Could Michael Brehm have become the German Mark Zuckerberg? The question is not absurd, because Brehm was once the head of the most successful social network in Germany, StudiVZ. Until data protection came along, as he reveals in the ntv podcast “So techt Germany”.
“50 percent of users with an Internet connection were on our site almost every day,” says Michael Brehm, looking back on the 2000s. “We had more traffic than the next ten pages combined.”
Where? At StudiVZ, the first really large social network in Germany. A success story until data protection came along. “We received an incredible amount of pressure from German data protection”, says Brehm in the ntv podcast “So techt Germany”. In the end, 70 to 80 percent of the software developers were busy “fulfilling the requirements and specifications of the data protection authorities in Germany and Europe, which in fact made the product worse for the user.”
Where are the founder courses?
In the end, Brehm sold StudiVZ for almost 100 million euros. A large part of the sum went to investors, but there is still more than enough money left for Michael Brehm to tinker with his own career.
The former StudiVZ boss founded his first company at the age of 15, but then decided to study. Namely at a university where founding a company hovers over everything as the main topic. But that is more of an exception, complains Brehm. “We are not at all able to translate our global research excellence into start-ups or products in Europe,” warns the manager. Every university must offer courses in which the ABC of founding is taught. Also for technical courses and not just for business people.
In addition, it is important not only to measure universities by how much they publish, but how much of it is translated in companies, he explains his educational approach. “Every university should have a standard set of contracts under which I can either sell or use patents.” This has long been standard in the USA, for example.
AI as a telephone advisor
Just like China, the USA is always a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence. It is precisely in this field that Michael Brehm wants to become successful with his company i2x. The company’s AI acts as a real-time coach for customer advisors in hotlines. During the conversation, she analyzes whether the customer advisor should speak more quietly, repeat something or make an offer. In the telephony area, people are “sometimes very much left alone” and happy for support, says Brehm. “It’s not about monitoring the person behind it, but rather doing it better,” says Brehm when asked about constant employee monitoring by the employer.
When asked about Facebook’s plans to build a metaverse, Brehm says: “For me it almost looks like a very defensive step.” Other companies are much better positioned in this area and already have hundreds of millions of users, says Brehm, referring to Microsoft or game manufacturers, for example. In the new episode of “So techt Germany”, Michael Brehm tells how he assesses the prospects for success of Metaverse and how he finds Germany’s start-up culture.
In “So techt Germany” the ntv moderators Frauke Holzmeier and Andreas Laukat ask founders, investors, politicians and entrepreneurs how things are in Germany as a technology location. You can find all episodes in the ntv app at Audio Now, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Also at Amazon Music and Google Podcast you will find it.