Interviews
Interviews
Podcast
26.2.2021
Joachim Schoss is actually on his way to the other side of the world. Like every year, when it gets really cold in Switzerland, the series founder is drawn to New Zealand, where he and his family have a second home to bridge the winter. During the day, the children go to school, then there is time with the family and between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. Schoss and his wife work. The ex-manager and series founder takes a lot of time for the interview - and even brings in two surprise guests at the end.
I bought a very special bike for my time in New Zealand, a custom-made bike with three wheels. Normally you steer a bike using the handlebars, which is not possible for me because I don't have a right arm or a right leg. So I had everything built on the left side.
(laughs) It's just a hobby. Fortunately, I'm allowed to drive. I have a rotary knob on the steering wheel, like on a tractor, so that I can crank better with one hand. I could drive without it, but the authorities won't let me. I also don't have a clutch to the left of the brake, but a second accelerator pedal. Because of this peculiarity, a bellboy, the housekeeper and a friend have already put my cars against various walls, but the authorities still insist.
Not at all, I grew up in a middle-class family with a semi-detached house in the south of Essen. My parents were born in parts of Germany that were no longer part of the Federal Republic after 1945. Money was an issue because it was always scarce. My mother kept a record of every penny. My father was a civil servant and there were five of us at home, so every penny was turned over twice.
When I was 14 or 15, I worked as a tutor, then I restocked at Karstadt and at 17 I was a DJ. Funky Town was my signature music, very cool back then, but today I have to laugh a bit about it.
I studied business administration, then I was a consultant at the age of 22 and already earned more in my first job than I had ever dreamed of. At some point, someone said to me: "A consultant knows 600 positions, but doesn't have a girlfriend. That was the final push for me to become an entrepreneur at the age of 27. When we sold this company, one of the interested parties invited us to the USA in 1997 and showed us the concept of internet marketplaces. "The winner takes it all" was the motto and we were immediately fascinated and enthusiastic. On the flight back, we developed the basic features of Scout24 in 20 pages.
Probably not much at all. Maybe we went to fancy restaurants, but there was no time for parties or horse racing. There were 200 marketplaces back then, the competition was fierce and we knew that only a few would survive. I worked more or less 168 hours a week. If someone called at 2 a.m., they didn't apologize, it was normal, just like all the traveling. Sleep was just squeezed in and the family was there, but suffered because it wasn't the top priority at the time.
But I didn't want to sell at all. Others made this decision shortly after my accident, while I was in hospital in South Africa trying to somehow fight my way back to life.
It was actually a crazy situation. It was a beautiful summer's day in South Africa, bright blue sky, a dead straight, wide country road. A friend and I were riding motorcycles. A bus came towards us in the opposite lane and behind it was a car that wanted to overtake, saw my friend, cut in again and then overtook because the drunk driver obviously hadn't seen me. Fortunately, he "only" hit me on the right leg, after which I hit my head and shoulder on the roof of the car, which unfortunately also cost me my arm. I was very lucky in my misfortune.
I had a cool, matt black half helmet from Harley-Davidson, which I actually always wore on these tours. But I couldn't find it before I left and took the very sturdy full helmet with me instead. My friend joked that we wouldn't be in the partner look at all. In retrospect, however, the helmet saved my life. An excellent hospital happened to be nearby. I lost a lot of blood and needed 160 packs of blood in a country with a high HIV rate. But I don't remember any of that.
Two days later, when my wife was in South Africa and standing by my bed. Then I slowly became aware of my new body. My right arm and leg were gone and two thirds of my kidneys, my right lung had collapsed, I was operated on twelve times under general anesthetic. It was on the edge of what a person can cope with.
I had a near-death experience. It was the most valuable experience of my life. Of course, my circumstances were catastrophic and the price was incredibly high, but I wish everyone could have a near-death experience - then we would have a better world. I saw the famous light at the end of the tunnel, which was very appealing. My life was passing me by. Suddenly it didn't matter how much money you had made, what a successful entrepreneur you were. It was all about what you were like, what kind of partner, what kind of father, what kind of brother. I swore to myself: If I survive this, I'll put family first.
In the first instance, it's about developing yourself, gaining experience and being at peace with yourself. Then we have a responsibility to help our neighbors and if there are still resources left over, it's all the better to use them to make the rest of the world a little better off too.
Back then, I set up the MyHandicap Foundation to provide information for disabled people on the Internet. We are now the most important German site for this topic and are currently expanding.
