Who this is
Alexander Müller is founder and CEO of Greator, the Cologne-based platform for coaching and personal development that launched in 2012 under the name Gedankentanken. He left school at 17 for an apprenticeship at Wibit Sports, opened the first Subway in Bocholt with a friend at 19 and sold it after two years. In 2026 Greator makes around 35 million euros in revenue with 75 full-time employees, split roughly evenly between events and multi-month coaching programmes: the Greator Festival draws 16,000 people a day to the Lanxess Arena, and as Tony Robbins' exclusive European organiser Greator hosts his seminar Unleash the Power Within there. By his own account Greator has trained more than 5,000 coaches. During Covid the company burned around 15 million euros of VC money, shrank from 150 to 50 employees and narrowly avoided insolvency. Müller is 41, author of the book It's in You and a Schalke fan.
Episodes
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FAQ
What is Greator?
Greator is a Cologne-based platform for coaching and personal development that started in 2012 as Gedankentanken and was renamed at the beginning of the Covid period. It connects a community of people interested in inner growth with well-known coaches and offers events and multi-month online coaching programmes, including the Lebensschule with Dieter Lange, a coach training, a speaker training and a Breath School. Its slogan is It's in You. To the episode →
How much revenue does Greator make, and from what?
Alexander Müller cites around 35 million euros in revenue for 2026, roughly half from events and half from six to seven coaching programmes priced at 5,000 to 7,000 euros, which around 3,000 participants go through each year. The net margin was 4 percent in 2025; 10 percent would be a good year. Greator has 75 full-time employees. To the episode →
What does Greator have to do with Tony Robbins?
Greator is the exclusive organiser of Tony Robbins' four-day seminar Unleash the Power Within in Europe, held at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne with 13,000 to 14,000 participants on site and another 2,000 to 3,000 online, including a firewalk on the first evening. From October there is also a coach training initiated by Alexander Müller in which Tony Robbins systematically passes on his methods for the first time. To the episode →
How did Greator almost go bankrupt?
In 2019 HV Capital invested 8 million euros in an app subscription story modelled on Calm and Headspace. Then Covid wiped out the event business, Greator burned around a million euros a month and raised round after round, 17 to 18 million euros in total. After a first round of layoffs down to 100 employees, Alexander Müller had already prepared the insolvency filing. Within two or three weeks he then raised 3 million euros from a strategic investor, cut down to 50 employees and refocused the company on profitability. To the episode →
Why does Alexander Müller call Subway a bad franchise system?
At 19 he opened the first Subway in Bocholt with a friend, financed with 12,500 euros from each of their fathers and 100,000 euros from the local savings bank. Although the restaurant ranked in the top 20 to 30 percent by revenue in Germany, it only broke even. His main criticism: Subway did not run a single one of its more than 30,000 locations itself, grew far too fast without structures and support, and barely adapted its products to the German market. After two years he sold the restaurant at a profit. To the episode →
Quotes
„Der Coaching-Branche wird immer gern nachgesagt, dass das Geldmacherei ist. … Ich wünschte manchmal, dass da mehr dran ist.““People love to say the coaching industry is a money grab. I sometimes wish there were more truth to that.”
„Der hat mich dann tatsächlich damals einmal im Coaching gefragt, Alexander, wer bist du denn, wenn all das wegbricht? Und da habe ich gesagt, also direkt wie aus der Pistole geschossen, nichts.““Back then he asked me in a coaching session: Alexander, who are you if all of this falls apart? And I said, straight out, without thinking: nothing.”
„Ich habe den Anwalt angerufen und das war gleichzeitig einer der leichtesten Momente meines Lebens. Das war so, als wenn dir wirklich 100 Kilo von den Schultern, von der Brust weg sind.““I called the lawyer, and at the same time it was one of the lightest moments of my life. It felt like 100 kilos had been lifted off my shoulders, off my chest.”
„Da wo du selbst nicht einen hohen Mehrwert dazugeben kannst, was die KI nicht kann, dann wird es dünn. Also wenn die KI besser coacht als du, dann wird es schwierig.““Wherever you can't add real value that AI can't provide, things get thin. If the AI coaches better than you do, you're in trouble.”
„Also ja, es ist eine Superpower, aber sie hat nicht nur Sonnenseiten, sondern sie hat auch meine größten Schattenseiten oder meine größten Herausforderungen mit sich gebracht.““So yes, it is a superpower, but it doesn't only have bright sides. It has also brought me my biggest shadow sides, my biggest challenges.”