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JOBTALK GERMANY: ENTREPRENEUR SERIES

JOBS

‘You need to learn to manage emotions’

In a new feature, The Local will look into a successful entrepreneur's life each week - the story behind their successes, major challenges and how being an entrepreneur changed their life forever. Kicking things off from Berlin this week AUPEO! co-founder and CEO Holger Weiss.

Published: 17 November 2014 11:17 CET
'You need to learn to manage emotions'
Photo courtesy Holger Weiss.

Founded in Berlin in 2008, AUPEO! is a leading service provider for audio content streaming with a global reach. It provides personalized content for consumers on the go, learning their listening preferences and compiling individual radio programs for each user. For businesses, AUPEO! provides its streaming platform and technologies to be integrated with their own products.

How did you come up with this business idea?

The AUPEO! of today was developed over the last four years. We began as a music streaming service, offering radio service, like lastFM. I was one of the first angel investors and board members. In 2010, I became CEO. In 2008, digital content was on its way to the cloud and more devices started getting connected via the cloud. So, the idea was to offer a specialized service infrastructure to serve these devices.

AUPEO! started as a website, in technical parlance; a platform with an application programming interface (API). Through this API, we were integrated with millions of laptops and wi-fi radios within a short time.

At that time, we also saw the connected car as a strategic pillar of growth. The massive push to mobile service thanks to the success of smartphones brought us eventually to the automotive industry much faster than we had expected.

What were the initial challenges? How did you overcome them?

The fundamental difference between an established business and a start-up is that you have no comparison data, no experience, no market analysis. So, you start with a hypothesis and off you go. My personal experience from the two companies I helped build has been that as an entrepreneur, you have to remain very flexible. Business models don’t work, you could face distribution issues, legal issues or you suddenly realize that though your idea is great, the consumer doesn’t know why he would need it. Then there are other challenges like funding and building a stellar team.

There is no recipe for overcoming these. If you see there is need for a change, don’t wait. Time matters in a young company and that counts for the product as well as team.

How has the journey been so far?

It is indeed a journey. That is also the image I use when mentoring young founders. I also use the roller-coaster image. If I learned one important thing over the past 15 years, it’s that life as an entrepreneur is not linear, you will usually not arrive where you have planned to arrive, or at least not in the intended way.

The AUPEO! story is a success. We understood that building a music streaming service would require a complete different setup from the one we had at that time. Coping with heavyweights like Pandora or Spotify is not possible. We understood our strength in technology and we built excellent relationships with automotive manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes. Today AUPEO! is clearly the leading platform globally when it comes to in-car audio streaming. We will soon introduce our new offering, which will go beyond music and will revolutionize the way people are listening to radio in cars.

Of course, the greatest moment for an entrepreneur is a successful exit. In April 2013, AUPEO! got acquired by Panasonic Automotive Systems of America and we are glad to be a part of it.

Has becoming an entrepreneur changed you personally?

Apparently it has changed me, at least that's what my family and friends say. I have tried to separate professional life from private – as much as possible. It’s important to understand there are things other than your company. Having an intact family life is one of the most important values for an entrepreneur.

Any other personal reflections and/ or message to budding entrepreneurs?

As an entrepreneur, you will face many issues. There is a lot of responsibility and you need to learn to manage emotions. You are not supposed to take things personally but you do that as you develop a protective shield.

On the other hand, you become quicker in taking decisions, which helps in other areas of life. Also, always remember Winston Churchill's words: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

Sparsh Sharma holds a Master's in business administration and a Bachelor's in electrical engineering. After having worked in the top Indian media companies, he decided to come to Denmark in the fall of 2012 to study at Aarhus University and later worked at Lego. A Danish green card holder, he is currently looking for marketing or consulting opportunities globally, while working as a freelance journalist for The Local and blogging about his experiences in Denmark. You can follow him on Twitter at @sparsh_s

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WORKING IN GERMANY

Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Bavaria is no doubt a beautiful state with a strong economy, but can be a hard place for non-German speakers to integrate. The Local takes a look at job opportunities in Germany’s southeastern 'Free State.'

Published: 7 February 2024 10:54 CET
Updated: 10 February 2024 08:20 CET
Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions. 

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds. 

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local. 

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with. 

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