AWD founder Carsten Maschmeyer: You have to learn to say no
The investor and AWD founder Carsten Maschmeyer is convinced that investing money has never been so difficult. The old rule to “invest one third in real estate, one third in shares and one third in interest papers” has become too uncertain these days.
Interest-rate papers, according to Carsten Maschmeyer, are now completely eliminated, and “anyone who buys bonds buys a ticking time bomb.” In his opinion, it is also much more difficult to invest in real estate, just like in stock indices.
Carsten Maschmeyer recently made the headlines in Germany because he was a jury member on the TV show ‘Die Höhle der Löwen’ (“The lion’s den”) on German private television. At first, this not only earned him good reviews. But Carsten Maschmeyer has never given anything to the opinion of others. Maschmeyer is a man of action, endowed with a healthy ego and an extraordinary nose for entrepreneurial success.
Today, his passion for investing is primarily good ideas. He invests in Start-Ups. Because he studied medicine before starting his career as an AWD founder, he likes to invest heavily in newcomers from the medical field.
Carsten Maschmeyer, a man who may not seem likeable to everyone at first glance. It doesn’t matter, because, in his case, experience beats sympathy. In the course of his career, he has accumulated so much knowledge in investments and entrepreneurship that the Start-UpGreens can now count themselves lucky to work with someone like him. A “go” from Carsten Maschmeyer is like a knighthood.
Today, he also passes on his knowledge in lectures and workshops. The investor Carsten Maschmeyer has become an eloquent speaker, whom young people ask for an autograph.
When asked about the future of the current financial system, he answers clearly: “In general, I think we are going to end up with a big crash. The cheap money is like a drug that is administered, which you have to reduce at some point – and then there are withdrawal symptoms.”
He believes in good ideas and uses a lot of time and manpower to track down promising new and young companies. He enjoys discovering new territory and accompanying and shaping the beginning of something. As an old hand, he can give tips and warn of mistakes. For example: “Every start-up in which I am invested can be overwhelmed by a technological revolution – but it cannot fail because of sales.”
Carsten Maschmeyer has a great deal of experience in management and sales. With AWD, he has built a weight of millions. Hardly an entrepreneurial challenge that he had never experienced and mastered. Carsten Maschmeyer, who was quite unapproachable in the past says with a grin about himself that his decision to show himself on TV would have made him more relaxed. People are sympathetic to him today. Back then, as an AWD boss, he was more feared and often convicted for his supposed coldness and stiffness.
Carsten Maschmeyer talks about investing in his lectures in Start Ups, telling about (entrepreneurial) life around the clock or how he became a “self-made man” In ‘Me, myself and AI’, he asks how we will change the future of our jobs between algorithms and human intelligence can design.
An encounter with “Mr. Start-Up“ is surely worth it. Not just for (young) entrepreneurs. Inquiries under carsten.maschmeyer@premium-speakers.com !