The Trailblazers Experience Podcast

EP49 Mareile Osthus Trailblazing Transformation from Fashion to Tech Start-up

• Ntola • Season 3 • Episode 49

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EP49 :Our next Guest is Mareile Osthus  , CEO and Co-Founder of Humii .
#Embark on a journey of transformation with Mareile, the entrepreneurial dynamo at the helm of Humii, as she recounts her remarkable evolution from the glittering world of retail to the cutting-edge frontier of tech. With a narrative that unfolds like a masterclass in professional metamorphosis, Mareile takes us from her formative years armed with a degree in business economics to her pivotal experiences at a leading German retail company and the spirited early days at Zalando and her time at the Iconic in Australia . Her story is a tapestry of personal and professional milestones, weaving in her roles as a mother, a leader, and a visionary, as she transitioned into the tech sphere and founded a platform that's revolutionizing customer experience tracking in retail.

In the crucible of commerce, traditional metrics like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) often fall short, and Mareile frustration with these limitations ignited her drive to innovate. Enter Humii's online mystery shopper system, engineered to capture the rich, actionable insights that NPS overlooks. This episode peels back the curtain on the inception of her tech platform, the fusion of Mareille retail acumen with her co-founder's technological prowess, and the relentless pursuit to refine the customer experience. Together, they navigated the challenges of a startup—crafting a minimum viable product, securing early customers, and cultivating a team that shared their steely determination and adaptability in the face of the ever-shifting tech landscape.

0:12  Career Journey in Retail and Tech."

7:10  Revolutionizing Customer Experience Metrics

11:17  Startup Challenges and Adaptation in Tech

18:41  Cultural Transitions and Personal Growth

33:26  Balancing Vision and Flexibility in Business

39:15   Empowering Growth Tips for Entrepreneurs

45:48   Embrace Opportunities, Take Leap

Her final thoughts resonate as a clarion call to venture beyond our comfort zones, to leap into the unknown and to draw strength and growth from every daring move we make.
Watch Episode on Youtube : https://youtu.be/bh1FoR0wX2A
Find Mareile :
(9) Mareile Osthus | LinkedIn
Humii - Customer experience tracking for high-performing retailers

Listen : to the audio version Apple Spotify .Amazon Music Google Podcasts
Watch and subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@Thetrailblazersexperience
Follow Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetrailblazersexperience/

The Trailblazers Experience:

So welcome to another episode of the Trailblazers Experience Pod, where we have candid conversations with women sharing their amazing careers. My next guest is Mirelle, founder of EO Humi, a tech platform which focuses on customer experience tracking for high performing retail. She has an extensive career in the retail digital space. Welcome to the podcast, hello, hello.

Mareile Osthus:

Thanks so much, Ntola, for having me. My pleasure, yeah to be Ntola, for having me. My pleasure, yeah to be on your podcast from a different continent.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Exactly All the way from Australia. I mean, I'm so envious because I would do anything to be in the sun. So I think there's a trip coming where I need to come and visit you and you show me around. So that would be great I would love that.

Mareile Osthus:

I would love that.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Once you're here you don't want to move back anymore. I know I've heard that actually, and you know what, just going off piece a bit, um, my kids are 19 and 16 at the moment. So you know I'm an empty nester very soon.

Mareile Osthus:

So world is my option in terms of work I'm envy, I'm kind of jealous, because you already made it. My kids are between 10 and 14 and I just feel like the oldest one you, you know in a puberty phase.

The Trailblazers Experience:

It's quite an awful phase.

Mareile Osthus:

Okay, but once she's through it, then I have two more to get into that phase.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Of course, of course. But let's talk about your journey, because obviously you're a founder, you're a CEO, you're a mother, you know wearing so many hats. Where did this all start for you then?

Mareile Osthus:

if you were just to talk about the early years, about your career journey, for the audience I guess, like, yeah, that's a very good question and I ask that myself every now and then where did it actually all start? Because everything which is happening now was never planned and I never expected it to happen. I guess where it started was like finishing school thinking, okay, I should go to university and I wasn't sure about what to do after that. So let's start with business economics, because it's a door opener for many things you can do. And it happened that I had a friend working for one of the leading retail companies in Germany called Peck Kloppenburg, which is like a large retail store chain, and he went to a trainee program and he said to me that's actually, it's not even my job. You should do that, you would love that.

Mareile Osthus:

So when I finished, I applied for this program and that's how it all started. That's when I ended up in retail almost 20 years ago, you know, starting as a trainee, having the opportunity to look into different departments, and ended up in fashion buying, actually for many years. So I moved from fashion buying to tech, which is kind of a 20 year story, I guess. To cut it a little bit short, it was all about, you know, working in retail and predominantly e-commerce and identifying a problem and then deciding to not wanting to live with that problem anymore, but solving the problem. So that's how I ended up then in tech.

