TI CEO Podcast · episode 31
Why I like talking to entrepreneurs
1-minute summary
In this episode of his CEO diary, Christoph Standl explains why he enjoys talking to other entrepreneurs so much. Whether someone runs a small family business or a company with hundreds of employees is not what matters to him – he is interested in the story behind it: How did it all start, who was the first customer, what was difficult, which decision would they make differently today? Because no company develops in a straight line. Particularly interesting right now is how others deal with digitalisation and artificial intelligence – not whether someone uses ChatGPT, but very concretely: which processes are digitised, where does AI really help, where is it harder than expected? A construction company has different processes than a hotel or a trading business, and yet there is a surprising amount to learn from one another. Books, podcasts and studies are valuable, but a personal conversation with someone who has been building their company for twenty years has a different quality – often a single sentence stays with you for a long time. His conclusion: you are never done learning. Big changes often begin with small daily steps.
Description
I really enjoy talking to other entrepreneurs. What interests me is less how big a company is today – and more how it all started and what happened along the way. Which decisions were decisive? What would you do differently today? How do you deal with difficult phases? And what can we learn from each other? In 2026 in particular, I'm interested in how other companies deal with digitalisation and artificial intelligence: what already really works? Which processes are being automated? And where are entrepreneurs still at the very beginning? After many years as an entrepreneur, I notice that I listen differently today than I used to. Because customers, employees, growth, investments and difficult decisions have long since stopped being theoretical topics. For me, entrepreneurship is also permanent learning – and sometimes a single good conversation can trigger a thought that later changes quite a lot. Big changes often begin with small daily steps.