Berlin is one of the most suitable cities in the world for entrepreneurs seeking to start up a new business. Startup Genome places Berlin in the top 10 cities globally, and the city has held a position in that ranking for several years. This is because Berlin is friendly for diverse entrepreneurs, offers connectedness, reception for funding, and great infrastructure. It’s because of these and other favorable reasons that a startup is launched in Berlin every 20 minutes.
Like any location, startups in Berlin still come with plenty of risk, and can experience turbulence prior to making a smooth landing after their first few years of operation. And for that, there are dozens of incubators, accelerators, and programs in Berlin that support entrepreneurs on their journey. When it comes to what Founder Institute offers entrepreneurs in the Berlin area, FI Berlin Lead Director Ferdinand Mühlhäuser says it best:
Typically founders start focusing on their idea, and researching the market where it applies. What we do is help the startup through a very structured program to refine that idea, validate it, to find out where the clients are, and what revenue they can expect to look for, as well as branding, legal questions, and all the surrounding topics relevant to building that startup. Equally relevant is the solid network and feedback loop the founders build with the mentors and also with their founding peers. This is something I find many founders are missing despite the abundance of coworking spaces and startup conferences. Do you remember when you had continued deep feedback sessions with your fellow coworkers last?
Entrepreneurs work hand-in-hand with the local Berlin Founder Institute local leadership team, while leveraging over 300+ local mentors from the FI Berlin network, to find product/market fit and polish their early-stage business concepts. Once founders complete the program, they are introduced to leading local investors to pursue financing—but the relationship continues on. Berlin Lead Director Ferdinand Mühlhäuser continues,
Even after the program ends, the relationship between the founder and us does not. We accompany the founder throughout the startup’s life, helping to make additional introductions that makes sense for the specific startup.
This is what dozens of entrepreneurs have experienced as part of the FI Berlin program over the past several years. Startups like itembase, an ecommerce analytics company that has raised more than $3mm USD from investors, and more recently Hug a Pet, a solution for bringing pet healthcare to you, are great examples of successful startups that have emerged through participating in the local FI program.
Diverse Leadership Delivers Stronger Results
Prior to leading FI Berlin, Mühlhäuser spent more than a decade at Accenture building companies, helping them manage their revenue, and establishing their sales and product strategy within their target markets. If that sounds familiar, it should, as these are foundational components of any successful startup, too.
In addition to Mühlhäuser, the FI Berlin chapter is also led by Sascha Karstaedt and Dirk Muller-Dornieden, each experienced entrepreneurs and co-founders of their own respective organizations.
Outside of FI, Karstaedt leads Velou, a company whose proprietary algorithms combine consumer behavior, profiles, trends, and seasonality into an optimized solution to help fashion ecommerce brands display the right products at the right time. Prior to Velou and FI, Karstaedt also founded CheckGeo, a mobile feedback app for the EU market, as well as worked for Siemens, and independently consulted for startups.
Muller-Dornieden, on the other hand, is an autodidact with a passion for surfing. When not leading startups through the Berlin Founder Institute program, he is busy growing GETAWAY, a company that lets users share their vehicles with those around their neighborhood. Rather than renting from a traditional car rental company, GETAWAY digitizes private fleets and individually owned cars, to let people quickly rent rides in a centralized platform. The company is actively hiring!
Leading the way for Impact Startups
The FI local leadership team of the Berlin chapter also includes three EIRs (entrepreneurs in residence) who have lived through the same challenges as those new entrepreneurs seeking to build their business in the ecosystem. Tomasz Sieron, a digital product strategist wiz; Dirk Lehmann, our resident pitch coach; and Kai Malkwitz, who focuses especially startup climate impact as measured through the UN SDGs.
Between this trio of dedicated EIRs, FI Berlin founders enjoy regular one-on-one attention, helping ensure that their products will find the right market fit, that public speaking skills accelerate their chances of closing investment, and that profits are only one measured component of their overall success.
Our entrepreneurs in residence are particularly important, as FI Berlin has a dedicated focus on building impact-aligned businesses that are helping to meet the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Through the FI Berlin F-Impact Fellowship, at least one especially promising impact-oriented entrepreneur is granted ability to join the Berlin 2020 program free of charge.
Although not every entrepreneur that participates in the FI Berlin is building an impact-oriented business, the founders do all share at least one common goal: growth. Once a startup has found their product-market fit, the Berlin team helps founders develop a growth plan. For this, Berlin’s Program Manager Rikke Klitskov, also an established entrepreneur, is leading the pack. In her capacity as the local Program Manager, she helps founders to develop marketing and creative content that actively builds community, with additional support ranging from pitch competition opportunities, to participating in speaking events alongside local mentors.
The Berlin Founder Institute brings together the brightest minds and mentors from around Berlin to coach entrepreneurs throughout the program, make valuable networking connections, and tap into the collective experience of those who have successfully made similar startup journeys themselves—this experience includes hundreds of mentors from or around the Berlin region.
For more information about how Founder Institute can help your Berlin-based startup to reach traction or funding goals, our huge Berlin Resources List contains more than 350 investors, accelerators, and other solutions and opportunities available locally.
To join the Founder Institute Berlin’s upcoming 2020 program cohort, submit your application here before March 1st.
Graduates of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $1.85BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
