Post by Léon Aricioglu👂

If you had told me at the beginning of this year that I’d spend my days wearing a gas mask, 3D-printing silicone parts in my kitchen, I would’ve laughed. The last two years looked very different. At EQUUSIR , I had the chance to dive deep into a completely new world. Together with Gerold and the team, we worked on sales, marketing, and internal processes. Despite my limited experience at the time, Gerold Reinwald gave me the opportunity to be part of a lot, to learn fast, and to take responsibility. I’m genuinely grateful for that trust. We moved a lot. We generated serious revenue. I closed my first bigger deal in a stable in Northern Germany. And beyond numbers, working hands-on in the horse health industry was something else. Being around the horses, understanding this space, learning a completely new industry — horse health — was intense and honestly pretty special. Huge thanks as well to Patricia Rathgeb. Pushing things forward together was a big part of that journey. I wish her all the best and I’m genuinely excited to see where EQUUSIR is going next. A lot happened. Professionally and personally. And then the paths separated. What stayed with me, though, was a topic that’s been part of my life forever: ear health. Sensitive ears since childhood. Stress-related tinnitus for the past two years. Always carrying earplugs. Always reacting strongly to noise. At some point, I stumbled across custom earplugs and thought: why is this still so inaccessible? That’s how ohrheld started. Together with Markus Hirzberger we’re now fully in the build phase. Less laptop. More printers. More silicone. More failed parts, sanding, cutting, fixing. Most of my days are no longer spent in Notion or slides but next to a 3D printer. It’s chaotic. It’s new. And it’s exciting. On top of that: learning social media from scratch. Sharing personal stories. Getting comfortable with visibility. Learning how public building actually feels. Looking back at this year: I planned to do 100 pushups every day. That would’ve been 36,500. I did 25,700. Not perfect. I wanted to read 20 minutes a day. Didn’t manage it. That one comes with me into next year. One thing that made a massive difference: Psychotherapy. Over three and a half years now. Not because something was “wrong,” but because learning about yourself with a neutral, professional mirror changes how you grow. We should talk about mental health more openly — even when things seem “fine.” Thanks Gregor Ilsinger and Mona Chabbouh for the motivation back then. Grateful for the people around me. For the inspiration and honest conversations with Tobias Macke, Raphaël Besnier and Maximilian Kojalek. For Erik Asatrian and our accountability circle — thanks for keeping me honest when motivation fades. For everyone who supported, challenged, and grounded me along the way. This year taught me a lot. And I’m genuinely excited for what’s next. On to 2026.