I was sitting there in 2003, with a prosthetic leg and a missing arm and a company that had just been sold. I knew I had enough money to never have to work again, the ability to set up internet portals and the "competence" of a severely disabled person. I spent months in hospitals, saw suffering and misery on a psychological and physical level, people who wanted to die because they didn't know how to deal with their disability. I want to encourage these people and provide them with all the information they need to live the best possible life with a disability, which is why I set up the foundation.
We have to be careful that democracy doesn't become a Kodak case because politicians are sleeping through digitization. When I look at the news about the storming of the Capitol in the USA, it makes me feel queasy. We want to do something about this by peacefully disrupting democracy, hand in hand with governments and politicians. This includes, for example, introducing digital processes and making democracy more tangible and participatory. Our goal is to create a modern democracy for the 21st century.
I've also donated a lot before. But I would probably have done like most people around me and just looked at what would happen to my money when I was gone and not bothered during my lifetime.
All the time, with friends, with acquaintances, with lots of people with lots of money. Giving is ingrained in our minds and is sometimes part of good manners. But often it's just about increasing wealth . I don't think it makes sense to sit on a huge bag of money at the end of my days. More money only makes you happier up to a certain point; anything more than that doesn't necessarily increase happiness. Many wealthy people also agree that it doesn't make sense to give your children too much money and yet many do it.
Even before the accident, I had already decided that my children should never inherit so much that they could simply rest on their laurels. I now have a concept that introduces them to money bit by bit and gives them a million euros at the age of 30 so that they remain motivated to build a successful life for themselves. More money for my foundations probably does much more good than more money for my children. I would like to encourage many more people to realize this.
We need to talk more about this and bring a new philosophy to Europe. There are currently lists of who is the richest person in the country. What we need is a list of who contributes the most to society. It doesn't matter who has the longest yacht or the biggest private plane. The Maori in New Zealand don't rate people according to what they own, but according to what they contribute. That's what we should be more concerned with. Then we would have a better world.
I will probably never do that again. Family is much more important to me today and I make sure that it is my top priority. I now only work three or four hours a day.
(Gets up and comes back with two of his small children) Well, what do you think of Dad being at home?
Child 1: Great!
Child 2: Hug!
Child 1: It's great to play Uno with dad, I win sometimes.
Schoss: I think the answer is clear.
Interviews
26.2.2021
Nils Wischmeyer
Joachim Schoss built up Scout24. Then he lost an arm, a leg and almost his life in an accident. Today, he is committed to helping disabled people through two foundations. A conversation about entrepreneurship, near-death experiences and philanthropy.
Joachim Schoss is actually on his way to the other side of the world. Like every year, when it gets really cold in Switzerland, the series founder is drawn to New Zealand, where he and his family have a second home to bridge the winter. During the day, the children go to school, then there is time with the family and between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. Schoss and his wife work. The ex-manager and series founder takes a lot of time for the interview - and even brings in two surprise guests at the end.
I bought a very special bike for my time in New Zealand, a custom-made bike with three wheels. Normally you steer a bike using the handlebars, which is not possible for me because I don't have a right arm or a right leg. So I had everything built on the left side.
(laughs) It's just a hobby. Fortunately, I'm allowed to drive. I have a rotary knob on the steering wheel, like on a tractor, so that I can crank better with one hand. I could drive without it, but the authorities won't let me. I also don't have a clutch to the left of the brake, but a second accelerator pedal. Because of this peculiarity, a bellboy, the housekeeper and a friend have already put my cars against various walls, but the authorities still insist.
Not at all, I grew up in a middle-class family with a semi-detached house in the south of Essen. My parents were born in parts of Germany that were no longer part of the Federal Republic after 1945. Money was an issue because it was always scarce. My mother kept a record of every penny. My father was a civil servant and there were five of us at home, so every penny was turned over twice.
When I was 14 or 15, I worked as a tutor, then I restocked at Karstadt and at 17 I was a DJ. Funky Town was my signature music, very cool back then, but today I have to laugh a bit about it.
I studied business administration, then I was a consultant at the age of 22 and already earned more in my first job than I had ever dreamed of. At some point, someone said to me: "A consultant knows 600 positions, but doesn't have a girlfriend. That was the final push for me to become an entrepreneur at the age of 27. When we sold this company, one of the interested parties invited us to the USA in 1997 and showed us the concept of internet marketplaces. "The winner takes it all" was the motto and we were immediately fascinated and enthusiastic. On the flight back, we developed the basic features of Scout24 in 20 pages.
Probably not much at all. Maybe we went to fancy restaurants, but there was no time for parties or horse racing. There were 200 marketplaces back then, the competition was fierce and we knew that only a few would survive. I worked more or less 168 hours a week. If someone called at 2 a.m., they didn't apologize, it was normal, just like all the traveling. Sleep was just squeezed in and the family was there, but suffered because it wasn't the top priority at the time.
