From CTO of N26 to Founding a Non-Profit Online University | Startuprad.io
Executive Summary
Welcome back to Startuprad.io, the podcast where we bring you the latest insights and stories from the world of startups and entrepreneurship. In today’s episode, we have a very special guest joining us, Christian Rebernik, CEO & Co-Founder of Tomorrow University. We’ll dive into Christian’s journey, from his early days as a CTO of companies like Scout24 Group, dating Website Parship, World Food Program, bwin, or N26 to his current role in shaping the next generation of banking and now building a next-generation university. We’ll explore how he’s bridging the gap between technology and education, revolutionizing the way we learn and empowering future change-makers. Stay tuned for an engaging and enlightening conversation on the innovation landscape, the role of online learning, and the power of meaningful connections in business and personal relationships. Let’s get started!
“Germany has not the reputation as an innovation leader, But I must admit that the state of Hessen did actually an amazing job in that regard.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
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Online Learning: “For us, it’s really about how can we help you to learn effectively. And, in reality, there’s a lot of learning science. And about this and we know for 30 years how to do it, actually.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
Our Sponsors
This recording is supported by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen
This recording was made possible by HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping startup businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of HTAI and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated sub-podcast in partnership with them: Tech Startups Germany on our https://linktr.ee/startupradio
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Education systems and learning without purpose: “Many education systems today are not designed to help you to learn. They’re designed to help you to know and remember things at a certain point in time. And I had always the feeling in school that I just need to learn something for the test, but there was no purpose.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
Questions Discussed in the Interview
- How do bookkeepers in sports betting use data to their advantage, and is it possible for individual performance to overcome their odds?
- What were the challenges and benefits that the speaker experienced when merging technology and product development in their role as CTO of Scout24?
- How can startups benefit from networking and developing innovative strategies for success on the international stage?
- What role did the support of ATAI and the Enterprise Europe Network, Hessen, play in providing tools for lasting success for startup businesses?
- How did the speaker’s experience at N26 shape their understanding of the importance of giving users full control and transparency over their finances?
- Do you agree with the speaker’s views on the education system and how they felt their education lacked purpose and focused solely on test preparation?
- How does the accessibility of information and advancements in technology impact online learning, and what strategies can be employed to help students learn effectively?
- What challenges do CTOs commonly face in aligning business and development teams, and how can they overcome these challenges to create a more aligned workflow?
- How does the speaker’s experience with building a scalable platform for N26 Group differ from their previous roles in other industries, such as real estate or online gaming?
- Discuss the principles of successful long-term relationships as mentioned by Dr. Schmale, and how these principles can be applied to both personal and business relationships.
The Future of Education: “We want to help educate and empower the change makers of tomorrow so that we believe that this kind of sustainable society is created by empowered and educated individuals. And that’s the reason why we are building this kind of next-generation university.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
The Video Podcast is set to go live on Thursday, October 20th, 2023
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The Evolution of N26: “We actually started off a very different product, which was Papaya, which was a teenager, credit card, actually. And then they switched to become a full bank, and they had this, they said, hey.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
The Founder
Christian Rebernik (https://www.linkedin.com/in/crebernik/) is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tomorrow University. He is a CTO with a strong technical background, but his key strength lies in his ability to understand and leverage technology for business growth. Christian believes that it is crucial for developers to have a clear understanding of the customer’s needs and the reasons behind the work they do. In his past experiences, he noticed the negative impact of treating developers as mere “coding monkeys” without involving them in customer interactions. This motivated him to establish Tomorrow University, where developers are encouraged to engage with customers and align their work with business objectives. Christian’s mission is to bridge the gap between business and technology, empowering developers to make a meaningful impact through their work.
Successful Relationships: “And it’s a really interesting one because, I think it’s not just true for relationships, Private ones, but also for our business relationships. It’s built on the principle that actually to make a long-term relationship successful, There needs to be certain things in common, so that you really get along with it, I mean, with each other. But there needs to be certain differences, so that you have nothing to keep it interesting in the long term.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
The Startup
Christian Rebernik, the CEO and Co-Founder of Tomorrow University (https://www.tomorrow.university/), has led the startup to significant achievements since its inception. Tomorrow University has successfully raised multiple rounds of funding, demonstrating investor confidence in its mission. With these funds, they have been able to build a state-of-the-art learning platform and attract top-tier educational talent to deliver high-quality content to their students.
What sets Tomorrow University apart from its competition is its unique approach to learning. They have developed a cutting-edge learning model that emphasizes real-world challenges and hands-on experiences, taking students out of their comfort zones. This innovative method ensures that students not only gain knowledge but also develop essential skills that are applicable in the real world. Their dedication to mastery learning, where students reflect on their progress and focus on what truly matters, sets Tomorrow University apart from traditional education models. This approach has garnered attention and recognition from both learners and industry experts, positioning Tomorrow University as a leader in the next generation of education.
