Founders Stories: Meet the team helping new hires hit the ground running
Welcome to the latest edition of Founders Stories, a video series where we sit down with our portfolio co-founders to talk about how they became entrepreneurs, what problem they’re solving and why it matters.
Till Leinen and Bowen Moody are the co-founders of Wonderwerk — training software that helps new sales reps close deals faster.
The pair met at Founders in the Summer of 2017 where Till had joined us from Berlin as an entrepreneur in residence and Bowen had come to us from shipping giant Maersk as co-founder in a project called Samestate.
After deciding to shut down Samestate, Bowen - originally from Australia - was swiftly snapped up by Till, who convinced him to join the employee learning and development [L&D]idea he was working on. He also convinced him to move to Berlin with him to build it.
“I’ve changed jobs quite a few times from consulting, corporate, startups, and I was disappointed each time by how little support I got,” says Bowen.
“I basically had to teach myself. In fact in one of my jobs I didn’t have a laptop for two weeks when I showed up. I’m really determined to help people have a better experience when they want to change their careers and get retrained.”
They ended up pivoting that platform together to double down on a lucrative slice of the the $140bn global L&D market: sales training.
The problem
On average, it takes new sales reps six months to start closing deals consistently. This gap is a huge cost to businesses and one of the biggest things stopping companies from scaling.
Factor in the rapid turnover of sales professionals and the scale of the cyclical challenge facing companies to train their workforces begins to become clear.
Already a $2.54bn global market in its own right, sales training products do exist. But the software mostly takes forever to set up.
Wonderwerk gives companies everything they need to deliver world-class sales training. It offers out of the box training programs that help sales reps practice key skills like like pitching, objection handling and negotiation to reduce ramp time.
Most other training software takes months to set up but sales teams just don’t have this sort of time to build content, says Bowen. Wonderwerk is designed to provides value from day one with our plug-and-play training programs and skill assessments.
Preparing people and businesses for an automated future
This is part of a bigger trend.
Wonderwerk believes the opportunity for technology to help scale the education of employees will only grow as more professions move toward automation.
The need to frequently train and up-skill workforces will almost certainly become a growing demand in every single industry.
The current product is part of the pair’s bigger vision to build the tools that will help people adapt to a changing job market.
The team is excited about the future of work and how that space is going to look like in the future. On the other hand they are also scared by how little companies actually do right now for their employees, says Till.
“We are now at a time in the world where people don’t have jobs for their entire life. People have jobs for maybe two or three years and then they change,” he says.
“Then there’s more automation, a lot of jobs get replaced, new jobs pop up, so there is a need for people to be retrained and to join new companies and to learn everything they need for their new roles.
“The world is changing rapidly, no matter what, and I think we can use technology to help people keep up with this fast-changing world and to gain the knowledge and the skills they need. We are all motivated by the desire of helping people to learn more and be prepared for the future.”
Watch our video interview, or read the transcript below, as we talk to Till and Bowen about their team’s fear and excitement about the potential of technology and their mission to prepare workforces for the future of work.
Q&A with Till and Bowen
Could you both introduce yourselves?
T: I’m Till, I’m the CEO and I’m responsible for the product of Wonderwerk.
B: I’m Bowen, I’m the CCO and I do sales and marketing for Wonderwerk.
What were you doing before this?
T: Before Wonderwerk I was working on a couple of different companies that I founded, and also I worked for a digital education company. So Wonderwerk is kind of the combination of those two passions.
B: So before Wonderwerk I did all sorts of stuff. I started off working in a consulting firm in Australia. Then I moved to Denmark and worked for a shipping company, so I worked for Maersk, working as a Product Manager, so about as far away from startups as it could be. But then after that I went and had my own startup as well, Samestate, which was a customer service SaaS product.
So what is Wonderwerk?
B: Wonderwerk is training software that helps new sales reps close deals faster.
B: What’s different about us is that we actually tie the training back to performance, so sales reps go through key stage of the deal, like booking their first meeting, doing their first calls and then also closing their first deal. And by doing this very focused approach, we’ve helped sales reps cut the time it takes them to close their first deal in half.
Why do we need it?
T: We are now at a time in the world where people don’t have jobs for their entire life. People have jobs for maybe two or three years and then they change. So this is the one thing and then also there’s more automation, a lot of jobs get replaced, new jobs pop up, so now there is a need for people to be retrained and to join new companies and to learn everything they need for their new roles.
B: And I think actually building on that, another key insight we had is everyone talks about automation and the need for more developers — actually sales is still one of the most in-demand jobs in the world. I think it’s a really big opportunity for us to help people.
Why do you personally care about this?
B: Well for me, as I’ve said before, I’ve changed jobs quite a few times from consulting, corporate, startups, and I was super disappointed each time by how little support I got, I basically had to teach myself. In fact in one of my jobs I didn’t have a laptop for two weeks when I showed up. So I think for me, I’m really determined to help them have a better experience when they want to change their careers and get retrained.
T: And I started out as a developer. I’m coming more from the technical side and see a lot of potential in the use of technology but also huge risk. So, the world is just changing rapidly, no matter what, and I think we can use technology to help people keep up with this fast-changing world and to gain the knowledge and the skills they need.
What makes Wonderwerk ‘Wonderwerk’?
T: I think what makes Wonderwerk, Wonderwerk is especially the team, everyone here is so excited about the future of work and how that space is going to look like in the future. On the other side we are also so scared by what we have seen, how little companies actually do right now for their employees, so I think we are all motivated by the desire of helping people to learn more and be prepared for the future.
Can’t get enough of Wonderwerk?
About us
Founders is a startup studio. Together with exceptional entrepreneurs we build products and companies that radically improve how people and organisations work. Our portfolio includes Pleo, Duuoo, Kontist, Son of a Tailor, Maguru,LifeX, Reach, Wonderwerk, Headlight & Donna.
Camera work and editing by the wonderful Jonas Smidt Mogensen!
