The Kolibri Games Story (Part 2) - Daniel Stammler, Janosch Sadowski | Founder Stories

About this episode

Daniel Stammler and Janosch Sadowski have written an impressive success story in just five years: From founding their company to scaling to over 100 employees and more than 100 million users, culminating in a sale to Ubisoft for over 100 million euros. In hindsight, it all might seem simple and plannable – but reality looked quite different.

In the second part of the Kolibri Games story, both founders share their experiences with the critical decisions that shape every startup: Should you raise capital as a founder? How do you attract your first high-caliber employees? And how do you navigate through the difficult decisions of the early growth phase?

The Funding Dilemma: To Raise Money or Not?

One of the central questions that Daniel and Janosch explore in this episode is the classic founder dilemma: Should you raise external capital or try to grow organically? This decision can determine a startup's success or failure.

The two Kolibri Games founders speak openly about their own considerations and experiences with this critical decision point. It becomes clear that there's no one-size-fits-all answer – the decision depends on many factors that each founding team must evaluate individually.

Perspective as Angel Investors: What Really Matters

Particularly valuable is the perspective that Daniel and Janosch bring today as angel investors. They've turned the tables and now invest in other startups themselves. This dual perspective – as former founders and current investors – enables unique insights into the factors that really count in investment decisions.

Their experiences reveal which criteria are decisive from an investor's perspective and how founders can optimally prepare for conversations with potential financiers.

Attracting the First International Employees

Another focus of the episode is on recruiting the first high-caliber and international employees. For a young German gaming startup, it was a particular challenge to attract talent from around the world and inspire them with Kolibri Games' vision.

Daniel and Janosch explain their strategies and learnings from this phase: How do you convince experienced professionals to join a still unknown startup? Which arguments resonate with international candidates? And how do you build a company culture that successfully unites different nationalities and working styles?

First Marketing Steps and Difficult Decisions

The episode also covers Kolibri Games' first marketing efforts. For many tech founders, marketing is initially uncharted territory – the challenge lies in finding the right balance between product development and customer acquisition.

Beyond that, Daniel and Janosch discuss other difficult decisions they had to make during the build-up phase. These insights into the less glamorous sides of founder life show that even successful exits are the result of many small and large decisions that often had to be made under uncertainty.

Community and Exchange

The Kolibri Games founders remain active in the startup community even after their exit. They offer regular Clubhouse talks where they answer questions from other founders and share their experiences. This direct exchange with the community demonstrates their commitment to strengthening the startup ecosystem and helping other founders.

For specific questions, direct contact is also available through fabian@jungunternehmerpodcast.com to discuss them in future episodes.

The Kolibri Games story shows: Success isn't just a matter of having the right idea, but primarily about making the right decisions at the right time – and being willing to learn from mistakes.