HIGHLIGHTS: Robert Gentz - Co-CEO of Zalando

Summary

Podcast Summary: HIGHLIGHTS – Robert Gentz, Co-CEO of Zalando

Podcast: In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen
Host: Nicolai Tangen, CEO, Norges Bank Investment Management
Guest: Robert Gentz, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Zalando
Date: March 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this highlight episode, Nicolai Tangen interviews Robert Gentz, co-founder and co-CEO of Zalando, Europe’s leading online fashion platform. The discussion explores Zalando's beginnings during the 2008 financial crisis, rapid scaling, innovative use of AI and technology, leadership evolution, and Gentz’s vision for entrepreneurship and Europe’s future in the global tech landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Founding of Zalando

[00:45–02:19]

• Gentz and co-founder David originally built a social media startup in Latin America, which failed.
  • “We started like a social media company in Latin America... This was like a startup that didn’t really work out.” (Gentz, 00:57)
• They saw an opportunity in European e-commerce, starting with selling flip flops online in 2008, quickly gaining traction.
  • “In June 2008, we started to sell flip flops on a domain called Flip Flops Day and it really worked out well.” (Gentz, 01:28)
• Early success led to investment and expanding quickly beyond shoes.

2. Hypergrowth & Scaling

[02:03–03:18]

• Zalando’s growth was explosive:
  • “2009, we had probably like 5 million in revenue… then 150… then more than 500 million… more than 1.2 billion in the fourth year.” (Gentz, 02:07)
  • “We literally went from 50 people in 2009 to end of 2011, we were... more than 2,500 employees.” (Gentz, 02:20)
• Scaling involved broadening beyond shoes to fashion, then geographically across Europe.
• The key “flywheel”: More selection drove better conversion and experience, enabling further growth.
  • “The more you provide selection, actually the better you could convert the traffic.” (Gentz, 02:34)

3. AI & Technology in Fashion E-Commerce

[03:18–05:18]

• AI is transforming Zalando in several ways:
  • Customer Interaction: Introduction of a Discovery Feed offering curated, inspiring, and entertaining fashion content.
    • “We recently launched a Discovery feed… picking items that consumers might be most interested in.” (Gentz, 03:26)
  • Conversational Assistant: Enables customers to interact in natural language, asking occasion-based questions (e.g., “What should I wear in Norway today?”).
    • “We are able to cope with these questions and answer these questions in a good way.” (Gentz, 04:24)
  • Size and Fit Solutions: Customers can use the app to take a picture of themselves for personalized sizing.
    • “1 million customers already have done [it]... this actually increases our probability to predict the right size.” (Gentz, 05:02)
• The advances in tech directly improve customer experience and conversion rates.

4. Leadership Journey & Style

[05:18–06:53]

• Gentz started young (“I was 24... never really worked in another company”).
• Early days: hands-on, “playing on the field.”
• Today: Focuses on enabling teams, trusting by default, and only intervenes in ambiguous or high-stakes decisions, and culture.
  • “I trust by default the teams... and try to spend quite some time just understanding and being curious about what’s happening.” (Gentz, 06:22)
  • “On topics around culture... you just have to really get involved and take a stance as no one else can do.” (Gentz, 06:40)

5. The European Entrepreneurial Dream

[06:53–08:47]

• Gentz advocates for a “positive North Star idea” for European entrepreneurship.
  • “What I’m missing sometimes... is a positive North Star idea.” (Gentz, 07:05)
• Contrasts with the American Dream, which he feels has become “much more exclusive.”
  • “I feel the American dream... has suffered... not everyone is really welcome in the US.” (Gentz, 07:41)
• Europe, with its inclusive values, talent, and potential, has a unique opportunity:
  • “Europe really has a big, big chance to tap into this void and create a European idea… we’re in a race between China and US and... we want to win this race.” (Gentz, 08:16)

6. What Makes a Good Founder?

[08:47–10:02]

• Curiosity and humility are key traits.
  • “Curiosity is a very, very important leadership trait... you can literally learn from everyone.” (Gentz, 09:07)
  • “Humility is... important because... what you’ve built until here doesn’t always predict that you will be successful in the next challenges.” (Gentz, 09:21)

7. Work-Life Balance as a Founder

[10:02–10:19]

