How often does this podcast release new episodes?

This podcast updates bi-weekly.

Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 9 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

Mostly Awesome

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by Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM)

5.0(26 reviews)

58 episodes

Updated Bi-weekly

Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇩🇪

Podcast Overview

Mostly Awesome is a podcast about the personal journeys of innovators. We talk to the doers and thinkers of our time to understand what motivates them and why they do what they do. Together we reflect upon their decisions, wins, and setbacks. Meet our inspiring yet relatable guests from the world of entrepreneurship and technology to find out what may help you to become an innovator of tomorrow! Get ready for bi-weekly episodes on Wednesdays. We are looking forward to our guests and your feedback to podcast@cdtm.de. Mostly Awesome is brought to you by the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) in Munich. For more information, check www.cdtm.de/podcast. And now lean back, listen in, and learn from the thought leaders of our time!

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Publishing Since

11/27/2020

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Recent Episodes

May 13, 2026

#52 Sarah Fleischer: On Battery Recycling, Deep Tech, Growing Up Between Cultures and Lessons from Failure

In this episode, we talk to Sarah Fleischer, 3x founder and Co-founder & CEO of tozero, a Munich-based startup that recovers lithium and graphite directly from battery waste. Sarah is a mechanical engineer and CDTM alum who has raised over $20 million and recently launched tozero's industrial demo plant in Germany.We get into her path to tozero, which includes two earlier ventures that did not survive. At 22 she dropped out of CDTM to sell German baby milk formula to Chinese mothers, a bootstrapped e-commerce business that worked commercially but fell apart over a founder split. Her second company helped Chinese tourists purchase luxury goods across Europe and ultimately had to close. She talks about the three months it took to climb out of that hole, and the realization that both ventures had been driven by money rather than mission, which she now sees as the reason many founders fail.She also opens up about growing up as a third culture kid, half German and half Chinese, moving between Canada, Hong Kong and Shanghai as her father took computer science professorships around the world. She reflects on watching Shanghai transform in just a few years, what it means to never quite fit into a single culture, and how that shaped her resilience as a founder.We get into how the technology actually works. Her co-founder Xenia developed a method to extract over 97% of the lithium from spent batteries using organic additives instead of harsh chemicals, functioning somewhat like a coffee filter for critical raw materials. Sarah breaks down why lithium and graphite have remained the unsolved challenge in battery recycling, why almost 99% of refined lithium currently comes from a single country, and what the looming supply deficit from 2030 onwards means for European industry.On the business side she is refreshingly grounded. She makes the case for why owning and operating your own plants beats licensing, and explains how tozero built an industrial demo plant with just 17 million in total funding. She also talks about why Honda, Intel and Japan's JGC ended up on the cap table, and what strategic investors unlock that pure financial VCs cannot.We wrap up with a rapid fire round covering everything from deep sea versus deep space to leather jackets and late nights.

February 25, 2026

#51 Pip Klöckner: On Tech, Podcasting, AI and Building in Germany

In this episode, we talk to Pip Klöckner, tech analyst, angel investor, and host of Doppelgänger, Germany's leading tech podcast. Pip started doing data entry at Idealo, climbed through marketing and product, advised Rocket Internet and KKR, and now invests his own money and breaks down tech for a living. We get into how he actually never wanted to start a podcast and kept saying no until his co-host found a way to get him to do it anyway. He talks about why podcasting works surprisingly well for introverts, how he processes 115 newsletters without burning out, and what his inbox management has in common with social media. On AI he's refreshingly pragmatic. He makes a case for why doing nothing might actually be the smart move for most companies right now, and has a pretty blunt take on whether Europe has any realistic shot at competing with US labs spending 50 billion a year. He also opens up about growing up in East Germany, what selling vegetables with his grandma taught him about economics, and why he thinks there's an integration problem in Germany that nobody really talks about. We ask him what single skill matters most in a world where AI makes intelligence cheap.We wrap up with a rapid fire round covering everything from dropping out of uni to Munich's reputation.

December 20, 2025

#50 Magnus Grünewald: On AI Sovereignty, Deep Tech Infrastructure and Building High-Performance Teams

In this episode, we sit down with Magnus Grünewald, the 23-year-old founder and CEO of Lyceum, who recently raised a massive €10.3M pre-seed round to challenge US hyperscalers. Rather than just a story about a young founder raising capital, this conversation offers a revealing look into what it takes to build "impossible" deep tech from Europe.Magnus shares how his tenure as Chief of Staff at Enpal served as a crucial lesson in losing the fear of "heavy assets." He candidly admits that starting out required a healthy dose of "delusion" to dare compete with established Tech Giants. He argues that while software is often about rapid iteration, building industrial infrastructure demands a fundamental mindset shift from tweaking buttons to moving mountains.We explore Lyceum’s core thesis of transitioning from "renting computers" to "consuming compute." Magnus breaks down his "power socket" philosophy, where AI engineers manage server uptime no more than a smartphone user manages the electrical grid. He also outlines why digital sovereignty is far more than a regulatory checkbox, becoming a critical competitive necessity for industries like BioTech.Finally, Magnus opens up about his leadership style of "extreme delegation" and how he unites PhDs and industry veterans behind a shared mission by hiring for a unique blend of "high urgency" and "conscientiousness." He concludes with a sharp perspective on the AI market, arguing that we should ignore the funding bubble and focus entirely on enterprise adoption.

58 total episodes available

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Frequently asked questions

Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

What is Mostly Awesome?: Mostly Awesome is a podcast about the personal journeys of innovators. We talk to the doers and thinkers of our time to understand what motivates them and why they do what they do. Together we reflect upon their decisions, wins, and setbacks. Meet our inspiring yet relatable guests from the world of entrepreneurship and technology to find out what may help you to become an innovator of tomorrow!

Get ready for bi-weekly episodes on Wednesdays. We are looking forward to our guests and your feedback to podcast@cdtm.de.

Mostly Awesome is brought to you by the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) in Munich. For more information, check www.cdtm.de/podcast.

And now lean back, listen in, and learn from the thought leaders of our time!
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates bi-weekly.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 9 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

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