I built my first company at 21.
Now, I want to build my second by the end of the year.
As a little girl, I sometimes preferred learning to playing.
That curiosity never really went away.
At some point, learning alone wasn’t enough.
I wanted to create.
I founded my first company Bali Spirit.
A year later, I rebranded it as Calou Kakao.
I didn’t come from an entrepreneurial family or have family money to fund a company. I learned by doing, alongside university and work.
I travelled to Bali, found a cacao farm and placed my first order. I made the first products myself and later moved production to Berlin.
Before I had a product, a brand or a logo, I secured a festival stand and a speaking slot.
I found the cacao, made the products and built the brand.
A few months later, I showed up with my products and spoke in front of 100 people.
Calou didn’t become as big as I had imagined. Here’s what I’m taking into my next company.
Next time, I want to understand the problem before falling in love with a solution.
Being able to sell a product in person doesn’t mean it will sell online.
Sometimes, teaching something new is easier than changing what people already believe.
Next time, I want to build with someone whose strengths complement mine.
I paused Calou in March 2026 because I no longer believed it was the company I wanted to spend the next years building.
I’m looking for someone to build something meaningful with.
You don’t need to bring all of this. Our strengths should complement each other.