significance of employee satisfaction and company culture, the importance of empowering fellow colleagues, and much more.

45m
Sep 07, 2022
42 answers Verena Hubertz from Kitchen Stories | PAP#143

In this episode, Verena Hubertz, Founder and former Managing Director at Kitchen Stories, shares her learnings from founding her own company at a young age and her experiences in her recent career shift from the startup world into politics. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, Verena explains why she believes that brand is more important than ever, both in the B2C and B2B landscape, and why often a company’s approach to data should be data-informed instead of data-driven.

46m
Aug 31, 2022
42 answers: Kristina Prokop from Eyeota | PAP#142

In this episode, Kristina Prokop, Co-founder and CEO at Eyeota, shares her top three pieces of advice for early-stage founders and explains why building a network and turning to it for mentorship and guidance can benefit any early-stage founder. In her conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner & MD at Project A, she also explains why she firmly believes that leading by example is the foundation for a successful company culture.

57m
Aug 24, 2022
42 answers: Boris Lokschin from Spryker | PAP#141

In our new episode, our guest is Boris Lokschin, Co-Founder & CEO of Spriker, a composable commerce company targeting big enterprises such as Siemens, Toyota, and Aldi. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner at Project A, Boris shares his learnings from running a successful company in the B2B landscape and explains why he believes that time is the most important KPI of all.

41m
Aug 12, 2022
“What got us here won’t get us there”: How revenue operations help you scale | PAP#140

In our new episode, Toni Hohlbein, Co-founder and CEO at Growblocks, shares his insights and best practices on being a commercial market leader, and how a leadership position in this field has evolved over the past years. With his background in operations and revenue, Tobi brings his knowledge to the table and talks with Charlotte, our Head of Venture Development, about go-to-market strategies, product limitations, and target setting.

38m
Aug 09, 2022
42 answers: Steffen Kiedel from Superlist | PAP#139

In our new episode, Steffen Kiedel, Co-Founder and CEO of Superlist, shares his passion for productivity and gives insights into what it’s like to build the future of work organization. Steffen discloses to Rainer Berak, Operating Partner at Project A, how the product is leading everything they do and elaborates on the vital role of branding.

43m
Aug 02, 2022
42 answers: Caroline Weimann from JoinPolitics | PAP#138

In our latest episode, Caroline Weimann, Founder and Managing Director at JoinPolitics, shares her learnings from running a non-profit organization that supports new political talents with seed capital, network, and knowledge. She explains to Rainer Berak, Operating Partner at Project A, how transparency, integrity, and fairness are three fundamental values that should drive any organization, especially in the ESG sector.

38m
Jul 28, 2022
Supporting our Portfolio Companies during the Economic Crisis | PAP#137

In this episode, Florian Heinemann, Co-Founder and General Partner at Project A sits down with our very own Simon Walter, Chief Brand Officer, Thuy-Ngan Trinh, Chief Marketing Officer, and Raul Porojan, Director of Sales & Customer Success. They dial in from Tuscany during the Project A offsite, to discuss how the current economic recession is affecting some of our portfolio companies, how we can support them better during these uncertain times, and how our operational team is adapting to the current circumstances.

27m
Jul 21, 2022
Supporting our Portfolio Companies during the Economic Crisis | PAP#137

In this episode, Florian Heinemann, Co-Founder and General Partner at Project A sits down with our very own Simon Walter, Chief Brand Officer, Thuy-Ngan Trinh, Chief Marketing Officer, and Raul Porojan, Director of Sales & Customer Success. They dial in from Tuscany during the Project A offsite, to discuss how the current economic recession is affecting some of our portfolio companies, how we can support them better during these uncertain times, and how our operational team is adapting to the current circumstances.

27m
Jul 14, 2022
42 answers: Anna Alex from Planetly | PAP#136

In our latest episode, Anna Alex, Co-Founder of Planetly, a leading climate tech company helping businesses to achieve their net zero targets, opens up about what it’s like building a for-profit climate tech company. In the conversation with Rainer Berak, Operating Partner at Project A, Anna shares her favourite sentence “Culture is eating strategy for breakfast” and elaborates on why setting a good company culture in the beginning is so important.

36m
Jul 01, 2022