The Journey of a University Dropout Turned Tech Entrepreneur: “The first thing out of university I’m actually a university dropout because I founded my own company. Studying was very boring for me.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
Venture Capital Funding
Tomorrow University raised 10 mn US$ in Series A funding. They are open to talk to new investors. Reach out to Christian directly.
Challenges of aligning business and developers: “The most annoying thing is, if you actually have the sense of business and have not the possibility to align business and developers fully, which means I think it’s really important that every developer understands the context of the customer, talks to the customer, engages with him, And it’s clear why we do the things we do.” — Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University
Hiring!
Tomorrow University is looking for talented individuals across a wide range of open positions. Have a look at the currently open positions here:
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Further Readings / Additional Resources
- During the interview, we referred to the interview with Lukasz Gadowski, which you can find here: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/german-startup-awards-2021-special-award-for-lukasz-gadowski-8a0262073254
- Amazon Web Services: https://aws.amazon.com/
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The Interviewer
This interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him:
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Topics Discussed in this Interview
bookkeepers, sports betting, individual performance, odds, online sports betting, thrill, fun, Austrian entity, emobillion.net, Scout24, CTO, technology leadership role, product, challenges, benefits, merging technology, product development, startups, networking, innovative strategies, international stage, ATAI, enterprise Europe network, Hessen, support, tools, lasting success, podcast, Tech Startups Germany, partnership, Linktree, website, startupraven.com, Christian, co-founding startups, CTO, shaping next generation of banking, mobile banking, full control, transparency, N26, design, instant changes, push notifications, education systems, learning, effort, network of experts, callback assistance, innovation leader, state of Hastings, ad tech, state recognized university, ministry of innovation, ministry of education, digitalization, global students, collaboration, cross-boundary empowerment, journey, next-generation university, dropped out of university, accessibility of information, smartphones, AI tools, Papaya, credit card, scalable, core banking system, Wise, banking license, cloud-based, Max, real-world challenges, mastery learning, success formula, purpose, essential skills, impactful career, learners, online learning, learning science, The new player, changing existing systems, CTO, business alignment, developers, coding monkeys, Chief Product Officer, World Food Program, online bank, matchmaking, real estate, couples, positive start, Austria, Switzerland, language, culture, France, Belgium, Canada, US, Hassan Trade and Invest, HDI.
Automated Transcript
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:00:00]:
Your startup podcast from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as founder and host of the world’s number one tech entrepreneurship radio called Startup dot radio. Wherever you’re watching this, wherever you’re listening to this, go to startup rate dot io, and you can learn more. Today, I would like to welcome somebody from the GSA area originally from Austria. Christian, hey. How are you doing?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:00:25]:
Hi, John. Pleasure to be here. I’m doing fine.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:00:29]:
That is great. And you are already smiling. That is a pretty good start. But you are actually here even though you are from Austria where most people from outside Germany or, Germany, Austria or Switzerland Wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. There are always slight differences be like, between what would be a good example? Between French Friends and Belgium, between Canada and the US, you know, the the those little differences between bordering countries who share languages. But today our enablers this is another interview in cooperation with Hassan Trade and Invest and the Enterprise Europe Network. This recording was made possible by HDI and the enterprise Europe network, Hessen. These organizations have made tremendous contributions to helping start up businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:01:26]:
By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop innovative strategies for success on the international stage. The dedicated support of ATAI and the enterprise Europe network, Hessen, is paramount in providing startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated Zap podcast in partnership with them. It’s called Tech Startups Germany, or you can find the link on our Linktree as well as our matching website startupraven.com. If you hurry, you will be you could be the 11th Thousand person to sign up. But now, Christian, getting to you, and there’s a lot lot ahead of us. As we said, We you started your journey working and cofounding startups. I would say Not not every time, but most of the time you have been a CTO.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:02:21]:
Right?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:02:22]:
Quite often. Right.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:02:24]:
Quite often. Yeah. Just out of curiosity, you’ve Seen so many startups, so many technology companies from the inside. What is the most annoying part for a CTO there?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:02:39]:
What is the most annoying part of the another question, I must admit? The most annoying. So I The I mean, the the most annoying thing, I think, from a CTO perspective and it’s a question, what is a CEO? CTO. CTO is, you know, somebody who With a technical background, but I think the key part about the CTO is also that he understands business. He understands how to leverage technology for business. And the most annoying thing is, if you actually have the sense of business and have not the possibility to align business and To the at the, developers fully, which means I think it’s really important that every developer understands the context of the customer, talks to the customer, engages with him, And it’s clear why we do the things we do. And if this is not possible because, for example, in my past, There is, a head of product, for example, leading product managers, head of design leading the designers, and then you have developers, and they are treated as, like I’ve I’ve I’ve I’ve a lot of the term coding monkeys. I think that’ll give a problem. Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:03:43]:
