Julian Teicke is a serial founder, in the last 12 months alone,
he's co-founded four companies. But before any of that, he spent
10 years as CEO of the company that made his name, scaling it to
€800M in revenue and 1,500 people.
He raised the money using an "ultimate experiment of
manifestation," as he calls it: find the largest round ever
raised in your vertical at your stage, then take it times two. It
worked — Series A went from a $15M benchmark to $30M raised,
Series B from $120M to $240M, Series C from $300M to over $600M.
Then he tells you the part most founders never say out loud: it
came from wanting to be seen, not from a calibrated goal.
In this ICONS episode, Julian gets specific about what actually
happened — not the sanitized version. He explains the difference
between building from "dirty fuel" (a paradigm he calls the
dominant theme in venture capital, built on exploiting childhood
trauma) and building from a grounded place. He recounts the
moment an employee confronted him directly: that his unresolved
dynamic with his father was scaling to every corner of the
organization, taking the whole team hostage. And he admits, on
the record, that going full-stack instead of building a broker
model was the wrong choice — one that cost the organization its
spirit.
He also walks through what he's building now: The Delta, a Berlin
campus and venture builder that started as a way to process the
30 business ideas he generates in a single hour, and BAD1, the
conference that grew out of it. He makes the case for why Berlin
is the ecosystem worth betting on, backing it with the
ecosystem's own 10x ambition — from €169B to €1.7T by 2036, with
250 unicorns and €30B in annual venture funding. And he closes on
something AI still can't do, no matter how good the models get.
Watch or listen to the full episode on our channel or Spotify.
Guest: Julian Teicke, Co-Founder of wefox, Founder of The Delta
& BAD1 Host: Roman Kirsch
Topics Discussed
Scaling wefox to €800M in revenue over 10 years as CEO — with
his father joining the team as a hire along the way
The fundraising formula: find the largest round ever raised
at your stage, then raise 2x
Series A, B, and C — how the round sizes escalated, and what
it revealed about manifestation
The honest admission behind the strategy: raising to be seen,
not from a calibrated goal
"Dirty fuel" vs. clean fuel — why he calls trauma-driven
ambition the dominant pattern in venture capital
The employee who confronted him: how an unresolved family
dynamic was taking the whole organization hostage
The full-stack insurer decision he now calls the wrong
choice, and what it cost the company
Why trauma is not required to build great companies — and
what he believes now instead
The job of a CEO: spotting which data point turns into a
positive spiral versus a negative one
What he looks for in founders now: whether they seek
discomfort or avoid it
Co-founding four companies in the last 12 months, and the one
just announced that's "a completely different beast"
The Delta's origin story: turning 30 business ideas an hour
into an actual venture-building platform
How BAD1 grew out of that same need
His case for why Berlin is the ecosystem worth betting on
Berlin's 10x ecosystem goal by 2036 — from €169B to €1.7T,
250 unicorns, €30B in venture funding
What Julian believes AI still can't replicate about human
connection
Chapters: 0:00 Cold Open 1:12 Meet Julian Teicke 3:41 Welcome,
Julian! 4:57 Why He Became an Entrepreneur 6:44 "Dirty Fuel" vs.
Clean Fuel 8:04 The Manifestation Story 13:41 From Dirty Fuel to
Balance 14:52 Hiring His Father — The Hostage Moment 17:00 Would
He Do It Again? 18:29 The Delta & BAD1 Origin Story 20:12
Luca App, Theo, Handly — The Hit Rate 21:49 What He Looks For in
Founders Now 23:45 4 Companies in 12 Months 29:57 How AI Changed
Company Building 32:10 15 Years of Lessons 41:59 The Fundraising
Formula: Raise 2x 44:47 The Goal Wasn't Calibrated 47:18 The
Wrong Choice: Full-Stack Insurer 51:44 Masa Son & "The
Beginning of the River" 58:09 Berlin's 10x Ecosystem Goal by 2036
1:03:08 Rapid Fire Questions 1:03:26 "Stop The Suffering" 1:03:40
What AI Still Can't Do About Julian Teicke Julian Teicke is a
serial founder who has co-founded four companies in the last 12
months alone. Before that, he spent 10 years as CEO scaling a
company to €800M in revenue and 1,500 people. Today he runs The
Delta, a Berlin campus and venture builder home to over 900
early-stage founders, and BAD1, the conference that grew out of
it.
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