The European Startup Prize for Mobility is proud to present its podcast series, featuring the stories behind the women and men who won Europe's largest acceleration programme for clean mobility startups. ‘What were they thinking’, moderated by our Managing Director, Dan Sobovitz in a one-on-one conversation with the founders and CEOs about the journeys that have transformed their professional and personal lives and that are about to transform European mobility as we know it.
What were they thinking? How did it feel to go the lonely road of an entrepreneur? Did people follow them easily or did they think they were crazy? Was it fun all along or mostly frustrating? Deep down, did they really believe they would make it this far?
Meet Anna (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-wieslander/), COO of Elonroad (https://www.elonroad.com/). From a stable corporate environment, she jumped at the opportunity and joined a revolutionary EV tech startup; road infrastructure chich charges its cars while they're driving on it. In this conversation she tells Dan Sobovitz about her own journey of successes but also regrets and how she brought her feminist convictions from her personal life to her women-led company of female role models.
17 Jun 2024
Episode 7 : Danielle 🇬🇧
Meet Danielle (https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-walsh-b358a032/), CEO and Co-Founder of Clearly (https://clearly.earth/). From her early childhood on the Formula racing runways to her leadership position at HSBC Investment Banking – Danielle breathed, spoke, and dreamed mobility innovation. She wanted to disrupt mobility as we know it and make the entire value chain carbon neutral. Until she woke up one day and decided now was her time to take the entrepreneurial road. She started a company which breaks the data silos, crunching data sets together, allowing instead data-driven decisions for smart, sustainable future-proof mobility.
3 Jun 2024
Episode 6: Alex 🇩🇪
Meet Alex (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-sohl/): Founder and CEO of ME Energy (https://meenergy.earth/). For Newton it was the apple; for Alex it was his car running out of battery in the middle of the Swabian Alps, which made him make his major realisation: the electric grid infrastructure simply wasn't ready for the electrombility revolution. It was time for Alex to quit his job and develop a new concept: off-grid fast liquid electricity charging stations. His parents weren't in favour; to his grandmother he didn't even dare to tell. But few years' after, Alex has a scaleup, expanding from Germany and Poland across Europe. And yes, even the German Chancellor dropped by to pay him a visit.
6 May 2024
Episode 5: Damien, Hassan and Anela 🇫🇷 🇲🇦 🇩🇪 🇱🇺
Meet Damien (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgarot/), Anela (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anelaboese/), and Hassan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hassan-aouisse-9995352/), co-founders of Stellar (https://www.stellar.tc/). A long-term friendship between Damien and Hassan and a lightning of chemistry with Anela has led the three to connect the dots between their countries (France, Germany, and Morocco) , diverse backgrounds, yet, common passion for innovation. They founded Stellar in Luxembourg and developed the technology that ensures that any vehicle remains connected at high speed and without interruptions, even across borders and rural areas. We invited the professional trio for a conversation in our studios to ask their about their respective and joint journey. They told us about their view of risk-taking, impact driven innovation, and… pillow-fights – a major part of their startup culture.
11 Mar 2024
Episode 4 : Thomas 🇫🇷
Meet Thomas (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasjeandet/), co-Founder of RAILwAI. Too young to retire and go fishing but also too tired of his Parisian senior executive position - he decided to take the entrepreneurial path. He co-founded a promising startup which is collecting, crunching, and analysing big data from trains, making rail not only highly sustainable but also much more efficient than it is today. How is it working for him? Listen to find out!
29 Jan 2024
Episode 3 : Dvir 🇮🇱
Meet Dvir (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dvirreznik/), VP Marketing of Israeli startup C2A Security!
Dvir has (almost) always worked for startups in Israel's vibrant innovation scene, where everyone seems to know each other. He insists on doing it from Jerusalem, away from the Tel Aviv tech hub, where he sees more diversity and inclusion opportunities. He's optimistic about the ability of Israel's tech sector to thrive even throughout the war which is taking a high toll on him and on many of his colleagues.
22 Jan 2024
Episode 2 : Lars 🇳🇴
Meet Lars (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-syse/), CEO of Norwegian startup Wanda!
When he couldn't find a sustainable way for his own family consumption, Lars decided to create one. He didn't do it alone; Lars gathered a highly diverse group of colleagues and friends who eventually founded Wanda, fleshing out the idea over quite a series of beer-and-salmon nights. Wanda now has a turnover of over one million euros in two countries and expanding further in Europe. Lars is noe working on convincing his own daughters…
22 Jan 2024
Episode 1 : Mikko 🇫🇮
Meet Mikko (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikko-ampuja/), Chief Development Officer and Founder of Finnish startup Vapaus whose journey into fatherhood made him realise he had an obligation to his daughter; fight climate change. He decided to resign his job as the CEO of a major consultancy and start a business that would add one million bikers on the road within a few years. Was it easy? No. One fiscal decision almost made him close his business and fire all his people. Was it fun? Very much so. It still is, and he’s happy to tell us all about it. Here’s the story of Mikko Ampuja.
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