And as as As soon as this is established in the culture, I think it’s really one of the biggest problems actually. And I think it’s very important that it is not the case. I think that an engineer It’s it’s an artist. And it’s like it’s like this kind of bricklayer story. You know? The one thing is you’re a bricklayer. The other thing is actually you’re building a church, you know? And I think this is so important, that you as an engineer are really clear. Whatever break but everything you do actually means for the bigger picture, Sure. You make those decisions, and you can match those decisions because it takes a lot of decisions actually every day that you can match those decisions on why we do the things we do and, Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:04:21]:
Always have a bigger picture in mind. So the the most annoying thing is if the if that’s if that’s broken, this kind of orientation tower is Actually, the business and the value you actually want to create.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:04:32]:
Mhmm. I once talked to a very smart CTO, And, he told me that many people with business background don’t understand if they draw something up on the whiteboard and say it has to be completely different than what we’re doing right now, How much work actually the people in coding, in development do have at the end. And I do believe a lot of the job Of the CTO is not only to, fully get the business working, meaning the tools who actually do the work in the back, but rather, to also manage expectations for the business side. Would you agree to that?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:05:10]:
No. Absolutely. I think manage expectations So this is that is a key part. I I would just go even further, because there’s so much effort, eventually cost and time, involved in certain things. It’s Like, when you’re pregnant, you cannot speed them up. You know? It’s so important to give exactly that context. What are the, what are the impacts of a decision? But it will also, again, help to making the right decisions. Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:05:35]:
Because, it’s very hard if the the the I I hate big decisions when they are very risky. And I think it’s so important actually to break them down and lay out how this works. I mean, that’s That has been a tremendous done work done in the sense of making things more incremental, making things iterative. Yeah. Because Mhmm. Yes. You can have as a, I don’t know, as a founder, CEO, you can have this kind of big vision. I want to create this platform.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:06:00]:
But where do you start? What is the first That what does this actually mean? And there’s a lot of questions around this, which a especially, coming to that case. That’s his job, I think, from that perspective, really making that kind of, Yeah. Strategy plans, making this iteratively so that you don’t have like, you have, like, build cons like, In Berlin here, the airport is a big example of a cost function, which, you know, is cost exploding. But in software, there are many projects which also had had Way more cost than you actually anticipated. Yeah. So this is the reason why this is so important, I think, to make this video in a meaningful way. And the software, That’s the good thing is you can make things very iteratively typically.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:06:39]:
Mhmm. Yeah. Not not like the the the the huge leaps. You prepare something for years and make Something completely different, but I’m also a believer in the very small steps. I actually had this also when I was interviewing Lukasz Radoski and asked him or the secrets of his success. And he said always the incremental improvements. As we’ve already established, you have been You are from Austria. Your very first station was a betting portal, Spot’s betting portal called bwin, well known across Europe.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:07:13]:
How how did you get this? Oh, before we get to that, another touristic information. We already have established how beautiful Vienna can be before Christmas. Would you have another recommendation for people considering a trip to Austria?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:07:33]:
Oh, I’m from Vienna, so I definitely recommend Vienna. It’s beautiful. The Christmas markets around Christmas time are amazing. My grandmother is from Salzburg, which is in the middle of it’s also in Austria. It’s in the middle of the mountains, and it’s beautiful. It’s a very beautiful, place especially in winter because also you have snow and can ski there. And then I’m from Austria, so I really love the mountains. Yeah.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:07:58]:
I see. I see. So and now we have this other way. How did you get into Bwin? Was it a bet?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:08:09]:
It’s a little bit longer story, but, how did I get into it? So The first thing out of university I’m I’m actually a university dropout because I founded my own company. Studying was very boring for me. Long story to that. And out of that 1st company, I found it myself. Eventually sold that and joined another company which, required tech Developers to build it for their IPO, which was an ad network, a little bit like Google’s double click network, Back then, and, that work didn’t work out. They failed in the IPO. And that’s the reason, then asked us asked us, and I’m seeing my back then cofounder me Join, because it’s a is one of the so it’s just a global leading online gaming, and gambling, between sports betting, but also poker and other other products. And back then, when I tried about 30 people.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:09:01]:
And, actually, literally, I was the 1st engineer. It’s Interesting story because I think they did an IPO without actually having anything built themselves internally, and they said they want to become the leader in online gaming, gambling. So from that perspective, is it okay? Hey, Kristin. Can you help us to build that, actually? And it was Back then, again, this was 2001. Yeah? Back then, I think from a tech perspective, it was a really interesting problem. It’s like a little bit like, And I don’t like to looking back, I wouldn’t do that anymore. But back then, it was just really interesting. Pornography ads, betting, have been quite advanced when it comes to, to technology.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:09:39]:
