wefox CEO shares his journey with aspiring founders

24.10.2022 09:00, Morgane Ghilardi

wefox founder and CEO Julian Teicke took the stage at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards 2022 in September to share his company’s journey – from having his elevator pitch shot down to seeing his startup become the most valuable insurtech company in the world just seven years later. The key to success, he says, is imagination.

 

 

What does it take to turn an idea with potential into a viable business? And how should founders deal with self-doubt, fear, and failure? Those are the question wefox founder and CEO Julian Teicke set out to answer for his audience of aspiring innovators and founders at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards 2022.

wefox’s growth trajectory has been exceptional. Launched in 2015 by Teicke, Fabian Wesemann, and Dario Fazlic, wefox emerged as a unicorn in Europe’s tech market. The promise of their business model was soon validated by subsequent growth and performance. Not only is its insurance company, wefox insurance, the first digital insurance company to reach profitability; wefox also bucked the trend currently experienced in the insurtech market and tech sector more broadly, having increased its valuation from USD 3 billion to USD 4.5 billion between 2021 and 2022. 

Teicke's story begins with DeinDeal’s successful exit (read more about it in World Shapers of Tomorrow) and his subsequent search for a new vision. This vision launched him on a journey that required grappling with the many challenges that come with looking for investors and partners; but, above all, he argues, it required imagination. 

Founders should aim high and envision what they could accomplish if they had an abundance of funding, Teicke asserts. This was a very important step for him, as it helped him think through what it would take to reach that goal: "I wanted to convince myself of being able to deploy that capital in a good way."

Working his way back from the best-case scenario helped him consider ideas from new perspectives. Importantly, imagining how it would feel to reach his ambitious goals also provided motivation, as well as a sense of conviction that made it easier to get others involved.

Wefox’s performance was recognized when it made the ranking of TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards in 2019, as well as the TOP 100 Swiss Scale-Ups 2021 and 2022. 

Teicke left his audience with a simple but important message: "You have what it takes to change the world, so believe in yourselves."