Beginner's Mind
Blueprints for Builders and Investors
Hosted by Christian Soschner
From pre-seed to post-IPO, every company—especially in deep tech, biotech, AI, and climate tech—lives or dies by the frameworks it follows.
On Beginner’s Mind, Christian Soschner uncovers the leadership principles behind the world’s most impactful companies—through deep-dive interviews, strategic book reviews, and patterns drawn from history’s greatest business, military, and political minds.
With over 200 interviews, panels, and livestreams, the show ranks in the Top 10% globally—and is recognized as the #1 deep tech podcast.
With 35+ years across M&A, company building, board roles, business schools, ultrarunning, and martial arts, Christian brings a rare lens:
What it really takes to turn breakthrough science into business—how to grow it, lead it, and shape the world around it.
🎙 Expect each episode to deliver:
- Founder & Investor Blueprints: How breakthrough technologies scale from lab to IPO
- Historical & Biographical Frameworks: Timeless playbooks from the world's great builders
- Leadership & Communication Mastery: Tools to inspire, persuade, and lead at scale
Whether you're building the next biotech success, investing in AI, or leading a climate tech company through hypergrowth—this podcast gives you the edge.
Listen in. Apply what matters. Build companies that last.
📬 Join the newsletter & community: https://lsg2g.substack.com/
Beginner's Mind
#74: Mark Herschberg - Why Networking and Leadership are Important Skills for Deeptech Entrepreneurs
Do you want to know why networking and leadership are so important to be successful in business? And why everybody, including employees, needs to learn those skills?
Then this episode is for you.
Mark is the author of The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You. Educated at MIT, Mark has spent his career launching and fixing new ventures at startups, Fortune 500s, and academia. He’s developed new software languages, online marketplaces, new authentication systems, and tracked criminals and terrorists on the dark web. Mark helped create the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, MIT’s “Career Success Accelerator”, where he’s taught for twenty years. Mark also serves on the boards of non-profits Techie Youth and Plant a Million Corals.
📚 The Career Toolkit: https://amzn.to/395ICXU
Topics we cover in Episode Number 74:
➡️ Leadership
➡️ Entrepreneurship
➡️ What is Better: Alpha or Beta Leaders?
➡️ What Makes Exceptional Leaders like Elon Musk, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?
➡️ And much much more
🎙️ Youtube: https://youtu.be/kMuTjlksyXM
🕒 Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:00) How has life been on the East Coast in January 2022?
(03:00) Travel Restriction and Mask Mandates in 2022
(05:30) Why Was it Necessary to Write “The Career Toolkit”?
(07:02) The 10 Most Important Skills For Entrepreneurs
(08:15) Why Are Those 10 Skills Not Taught at Universities?
(11:00) What is Leadership?
(13:15) Leadership and Influencers: What is the Difference in the skillset?
(15:30) Is Leadership Learn- and Teachable?
(17:45) Management and Leadership – What is the Difference?
(20:32) Alpha Male and Beta Male – What is Better for Leadership in this Century?
(23:30) Why Situational Leadership Matters
(28:15) Character Traits of Exceptional Leaders Like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates
(30:00) Leadership – Is it the Ceos' Job or also the duty of the Employees?
(32:15) If you want to lead from the front, you must first learn to lead from behind
(31:53) The Importance of Networking for Entrepreneurship
(38:36) The Role of Networking for Fundraising Entrepreneurs
(44:15) The Secret of Building and Maintaining Relationships
(48:15) The Power of Introductions in Networking
(49:43) Do Introduction Substitute the Relationship Building Phase?
(51:45) Why Real Life Still Matters in Relationship Building
(56:00) What Can and Cannot be done via Zoom During the Relationship Building Phase
(01:02:36) The US Startup Eco-System in 2022
(01:06:30) What is the best way to approach the startup ecosystem in the US as a startup?
(01:11:15) What is the US Eco-System Looking for in Startups?
(01:14:30) The Big Vision – Why it Matters and Why Not
(01:16:30) What is the best way to engage with the US Eco-System
(01:17:40) Professional Background of Mark Herschberg and How you Can Reach Out to Him
Podcast Links:
Podcast Community: https://lsg2g.substack.com/
Community Partner: https://linktr.ee/lsg2g
Christian Soschner: https://linktr.ee/soschner
LSG2G Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/life-science-get2gether
Podcast Episodes: https://pod.link/1493847125
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