And they face a lot of challenges because, also, there was a business opportunity quite early on. And for me, Talking about the technology side, I had the opportunity to help that. And it’s, like, really interesting because you have these world championships. Yeah. And Then you have this kind of life gains and how to make that actually happening, how to build this. And then you have to try to deal with cybersecurity when people, try to Torture, actually, to get money and and threaten you to shut it down. It’s a lot of complexity, and building that was quite exciting. And it was a long journey.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:10:11]:
I was, As mentioned, joining as number 30th, roughly, and I was leading with over 3,000 people. So I went for this 9 years where we like this kind of Growth period from early, from the early days literally to building it, to the world’s online leader in that business. Yeah.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:10:30]:
Just another question. Out of pure pure, out of pure curiosity, slow, Julia, would you still have an idea how you could game online betting website?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:10:49]:
So it’s an interesting business in in a nutshell that bookkeepers, you know, the bookkeepers who make the arts, they are they are professionals at in their sports, and they have they have all the data on their side. Yeah. But then again, the reality is if You and there are many people who are really good at sports, like in tennis, and it depends sometimes on 1 person, then you have a really good luck, good chance actually to to be better than the bookkeeper because at the end, it’s just odds which they put in favor. In a nutshell, that’s the reason you can win at 1 game eventually, But I think it’s really tough. Like, it’s like with all those systems, there’s a likelihood which is in favor of the house. So in the long run, it’s just designed in a way, that it’s fun, but you also lose money in a nutshell. Yeah. So that’s the reason why I’m not a fan in general of Online sports betting, except if it’s for the thrill and for the fun, then it’s fine.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:11:44]:
But I think there are too many negative effects looking now back. I I Wouldn’t recommend it in general, yeah, from my perspective. If you play to earn money, it’s just wrong. That’s the the problem about gambling, yeah, I think.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:11:57]:
Mhmm. Exactly. And then at one point you decide to leave, but we you went for a little bit larger group. All the people listening to us on a regular basis, They would know Scout 24 group. They have been maybe the 1st successful people building up Platforms here, for example, used cars and real estate comes to mind because that they have been the Best known platforms there, Autoskaufjensfansig, meaning, Carscout 24 and Immobilien Scout. Fjens Van Sick, Real Estate Scout 24, was something that stuck into my mind.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:12:38]:
Yes. And I had to put out so I was I was joining an Austrian entity. It is called emobillion.net, actually. And it was just later acquired by by Scout24 and then opportunity to become their CTO, Which for me was really interesting because it was the 1st time I could really step into this kind of technology leadership role. And As it turned out, I mentioned before this kind of, that I thought is one of the challenges for SCTOs. I also had the opportunity there to take be responsible for a product. And then together, not just, shape the technology side, but also shape the product side. And for me, it’s also one of the really interesting learning curve, But also seeing the benefits actually of of these 2 sides coming together, and being, like, in line and having a really clear, path for success.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:13:30]:
Yes. Yeah. But the, in the Austria, the leader, the largest platform. It’s like if all of its platforms, if It’s very hard if you have the the biggest offer because it’s a demand. You have the supplier side and demand side. Yeah. And from that perspective, it was really interesting because pretty much every, Real Estate, in Austria, where I was responsible for wasn’t our platform back then.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:13:57]:
Mhmm. Talking about the supply and demand side here, then you went for a dating website, which I found pretty interesting. And it gave me the question, did it change How you look for partner?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:14:11]:
So yesterday, I joined Parship. Peter Schmidt actually did, asked me to join. He was convincing me, actually, with that also to move to Hamburg, which I enjoyed looking backwards quite a lot. Yeah. And the the I also there had the opportunity to also be responsible for science department. And, at Tashi, we would say it’s not it’s not dating. It’s matchmaking. We have been really in the, in this topic for making people long term relations actually successful.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:14:40]:
And I learned, actually, a lot of it. The founder or the one of the founders, doctor Schmale, he was actually a par therapist for centuries, And he did travel around all over Germany for, for a very long time and doing research about what makes actually successful relations. He himself, I think, was 3 times married, multiple kids. Yeah. So he made also some hands on experience himself, And he was the inventor of the algorithm behind that, actually. And it’s a really interesting one because, I think it’s not just true for relationships, Private ones, but also for our business relationships. It’s built on the the principle that actually to make a long term relationship successful, There needs to be certain things in common, so that you really get along with it, I mean, with each other. But there needs to be a certain differences, so that you have nothing to keep it interesting on the long term.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:15:35]:
Yeah? And figuring this kind of matching algorithm out and what this is and how can you ask real good questions Just to so it’s not obvious, but indirect, actually, was one of the secrets at the beginning of, actually, the algorithm behind it. And it was an amazing job that you really get letters, from people who actually built their relationship based on that Principal and then did get kids. And as was, it was, from that perspective, really an exciting, journey. And Now I think today, Parship is also a global leader. It’s in matchmaking, but but now they also do extubating the extent of their portfolio from that perspective. Yeah.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:16:14]:
Uh-huh. I see. 2 2 tomorrow maybe 3 more positions I would like to pick out because What I found interesting, you have been for a few month chief product officer with the world food program, ShareTheMeal, very interesting position. Plus, what also stands out what many people label you. You’ve been for, a little bit over a year, almost 2 years, The CTO of N26 Group, the online bank, the challenger bank, we talked about so frequently in the news in the past. What I found personally quite interesting is in one interview, you said you helped them build a scalable platform. What was the difference between betting, matchmaking in terms of Real estate matchmaking in terms of couples to getting an online bag. I mean, the there’s quite a difference in here at least from my personal perspective.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:17:12]:
Hey. Maybe talking about the N26. Yeah, here first. The I know, Valentin and Maximilian, the founders of N26, Since they have been the accelerator, active spring plug and play accelerator, there was I was mentor, for them. Yeah. So that’s I’ll be actually no other since the they founded, N26 since the inception. And only 2015, Actually, I joined them because they have done the series a. And they said, hey.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:17:44]:
We actually started off a very different product, which was Papaya, which was a a a teenager, credit card, actually. And then they switched to become a full bank, and they had this this, they said, hey. We were they actually didn’t had a a real working product to make this Scalable and working, but after the first, rough iteration, and they asked me to help to build that product And the tech team, from that perspective. And I was joining, from that perspective and as a CTO, to help them on the one hand side, build this whole core banking system, build integrations with partners like Wise, for example, but also for investment, for example, And then, get a banking license in that combination. So build a fully accredited core Core banking system, which just can be supported and licensed, and we have been the we’ve built the 1st, core banking system in the cloud. I think nobody else before that was So they’re running on AWS in that kind of case. We used it as a as a as a technology provider there. And that was a very interesting and very exciting journey from that perspective as well, working alongside, Max and helping them really to shape, Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:19:01]:
Shape the next generation bank and how this can actually look like from that perspective. And the the great thing about it is it was always very focused on on on users who have wanted to bank their mobile devices and want to have full control and transparency on their finances. And that’s what what we did also when it comes to the product, how we designed everything, to make it really built for the people who want to have constant transparency and, Yeah. Control of their finances. And it’s the reason why everything which N26 has is is designed actually for instant changes, for example, and full and and, yeah, and also information, for when it comes to push notification. Today, it’s all very normal and standardized, but back then, it was really novel, in many regards. Yeah. Nice.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:19:47]:
What I’ve learned, maybe the just to to ask this question about, what else is to do eventually. So that obviously, I I know Had I’d never worked in finance actually before. I never had worked in a bank before. Yeah. And then being I I felt it’s very brave of Mark, it’s a balancing to ask me actually to try to do the bank with them. So it was for myself actually learning journey and it was a tough one, to be honest. But in the other hand side, In the favor of me, I had some experience with Vivint, building actually, in a nutshell, a gambling system, which you have accounts, you have fraud, You know, it’s actually from a technology perspective, very similar. Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:20:27]:
There is it’s the transactional consistent, high amount of volume, scalability, security, all these things matter in both very much. And, And, again, it’s it’s also the topic just a fraud. I think, at n26, that we’ve been we we had, I don’t know, You had, I think the Coconut Islands, for example, they exist. They have, I don’t know, like, 5,000 people inhabitants. And I think we had registered, Like, a 5,000 people from those islands. Yeah. And, obviously, that cannot be true. Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:21:01]:
But back then, it was, like, always a question, how can we figure it out? And Yes. The same is true for n twenty six. So that’s where let’s say there’s a lot of benefits actually from, again, our technology and product Active and analogies, what you can learn from 1, and the other one. Yeah.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:21:19]:
Don’t worry. That’s totally fine. Very interesting insights. And, I only would mention 1 more position. You are A member of the founder institute in Berlin, which by the way is also present here in Frankfurt, and they doing a good a lot of good work. Big shout out to those guys. And now let let’s do the the the the the complete circle from bedding to matching real estate and cars, to matching couples, to doing finances, to have a nonprofit Online university you cofounded. How did this happen?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:21:59]:
Yeah. Looking forward, nothing makes sense. Now looking backward, it all comes together somehow because, over the time. So one of the things I’m actually, in love with since I dropped out of university It’s to use technology to have an impact. Now what is impact has changed over time to be, to be fair on that side. Yeah. But I was always fascinated It’s kind of solving problems and really having an impact on people’s lives. Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:22:27]:
