The High-EQ Founder With Renita Kalhorn

Why PhD Students Make Great Founders, How To Get The Best Out of Your Board and Turning An Unexpected Rejection Into Something Much Better, With Riam Kanso

Europe is often cited for its world-class scientific talent and research universities.
And yet, so much potential for innovation remains untapped due to IP ownership rules that can make spinout companies un-investable and hard to scale.
Riam Kanso, Ph.D, wants to change that.
As founder and CEO of venture program Conception X, she's on a  mission to accelerate the commercialization of scientific breakthroughs by helping Ph.D students launch start-ups — without having to drop out of school.
To date, they've worked with 360 PhD teams from 50+ universities who have gone on to raise £74 million.
In the latest episode of The High-EQ Founder, we talked about:
why PhDs actually have more entrepreneurial traits than most people realize
do’s and don’ts for building your board and how to leverage their strengths
how the “American” attitude toward failure has helped her be more resilient
and why NOT getting a £5 million grant turned out to be better than getting it
Follow Riam on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riamkanso/
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Building an AI Coach To Democratize Leadership Training, How To Avoid the Pitfalls of Groupthink and The Tiny Actions That Increase Your Luck Surface Area, With Darja Gutnick

People don’t quit bad jobs, they quit bad bosses, goes the saying.
And yet, a majority of managers — nearly 6 out of 10 according to one CareerBuilder study — are expected to build and grow high-performance teams without any formal management training.
Darja Gutnick, psychologist gone rogue, wants to change that.
As CEO and co-founder of leadership coaching app bunch.ai, she’s on a mission to help new generations of leaders get customized access to the leadership resources and support they need, when they need it.
In the latest episode of The High-EQ Founder, we talked about:
balancing user growth with monetization — and why she would have launched a paid version much sooner
how they differentiate bunch.ai from ChatGPT
how to address the perspectives of different stakeholders and the dangers of groupthink
the tiny actions you can take to create greater luck surface area
Follow Darja on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darjagutnick/
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Making Space Innovation Easier And Less Expensive, The Key to an Amicable Co-Founder Break-Up and Learning to Trust Your Gut, With Bianca Cefalo

"When we talk to end users, they are so emotional about the fact that this is my job and I really want to make this happen but I can't because the status quo is just making my life miserable. And so it's a mindset shift, more than a technology shift."
 
These are the words of Bianca Cefalo, the CEO and cofounder of SpaceDOTS, who’s working to accelerate innovation in space by reducing the development time of new materials, from years to months.
 
In this conversation, we discuss:
The painful childhood lesson she learned from her father’s failed automotive business — and how it helped her part ways amicably with a co-founder
How she keeps emotions from getting in the way in business decisions
The hiring mistake she almost made and how she’s learning to trust her gut in a competitive talent market
Follow Bianca on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biancacefalo/
 
Sign up for The High-EQ Founder newsletter:
https://www.renitakalhorn.com/newsletter/
 
Follow me on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/renitakalhorn/
 
Music by Tom Fox: https://tfbeats.com/
 
 

How Navy SEALs Show Vulnerability Without Looking Weak, the Dangers of Authority Bias, How The Osama Bin Laden Mission Almost Didn't Happen (and The Key To Its Success), With Dave Cooper

I often say founders are like the Navy SEALs of business: They're both leading small, agile teams, in stealth mode, through uncertainty and chaos. And because the stakes are high, their success relies on a culture of psychological safety and trust.
 
Retired Navy SEAL Dave Cooper built some of the best teams in the Navy SEALs — he's the one who oversaw the training for SEAL Team Six in preparing for the mission to capture Osama Bin Laden.
 
He says: "Psychological safety is not something we can just order. It's something that emerges from a group of people who are mutually respectful, right? Inside an operational SEAL team, we're much more egalitarian than the rest of the military. And people feel safe to say, 'Hey, boss, I see things differently.'"
 
Dave and I talked about how:
"tough guys" show vulnerability, without looking weak
the small gestures that create a culture where people feel safe to  disagree
the dangers of "authority bias" and why "command and control" leadership doesn’t work anymore
he structured after-action reviews to extract more learning from their mistakes in preparing for the Bin Laden mission
Follow Dave on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-cooper-387aaa3b/
 
Sign up for The High-EQ Founder newsletter: https://www.renitakalhorn.com/newsletter/
 
Follow me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renitakalhorn/
 
Music by Tom Fox: https://tfbeats.com/
 

Tackling Overfishing With Deep Tech Precision, the Importance of Transparency in Building a Team That Has Your Back, and Why They Collaborate With Com...

"I mean, it was beautiful, with loads of nuances and touches to make it user-friendly but we should have built an MVP way quicker. We should have just gotten a box, shoved some LED lights in it, built 10 of them, put them in a net [and asked potential users], does this work for you?”This — the pitfalls of spending too much money and time over-designing their first product — was one of the first lessons Dan Watson learned when launching precision fishing start-up SafetyNet Technologies.He’s my latest guest on The High-EQ Founder podcast, where we discuss:the degree of user interaction they now have when building their MVPsthe surprising downside of winning the prestigious James Dyson design awardhow SafetyNet punches above its weight by collaborating with their competitorshow being transparent with his team paid off in fierce loyalty, even as he had to let half of them goFollow Dan on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-watson-05706128/Sign up for The High-EQ Founder newsletter: https://www.renitakalhorn.com/newsletter/ Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renitakalhorn/ Music by Tom Fox: https://tfbeats.com/

Using the Power of Intuition and Intentionality To Take The Right Risks, Make Tough Decisions and Create Your Own Luck, With Sophie Cahen

"Pure efficiency is fragile. Redundancy is robustness," says Sophie Cahen, CEO and founder of medtech start-up Ganymed Robotics. In this conversation, she shares how:a controversial decision paid off in market feedback she balances data and intuition in decision-makinghaving a bias for action can work against youGanymed has made the most of "good" and "bad" luckFollow Sophie on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiecahen/Sign up for The High-EQ Founder newsletter: https://www.renitakalhorn.com/newsletter/ Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renitakalhorn/ Music by Tom Fox: https://tfbeats.com/

Engineering Serendipity to Two Exits and €140M In Funding, the Cash Management Lesson Learned From a €12M Mistake, and Why He Stepped Down As CEO Two ...

"Identifying brilliant people and finding worthy problems to solve together."This is the mantra of Håvard Lillebo, a serial founder of deep tech start-ups in clean energy, robotics and nanotechnology.  In this conversation, we discuss:the life-changing lesson he learned from his father when he was 18 years oldwhy he gave up the CEO role, two months after founding his second startupthe €12 million mistake that taught him the difference between optimism and wishful thinkingthe strategies he puts in place to increase his luck, find deep tech talent and raise funding (€140 million and counting) Follow Håvard on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/havardlillebo/Sign up for The High-EQ Founder newsletter: https://www.renitakalhorn.com/newsletter/ Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renitakalhorn/ Music by Tom Fox: https://tfbeats.com/