The Trailblazers Experience:

That's amazing. And then you actually moved on to Zalando, which is now one of the biggest you know retailers out there, but also a tech business. I remember do you remember the first Zalando ad on German television where it was the guy with the shoes? I just thought this is crazy. But honestly, if you think about fast forward now as to how that business has done so well and our tech leaders, it's amazing.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, it's crazy done so well and are tech leaders. It's amazing. Yeah, it's crazy. You know, when I joined Zalando, I had a headhunter saying I wouldn't move into the e-commerce space. That's not a safe thing. And I was thinking, come on, even back then, in 2011, I think it was quite safe, you know. But it was the early days of Zalando, which was epic. You know like kind of as people would describe it. It was like all over the place in office with people playing table tennis and actually he like walked in had no idea what is everyone doing? Lots of young people, extremely diverse and inclusive women, people from different countries, like you wouldn't even know if you can speak german or not yeah which was really like it was just so fun.

Mareile Osthus:

And then I think what really captured me was the energy of that right back then. I think we're only 200 people. When I joined I almost unbelievable we were all still sitting in one office, but everyone's sitting in this room and having this amazing energy and just wanting to achieve the greatest story of life, you know, and that what really brought people together and made it so exciting it was that was one of my best experiences ever and like really, you know, I was crazy back then. We had growth rates of a hundred percent year over year. Like you never get that again.

Mareile Osthus:

But it was like really a massive shift from people moving from offline to online and and like being literally always on the forefront of you know, inventing things. Making prints is great, like you know. If you remember your very first order you shopped online you kind of didn't know if it will arrive, in how many days, what the item will actually look like, because the picture quality was quite bad. You had actually no clue. It was kind of, you know, like a guessing game, and nowadays it's such a smooth experience.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah definitely, and do you know what? I think, what you've described, is you a good decision to go into that business and go into tech and that startup to you. It made sure that you were using your skill set of what you had learned you know through your graduate program at Peking and Kopenburg, but also having that on your mind as to a changing business that was growing so quickly.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, that's right, and I think that's kind of what I felt is the perfect environment for me. Like you know, when you actually have no clue what you're meant to do and you all got to figure it out yourself, like you just come with a really very much with a doer mentality and really like get shit done. There's no rule book for anything. Everything you do is first time that you're doing something and it's it's just great fun. But it's like I think it's very welcoming environment for people who really like to figure out things, who like like working as a free spirit. More like you know, no one ever told you what to do there was was just like we want to achieve this and you tell me how we get there, and that's what I really loved about it.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So let's now switch stages a bit, so can you share the exact moment when the idea for QE struck you. What inspired you to turn this into reality?

Mareile Osthus:

The exact moment is very present in my head still now. The exact moment is very present in my head still now. We had this weekly executive oh sorry, monthly executive meetings at the Iconic here in Australia, and NPS was a metric we were looking at and very focused on, because we would always put the customer first. Now, in every monthly exec meeting, everyone could take a good guess why the score went up and down. And I was thinking to myself come on, you gotta be kidding me. I can't sit in a multi-million dollar company and have to guess what people think about my experience. Like there is no contextual data in a way. Why is the score the way it is? Yeah, so some things might be a bit more obvious. Like you know, during busy seasons did the score would go like like, let's say, the delivery experience score would go down because it took us longer to deliver and to dispatch and things like that. It's probably easier to relate. But it was just smoke and mirrors, this score, right. Like how do you even unpeel what is behind that? And I was really thinking this is shit. To be very frank, this is shit, this just can't be. Like we deserve better insights, right. And then someone said, wasn't good old days when we all walked into a retail store and we knew exactly what the experience was like, you know, if the staff was friendly, if the light was good, if the music was nice. If the light was good, if the music was nice, if the smell was great, if people could find whatever they wanted to find. But no one knows anymore what is actually going on in an e-commerce store, and that was my light bulb moment.

Mareile Osthus:

I was thinking that moment. All we would need is online mystery shoppers. The concept as such having mystery shoppers going through retail stores is very well known to retailers since ages. I want to say right, that's the easiest form of direct feedback. Send someone into a store, tell me what you experienced, and then I'll have some facts and I can change things to the better so I can improve the experience, so that I can improve my revenue. And I'm thinking too easy. We just set up a nationwide mystery shopper network, we go through the whole end-to-end experience as of now. We capture about close to 200 data points. We send the mystery shoppers through, we capture feedback, we aggregate the data presented to the retailers and that's it. Now fast forward a few years.

