OMR Podcast - Jan Beckers, Fund Manager

Fritz Keller, whose father was a winemaker and mother a star chef, has been passionate about fine food since his early days. He later expands his parents' business, even supplying the discount giant Aldi under a different name, as the winery 'Franz Keller' aims to remain premium. In the OMR Podcast, Fritz Keller discusses his time as a football official, a Michelin-starred restaurant with 4800 wines on the menu – and of course the question of what wine treasures are stored in the three tunnels that the Keller family once dug into a mountain to stash their wine.

In 2017, when the first model of the DeepL translator was released, it was a sensation: the translations from the Cologne startup achieved better results than those from Google. The company has since achieved multiple unicorn status, and the translator is integrated into the daily work of many people far beyond Germany, and it could soon fundamentally change professional video calls. CEO Jarek Kutylowski spoke in the OMR Podcast about the future visions for the company and the competition from Silicon Valley, assessed the opportunities and risks of AI, and answered the question of whether it is still worth learning languages today.

For the fourth time, recurring guest Philipp "Pip" Klöckner and OMR founder Philipp Westermeyer meet at the beginning of the year to discuss predictions for the development of the tech, marketing, and startup world. Unlike in previous years, these predictions come not from themselves but from the OMR community. The community has bold theses – from the integration of Greenland into the USA to the takeover of TikTok by Elon Musk. One topic was discussed particularly often.

Hans Thomann started working in his family’s music store as a child, transforming it into the world's largest music retailer. Music stars from around the globe shop at Thomann, selling about 1000 guitars daily. Even Amazon can't compete with Thomann in the instrument segment. In the OMR Podcast, Hans Thomann discusses the beginnings, his early focus on the online business, the development of his own instrument brands, and why he has never brought external investors on board.

For nearly 25 years, Mathias Döpfner has led the Berlin-based Springer Group, transforming the traditional publishing house several times during this period. He now aims to take the next step, transforming Axel Springer into the largest digital publisher in the democratic world. In the OMR podcast, Döpfner discusses his strategy, the controversial guest contribution by Elon Musk in the Springer newspaper 'Welt am Sonntag,' and his doubts about whether the occasionally genius Tesla CEO might long-term become a figure threatening democracy.

To enforce customer rights, the legal tech company Flightright has even had to stop planes on the runway by a bailiff. To date, more than 600 million euros in compensation for flight delays have been claimed. In the OMR podcast, CEO Jan-Frederik Arnold discusses the beginnings and explains why he now wants to transform Flightright into a broader legal tech player called Allright.

For years, Zalando and About You were competitors – but in the future, the two online merchants are joining forces. With the takeover of About You, Zalando not only strengthens its market position but also acquires the missing puzzle piece for expanding its B2B business. In the OMR Podcast, Zalando’s Co-CEO David Schröder and About You’s CEO Tarek Müller discuss their secret meetings in Berlin and Hamburg, their joint plans after the acquisition, and what they wish from politics now.