Episode

Ep. 311 How I Raised It with Stephen Schenk of Stapelstein

Podcast
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
Published
Oct 13, 2025
Duration seconds
2624
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://soundcloud.com/user-2586856/ep-311-how-i-raised-it-with-stephen-schenk-of-stapelstein
Audio
http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2189417347-user-2586856-ep-311-how-i-raised-it-with-stephen-schenk-of-stapelstein.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/how-i-raised-it-the-podcast-where-we-interview-startup-founders-who-raised-capital-62943/episodes/ep-311-how-i-raised-it-with-stephen-schenk-of-stapelstein
Markdown
/podcast/how-i-raised-it-the-podcast-where-we-interview-startup-founders-who-raised-capital-62943/ep-311-how-i-raised-it-with-stephen-schenk-of-stapelstein.md

Actions

  • POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-i-raised-it-the-podcast-where-we-interview-startup-founders-who-raised-capital-62943/episodes/ep-311-how-i-raised-it-with-stephen-schenk-of-stapelstein/transcription-requests
    Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
  • GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-i-raised-it-the-podcast-where-we-interview-startup-founders-who-raised-capital-62943/ep-311-how-i-raised-it-with-stephen-schenk-of-stapelstein.md
    Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital. This episode is with with Stephan Schenk of Stapelstein, a Berlin-based creator of colorful stacking stones and balance boards for open-ended play that encourages movement, balance, and creativity. Learn more at https://stapelstein.com/ In this episode, we explore how the Company has built a successful business in a high-cost market (Germany) while adhering to high eco standards, why Stephan decided to buyout his early investors and convert the company into a "steward-owned" business (similar to Patagonia) to better align with its mission, how he deals with cheap knockoffs, copycats and clones, the unique ROI attributes of raising capital for a steward-owned business, and more. How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016. If you are a startup, create a free account at www.foundersuite.com. If you are a VC, venture studio or investment banker, check out our new platform, www.fundingstack.com