The Trailblazers Experience:

That's where we are kind of I mean that's brilliant and that sort of was the spark of you. Having worked at the Iconic, you were frustrated with that metric. That was a key performance indicator in the business. And that was a key performance indicator in business and that's so interesting where in your day-to-day I can see it now in any role or most women who I've spoken to is they are frustrated with something in their business. But most of the time you're on that treadmill of of just doing your job every day trying to achieve those targets, that you don't question the status quo and you actually questioned it and said, okay, we can do something about it. Now. Finding a tech team you must have started, it was you and your co-founder involves assembling a talented team. What were the early days like? Like, just tell us how it was chaotic, was was chaotic.

Mareile Osthus:

I was just having this idea right, and my experience obviously very much from the retail side. So I have no clue about tech. Still don't. Tech hates me. I will say that I could walk past a toaster and it would fall apart. But I do understand the problem, right? That's where I came from. Hey, I'm saying here's a problem in this industry. That's where I came from. Hey, I'm saying here's a problem in this industry. Everyone tracks data and the P&L and KPIs, but no one tracks really customer experience. So that's an issue, this is a problem and this is how I envision to solve it. And then Andy, the co-founder, who obviously comes from a tech background he was the smart mind saying like this is how we actually can solve it right. Like that's how we can provide the data, that's how we can make, that's how we make it measurable and trackable and benchmarkable. So that's kind of how it came about.

Mareile Osthus:

Now, we had this idea in mind, but we still wouldn't have any idea of if this is actually even working. If someone would think that's valuable, like, I would obviously say yeah, that's a very common issue in e-commerce. But like, just because I say that doesn't mean anyone is willing to pay for that service, right? So I guess the early days were very much about, like you know, setting up the basics very much rough basics and then really building an MVP, finding someone who says this is great, I'm willing to pay for this service if you can deliver this information. And that's kind of how it started. I think we found about five, six retailers who said that's amazing who were our first customers, and then that gave us about a year time to really, you know, start to build the actual product we have out now yeah, and you know, finding the right people to join you on this journey must have been challenging as well.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I mean, you've relocated all the way to australia. Is there a very strong tech uh network there of people? Because everyone always assumes that if you want to do tech well, you have to be in silicon valley.

Mareile Osthus:

You're completely on the other side of the world well, I tell you, apparently, wulongong in australia has a very good tech university and that's where we found our first people, and he obviously has a great experience in tech nowadays. The people we have in our team, they all were selected by predominantly one reason and that's all because they can relate to that vision and they're all very ambitious. They're all keen to be part of an early stage startup, which, per se, is very risky. You know, we could be gone in a couple of weeks time. So you can't make big promises, to be fair, you can't pay great salaries, but they're all very driven people with the right mindset.

Mareile Osthus:

I think that really connects them and that that was what we're really looking for we need. We always said, like I don't care too much about the actual suits, if, if you know, if we see the potential, what I really do care about is people who are in the right mindset to join a startup, to go to the most chaotic stages ever to just get the big picture. Like, not people working by book, right, people working, you know, to like reinvent themselves every day, and that's kind of how we got them together. Like nowadays we do have I think out of like in our headquarter.

Mareile Osthus:

We're about 15 people and I think we're 13 different nationalities. We're working. Everyone works kind of remotely because we have people working anywhere across Australia, like we don't even have an office anymore. We don't dictate any times when they have to work. Of course, when you're customer facing you have to be available during these hours, but anyone can work whenever they want. We don't give them hours, we don't give them dates. We don't ask them to say you have, well, they will let us know if they're sick and not working, but we don't ask for any proof or anything like that. That sounds a bit loose and probably a different thing than what you would do if you had hundreds of people, but that's our mindset. We want to work like that because everyone of us almost everyone in our company, has little kids and they're all like I can only work if it's flexible for me and that's the same for everyone, so it works really well.

Mareile Osthus:

Like the other co-founders, you know, they have little kids and their wives are working and they have days, like on Fridays, when they say I'm looking after the kids all day, I can't work. Maybe a bit in the evening, maybe yes, maybe no Depends, and we like that mentality. We don't want to have ever the feeling, you know we want them to achieve things but we're not telling them always how or how many hours it needs to take. If you're done after three days in a week with what you want to achieve, then good on you. No-transcript.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, I think it's a big shift, isn't it? Because if you're working, if you're an organization that is outcome focused, it's like we don't care how you get there, just get there in the end, and micromanaging isn't going to make it any easier. Business that are aligned with the mission and the vision, and that's what will get you through the the challenges of being a startup and moving to a scale-up business. So let's talk about some. You know obstacles and overcoming challenges. Can you share any specific obstacle you've encountered?