And you shifted now, the the later they get because, also, I have kids. I have 3 kids now, so it shifted more to sustainability, to on the societal, way to have a positive impact. But it was always my my My interest on that on that perspective, and this is something something which is the the red line throughout my whole life, from that perspective. And, just maybe coming to this, Yeah. But I imagine part of it was very great. It was really I was Thankful for having that opportunity. I was also with N26. It was really great.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:23:04]:
I’ve been part of that story and that journey and actually have the opportunity to do to do this Now looking back, really tremendous, and even even game changing, things from that perspective. And tomorrow, And now just to mention now what tomorrow is. Yeah. Tomorrow is a next generation university, which we are developing, currently and, or have already built And and and serving learners where we want to help to educate and empower the change makers of tomorrow so that we want we believe, actually, that this kind of sustainable society is, created by empowered and educated individuals. And that’s the reason why we are building this kind of next generation university. And that’s a very important thing now because, Yeah. I mentioned that I’ve dropped out of university, but the day reality is that my kids have been homeschooling here in the pandemic, and, I noticed that nothing has changed, in learning, since I was in school and the world has, you know, these kind of libraries, which have been really limited accessibility hundreds of years ago. Now you go open your smartphone, And you have any information at your fingertips or, with AI tools now.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:24:15]:
It just is a different environment. And, I think that many of the, education systems today are not designed for that, and they’re not designed for actually helping you to learn. They’re designed for Helping you to know and remember things at a certain point of time. And I had always the feeling in school that I just need to learn something, for the test, but there was no purpose. And the reality is in my in all those journeys from to n 26, I had to learn a lot. And it it was really challenging to do this by myself because by mess if you’re by yourself and try to understand the things Which maybe you have kind of learned at the university. You you it’s a lot of effort, and it’s a lot of you need to build up a network of experts. For example, at n 26, I didn’t have a clue about callback assistance.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:25:04]:
So I reach reaching out, finding people who can help me to understand things better. Ask them a lot of questions, understanding how finance systems look like, how the Zwift money transfer works. It’s a lot of reading and Diving very deep into it. And I think that, the right education really can accelerate you. So that’s the reason why we founded the N20 Tomorrow university, to help really those kind of change makers, so that we can empower and educate them.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:25:36]:
I understand. And I actually have to tell you, I, I’m pretty surprised because you quoted, Kierkegaard, the, Danish philosopher who said Life is only understood backward, but live forwards, something I also totally, totally do agree. A quote, another, a great teacher taught me. Big shout out to Miguel Carrillo here. And, it it that is fascinating because I hear this quite so often. So you are an online university. You’re officially headquartered here in lovely Frankfurt. But as we as we know, it doesn’t make a lot of difference in terms of online university because your which can be global.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:26:29]:
Do you have, like, streaming classes where people can actually live participate? And do you, accommodate different time zones? Talking about if people in Asia could consider joining your university. People, use Pacific Coast. It’s always a little bit, tiresome to to get something agreed between those those 2 extremes because It’s like a big world and and we only have 24 hours in each day. How do you do your Education there, like in terms of of really attending classes. And how did do you substitute what So many great universities still do, meaning building the networks, thinking about the MBA programs, for example, the the the the classical networking stuff, when you are on-site, how do you do that?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:27:25]:
So that’s a a big question because it has a lot to do with, Yeah. Also but I learned myself how actually learning works, and then I’m not sure it comes from, and it’s I don’t like the term online universities much. For us, it’s really about how can we help you to learn effectively. And, what and the the reality is there’s a lot of learning science And about this and we know since 30 years how to do it, actually. It’s just hard to change systems. This is also the reason why we founded The new player because I think it’s very sometimes it’s easier to build something from the scratch and design it just that way. And then it comes to So our pet learning model, our students learn based on real world challenges. So, we like to say that also we we’d love to bring you a little bit out of your comfort zone.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:28:12]:
And based on these real world challenges, you build up that knowledge which you apply on the challenge. And then when you apply it on the challenge, you actually sub create really working products, and that’s you give you submit, but also you get give feedback to other students, on what matters, actually, in that regard, you have a, a self reflection on what is you distill what really matters, which is called mastery learning from that perspective. And this is one part, how we do this. And the other part, is that and it’d be like this kind of Success formula from our perspective. It’s we help you to define your purpose. We help you to learn become competent and learn the twenty percentage skills, and we also help you to build a network. And that combined, has the the, the goal to Have helped you to have an impactful career. And our learners come from around the world.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:29:04]:
