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Christian Reber

Founder & CEO, Superlist · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveinvestor@christianreber ↗LinkedIn ↗superlist.com ↗

Christian Reber is a German software entrepreneur who founded 6Wunderkinder and created the task management application Wunderlist, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2015. He subsequently co-founded presentation software Pitch, later launched productivity app Superlist, and actively backs early-stage software startups as an angel investor.

17statements → 7claims → 4claims resolved → 25%fully supported → 3.76/5average certainty → 2.24/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated →

1 supported 0 partly supported 3 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 2 not checkable as stated how the 7 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 5 assertions · 2 opinions · 1 insight · 6 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 7 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Christian argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Reber: Pitch has eight co-founders in total
“So at Pitch, we're eight founders in total.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 21:17 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Reber: Real-Time Sync Was the Primary Reason Microsoft Bought Wunderlist
“And it actually, in the end, it was the reason Microsoft bought us, because of the real-time synchronization we've had.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 26:21 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
0% certainty 4
50% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: speaking style how? →

229 words/min while actually speaking · 0.8 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Christian Reber: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 24 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 4,889 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Christian Reber is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 1/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 1/10
setup questions received 33%

Everything Christian Reber said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Opinion
Reber: Microsoft screwed up its acquisitions of Yammer, Skype, and Wunderlist
“I think Microsoft has Screwed up multiple acquisitions like Yammer or Skype, and they promised me when we sold it that they will try their very best not to screw up Wunderlist, and I think they did.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 10:23 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Disclosure
Reber: Selling Wunderlist to Microsoft felt like selling to the enemy
“When I sold Wanderlust, it felt like I'm selling my child to the enemy. I didn't want to get bought by Microsoft. I viewed Microsoft as the enemy, and it was just stupid.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 21:50 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Opinion
Reber: Running a seed fund while building a startup is a distraction
“So angel investing absolutely is a distraction. I think if you as a founder, like run your own like seed fund and raise capital on the side while you are building your own product and business, I think it's a massive distraction.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 12:58 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Reber: Tech will replace the auto industry as Germany's economic backbone
“Like, especially in Germany with the car industry, if that might be gone at some point, I think the tech industry will take over, and it will be the backing bone of Germany in the future.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 15:35 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Prediction Open · timeframe Feb 2024
Reber: Pitch can become a multi-billion dollar business
“I think it's a massive market. It has growth built in, because every presentation is meant to be shared with someone else. So if I'm able to build this tool and a platform around it, I think this can be a multi-billion dollar business.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 8:31 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Disclosure
Reber: Angel investments rely on instinct rather than product understanding
“When I'm looking at investments as like angel investments, I ask myself that every single time I look at something, I only trust my instinct. Do I get along with the founder? Do I believe the founder understands the market? I don't necessarily have to understa…”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 8:44 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
What-if
Reber: Wunderlist could have reached hundreds of millions of users independently
“I think Wunderlist had a very unique character and could have grown to hundreds of millions of users and could have had a successful business process”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 10:42 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Disclosure
Reber has reinvested 50% of his personal wealth into venture capital
“I have actually, I think I've taken 50% of my personal wealth and reinvested it into venture capital by investing into funds and startups.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 12:25 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Disclosure
Reber: Pitch received a $20M seed valuation offer with zero product
“The first fund that made us an offer made us an offer that I just couldn't believe. I think the seed valuation was twenty million with nothing, no co-founders, no deck, Just the idea, and I was like, holy shit, this is insane. Okay, I'm going to take this offe…”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 16:26 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Disclosure
Reber: Pitch raised $50M pre-launch entirely through preemptive investor offers
“We raised fifty million in total exactly that way, by not fundraising.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 17:31 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Assertion Contradicted
Reber: Real-Time Sync Was the Primary Reason Microsoft Bought Wunderlist
“And it actually, in the end, it was the reason Microsoft bought us, because of the real-time synchronization we've had.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 26:21 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Assertion Contradicted
Reber: Wunderlist became the most downloaded app worldwide on the App Store
“Super popular there. Most downloaded app worldwide for quite some time.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 5:53 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Assertion Contradicted
Reber: Wunderlist ceased to exist three years post-acquisition
“So, like, Wanderlust is a very good example, right? After selling it three years later, it doesn't exist anymore.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 7:50 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Assertion Supported
Reber: Pitch has eight co-founders in total
“So at Pitch, we're eight founders in total.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 21:17 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Insight
Reber: Software design intuition requires consuming all software and hardware
“I think if you are building software like I am, you have to spend an enormous amount of time with software and hardware of all kinds.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 23:05 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Reber: The initial version of Wunderlist was built in six weeks
“So I wrote Wunderlist myself with two of my first engineers within six weeks or so.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 5:36 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction
Disclosure
Christian Reber Limits Angel Investing to One Hour Per Week
“I spend an hour a week, I would say, on angel investments, maybe one to two hours a week on Superlist, and the rest of my time is pitched non-stop.”
Christian Reber Feb 15, 2021 ▶ 13:28 20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Money, Whether the Sale to Microsoft was a Mistake, What Great Product Designs Means Today & Why Founders Investing External Capital is a Distraction

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: Wunderlist & Pitch Founder, Christian Reber on His Personal Relationship with Risk, Feb 15, 2021 24m
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