Mareile Osthus:

yeah, I mean there are obstacles on a daily basis, I know, you know. I think the crazy thing is you have something in mind, you want to build right and you build an mvp and then, down the line, you figure out that it's kind of moving in a very different direction. What you actually thought like when we built humi. We built it predominantly for retail but, like, along the journey, we found out that we get a lot of requests from agencies, from from data needs who are interested in our data, from tech providers and so on. So we kind of you've got to reinvent yourself all the time and you have to.

Mareile Osthus:

You know you can't sit still. It's like don't be set in your mind of what you want it to be. You have to really go with the flow, and that that's incredibly hard sometimes because it can be also very disrupting for people. Like you know, one day you say green and then the next day you say red and then it's, it's, it's. We're constantly moving. It's like it's almost like a fluid story, and then I mean obstacles on some days you have money, on others, other days you don't have any money. So you are really going to be creative and, you know, making it to the next round and like I mean they're they're extremely tough times and like, yeah, nothing, nothing ever remains the same. It's, I guess, even like getting cutting through the noise in the market is extremely hard. Like there's so many solution providers out there and people are getting slammed with emails and messages Like you can't even try that anymore. You have to find new ways on how people look at you, as opposed to how you go out to people.

The Trailblazers Experience:

That's amazing and do you know you've just mentioned about as a business that is growing and constantly evolving. You're probably navigating industry shifts as well. I mean e-commerce tech has evolved so much over the past two decades. We're now in the AI, chat, gpt empowered phase. How do you adapt to changes in consumer behavior, technology and market dynamics just in your current business as well?

Mareile Osthus:

I guess that's a really good question, because I feel like we're very much at the forefront of that, because what we do is we measure any change in customer expectations. There's some new invention coming to the market. Let's say, as an example, the company's called refunded. I'm not sure if you're aware of that, but they or in loop returns and things like that. So they offer instant refund. Like you return something, you get a refund within 60 seconds, right. All of a sudden we can see that the consumer behavior is changing, like if, if they get a refund now, after a week, they would think like that's too slow, I want to have the money straight away back.

Mareile Osthus:

So whilst we like obviously measured up the end to end customer experience along the line, we also measure any impact on any new, you know, tech stack or tech invention, whatever it is, and what does it mean for the end consumer? I guess we're lucky enough that we work with so many retail partners. There's always someone having something new and then shouting out to us hey, I'm going to implement this from next week on. Can you measure for us how it impacts our customer experience and so on? And I guess, as would know, like with with any new invention, with any new tech item in the market, the consumer behavior and expectations are changing straight away, like you know. Like 10 years ago it was acceptable to wait 10 days for your online order and and nowadays you you're literally expected within 24 hours, if not faster, and that's obviously something we see very different in the UK versus Australia, so our UK online mystery shoppers have very different expectations to Australia. Yeah, it's still fine to ship within five days, not in Europe.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, yeah, I mean so far. You've just described a very colorful career that you know didn't just happen overnight. This has taken 20 years of building and coming to that point and I think really great for the audience to understand that you can start off in one direction and pivot and move across the world to do something different. So let's talk about that. You know, moving from Germany to Australia. First of all, why, how did that happen? What was the moment where you said I think I want to relocate in your journey?

Mareile Osthus:

The thing is I never wanted to relocate. I got a call from a headhunter one day when I was at Zalando and they asked me hey, we are building up this startup in Australia, which was considered back then as a sister company to Zalando, and we need someone with your experience to help us building up the Iconic. And I was saying three times no to them. They were very pissed. I was like no, I'm happy here at Zalando. Why would I move to Australia? What's my job there? I don't know anyone there. And then it happened that I found out that my ex-boyfriend was cheating on me and I was like it took probably a week. I was like so I was a mess for a week, as kind of drinking vodka out of the bottle. I love that.

The Trailblazers Experience:

It's all my style.

Mareile Osthus:

Very relatable, isn't it? Yeah, I was an absolute mess. And then in week two I was like I got to pick myself up. This just can't you know, this can't't happening to me, like I can't let myself go. So I'm like I'm gonna call back this headhunter. And I did and I said, okay, I'll take the job, I'm moving over. Well, I'm not taking the job. I still had to go through interviews, but yeah, then they invited me over for a week to to go. I think 12 interviews in that week. And then at the end of the week they made an offer and two, three months later I was living in Australia. That's how it happened. I really didn't want to move there, thank you ex-boyfriend, Really yeah.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, in case he's listening to this. Thank you, that is great. And then I planned to stay two, three years. That's what I told my family. But then I met my husband my now husband which I also didn't plan and there was a friend on my Tinder profile. A friend from Germany came over. She friend on my Tinder profile, she's like a friend from Germany came over and she went to my Tinder profile and she said what was wrong with this guy? You texted half a year ago. And I was like I don't know, I can't remember. And his last question was something like are you free this Sunday to go on a walk with me and my dog? And she just took my phone and responded and said half a year later later she said you're lucky, I'm free this sunday. Um, and that's how I met my husband and that's how I gained three stepkids, you know.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So that's nothing was ever planned in my life yeah, there's something about serendipity, isn't it taking take sometimes you have to take a leap of faith in your professional and your personal, because if your growth is never linear, you know success. There are ups and downs, there are lots of what the fuck moments in your life you know versus anything else, and you just have to sometimes take a chance. I think is the main lesson in that as well.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, 100%. And, like you know, I always think you've got to have these experiences, like people are sometimes a bit too afraid, but then I always tell myself, okay, what can happen in the worst case? But like there's never a worst case because you still gain experience and just for the sake of the experience it already makes it worth it, I think yeah, yeah, it's always what's the worst that can happen, isn't?

The Trailblazers Experience:

it? Is the mindset that we should. You know what's the worst that can happen? My mother always used to say what's the worst that can happen. You know, life is for living you. You're gonna retire when you die, so might as well take those chances now and make the most of it.

Mareile Osthus:

That's so true.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Okay, so moving from Germany to Australia that is a big cultural transition. What are the biggest culture nuances that have surprised you and how has that impacted you from a professional perspective and also personal as well?

Mareile Osthus:

Cultural difference. You know, my very first thought when I came here is why does every dish have something to do with chicken and avocado? You can't find any dish in Australia without that. That was my first impression. But like, that's obviously has nothing to do with that, I guess. But I really thought, like the Australians are extremely friendly and helpful, like you can't stand on the street and look around and they would walk up and say, hey, are you looking for something? Can I help you find a way? But then also, like you know what I knew from Germany it's like when you line up in the morning to get a coffee, everyone is so grumpy and if someone jumps the queue people freak out. And in Australia it's the opposite. Everyone is a morning person. There was a big difference for me. Everyone gets up here at 5 o'clock and walks along the beach or whatever.

Mareile Osthus:

But people are really friendly and they're a bit more chilled, like sometimes a little bit too chilled, I want to say. I feel like there's a bit more happiness in their lifestyle and then also sometimes a bit more like, don't give too much fuck, you know. Just don't take things too serious. You still have a life and that's very refreshing. Sometimes I guess like, um, they really. I do think the life, life-life balance is very different here in Australia. Not too much if you're a founder of a startup, but in general people are just very friendly and in a good mood. Less direct, which is sometimes a bit hard for me initially, because Germans are very straight and I'm probably very direct German and that's what I expect other people to be with me as well. Australians are probably a bit different, but in general I feel like there's a lot of happiness and positivity here.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I guess those are things that you can. You know you've described what your company culture is and you've mixed, isn't it that both, isn't it where, in terms of the vision for the business and what you're doing, it's very clear, very, very aligned. That's the German side of you, but on the other hand, you're embracing the culture nuances of city and family and just trying to be a bit more high energy and embracing, you know, being in that culture environment, I think, sort of shining through. Yeah, 100% yeah. So talk to me about self-care. Obviously you're a founder, a CEO running a successful business, but also a stepmom. How do you take care of yourself and recharge to maintain focus for you?

Mareile Osthus:

So I guess I really like kind of being busy and I love doing tons of things. That doesn't bother me, but I think the best way for me to get energy is I kick off the day with a gym session. I usually get up at 5.25.

Mareile Osthus:

That's when my alarm rings and then I go to the gym session. That's usually when everyone is still in bed, so I'll be back at just before seven when everyone gets up. Um, that really helps me to get the energy for the day. I feel like the days I'm starting with the gym are like so much better than then the days I miss it. And, to be fair, every now and then I have a few drinks and I might say like I'm not going tomorrow morning. That's something I really like and then I do.

Mareile Osthus:

I'm a very extrovert person. I in general get my energy out of being around people, being like doing stuff with the kids and everything is always loud in my household and then a bit crazy, the I guess that really being around friends and family, that that's, for me, very important. Because, also, you've got to shut off. Shut down with work sometimes, like you have to hang out with people who have no context of let's say no deep context of what you're doing and like not asking always about work. Like it's good to shift your mind because you spend so much time with your team and with the co-founders, like you've got to find other people to talk about something completely different. Shut off your phone and then I guess, if I have like been more quiet moments to recharge, I really like cooking. I wouldn't say I'm the best cook, but I love spending time watching, you know, jamie Oliver videos and I just go through step by step through the process and that's. I find that really. That's kind of my form of meditation, I guess. Cooking yeah.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I find that really that's kind of my form of meditation. I guess cooking, yeah, and you've struck a chord. Just about my circle of friends are completely different in terms of industry and sector and what they do, and I love that because you can really then switch off and just lean into those things as well. I mean, your alarm goes off at 5.25. My internal clock goes up at 5 am and I just need to get out, get to the gym, get started and just recently got into crossfit as well, which has been a big game changer for me so but it allows me to catch up the high rocks challenge, are you?

