For this episode, we sat down with Max Linden, CEO & Founder of lemon.markets.
Max founded lemon.markets in 2020 at 19 years old, while studying economics at the University of Münster.
lemon.markets operates as a Brokerage-as-a-Service platform that offers Banks, Asset Managers and Fintechs simple digital access to capital markets through a single API. With a mission to grow investing opportunities for all European customers and businesses, providing seamless access to capital markets, lemon.markets is already working with leading Fintechs such as Holvi, Optio, and Tomorrow.
Under his leadership, lemon.markets raised from top-tier investors including Lakestar, Creandum, and Lightspeed before being acquired by the dwpbank Group in 2025.
We asked him how a first-time founder convinced top-tier operators to join the company.
Enjoy the episode.
Thank you, Max, for taking the time to answer our questions. And if you want to join lemon.markets, check out their careers page.
List of questions
Tell us about lemon.markets - what problem are you solving? - 00mn37s
Which previous life experiences do you think prepared you to become a founder? - 3mn23s
How many people work at lemon.markets? How many of those people did you personally hire? - 5mn19s
On a scale of 1-10, 1 being poor, and 10 being world-class – where would you place yourself in terms of ability to hire top talent? Why? - 6mn20s
What playbook do you run at lemon.markets to hire talent? - 7mn15s
On the flip side, are there any signals that immediately feel like a red flag to you? - 14mn14s
Looking back at some of your early hires, do you see patterns in the mistakes you made? Things you didn’t pick up on early enough that you now calibrate on better? - 15mn40s
You’re a young founder - has this had any impact on your approach to building a leadership team and hiring more experienced talent? - 16mn43s
How did you convince early hires to trust you and join you at pre-seed or seed stages? - 19mn46s
Why should someone join lemon.markets right now? - 26mn50s
If you only had ONE hiring advice to give an aspiring founder - what would you tell them? - 27mn22s