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\u201cI think I’m very much an un-hireable person,\u201d Christoph Gerber told The Big Question.<\/p>\n
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And that is not to say he\u2019s workshy or an insufferable person. In fact, it is quite the opposite.<\/p>\n
As the founder of Lieferando, one of Germany\u2019s leading food delivery services and CEO and founder at Talon.One, a digital infrastructure provider for discounts and promotions, Christoph knows how to build and lead a successful business. <\/p>\n
In this episode of The Big Question, Christoph Gerber joined Hannah Brown to discuss entrepreneurship and the secrets to success. <\/p>\n
What type of person makes a good founder?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be a very bad world if everybody would be like me,\u201d Christoph laughed. <\/p>\n
And while this might be excessively self-deprecating, he makes a good point. Not everyone should be a founder.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that resilience and a base level of optimism that everything is resolvable are key personality traits that a wannabe founder should possess. <\/p>\n
Christoph did not mince his words about the importance of being critical of your own ideas. \u201cThere’s a very high chance that your idea is s**t.\u201d<\/p>\n
While a healthy dose of hubris and an ear for other people\u2019s feedback is what a successful founder needs, Christoph also said that you should not let negativity overshadow your creativity.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Lieferando, everyone told us this is not gonna work. For Talon.One, everyone told us this is not gonna to work,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you would ask people in my high school about me they would say I’m arrogant,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I would now look back at it is I never really cared so much what people said about me or my ideas. Maybe a big ego, I don’t know. But I think you need that kind of big ego to push through against everything that’s from the outside where you feel the world’s closing in and things don’t work.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people are better off working for a founder in a sort of normal career progression,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Lessons from business<\/p>\n
Chrisoph\u2019s first company Lieferando merged with Takeaway.com in 2009 in what was, at the time, a record-breaking deal in the German startup <\/a>scene, with a price tag of \u20ac62.9 million.<\/p>\n Though it was not necessary for Christoph to continue to work, he found himself not wanting to hobnob with the super-rich, and all his favourite people were still busy building their careers. <\/p>\n Having identified a problem his team struggled with during the Lieferando days and knowing they were not alone in this, he called up his co-founder and set about creating Talon.One.<\/p>\n Now he helps brands to use their data to drive sales through strategic promotions and discounts.<\/p>\n \u201cThings need to move beyond [the] transactional to create value,\u201d Christoph explained.<\/p>\n \u201cBrands actually create value<\/a> for their customers in the way they engage. And in a way, it’s a contract because you give them your data, you say for the loyalty programme I’m going to give you a bit more data, I’m gonna tell you how old I am, what my relationship status is, [and so forth].\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cAnd therefore you expect the brand to create benefits that make it worthwhile for you to give them all of the other details about you. I think that is what brands are slowly starting to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n The key to success<\/p>\n Christoph founded his two businesses at two very different ages and stages of his life. <\/p>\n For Lieferando, he was 23 and it was a lot of late nights, working over weekends, partying and, self-admittedly, poor market research.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we would have done the proper research in a sort of McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group style, like look at all the competition there is, we would have probably never got into that market,\u201d Christoph reflected. <\/p>\n Now as a father of three in his early 40s, Christoph\u2019s philosophy about work and life has adapted as he progresses with Talon.One. <\/p>\n \u201cTalon.One is a business, it shouldn’t be my identity, and I don’t expect that from anyone in my team.\u201d <\/p>\n After clocking in their expected work hours, Gerber expects his employees to close their laptops and be with their families \u2013 and that the output will be better for it.<\/p>\n He admits that he cherishes his time outside the day-to-day workings of his company, when he can take his kids to swimming lessons, hockey practice or play with Lego<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say I’m plain boring outside of work. And that is totally fine,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n At a certain point, successful CEOs and founders should realise that taking time for the gentler things in life should take precedence over chasing the bottom line, Gerber insisted.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t want to have on my tombstone founder of a pizza delivery service and founder of a coupon promotion infrastructure. I’d rather be recognised as being a great dad, great friend, great partner\u2026 and the rest is business.\u201d <\/p>\n