Beginner's Mind
Blueprints for Builders and Investors
Hosted by Christian Soschner
From pre-seed to post-IPO, every company—especially in deep tech, biotech, AI, and climate tech—lives or dies by the frameworks it follows.
On Beginner’s Mind, Christian Soschner uncovers the leadership principles behind the world’s most impactful companies—through deep-dive interviews, strategic book reviews, and patterns drawn from history’s greatest business, military, and political minds.
With over 200 interviews, panels, and livestreams, the show ranks in the Top 10% globally—and is recognized as the #1 deep tech podcast.
With 35+ years across M&A, company building, board roles, business schools, ultrarunning, and martial arts, Christian brings a rare lens:
What it really takes to turn breakthrough science into business—how to grow it, lead it, and shape the world around it.
🎙 Expect each episode to deliver:
- Founder & Investor Blueprints: How breakthrough technologies scale from lab to IPO
- Historical & Biographical Frameworks: Timeless playbooks from the world's great builders
- Leadership & Communication Mastery: Tools to inspire, persuade, and lead at scale
Whether you're building the next biotech success, investing in AI, or leading a climate tech company through hypergrowth—this podcast gives you the edge.
Listen in. Apply what matters. Build companies that last.
📬 Join the newsletter & community: https://lsg2g.substack.com/
- Update frequency
- every 9 days
- Average duration
- 65 minutes
- Episodes
- 205
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
#85: Emily Mitchell - What You Need to Know About Decentralized Clinical Trials
What are decentralized clinical trials?
What are the benefits of decentralized clinical trials?
Why are decentralized clinical trials the way of the future?
Emily Mitchell, Executive Director of ICON…
#84: Samantha Dale Strasser - Pepper Bio, MIT, And the Eco-System in Boston
What is the best approach to starting a novel deep tech life science company?
In this episode, I am talking with Samatha Dale Strasser, CSO, and co-founder of Pepper Bio, about her academic career at …
#83: Donna LaVoie - How to Tell Your Story in 15 Slides
What is the best methodology for presenting your Company to investors, industry partners, and public funding organizations?
Here is the answer:
In this episode, Donna LaVoie presents her famous “15-sl…
#82: Irene Fialka - Inspiring Stories from 20 Years of Bringing Academic Innovation Into Business
Happy Birthday, Inits. Today 20 years ago – July 27, 2002 – Inits – Vienna’s most important high Tech Incubation Program was created.
In this episode, I am talking with Irene Fialka, CEO of Inits. In …
#81: Astrid Woollard and Christian Niedermüller - The Future of Investments in Digital Assets
What is happening in all things digital assets, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and alike? The market crashed. Is it all over now?
Investing with experts is always the best idea when investing in new areas. …
#80: Alexander Belcredi and Lorenzo Corsini - How to Create An Overnight Success As An Entrepreneur
It is the 80th episode on my podcast channel. In 2020 I wanted to try how podcasts can bring value to my life science business community.
One of the first speakers on the podcast was Alexander Belcred…
#79: Jonathan Sporn - How Psychedelic Drugs Help Ease the Mental Health Burden in Society
These days many sources are highlighting the shocking scale of the global mental health crisis and how this affects approx—a staggering one billion people worldwide - over one-seventh of the global p…
#78: Gerda Redl - The Future of Life Science Patents
Warren Buffett recommends buying companies with a great moat. Something that makes the company unique and protects the business from the competition. Patents are the best moats. Do you want to know w…
#77: Alexander Valtingojer - How to Invest in Digital Assets
What is going on in the world of digital assets in 2022? In May 2010, 10,000 BTC bought 2 Pizza.
Last year in November, the same amount had a value of 600 Million dollars. A lot has evolved since 201…
#76: Rich Masters - How the Pandemic Changed the Conference Industry - Bio US 2022 in San Diego
How Did the Conference Industry Change in the last two years?
Philadelphia in 2019 was the last Bio I attended in person. In March 2020, the world shut down to respond to the novel viral threat. Sinc…
#75: Lisa Stöger - Creating Connections Between StartUps and International Stakeholders
Are you interested to expand your business into Asian Markets? Then this episode might be for you.
As Program Manager of the Global Incubator Network Austria (GIN), Lisa Stöger has successfully conne…
#74: Mark Herschberg - Why Networking and Leadership are Important Skills for Deeptech Entrepreneurs
Do you want to know why networking and leadership are so important to be successful in business? And why everybody, including employees, needs to learn those skills?
Then this episode is for you.
#73: Bharat Kanodia - How to Value Unique Assets
Do you want to know how to value a company and what Julia Roberts has to do with it? Then listen to Bharat Kanodia in this episode number 73.
Valuation is one of the most difficult exercises in the st…
#72: Stefan Sandström - How to do Business in Japan
Do you want to reach out to Japanese companies and universities? Then you should know what makes Japan special and different to have a smooth business experience.
Different Cultures – Different Rules …
#71: Heike Schoen - How To Rescue Your Clinical Trial When at Risk to Fail
Did you know that almost 90% of all product ideas fail in clinical trials?
Surprising to me was that lack of efficacy doesn't seem to be the main reason why clinical trials fail in the first place. …
#70: Bruno Montanari - How Venture Capital Supports Science And Innovation
Big corporations strive to bring new solutions to their customers to help them solve their most pressing problems.
To do so the corporation needs to be innovative. That's why companies like Apple, Goo…
#69: Prof. Collin Ewald - Molecular Mechanisms of Healthy Ageing
Lately, investors and researchers have published more and more information on longevity research and development.
Investors like Sergey Young or Christian Angermayer started to bet significant capit…
#68: Mauricio Agudelo and Lina María Toro - Sustainable Animal Nutrition
What significant problems does the food industry face today? Which solutions are already in development?
In this episode, I am talking with Mauricio Agudelo and Lina María Toro about Sustainable Food…
#67: Kai Lamottke - Bringing Innovation to Life Science From China & Europe
Innovation needs collaboration on a global scale. Making things happen requires entrepreneurs who love science and work day and night to connect the best minds globally and support them to translate …
#66 - Martin Popilka, Denis Roio - This was 2021 - A year in Review 7/7
Part 7 of the Year in Review Recording.
1 hour minutes of inspiring conversations with speakers from previous podcast episodes and business partners of the hosts.
What was hot in 2021, and what do our…