You mentioned that already. Currently, the The learning the the time zone, when the classes are happening in the evening. So it’s way easier, actually, in Asia to join our classes than in the US. Yet we have from both, from both sides, actually, learners who are coming to us and a very different, Yeah. Very different, backgrounds from that perspective. The if you may imagine learning, It’s very hard to concentrate and have a have a lecture. And and and to concentrate in a lecture. And and talking about a physical hall, if you mention, and I was at the university, and I was sitting in classes and lectures.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:29:43]:
There are 500 people just listening. It’s pretty best the best time to sleep. Yeah. And I think this is online just worse. If you have A lecture where somebody is talking, it’s really hard if it’s 90 minutes, that you actually keep attention. So that’s the reason why we also minimize Anything. We don’t have traditional lectures, actually. We we minimize any sessions which are live to high interactive sessions.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:30:08]:
Everything, from self study time, you can do in your own time. There are group works where you come together. But, again, then you and as a group come together, and you can schedule that. Yeah. So from our learning perspective, you’ll have a lot of, flexibility. If there are videos and we also have short videos, which are sometimes really good to explain some certain things better, Then we integrate them. But they are always very short and very to the point and part of the self study time, typically. So the the from an online university program, it’s just from a model different.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:30:40]:
We’re focusing on interaction, to keep you really engaged. This is also one of the, I think, exciting ways how you learn best, is that you apply things because we don’t have It’s kind of, knowledge tests. Yeah? If you study with us, you submit your work and you get feedback On a quantitative and qualitative scale on your on divert on the on the challenges you actually submit on your challenge submissions, yeah, from that perspective.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:31:10]:
Mhmm. And they
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:31:10]:
need to mention one more sentence. Just to say this, what what do you learn? Actually, we have different programs. You mentioned already, our Impact MBA program, which is about, sustainability, leadership, and innovation. The idea is we do to help you transform yourself, transform your team, and your organization. So this is one part, and we have a master of science at entrepreneurship technology. This is especially if you are thinking about eventually starting a company, if you’re thinking maybe So changing your career to something sustainable. And then there are bachelor programs in, for example, responsible entrepreneurship or a bachelor in AI and sustainable technologies.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:31:47]:
I see so it’s really broad. Of course we’ll Oh, as always link down here in the show notes the whole university. And I do assume over time you may expand your program a little bit. Also what is interesting for me, we already said it’s a nonprofit organization, But he still raised venture capital. Are we talking about impact capital here? And what is the special challenge for a nonprofit at tech startup, which guys you are.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:32:22]:
So that’s an interesting one. The Our organization is a combination of both. Yeah. That that’s what you mentioned. We have on the one hand side venture capital, then on the other hand side, we are nonprofit wise. This is so important. We are mission driven. Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:32:37]:
So our purpose is to accelerate transition to sustainable society. That’s what we care about. And we care a lot about actually How we can actually empower, the people to have an impact, for career for that reason. Yeah. And that’s also how we measure our success. Yeah. To ensure that, we have a high quality educational mission and they can fulfill that. That’s the reason why we have our nonprofit.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:33:00]:
On the other hand side, we really want to have impact. And impact, we have this theory of change. If you look at the planet, we have 8,000,000,000 people, and you need to reach a certain number of people to have a certain number of change. And we have a calculation for that. And we want to reach 1,000,000,000 people by 2030. Now you can ask me 2030 if we achieve that. I’m really curious myself. But I fully believe that this is realistic and possible.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:33:28]:
And if that also that we are creating is actually a community for this kind of, change, power sustainability. And, for that, you need capital, and you need the freedom, to act. Yeah. And that’s the reason this is the venture case where we also have, a technology team, where we build a a software platform For effective learning, and this is where we raise those money and where we need to raise money to actually build that kind of, scale.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:33:56]:
Mhmm. I see. What what would you think about the universities that are still around like the physical universities. Do they need a little bit Do they need to move a little bit more into the direction of online degrees? And would you guys also need to have For example, on a regular basis in bars in Paris, in London, wherever your students are, some hangouts that the people at least who are in the same city studying or in the same general area studying. Would you think, that is a way that those 2 models somehow merge a little bit so you can have the best of both worlds?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:34:50]:
So the, the interesting thing is learning online really works. In fact, more effective pretty much, and we can the what we also can do is if technology can personalize The learning way better to you than what you as a teacher, if you have a class of 50 people, it’s very hard to adopt, the learning to the individual. It’s very hard to fit his needs. And, so it’d be be do really an amazing job then. We see this If my kids everyday in in school, how is how hard is this for teachers? And I think this is where technology can help. And this is also where online learning eventually is more effective. And the same is true for meeting the right people. We can connect you actually really effectively online.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:35:31]:
We can match you From that perspective, with people around the world, to come together, to collaborate, to have to, you know, to To learn from each other, to connect. Yeah. But yet we are social beings. Yeah. And I think this kind of social Personal connection to deepen actually relationships is really, really important. And it’s not just it’s it’s important for for for everybody of us. Yeah. So that’s the reason why what we do is we have, yeah, online, we have a met a campus in the metaverse, which is also already social.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:36:04]:
So you see who’s interacting. You can Approach people. You have this kind of, classes where it’s not transactional. You see the academic before. You can walk them up, asking questions. And It’s a it’s a really it’s such a very good experience already. But, nonetheless, to be combining it with meetups, around the world. So Last week, for example, we had a meetup in Hamburg.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:36:26]:
We had 1 in Vienna, we had 1 in Berlin, we’ll do 1 in Paris and London. Various students come together, actually, And daily connect and celebrate, party, etcetera. And we have local learning groups. For example, Frankfurt, you mentioned those well. We have in Berlin. But in the different regions, everywhere around the world, they may have a certain number of students. They come to together and connect, and, in Go spinning in the darkroom, you know, together, depending on the location. But it’s we believe this is actually an an amazing opportunity to do what you mentioned.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:37:01]:
The best side of Oh, is to learn flexibly on the one hand side, but then also connect in person, on the other hand side.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:37:10]:
And you’re going to take this challenge to 1,000,000,000 people?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:37:16]:
1 so at the end, what we believe is you want to reach 1,000,000 people in total with
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:37:20]:
all 1,000,000. Yeah.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:37:22]:
1,000,000 not totally.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:37:25]:
Still a different year. Just to make sure, if somebody is listening to that who is interested in impact investment in spreading education. Will you be open to talk to new investors?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:37:39]:
Always. Always love to engage with supporters, investors, Anybody who really cares about, the transition to a sustainable society is more than welcome. Everybody who also wants to support education and invest in this field, Please don’t hesitate to reach out. Best one is always to connect with me on LinkedIn.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:37:58]:
Mhmm. We, of course, will link in your, link your LinkedIn profile down here. Many links in there. And, also question, Would you be open to, for example, some accomplished entrepreneurs who would be willing to donate a lot of money to give his name to your business school?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:38:17]:
Let’s connect.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:38:19]:
Let’s connect. Okay. I would assume you’re also looking for good people, like, in terms of teaching stuff Also but also other other people?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:38:31]:
Yes. So constantly, as we are growing, we’re looking for, people to join our team. The interesting part, no. We are we our students come from around the world. It doesn’t matter if it’s from Europe, or China or Asia, or US, I meant, but also our team members. So we also have a very international team, also working remote. And, actually, very simple similar principle. We also meet in person from time to time on the other hand side.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:39:00]:
And, yeah, on careers dot tomorrow.university, you find all our current job openings.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:39:07]:
We also we also have link down here in the show note, and it’s called career. Tomorrow.university. And, the last question after I will leave you is, We are talking here about the state of Hassan, sponsored by the state of Hassan indirectly. What would be your feedback, your wishes for the future, for the decision makers out there, actually currently in the pro in the process of getting a new government in place after we had election just a few days ago?
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:39:40]:
So I must admit, I’m so typically, Germany has not the, the reputation as an innovation leader, But I must admit that the state of Hastings did actually an amazing job in that regard. We are the the 1st and currently only ad tech in Europe Become a state recognized university in the leading innovation side, and that’s thanks to the ministry, here in Henson, the minister of innovation, the ministry of education, and we’re actually really excited that they are pioneering this with us together, from that perspective. What what we always love, and also to work together and support to work on the digitalization of processes, and also allowing us to serve, students from around the world, which is also, again, depending on the variations of the state, so to continuously work on actually educating and empowering the people, thinking cross cross boundaries even, because, you know, there’s kind of As a region now, you can also have a long and big impact on way way beyond your region. And I think this is really exciting, Especially also for Hassan from my perspective. Yeah. So this continuous being open to that and having this kind of discussions, How can they make these things possible? I really highly appreciate it.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:41:03]:
Mhmm. Great. So Thank you very much for the interview. I do have the feeling that we’ll have you back in some time. Everybody who like to learn more, go Down here in the show notes, there’s a link to our Medium blog where you find the link to Tomorrow University, Christian’s LinkedIn profile as well as the career website and a lot of other stuff. Christian, it was a pleasure talking to you even though we’re a little bit longer than the usual, recording. But with all the interesting positions you had, all the interesting stories you could tell, I think that that’s not surprising here. Thank you very much for being a guest.
Christian Rebernik — CEO & Co-Founder Tomorrow University [00:41:39]:
Thank you so much for the invitation, John. It was a pleasure to be with you.
Jörn “Joe” Menninger [00:41:43]:
And thanks to our sponsors, and have a good day. Bye bye.
