Dusseldorf Kitchen Stories is one of the most successful cooking apps in the country. 30 million people in 150 countries use it every month. And it was built up by the two founders Mengting Gao and Verena Hubertz. In the podcast, Gao talks to Sebastian Matthes about growth, how the two entrepreneurs almost failed – and why they have already had a visit from Apple boss Tim Cook.
In the podcast, she also explains how the two made the app big, why people with a migration background tend to start up more often, and what skills she looks for as an angel investor. “I want to see that sparkle, that wanting to make it work,” she says.

Gao believes that people with an immigrant background “are bolder to try new subjects”. “Because many of them grew up with multiple cultures, they have the opportunity to look at a challenge from different perspectives.” She knows what she’s talking about. Gao came to Germany from China when he was four years old.

She also reports on her own experiences from everyday life as a founder: 99 percent of the time “everything goes wrong”. “But this one percent is just great.”

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More: The previous episode of Handelsblatt Disrupt can be found here