The Trailblazers Experience:

yes, do you know? Actually by accident, someone said there's a, there's a high rocks going on and they're looking for some volunteers. You know we're competing. Do you want to come and have a look? And I was like, oh, and I just heard everyone speaking german around as well. So I was like, oh, this is interesting. Germans are here in the uk. What? Is this about, but it's just like it's. It's something that you just get hooked on. Has higher-ups come to Australia yet?

Mareile Osthus:

Yes, you know I was considering taking part and I wasn't really sure about it, but I was like really interested to have a chat about that with you because I was like I really admire that and like you know, I think the gym I go to is very much we call it refit or CrossFit, but it's kind of the same and we have lots of people at our gym competing there and I was like that's really close. I usually take part in an annual challenge at our gym which is called Warrior Challenge. But I really want to do that. Like I was just kind of sussing out. Like you know, there's always a little bit of doubt Will I look ridiculous next to people who are like super fit?

The Trailblazers Experience:

but I think you just gotta do things right, even like, as I said earlier, yeah, you have the foundation already with all the little challenges you've been doing at the gym and, honestly, it is really called the sports for for everyone. I mean, um, because you know, owns the business probably thinks I'm not even getting paid for talking about how great it is, but really honestly, everyone is amazing. It's a great environment. You're challenging yourself. Yes, there's super fit people on the side, but there's also people who are doing it for the first time or in honor of their parent or because it's for um, someone has passed away and they're doing it for them. It's just a really great go for it is what I would say you participate as well yourself.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, I've done it twice. Yeah, yeah, I'm like that's so good, like okay, I'm gonna do that now. Like I think you gave me confidence. I really want to do that exactly. Go for it, like think you gave me confidence.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I really want to do that Exactly. Go for it. Like you said, what's the worst that can happen, isn't it?

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, that's true, and it's just worth the experience. Like you can't fail If you're part of it, you've already, you know, done something good yeah.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So just hearing your conversation about being a leader, building a business, working for different brands you know startups scale up it feels like there's a lot of building of relations, and networking and also meaningful connections are really important. Do you want to talk to me about what networking strategies have worked for you and how have you built authentic relationships within your industry and sector?

Mareile Osthus:

yeah, I guess. Yeah, that's a very good point. I guess I mean, even moving through so many different roles and countries and companies gives you a good opportunity, you know, to connect with various people and I think I'll keep that up a lot, because I'm someone who constantly asks for feedback in terms of, like, you know, hey, we have an idea with Humi Before we launch anything, we kind of go out to all our network, to end users of the products, to some general smart people in this field there could be various skills at various jobs to just kind of get feedback and I feel like for us that's that's a huge part of networking in a way, because you know, you don't see the forest for the trees sometimes if you're sitting in your company and and we do have external advisors to help us a lot, that that's for me, like the feedback part from from my network is extremely important and I love brutally honest feedback. So, um, I was just talking to someone very smart I am connected with, since he is in the industry, and he said, um, this and this and this is really shit what you're doing and I like to hear that.

Mareile Osthus:

Right, someone's gotta say that, otherwise you know you can't improve and I guess, like, yeah, that's that's also a mentality we do have in our startup, that we're very open with feedback internally but also externally. That's the only way you can grow right. And I guess, yeah, I've kept just I stayed close with lots of people, like with lots of really mentors in the industry, like my old boss at the Iconic and my very first boss back in Germany Like there's still people I would be connected to and ask for feedback, and that's really interesting, because there's I guess sometimes there's this assumption, whether it's on social media or TikTok that when you become this leader or founder or CEO, that you know everything.

The Trailblazers Experience:

You're a human being at the end of the day, isn't it? You still need touch points and people who could call you out on your bullshit. Basically, yeah, um, and just empower you as well. You need to be able to pick up the phone to someone and say what do you think, and it helps you grow as well as an individual.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, 100%, and I think that's something I felt always really strong about, like giving feedback and giving receiving feedback. That's the only way how you can improve as a person in your company, and so on. What we built with Humi is very much built on demand. If people give us feedback, look, there's no demand for this, then we don't build it Right. So everything we do is based on our customers and on the industry feedback.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, now we know that women empowerment is a very big thing across whatever sector, and especially in tech and retail. I mean, you've started a business and we know that the statistics are telling us that 1% of all funding goes to women. So let's talk about you breaking barriers. As a woman in tech, in leadership, what advice would you give to other women who are we are working in a male dominated field in general. What tips would you give, just based on your journey and the lessons that you've learned so far?

