Johannes Kliesch's classmates suspected it.
Back then, when there was no sign of his rapid career as an online entrepreneur, they voted for him as the one among them most likely to become a millionaire.
It was a bold prognosis because Kliesch, born in 1994, had no idea what to do with him.
He has to smile when he thinks back to the advance laurels.
He really didn't have money on his mind.
And a longer professional wrong path was to follow, which spoke more for chaos in the head than for a straight career path.
Uwe Marx
Editor in Business.
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Nevertheless, Kliesch took off.
His company Snocks sells socks and underwear on online channels so successfully that it is considered one of the "hottest" start-ups - at the headquarters in Mannheim anyway, but also in the region and beyond.
On the Forbes list of young entrepreneurs
Kliesch's story is primarily about the possibilities of online trading and social media.
Founded in 2016 by him and his cousin Felix Bauer, Snocks had sales of 32 million euros in 2021.
This year it should be 55 million euros.
Despite inflation and shortages of goods.
"We have had to increase our prices by 50 percent in some cases, and we have not heard any complaints," says Kliesch.
The development can also be expressed in square meters: previously, Snocks was at home on around 200 square meters, since moving to a new building at Mannheim's main station, it is more than 1000 square meters for more than 100 employees: open architecture, lots of glass, small, young teams , coffee bar, table tennis table, feel-good atmosphere.
Not bad for an energetic yet disoriented young entrepreneur who has already made Forbes' list of the 30 most notable under-30s in Europe.
Clicks, Likes, Ratings, Followers, Online Reach
Kliesch has an average high school diploma, so he's surprised that he was once considered the fastest millionaire in his school.
But he was busy and knew he wanted to get something off the ground.
But first he ended up in the Volks- und Raiffeisenbank Rhein-Neckar and in a dual study program.
It wasn't a happy choice.
"I was frustrated in the bank and didn't feel like doing this kind of work," he says. "But it really motivated me to look for something else.
Basically, I can be thankful.”
His new currency should be something different: clicks, likes, ratings, followers, online reach.
The expertise in this field, the ability to understand and use algorithms have taken the company to a new dimension.
It started with the marketplace on Amazon, where everyone can do business.
That of Snocks was supposedly simple: the sneaker fans Kliesch and Bauer had socks for sneakers made in China because they found that there was no convincing brand, but only the unloving small-small big brands.
They wanted to make it better, cooler, more functional.
"That was magical"
And more digital, without shops or other business ballast.
As usual with such partnerships, the logistics and all IT services were taken care of by the online giant from Seattle.
Your starting capital: 4000 euros.
It was money well spent.
"Seeing how easy it was to do business on Amazon and see it work - that was magical for me," says Kliesch.
Fortune was one of them: “When we entered the sock market there were maybe ten suppliers, today there are a hundred.
We were super lucky with our timing.”