Konstantin Krauss

Entrepreneur

Ciara (of course), Notion, Github, Airbnb.

I firmly believe that digital assistants will change the way we work forever. With Ciara we can lead that change and become a major player in this new field.

During the first couple years as a startup, you face difficult situations and troubles. For example, although your investors and advisors say they’re there for you through thick and thin, often times this isn’t the reality when you have bad news. This can be very frustrating. On the other hand, you will learn to overcome these hurdles, watch your own company grow and shine, and will build a team that does some amazing work. This is the most rewarding part of entrepreneurship.

They forget to talk to their customers. I’ve seen so many teams build a product for years, in secret, and then when they finally bring it to life, nobody wants it anymore.

1. Stay calm and don’t be hasty. Many things that seem urgent are actually not that urgent at all. Keep your focus on the things that matter most.
2. Hire slow and fire fast. This is an old one, but everyone has to learn it on their own. It’s hard to fire people if you are a first time manager.
3. Avoid “mistake No. 1” I already mentioned. Talk to your customers before you start writing your first line of code!

There are 2 themes in my life that have accompanied me since my childhood. First, I love new things. I consider myself an early adopter, always interested in the latest developments and newest products. Second, I am a fan of change. If I hear that something is being done in a certain way because it's always been done that way, I see a chance for disruption. Entrepreneurship is the perfect combination of these two, because I can change the way we work/live/are by building new products.