Ep 4, Max Niederhofer - Dom talks to Max Niederhofer, venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur
On episode 4 we talk to Max Niederhofer, general partner at Sunstone Capital, a European venture capital fund managing more than $500 million. Prior to Sunstone, Max founded and sold Myblog.de, Germany’s largest blogging platform and Qwerly, a kind of Cambridge Analytica 1.0. He’s invested in some of the best known European start-ups including Last.fm, Onefinestay, Skimlinks and Dubsmash. I really enjoyed talking with Max – on the face of it, his story is one of huge successes, but as is so often the case the truth is somewhat more complex. Max tells me about his biggest regret as an entrepreneur, how a dream job turned out to be a mistake, and how therapy helped him realise that he’d spent his 20’s chasing things that didn’t make him happy. We also discuss Max’s thoughts on the start-up scene in Europe, and the opportunities in the direct to consumer market. I’m thankful for Max in being so open – it makes for a great listen and will be inspirational to many people chasing their dreams. Enjoy! You can find Max’s thoughts at his blog http://blog.maxniederhofer.com/ and on Twitter https://twitter.com/maxniederhofer RUNNING ORDER: PART 1: Dom introduces Max, who tells him his journey hasn’t felt like the success it appears to be (02m 30s) PART 2: Max tells the story of Myblog.de, Germany’s biggest blogging platform (03m 20s) PART 3: Max reveals the advice he wished he got when deciding to call it quits with Myblog (10m 10s) PART 4: Max tells us how a terrible car crash turned into one of his best successes to date…the true story behind his Last.fm investment. But there’s also a cautionary tale of how that early success can ruin you (20m 35s) PART 5: Max explains how that early success led to one of the most embarrassing moments of his career (26m 00s) PART 6: We discuss Max’s next venture, Qwerly (Cambridge Analyica 1.0), and how it would turn out to be a financial failure (29m 33s) PART 7: Max tells us about the lowest point in his professional life, and how seeing a therapist, and the realisations he came to regarding his life and career, were a new beginning – “the failures that preceded that are all opportunities for growth” (35m 20s) PART 8: We talk about how Max’s current role came about, and his views on the pressures and benefits of working in London (44m 35s) PART 9: We wrap things up with a quick overview of Max’s views on the opportunities for entrepreneurs in the direct to consumer space (52m 30s) Music credit URL: freemusicarchive.org/music/Tours/En…s_-_Enthusiast