Martin Riedel

my blog strategy

Well, I started blogging since I wanted to reflect on my experiences and thoughts especially as a young founder. i started writing in english since I thought this would be good to keep my international friends posted.

from now on, i want to shift to german. why? the information i write about is mainly based in germany. e.g. my post about the exist scholarship, i´m writing about a german program in another language. furthermore, i´m move around in the german founders´ community, unfortunately not in the international one yet. most of my links are german websites. and, i think most of my readers so far do speak german.

what do u think? would it be a problem to switch to german???

———————————————————————————-
ich denke ich geh über zu deutsch als blog sprache. oder hat jemand was dagegen?
———————————————————————————-
toghether with switching to german, i am planning to implement a new design. i have some in mind, but I´m going to modify them. my aim is to make the theme as simple as possible. focus should be on the text.

well, the testing phase is over, let´s start with a functioning prototype!

EXIST Part 1: searching for potential programms

How did it all start with EXIST?

It started with having two business ideas in mind. That was last october. Then we decided to move on as a team. We decided to pursue the idea which is less cost intensive in terms of development. But still, we needed to get funding, especially before getting seed financing.

as we found out quickly, there are just two possibilities to get financial means in such an early stage without an investor. That is business plan challenges and the EXIST scholarship.

Are there any other programms suitable for pre-seed???

We decided to take part in the business plan challenge start2grow since it started exactly that time. And we started researching about EXIST. First tasks, where can we apply for the scholarship, which requirements do we have to fullfil, etc. That wasn´t quite easy since we three were located in three different cities. And the application has to be processed by an university. Which one? With whom to speak? Do we fulfill the requirements? Lots of research in advance…

As far as I remember, it was a rather comlex process. From a business point of view, we had to focus a lot on research about the scholarship which distracted us in a way to develop our business case. Still, the possibility to be funded before having founded the company was very appealing. It´s still very appealing, but it involves a lot of extra work.

The next post will be about the application process.

Is there anyone out there who has experience with EXIST as well? Post a comment!

still waiting for EXIST…

The scholarship is granted, bureaucratic tasks are supposed to be done all day/night long (so much that I´m not able to focus on my core tasks…and so much that I can´t even start reviewing EXIST)…but receiving money is far out of reach.

Currently, it sucks!!! My account is empty, money is already transferred back to creditors, the global financial crisis has even effected my wallet… Seriously, this is one of the worst times from a financial point of view in my life. I feel uncomfortable.

From a positive point of view, it can´t be worse. Life as an entrepreneuer seems to be challenging, life as a founder even more.

EXIST Preface: a lot of bureaucracy

Since I just received an email what to do next, I´m rather annoyed of EXIST now…still I don´t wanna miss the money. Just a preface. Details follow in the next days.

the exist programm

as we, on our way to found our business, are supported from EXIST, I want to contribute my thoughts how I find the programm.

It is now already one year ago since we decided to apply for the EXIST scholarship. Quite a long period. Therefore I split the post into sections:

- reseach of potential programms
- starting the application
- the application itself
- notice to get funded until the start of actual funding

I´ll write about each step in the next days, so keep checkin my blog! Do you also have some experiences about the EXIST programm? Do not hesitate to contribute your view!!!

how was the exist congress?

as I wrote here, I was in Berlin for visiting the EXIST congress. The topic was founding businesses out of university research.

To summarise the discussion contributed by academics, there is so much research in German unis which could be transfered into start-ups. However, students, researchers or academics are reluctant in implementing their ideas into businesses. The ultimate goal is therefore to establish and to enhance a culture at German universities where people take the opportunity to found a business. How this should be done? Basically via integrating workshops into all kind of courses, e.g. business plan workshops, giving support, etc.

What I liked the most is a model practised at LMU Munich. The students take a module which is about writing a business plan. So far, nothing special. The business plan is not fictional, but it is written together with founders of small businesses mostly founded out of unemployment. Therefore, students learn how to give proper advise on how to establish a business and founders are able to base their business on solid plannings.

I wished we had done that in Uni. We just had to write a usual business plan which was still very good though.

How was the Exist congress from my founders point of view? I was able to talk to some interesting people, but overall the congress was much more focused on academia. The most interesting thing was to listen to pitches of funded companies. Amazing what people research behind university doors. Medical tools for multi-billion dollar markets, energy devices not going to be protected by patent since only the founder has the know-how to build the device, etc.

Hopefully, the German government is able to establish a culture to enhance foundations of new businesses. There are too many brilliant ideas which otherwise wont see the daylight.

exist congress in berlin

did I mention that we get a scholarship from the german ministry of economic affairs? I´m planning to write an article about the programm in the next days.

There are definitly some bureaucratic challenges to oversome, as e.g. the founders of Expli state at EASN, but overall it is perfect to focus on your business and not on the struggle to have enough money in your pocket.

more on that later. i´m off to Berlin now, visiting the Exist congress. Let´s see what´s going to come in the capital!

no business idea?

you are a business student, maybe you graduated already. you are an engineer, or anything else. but you don´t have any business ideas. BUT you want to start with founding a business.

No worries, what you can do is visiting exhibitions of design students!

i visited one on friday. and it was really a great experience. there were about 15 projects starting from cars that use solar energy, sail boats using the technology of airplanes onto condoms with graphics on it.

as i would say, out of the 15 ideas 10 projects provide a solid basis for founding a business. ok, i have to deduct five more projects since they are already realised by establishes players. E.g. VW was quite involved in some of the projects.

So if you don´t have any idea yet, just visit an exhibition of design students! get in contact with them, ask them about their projects! since they have to do many projects during their studies, there are a hell of a lot business ideas!

my personal experience was that design students just think in terms of projects. if one is completed, they just start the next one. therefore, meet them and convince them to realise this wonderful ideas!

hopefully one very talented designer is convinced by now to start with his amzing idea!!!

new laptop

finally I bought a new laptop! I find it very nice, small but perfect to work, from home and while travelling. Which one did I buy? Asus EEE PC 1000H.

founders´ asset: healthiness

I was quite sick last week. from a personel point of view, it´s definitly a bad feeling to be sick. from a business point of view, it is absuletly the same.

as I was totally unable to work properly, I lost about 3 days of working time. wouldn´t be to bad if I had lost some hours but three days is at least 30 hours…

i wasn´t able to process lots of activities. ok, regular stuff like sending emails, making telephone calls, etc. isn´t that important (in most of the cases). i mean administrating stuff is important, even more important is to move on, to research new possibilities, create new contacts, identify new opportunities, etc. therefore, i really missed 3 days of developing the business further.

this was the first time, I was ill since we started with our venture. as a conclusion, I found out that being ill or in other words not being able to work is the worst thing for an entrepreneur!

I therefore decided to care much more for my health. sound food, sports, at least some sleep, …