Beginner's Mind

Breakthrough science has never been stronger — yet patients still miss life-saving therapies.

Despite decades of innovation, most precision medicines fail at the last mile of healthcare delivery.

The problem isn’t discovery. It’s how science, capital, and systems are aligned — or not.

Possessing elite science is no longer enough to win in the multi-trillion-dollar biopharma ecosystem.

As innovation shifts from West to East and from tre...

Most founders obsess over ideas.
Breakthrough companies obsess over inflections, conviction, and structure.

This episode unpacks Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples Jr.—a book that quietly explains why most startups never break out… and why a small minority reshape entire categories.

But this isn’t a book summary.

It’s a thinking upgrade for founders, operators, board members, and investors navigating the most fragile phase of company...

The world has grown quiet about climate change. Too quiet.

We scroll past floods, fires, droughts… and move on with our day.
As if the problem solved itself.
As if we’ve earned the luxury to look away.

Janos Pasztor (full episode) has spent 40 years inside the rooms where climate decisions are made — from serving as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change to advising presidents, prime ministers, and global instituti...

Europe leads the world in discovery — yet too often, its breakthroughs never become global companies.

Billions in research funding turn into patents, not products.

While others build empires from ideas, Europe risks becoming the world’s laboratory — brilliant, but broke.

That’s the paradox at the heart of this conversation.

In this episode, Karl Nehammer, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and former Chancellor of Aus...

Most founders dream of raising millions. Few survive the 153 “no’s” it takes to get there.

Behind every biotech breakthrough lies exhaustion — late-night calls, failed rounds, and investors who walk away at the finish line.

What separates the ones who make it isn’t luck or timing — it’s resilience built into process.

In this episode, Jason Foster, CEO of Ori Biotech, shares how he transformed relentless rejection into a billion-dollar...

Imagine waking up to find your company’s most valuable IP leaked—not by hackers, but by the very AI tools you trusted.
This isn’t a distant scenario; it’s happening inside pharma and biotech right now.
And the cost isn’t just financial—it’s patient lives, broken trust, and an industry on the edge of losing credibility. 

In this episode, Kat Kozyrytska shares how leaders can act before invisible risks become catastrophic. Fro...

Most founders obsess over products. Jensen Huang built a $3 trillion company by obsessing over inevitabilities. 

This episode unpacks The NVIDIA Way by Tae Kim—the definitive account of how NVIDIA went from near-death startup to the world’s most valuable chipmaker. More than a history, it’s a manual for founders and VCs navigating the messy, high-stakes stretch between Series A and IPO. 

But this isn’t just about NVIDIA. 

It’s about y...

How do you succeed in a business where being wrong is the norm?

Marc Penkala has lived both sides of the table: as an entrepreneur who built, sold, and failed with companies—and now as a venture capitalist running his own fund. What makes his story different is the radical honesty about what actually drives success in venture: failure, timing, and taking risks that look stupid at first.

This Spark20 episode distills Marc’s hard-earne...

Here’s the harsh truth: If your business model can’t survive a spreadsheet, it won’t survive the market.

Every year, ambitious founders pour months into product, pitch, and brand—yet the single biggest reason startups die isn’t funding, it’s flawed modeling.

What are the four variables investors use to spot winners before anyone else?

In this episode, investor and hands-on builder Alex Oppenheimer (Founder & GP at Verissimo Ventur...

Why do Europe’s brightest founders still feel forced to leave for Silicon Valley—no matter how much money or talent we pour into the region?
 Every year, ambitious startups across Europe and CEE struggle to scale—not for lack of ideas, but because of invisible barriers that keep global success out of reach.

Is it really just about capital—or is there a deeper mindset and playbook that only a handful of founders ever discover?

In ...

Still trying to optimize your health with guesswork and generic advice?
Most people settle for “one-size-fits-all” supplements and hope for the best-missing out on the breakthroughs that only real data and personalization can offer.
In a world flooded with empty promises, few realize how quickly tailored, science-backed solutions can transform energy, focus, and longevity.

Enter Vadim Fedotov—ex-pro athlete, CEO, and co-foun...

How do you lead at the cutting edge of health, data, and AI—while staying deeply human?

Angeli Möller has led global data science teams across pharma giants, co-founded one of Europe’s most ambitious AI alliances, and now builds high-performance biotech strategies with precision. But what truly sets her apart isn’t just her technical fluency—it’s her clarity, courage, and care in how she builds teams, solves problems, and pushes the...

Most founders add layers to gain control. Reed Hastings built an empire by removing them. 

This episode unpacks No Rules Rules—the leadership playbook behind Netflix’s rise from a DVD mail service to a global entertainment powerhouse. Co-authored by founder Reed Hastings and INSEAD professor Erin Meyer, the book reveals how to scale not through policy, but through trust, talent density, and extreme transparency. 

But this isn’t just ...

 Most cancer drugs fail. Not because the science is wrong—because we’re solving the wrong problems.

The cost? Over $2 billion per failure. And for the patient waiting on a miracle—there’s no second chance.

Behind the headlines of “precision medicine,” there’s a deeper story nobody’s telling. Until now. 

🎯 Enter Rafael Rosengarten, the scientist-turned-founder who’s rewriting the rules of drug development.

Europe has the science. The talent. The breakthroughs.

But when an idea feels too uncertain, our systems shut it down before it has a chance to breathe.

And with every safe bet… we quietly lose the next cure, the next Car-T, the next AI that could change everything. 

🚨 Risk-aversion, fragmentation, and bureaucracy are draining Europe’s innovation power—and nobody dares to name it out loud.

But Fabrizio Conicella, VP of Open Innovation...

What if the only way to save the planet... is to cool it?
Not figuratively—literally.
Because the heatwaves, floods, and fires you’ve seen so far? They’re just the beginning.

🌍 Emissions keep rising. Global cooperation is slowing. And the window to act is closing fast.
 Now, world leaders are quietly weighing a radical idea: Should we artificially cool Earth before it’s too late?

💥 In this explosive episode, we dive i...

What if your business ran like a well-designed machine—one that could evolve, self-correct, and outperform your competition over decades?

In this episode, I unpack Principles by Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. It’s not a traditional business book—it’s a blueprint for decision-making, culture design, and long-term scaling, rooted in clarity, transparency, and ...

What does it take to turn extreme adversity into extraordinary leadership? Suzanne Heywood’s life reads like a novel—shipwrecked at seven, isolated at sea for a decade, forging her father’s signature to survive, and ultimately earning a place at Oxford through sheer determination. Today, she’s a top executive and investor, steering multi-billion-dollar companies with resilience, clarity, and innovation.

In this episode, Suzanne shar...

ATMPs, gene therapies, and cancer breakthroughs are here—but outdated regulations, high costs, and logistical bottlenecks are blocking access. What needs to change for hospitals to deliver these cures to patients who need them most?

💡 Here’s the harsh reality:

• Patients are waiting, but hospitals aren’t ready.
• The science exists, but regulations haven’t caught up.
• The treatments work, but they’re too expensive to scale.

So what...