Author Interview

World of Writing -- Author Interview

Today we have an interview with Felix Holzapfel - a successful entrepreneur and thought leader in digital transformation. While he has published several books about technology, trends and the shift in our media landscape, Catch-42 is Felix's first novel, one that offers a mind-blowing glimpse into what our future could look like. Check out his links below, when you have time, to learn more about this author. * And a shout out to Leslie Barrett of PRbytheBook.com for sending Felix our way :)

LINKS

catch-42.com (book website)

felixholzapfel.com (author website)

Q: It is great to have you here today, Felix. Why don't we have you start by sharing a little about your writing career - beginning with what inspires you, keeps you going, makes your heart skip a beat? 

A: In my old life—running a digital marketing agency—I needed to find new inspiration almost every day; usually, everything needed to happen asap. I learned that I could find inspiration pretty much everywhere—often at places or opportunities you wouldn't imagine. That's why I try to explore the world with my eyes wide open, absorbing as much as possible of everything around me—knowing that the next inspiration is only one thought away and can strike any second. Whenever it hits me, so I don't lose it, I try to write the inspiration down and use it appropriately.

Q: You seem like someone who has experienced a great deal and has seen a lot in this world. As such, how do you determine or evaluate success?

 

A: Success can have many different faces. When people look at my bio, they often perceive me as a successful person. A self-made man who successfully founded, built, grew, and sold a company. Somebody who already wrote a couple of books. Wow. Of course, I'm delighted and grateful that life provided me the opportunity to write my own little success story. But that's just the surface of success. If you have the time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, things might look slightly different. 

That's a process I went through after selling my business at the end of 2018 to take a one-year sabbatical to travel the world with my wife and our two children. During this time, I thought a lot about what I want to do in my "new life." Instead of thinking about success, I thought more about happiness and fulfillment. What are the things I enjoy doing the most? Who are the people I want to spend my time with? How can I make the best use out of my time and talents? Finding the answers to these questions is an ongoing process. As long as I continuously ask myself these types of questions and answer them honestly–without caring too much about what others may say and think – I believe I'm on the way to the sort of success that really matters for me.

Q: You've written several books in the past... How do you come up with ideas for your writings and why do you feel you chose some over others?

A: In the past I have written professional books about technology, trends, and the shift in our media landscape. Creating ideas for these books was quite simple. Either a publisher pitched me with the idea for a book and asked if I would be interested in writing about a specific topic, or I wrote about the issues our clients asked me about the most.

Catch-42 was my first novel and a completely different ballgame.

Three main elements inspired me to write my first novel:

First, my having worked for two decades in the IT and digital marketing industry.

While explaining the latest trends to an elite audience, I thought that parts of IT are knowledge everyone should have—especially in our day, when technology is omnipresent and about to change some of humanity's fundamentals.

Second, after selling our company, I took a one-year sabbatical to travel the world with my wife and our two children. I visited creative hotspots and benefitted from fascinating conversations with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and other inspiring people. Many of these inspirations found their way into the book.

Third, we returned home in February 2020, just before Covid-19 changed the world. This extraordinary stroke of fate influenced what I had been thinking about and added new ideas to my initial concept for this book.

Finally, how do I choose some over others? Honestly, until today I didn't do any professional research to see which idea could work the best. I simply trust my experience and gut feeling for the right timing for the right idea. But a data-driven person like me should consider combining these two approaches in the future. A better balance of qualitative and quantitative parameters could probably optimize my decisions.

Q: Do you use any set formula when writing a book? (i.e. how you work, use an outline, general work ethic/research style…basically how you go about a new project).

A: While creating Catch-42, I realized how much I benefit from my old life, running a digital marketing agency when writing a book. Project management skills, agile software development elements, lean start-up methods, design-thinking techniques—all were beneficial in handling a complex project like imagining, writing, editing, and publishing a book.

We often advised our clients: Please integrate us at an early stage, best-case during the product development phase. Usually, the opposite happened. Companies first built their product, then thought about marketing it. This approach was something I could do differently—and what I believe also was beneficial. I was already thinking about marketing the book while writing it. 

Catch-42 covers a wide variety of demanding topics. Thus, it was challenging not to get lost in all the details, not only for my finishing the book but also for staying with one of the book's core ideas: to explain demanding topics as simply as possible. In addition to traditional research, I explored what really mattered to my designated target audience. What were they searching for on Google and Amazon? What topics were trending on Twitter? These insights found their way into the book from my whiteboard and countless Post-its on my office walls.

The final example is the core principle of the Lean Startup Methodology: The sooner you get the first prototype of your product into the hands of potential customers, the better.

In my case, this core principle was a fifteen-page document that outlined my initial ideas for the book. The outline was rough, and the boring title only included the fundamentals of the plot. But the first feedback significantly helped me order my thoughts and improve the story at an early stage. I repeated this approach every hundred pages, thereby continuously improving the characters, the plot, and storytelling.

 

Q: Was it worth all that effort?

A: Absolutely yes! I have no idea whether people will like my book, but I know that I produced the best product possible in the most efficient way in the given time. As with every product, once it finally enters the market—which in this case means publishing a book—you learn the hard way. However, I realized that the difference between writing a book and fashioning products (like the websites, apps, or creative campaigns that I built in my former life) is smaller than you think.

 

Q: What difference do you hope to make with the time you are given?

A: I'm fortunate and very grateful for the privilege to experience many exciting things. Although I'm "only" forty-three years old, I'm at a point in my life where I'm thinking a lot about how to make the best use out of my time and talents to give something back and make a difference.

Of course, It starts within my family–my wife and especially with my two little children. I hope I'll be the best husband and father possible and always take care of my family and enable my kids to make a difference to the world one day.

People often tend to think that they can't make a difference. I'm the opposite. I believe that there are many things that every one of us can contribute to turning this world into a better place–every day. Often, it's nothing big. It's about many tiny steps and things that make a difference. A simple smile, listening instead of talking, offering a helping hand when needed.

But I'm also a person who loves to think and dream big from time to time. My current dream is to inspire people with my book Catch-42 to learn more about some converging technologies like AI, biotechnology, quantum computing, or robotics that have the potential to turn our world upside down in a brief period. A small step forward in one field might lead to a breakthrough in another. Suddenly things could move very, very fast. It's not just me who is worried that our world, economy, and society are not prepared for the challenges and questions ahead of us. Many other experts believe the same. 

Best case - I inspire people to become an active part of the decision-making process that has already started.  

 

Q:  Outside of your spouse, circle of close friends and family members, who would you say was the one that stands out as far as helping you get where you are?

I used to work for an IT service company while still attending school. The founder and CEO, Mark Daniel Kaspers, taught me some essential and priceless lessons—not only for founding and running a successful business but also for life in general. I'm grateful for everything he did for me, and we continue to have a good relationship today.

Q: What impact do you hope this book will have on the reader? 

Don't ever think you're not capable of influencing the bigger picture. If everybody felt that way, a few would paint the bigger picture for all of us—a picture that's not likely to match our expectations. If we each contribute our little piece, the bigger picture of our future will become more significant, more colourful, and more beautiful than we can imagine. Contributing is up to all of us.

With this book, I want to encourage as many people as possible to think—from radically new perspectives—how humanity, technology, the economy, and our society might develop in the future. Even better, I want people to think about how they would like our world to change and how each of us can become an active part of the decision-making process that has already begun.

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