• No clear boundary between work and life.
  • “I think I don’t really differentiate that much between like when I work and not work... it’s a very, very special kind of relationship you have to the company.” (Gentz, 10:04)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Entrepreneurial Resilience:
  • “This was like a startup that didn’t really work out. And then we said, okay, well that shouldn’t be it. So we actually wanted to actually try it one more time.” (Gentz, 00:59)
• On European Opportunity:
  • “We just need to... formulate like a positive, like north idea and make it as well clear that we are... in a race, between China and US, and... we want to win this race.” (Gentz, 08:33)
• On Leadership Evolution:
  • “You just have to really get involved and take a stance as no one else can do.” (Gentz, 06:46)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:45–01:55: Zalando’s origins and inspiration
• 02:03–03:18: Hypergrowth, category and market expansion
• 03:18–05:18: AI, Discovery Feed, and tech-driven personalization
• 05:27–06:53: Leadership journey and style
• 06:53–08:47: European entrepreneurial ambition
• 08:47–10:02: Characteristics of great founders
• 10:02–10:19: Work ethos as a founder

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Tone & Language

Robert Gentz is reflective, candid, and direct, with an undercurrent of optimism—especially regarding Europe’s potential and the future of tech-driven business. The conversation maintains a friendly, insightful, and open tone throughout, reflecting both Gentz’s humility and Nicolai Tangen’s engaged, curious interviewing style.

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This summary captures the episode’s essential takeaways, flavor, and the key ideas discussed—a valuable listen for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, scaling tech businesses, and the evolving role of European companies in global innovation.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, everybody. Tune in to this short version of the podcast which we do every Friday. For the long version, tune in on Wednesdays.

[B]

Hi everyone.

[A]

I'm Nicola Tangen, the CEO of the Norwegian Sole and Wealth Fund. And today I'm here with Robert Gens, who is visiting us in Oslo. And Robert is the co founder and co CEO of Zalando, which is of course, as you know all of you, Europe's leading online fashion platform. Robert started Zalando in 2008 right as the financial crisis hit and most people thought that selling shoes online was a terrible idea. But now, 17 years later, Zalando serves more than 50 million customers across 25 European markets. We own a lot of shares in this company and it's really exciting to have you here.

[B]

Yeah, thank you much for inviting me and having me.

[A]

Now, Rob, let's go back to the start. You founded Zalando in 2008 just as the financial crisis was kind of hitting the world. So tell me about the very start

[B]

before we started Solano. Like me and my co founder David, we started like a social media company in Latin America which was like, you know, student network in Mexico, Argentina and Chile. And this was like a startup that didn't really work out. And then we said, okay, well that shouldn't be it. So we actually wanted to actually try it one more time. And we came back to Europe and thought, okay, well in E commerce with soft goods, there's actually very great opportunity here in Europe. And we looked into various categories and fashion and really found shoes quite interesting. And in June 2008 we started to sell flip flops on a domain called Flip Flops Day and really worked out well. Consumers really liked it. It really picked up to like 20 flip flops a day. Based on this insight, we got now investment into for like a big idea selling shoes online. And then we got started.

[A]

When did you realize that there was potential beyond the shoe category?

[B]

The scaling of Zealando, it happened extremely fast. So we went from like in 2009, we had probably like 5 million in revenue, 6 million revenues. Then we went to 150 in the next year, then more than 500 million. Wow. And then more than 1.2 billion in the fourth year.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So we literally went from 50 people in 2009 to end of 2011, we were like more than two and a half thousand employees. So the scaling went very fast because then we realized that we have this flywheel going for us. So we started off with shoes and then we understood the more you provide selection, actually the better you could actually convert the traffic so better you could create the experience for customers. So we really had to just scale selection and then we were able to convert the traffic in a good way. And then we ask ourselves, is this not only shoes, but as well fashion and can we actually cross sell fashion? What we then started to do, and then we asked ourselves, is this not only Germany, is this a European proposition? And then we went into first market and we realized that we could actually bring the same selection that we had now in Germany to a smaller market that was very much appreciated. And then we scaled across Europe and that was a very, very fast scaling in these first years.

[A]

What are the most important ways that AI is changing the way you run your business now?

[B]

I mean, it has a few components about how we actually interact with consumers. For example, we recently launched a Discovery feed, which is actually a great way of how consumers can interact with fashion beyond actually only buying, but as well in terms of their discovery and their inspiration entertainment. So where we actually surface from a huge pool of content, those items of content that actually consumers might be the most interested in, which gives them a great gateway towards finding or getting inspired or as well having fun with fashion lifestyle. So that's an interesting new project that we have launched on our mission to inspiration entertainment with consumers. A second kind of bigger initiative of ours is an assistant that we have built which actually enables consumers to interact with us in natural language so we can actually ask us much more occasion based questions. So I don't know, showing up here in Norway and what shall I actually wear today in Norway? Which is something E commerce previously couldn't really answer. So but now with all these advances in large language models and as well in our own advancements, we are able to cope with these questions and answer these questions in a good way. So that's.

