Learning to start a business with Mike Tyson

In the currentconsequence of the fynax podcast "Thanks for Shopping" Robin Söder from Entrepreneur University talks about the successful development of his training platform for budding entrepreneurs, prominent partners and the Founder Zone as a "Netflix for founders".

What do you do when you have a great desire to start a business, but the university is unable to impart the necessary practical knowledge? For Robin Söder, there was only one answer: to create this very place on his own. A platform by and for founders, where the "young and wild" learn the trade together - in a practical and experience-based way.

No sooner said than done: five years after his decision, Söder started the Entrepreneur University has successfully established a further education platform for (prospective) entrepreneurs that combines individual training programs with innovative e-learning models and top-class live events to "educate" a new generation of founders. Today, it is not only the Founder SummitGermany's largest conference for entrepreneurs and founders, but also the Founderzonethe streaming portal for personal and entrepreneurial development.

As is so often the case, Söder's path got off to a bumpy start. His first steps in the start-up sector began while he was still a student, albeit with limited success. Back then, his mother was his best customer when it came to selling watches, Söder reveals to fynax managers Saravanan Sundaram and Nadja Müller with a twinkle in his eye. And his studies didn't really help him either - too much gray theory, too little practical training.

Student Söder was looking for a place by and for people who wanted to start a business. But this did not exist in German-speaking countries. So he simply created it himself in 2016. First on his own, and a little later together with his twin brother, a training platform was created step by step without a guru mentality, but with a community spirit and a supportive attitude: "A community of people who treat each other well," is how Söder describes it. The Entrepreneur University was born.

The platform quickly made a name for itself thanks to its philosophy and standards. Today, the Founder Summit and Founderzone in particular act as figureheads far beyond the German-speaking world. The former is Germany's largest live event for start-ups and brings together well-known, exciting and, in a positive sense, "crazy entrepreneurial types from all over the world", reports Söder. What else would you call it when boxing legend Mike Tyson appears in front of over 7,000 participants alongside entrepreneurial greats such as Frank Thelen and Ralf Dümmel?
With the Founderzone streaming platform, Söder and his team have also created a kind of "Netflix for entrepreneurs" with over 1,000 hours of content. It seems almost ironic that Netflix's permanent rival Amazon Prime, of all companies, is now making Founderzone part of its own Prime Video Channels as an "exclusive education channel".

But despite the successful development, Söder is doing everything he can to preserve the philosophy of the Entrepreneur University. Whether large or small: "Every kind of independence and entrepreneurial spirit is welcome here. That's exactly what we want to promote," is his final promise in the fynax podcast.

How the Entrepreneur University started, what further developments are planned in the near future and why Söder does not want to give up the dream of a physical university for founders can be found in the current episode of "Thanks for Shopping" free of charge and in full length.