Mareile Osthus:

I guess I. For me, it was always. I never really thought about the fact oh, I'm a minority here, I'm the only woman I don't. I don't think that way for me. I never think specifically about genders in general, I just think about people, if that makes sense.

Mareile Osthus:

However, the industry is constantly reminding me, right, like I got the question the other day how does it feel to be a female founder? And I was like I was a bit shocked and I was saying, well, what do you mean? Do you think I feel anyhow different than a male founder? Like that's what really bothers me, and I think I just I rub that in. Like I'm literally saying, like you've got to be kidding me, why would you even ask me such a question? Right, and that's what I guess needs to stop. And it really annoys me if people ask me like that, if anything, I would give the advice to everyone like, just go in with open mind, don't think about gender, and don't like if we start thinking like, oh, I might get traded differently because I'm a woman in tech, then possibly it will happen, right, like, just be strong about yourself.

Mareile Osthus:

You're not your gender in a way. Right, like you're the sum out of your character, out of your skills, out of your personality and what you can bring to the table, and out of your skills, out of your personality and what you can bring to the table, and there's zero difference. Right, and back to your point with the founders, the investors we've just raised money with. They've been actually really, really conscious. For them. It was super important that there's a female in the founder team actively. You know, I mean, first and foremost, they support great ideas and great potential, but they're actively supporting, yeah, mixed teams and you're so right I guess it stops you.

The Trailblazers Experience:

If you go on with an open mind, your character, your skill set um your skills, then it takes away. Imposter syndrome. It takes away all these negative connotations? Yeah and thoughts that you may have about yourself as an individual. So probably a very good tip. Yeah, you just got to make yourself, like, bring yourself down.

Mareile Osthus:

if you think about it, like I mean, you get hit by reality anyway. It's like if I go to tech events, or I was like at a founder's breakfast the other day and there were 29 men and I was the only woman. So that's a sweet little reminder of what kind of world we live in. But yeah, I refuse to even think about it.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, that's really interesting. Let's talk about you and balancing vision and flexibility. How do you balance staying true to your vision for your business but also remaining, you know, open to pivots and estimates that may come along the way, because it's been a long journey for you and your business and seeing how far it's come?

Mareile Osthus:

not for the faint-hearted. That's what I always say. You know, being in a setup is not for the faint-hearted. I think, like I really, I just really think we're the, the co-founders and me we have really like a challenging mentality. Like sometimes we look at each other and say like, come on, this is shit, what were you doing? Or you know, sometimes we you get stuck in your way and you can't get any further. And we just had that the other day and we totally got stuck right. And then we're saying, look, we got stuck at this point now for ages. That's just to prove that we're doing something wrong here. We have to pivot again.

Mareile Osthus:

When I say that, I think about the friends scene with the sofa and Ross and Rachel pivot, pivot, pivot. But it is totally right. Like you gotta, you gotta be true and honest with yourself and you can't like you know, you can't run after every little opportunity. I think two things you always which is the most important for us, right Do what you can do with your given capacity. Like you know, you can't run after every shining star, and there are tons of opportunities coming across. You gotta remain focused because if not, if you get distracted, it just makes your work so bad for the bit you can do.

Mareile Osthus:

And then the other thing is like challenge yourself constantly challenge and, as I said, that probably goes back to the feedback. You need to get a lot of feedback along the way. You need to get a lot of feedback along the way. You need to get a lot of brutal feedback, like I spend more time with a customer who probably dropped off and said I don't need your service anymore. Then probably someone who keeps on staying on because they need to know what. Why did we not add any value anymore to that? That's so important for us and that helps us then to pivot.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Yeah, yeah, that's a very for us, and that helps us then to pivot. Yeah, yeah, that's a very good tip actually. So staying in touch with the customer you lost, to understand what could we do better, versus just saying, okay, we've lost you, we're now going to recruit another new customer, and that's a principle you can apply to any sector, isn't it as well?

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, 100%. Same as, like you know, if something didn't work out, like spend really time on them being reflective of why things didn't work out right, and it's not like about blaming yourself or anything like it's learning from things. And you know, we always say there's so many million mistakes we can make in the startup, but one thing we don't want to do is making the same mistake twice. I don't mind about the amount of of mistakes. Go ahead, do hundreds, do thousands, but it's stupid. If you do the same thing, mistake twice.

