{"id":7048963,"date":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/angel-investor\/german-startup-changemakers-jens-urbaniak\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","slug":"german-startup-changemakers-jens-urbaniak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7048963","title":{"rendered":"German Startup Changemakers: Jens Urbaniak"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Jens Urbaniak is an entrepreneur, a mentor and a pledger. He\u2019s the Founder of DrSmile<\/a>, a dental brand for modern teeth straightening, a mentor at Techstars<\/a>,\u00a0a startup accelerator that holds 13-week programs &\u00a0a\u00a0Pledger at the\u00a0Founders Pledge<\/a>, a global community of entrepreneurs, finding and funding solutions to the world\u2019s most pressing problems. Find out how he entered the startup world and which lessons for founders he shared with us.
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1. Hi Jens, thank you for agreeing to do the interview. Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you entered the startup world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure, I guess I have a truly European biography \u2013 my family is originally from Poland, my parents met at university in Germany, where I was born and raised. Later I went to boarding school and university in the UK.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I started with work experience and small entrepreneurial projects of all sorts from an early age \u2013 during holidays I was usually asked to either learn something new and invest in myself or do a summer job. Preferably I chose the former. I started my professional career in investment banking in London, then in 2012 moved on to the startup world first to Zurich and then to Berlin, and have not looked back since.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

2. You\u2019re the Founder of DrSmile<\/a>, a dental brand for modern teeth straightening. You empower dentists to offer affordable and reliable orthodontic treatments. Tell us more about your mission and the idea that got it all started!<\/strong><\/p>\n

My co-founder\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Chris<\/span><\/i><\/a> and I started \u201cProject SuperSmile\u201d (which later became DrSmile) in 2017 with the idea of building the most-loved consumer brand for beautiful teeth. We are not in the business of simply selling orthodontia \u2013 but helping people become confident versions of themselves. That mission still excites us today.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

3. You\u2019re a Mentor at Techstars<\/a>, a startup accelerator that holds 13-week programs. Could you share the top three lessons for founders you learned over the years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I might have one: \u2018no silver bullet\u2019 \u2013 there are no magical shortcuts, usually, success is a combination of these three broad categories when preparation meets chance:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n