Welcome to Mayhem & Masterplans, the podcast where Max, Simon, and Andreas test the boundaries of strategy, branding, and WiFi stability—sometimes all at once. This week, we explore how small tweaks in AI, branding, and sports fandom can spark big conversations… or at least derail them entirely.

In this episode, we:

🔹 Follow Andreas on a two-week sprint through Germany — conferences, meetings, tea, and a heroic battle against the sniffles. Spoiler: ginger didn’t win.

🔹 Break down the Mittelstand mindset — What’s the vibe in German SME-land? Andreas gives us the scoop from the "Zukunftstag" and we talk bureaucracy, jumbo depreciation (yes, it’s a thing), and why fax machines are apparently still living their best lives.

🔹 Debate vision vs. execution — Max argues startups should think more like companies. Andreas says companies should think more like startups. Simon just wants us all to think.

🔹 Get real about AI — From city government chatbots to hotel transfer disasters, we look at how AI isn’t always ChatGPT and robot overlords. Sometimes it’s just a smarter helpdesk or better audio cleanup.

🔹 Accidentally turn it into an AI episode (again) — Seriously, we tried not to. There was even a moment where Simon almost stopped us. Almost.

🔹 Tease a future episode on branding in sports — Monuments of cycling, the Masters, the Triple Crown… and why your startup’s brand is probably less iconic than Paris–Roubaix.

🔹 Discover Max’s secret to hacking the Instagram algorithm — Apparently it’s all about startup memes, SEO reels, and refusing to like anything your weird uncle posts.

🔹 End with what really matters — Music, of course. Because all good strategy sessions deserve a killer soundtrack.

🎵 The Four Horsemen – Metallica (Andreas going full thrash)

🎵 Gone Away – The Offspring (Max staying in his desert rock era)

🎵 Jetzt kommt die Osterzeit – Rolf Zuckowski (Simon’s playlist is still sponsored by fatherhood)

🎧 Subscribe to Mayhem & Masterplans wherever you get your podcasts—and follow us for unruly branding debates, startup therapy, and questionable sports analogies:

📍 Max on LinkedIn

📍 Simon on LinkedIn

📍 Andreas on LinkedIn

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🎙️ Produced by: Hypecast

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