The Trailblazers Experience:

So that's my golden rule it's just your motto for life, isn't it whether? It's personal, professional yeah yeah, learn from the mistake. No, yeah I, whether it's personal or professional.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah, learn from the mistake. And if that ever happens, it happens once to me and I was thinking to myself Christ's sake, I've done that before. How can this happen? And I get so angry with myself that I've done it again. I was like this will never, ever happen again.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Wise words. So, circling back, we've talked about your journey and your you know whether it's professional or personal, it feels like you've also grown as an individual through all these various careers that you've had across the way. Is that fair to say that your growth has been impacted as an individual as well?

Mareile Osthus:

well, oh, 100%, 100%. Like I look at myself and think how the hell did I end up here? But it's like it all makes sense after a couple of years because it's not anymore like about the actual things you're doing. It's more about you know what your personality is like and what kind of environment is is enabling and empowering for you, and things like that. So I guess, like of course, very early days in your career journey you stick to you know what we've just learned, but like it becomes more bigger picture the further you know you get and like you just figure out, I look more at like what's the environment I want to work in, right, and then these kinds of things and I will figure out the rest somehow. Sometimes I will, sometimes I I won't, but it is.

Mareile Osthus:

It's an extremely growth journey and like, especially if you you know we don't really plan things, you just go with the flow and end up here and there and doing this and this, like, but how did I end up in tech? Yeah, I have nothing to do with tech, it just happens that tech solves the problem I've experienced. But it's a great, great growth journey and I guess, like being a startup founder is a very humbling experience. It's good for the ego, you know. It's really good to go through a couple of hard years and also you mentioned.

The Trailblazers Experience:

I mean mean tech is really just about problem solving. So if you're able to solve a problem, you know, and then there is a tech business there to to be had ultimately, I, I believe as well yeah, I understand let's talk about trailblazer tips. So what are your tips for assigning women entrepreneurs in business? Things that you wish someone would have told you. All those back that could shape the direction for the audience.

Mareile Osthus:

I guess for me, one of the most important things in life was don't get stuck in a situation you're not happy in, like don't stick to a job you're not happy in. Like don't stick to a job you're not happy in because someone says oh yeah, because of your CV, you shouldn't stay two years or whatever. One thing you can't get back is time. Yeah, and it's just wasted time because unhappiness will eat you up. It's rather rather leave a job three times in a row than stick to something which makes you so unhappy as a person. If you're unhappy, obviously that reflects on everyone else and your family and friends never do that. And then I guess what really helps me is, like we spoke about what can happen in the worst case. What I really always tell myself, like I had this situation, you know, in a startup, you think every couple of months that's it, we're gonna go broke, that's it, we're gonna close doors tomorrow. And I was thinking initially to myself oh, my god, it's gonna be so embarrassing. And then I one day I was sitting down and thought to myself I need to stop thinking that there's nothing embarrassing about it. What I've done is I've gave something a leap, what I've like I've done something, I took a leap, believed in something and I gave it a go. That person is something amazing if people do that and no one. If it works out great I mean, the statistics technically are against me, but if it doesn't work out, then I should not feel embarrassed for everything and go back to what, in the worst case, can happen. You always gain great experiences from these things and you take these experiences for life and, as you, as we said earlier, it's a. It's a growth journey of yourself as a person. So like, don't think like it's gonna be embarrassing. People will look at me. What will they think? No one gives a shit right and like no one will care about it in two years anymore.

Mareile Osthus:

Honestly, just be like, be free, like a little bit and it's obviously easier said as done sometimes, because you also still have some financial commitments and you're going just like, oh well, fuck it, I'll travel the world for a year, but what? What I mean is like don't be afraid of you know, moving into situations which you probably don't feel comfortable with, you also will figure out. You don't need to know everything. You will learn things quite quickly. The only thing you need to know is being able to challenge situations and outcomes. So if you're and that's what it is probably with me like I don't have any clue about tech, but I'm still able to challenge things, and that's all you you need to know, you take it from there. You know life only happens once and take opportunities, because the experiences will bring you so much more in life than missed opportunities.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Well said and, honestly, what a great way to end the podcast for our audience with you only live once and get get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Mareile Osthus:

Yeah definitely. It's fine.

The Trailblazers Experience:

Thank you so much for your time and sharing your journey. I'm confident that it will inspire someone out there. It's definitely inspired me. I've been, you know, taking some notes, saying I need to reflect on some decisions and also learn to take a few more leaps as well, because that's what it's all about, and I'm sure your journey will inspire someone out there.

Mareile Osthus:

Thank you so much for having me, Antola. It was a pleasure talking to you and I will let you know how I go with the high rocks challenge. I'm gonna hold you to that. Thank you 100. Thank you so much for having me. Bye.