But I didn't want to sell at all. Others made this decision shortly after my accident, while I was in hospital in South Africa trying to somehow fight my way back to life.
It was actually a crazy situation. It was a beautiful summer's day in South Africa, bright blue sky, a dead straight, wide country road. A friend and I were riding motorcycles. A bus came towards us in the opposite lane and behind it was a car that wanted to overtake, saw my friend, cut in again and then overtook because the drunk driver obviously hadn't seen me. Fortunately, he "only" hit me on the right leg, after which I hit my head and shoulder on the roof of the car, which unfortunately also cost me my arm. I was very lucky in my misfortune.
I had a cool, matt black half helmet from Harley-Davidson, which I actually always wore on these tours. But I couldn't find it before I left and took the very sturdy full helmet with me instead. My friend joked that we wouldn't be in the partner look at all. In retrospect, however, the helmet saved my life. An excellent hospital happened to be nearby. I lost a lot of blood and needed 160 packs of blood in a country with a high HIV rate. But I don't remember any of that.
Two days later, when my wife was in South Africa and standing by my bed. Then I slowly became aware of my new body. My right arm and leg were gone and two thirds of my kidneys, my right lung had collapsed, I was operated on twelve times under general anesthetic. It was on the edge of what a person can cope with.
I had a near-death experience. It was the most valuable experience of my life. Of course, my circumstances were catastrophic and the price was incredibly high, but I wish everyone could have a near-death experience - then we would have a better world. I saw the famous light at the end of the tunnel, which was very appealing. My life was passing me by. Suddenly it didn't matter how much money you had made, what a successful entrepreneur you were. It was all about what you were like, what kind of partner, what kind of father, what kind of brother. I swore to myself: If I survive this, I'll put family first.
In the first instance, it's about developing yourself, gaining experience and being at peace with yourself. Then we have a responsibility to help our neighbors and if there are still resources left over, it's all the better to use them to make the rest of the world a little better off too.
Back then, I set up the MyHandicap Foundation to provide information for disabled people on the Internet. We are now the most important German site for this topic and are currently expanding.
I was sitting there in 2003, with a prosthetic leg and a missing arm and a company that had just been sold. I knew I had enough money to never have to work again, the ability to set up internet portals and the "competence" of a severely disabled person. I spent months in hospitals, saw suffering and misery on a psychological and physical level, people who wanted to die because they didn't know how to deal with their disability. I want to encourage these people and provide them with all the information they need to live the best possible life with a disability, which is why I set up the foundation.
We have to be careful that democracy doesn't become a Kodak case because politicians are sleeping through digitization. When I look at the news about the storming of the Capitol in the USA, it makes me feel queasy. We want to do something about this by peacefully disrupting democracy, hand in hand with governments and politicians. This includes, for example, introducing digital processes and making democracy more tangible and participatory. Our goal is to create a modern democracy for the 21st century.
I've also donated a lot before. But I would probably have done like most people around me and just looked at what would happen to my money when I was gone and not bothered during my lifetime.
All the time, with friends, with acquaintances, with lots of people with lots of money. Giving is ingrained in our minds and is sometimes part of good manners. But often it's just about increasing wealth . I don't think it makes sense to sit on a huge bag of money at the end of my days. More money only makes you happier up to a certain point; anything more than that doesn't necessarily increase happiness. Many wealthy people also agree that it doesn't make sense to give your children too much money and yet many do it.
Even before the accident, I had already decided that my children should never inherit so much that they could simply rest on their laurels. I now have a concept that introduces them to money bit by bit and gives them a million euros at the age of 30 so that they remain motivated to build a successful life for themselves. More money for my foundations probably does much more good than more money for my children. I would like to encourage many more people to realize this.
We need to talk more about this and bring a new philosophy to Europe. There are currently lists of who is the richest person in the country. What we need is a list of who contributes the most to society. It doesn't matter who has the longest yacht or the biggest private plane. The Maori in New Zealand don't rate people according to what they own, but according to what they contribute. That's what we should be more concerned with. Then we would have a better world.
I will probably never do that again. Family is much more important to me today and I make sure that it is my top priority. I now only work three or four hours a day.
(Gets up and comes back with two of his small children) Well, what do you think of Dad being at home?
Child 1: Great!
Child 2: Hug!
Child 1: It's great to play Uno with dad, I win sometimes.
Schoss: I think the answer is clear.
About the author
Nils Wischmeyer
Nils Wischmeyer writes about financial markets, investments, banks, banking regulation and white-collar crime.