[A]

So the model told you, okay, you're going to Norway, it's such a depressing country. You need to wear black.

[B]

Yeah, could be.

[A]

What about sizes? How is technology going to help people choose the size?

[B]

The size and fit is as well really like one of the most interesting and complex questions in fashion. And here AI actually helps quite a lot to actually solve these questions.

[A]

Can I take a picture of myself and get the size?

[B]

Yeah, exactly. So you can take a picture of yourself at zalando, which actually 1 million customers already have done. So you take a picture of yourself using the Zalando app and we render the sizes from your body and this actually increases our probability to actually predict the right size for you.

[A]

Let's Talk about leadership. So you run this from the first flip flop to now you are like 15,000 people or thereabouts. How has your leadership style changed?

[B]

I mean, a lot I guess. When I started Oz, I was 24, like never really worked in another company outside of the social media company we started, OZ and Latin America. I never really had any work experience. So I think literally in the first years it was about just being in the front row and just, I mean doing the like playing on the field and just doing stuff. Over time, obviously, like, you know, we have grown a lot and I had to as well learn about how to actually scale myself and how to scale the leadership. What I would describe now how I would lead is I, I'm quite an enabling leader so I trust by default the teams or the deals that actually work for me directly. And I try to actually spend quite some time in just understanding and being curious about what's happening and then only really get involved in the areas where I feel that only I can do that. So it could be some very ambiguous decisions or some more long term decisions where you need a certain conviction and risk budget or stubbornness as well. And I think on topics around culture, like corporate culture, those kind of elements where you just have to really get involved and take a stance as no one else can do.

[A]

You've been very vocal about kind of the European dream for entrepreneurship

[B]

and I'm

[A]

very concerned about that. Just what are your thoughts about Europe as a place to start up businesses?

[B]

I think what I'm missing sometimes in the, in the European debate is like a positive North Star idea. So because if you don't really have a positive north idea, you kind of get into a lot of detailed discussions and negative discussions. What really I think we need here in Europe is first of all, I think positive kind of idea, what is actually what we want to do. And I felt like that actually creating such a European dream is actually like a good and good and North Star idea because I feel the American dream, which was I think like a big, it's like a big brand of the U.S. i think it actually has, has suffered quite a bit in recent, recent which is a brand around, you know, come to, come to us and, and we, we cheer you up and, and build your, build your dream and it's the, it's the right kind of inclusive place. And I feel the American dream has suffered because it went from a very inclusive idea now to a much more exclusive idea. So not everyone is really welcome in the US And I feel Europe really has a big, big chance to actually tap into this void and actually create a European idea because it's a free space, it's a very value driven, democratic space we have in Europe. And I think we have all the great talents and we have a lot of potential and we just need to I think formulate like a positive like north idea and, and make it as well clear that we are, I mean we're in a race, we're in a race between China and us and it's, it's about relevancy and we want to win this race. And I think that's some of the positive ideas I think that we need here in Europe.

[A]

If you try to abstract what it is that makes a good founder, what is it who are successful?

[B]

What for me is a trait for like active investors and many funds that I always look for is some element of curiosity and some element as well of humility. Because that's what I realized over doing this for 17 years is curiosity is a very, very important leisure trait for me. Because I mean you can only really take good decisions when you listen and when you are interested and you can, and you can learn actually from everyone. So from a newly joined person to a company, from a customer, from partners, you can literally learn from everyone. And this is really important that you're curious in order to actually take good decisions. And the second element of humility is as well for me important because I mean you need to be respectful for what is in front of you and not get ahead because I mean just because whatever you build until here doesn't always predict that you as well be successful in the next kind of challenges that you have in front of you. And I think that's, that's, I think two kind of important traits I would always look for for founders when, when I invest into their companies.

[A]

How much do you work?

[B]

I think I don't really differentiate that much between like when I work and not work. I mean I think about Zalando when I get up, when I'm at work, when I'm at home. I think it's always when you're found. I think it's a very, very special kind of relationship that you have to the company, like a very deep care and it doesn't, doesn't really matter where you are and you always think about it in a way. So it's very hard for me to say what's work, what's not work.