Munich Startup: Congratulations on our tenth anniversary! For everyone who doesn’t know Baystartup yet: Why should a future Munich startup have you on their radar?
Carsten Rudolph, Managing Director of Baystartup: Thank you very much! Every Munich startup should have Baystartup on their radar because we offer one of the most comprehensive support programs for young companies in the early stages. The Munich Business Plan Competition, which incidentally was the first of its kind and is regarded as a kind of seal of quality even beyond Bavaria, gives founders the opportunity to obtain individual expert feedback on their business idea at a very early stage. Around 250 teams take advantage of this opportunity every year. Our goal is to support startups from the initial idea through to the growth phase. We connect founders with investors and industry partners, offer needs-oriented coaching programs and prepare them optimally for market entry. Our investor network, the largest of its kind in Europe, makes us the first port of call for startups looking for early-stage financing and strategic sparring.
Networking, financing and individual coaching
Munich Startup: What specific role does Baystartup play in Munich’s funding and support landscape?
Carsten Rudolph: Baystartup’s services provide founders with comprehensive support from the start through the first five or more years of their entrepreneurial life. We provide basic entrepreneurial know-how, networking, individual coaching and more. There’s really only one thing we don’t offer: Premises for startups. At this point, we work closely with all startup centers in Munich (and throughout Bavaria).
The special highlight of Baystartup from a founder’s perspective is the unique access to a network of 400 business angels, family offices and 200 venture capital companies, with whom we actively and purposefully network startups after investor-oriented preparation. The highlight is our exclusive VentureCons, which take place several times a year – a conference format that regularly attracts over 100 investors.
Munich Startup: What were your most important milestones?
Carsten Rudolph: The most important thing was certainly the merger into an all-Bavarian network ten years ago. There are numerous others: with the introduction of the “Startup Demo Night”, we were the first to create an event format that presents startups to a broad public and regularly attracts 1,000 visitors. Another highlight was “cracking” the half a billion in capital that startups supported by us were able to collect via the investor network, eight years after we founded it. In subsequent rounds, the startups then raised six billion euros!
Proud of the successful startups
Munich Startup: What are you particularly proud of when you look back on the last ten years of Baystartup?
Carsten Rudolph: I am particularly proud when I see how far startups that we have helped to bring to market have come. When I get on a Flixbus or hear about the expansion to India, when I see students in the lecture hall with their Airup bottle on the table, or – even if the topic itself is not a pleasant one – when I read about the support provided to Ukraine by Quantum Systems’ surveillance drones. And, of course, the developments by “our” founders in the healthcare sector that are improving people’s lives: Intensive care beds by Reactive Robotics, support for people in need of care by Navel Robotics and numerous other applications in medicine.
Munich Startup: What do you think has changed the most in the Munich startup landscape?
Carsten Rudolph: The startup landscape has developed considerably. Startups today are much better prepared and better networked, and there is more capital available in the early stages. At the same time, however, the demands on startups have increased: Competition for investment is more intense and professionalism has to be right from the start. Topics such as sustainability and social impact have also become more important, which influences the priorities of many founders.
Creativity, sophistication and perseverance
Munich Startup: What is most in demand from startups? And what do you think they need most?
Carsten Rudolph: Many startups first come to us with the desire to raise capital as quickly as possible. Whether they always need this is a question that we like to clarify in many coaching sessions. There are often workarounds such as thrift (!), supplier credit, initial sales and other things that secure a startup a better negotiating position on the capital market. This often requires creativity, finesse and perseverance. This is where we come in to develop the best overall package with the founders. After all, a financing round is not an end in itself, but serves to turn a startup into a company.
Munich Startup: In future, you also want to increasingly support startups that focus on sustainable growth. How do you define that?
Carsten Rudolph: We see time and again that founders have the ambition to develop their company steadily over many years. The exit orientation that VC financing inevitably entails is not suitable for this. The focus here is on permanent and, above all, rapid growth. For such startups, we are developing a complementary offering that supports this – quite complex – path to growth. Often, several types of financing are used simultaneously, which need to be coordinated.
More sustainable growth for startups
Munich Startup: What is the goal of your additional new focus and what exactly can startups expect in terms of support here?
Carsten Rudolph: The aim is to enable such startups to get off to a solid start and to create access to sources of financing that are suitable for more moderate – but perhaps more sustainable – growth. Paths for this are, of course, equity financing, but also (promotional) loans, funding or strategic investments from industry partners.
Munich Startup: What other projects are you planning?
Carsten Rudolph: We are working on further expanding our offering in the area of industry cooperation. This involves networking startups with potential technology and sales partners, especially in the SME sector. We are also strengthening our internationalization program to support startups in their expansion, especially in Europe. Here, we are creating offers that accompany the startups as early as possible in the nearby markets.
Real European “champions”
Munich Startup: What do we talk about when we travel ten years into the future?
Carsten Rudolph: We are talking about the fact that together we have succeeded in building real European “champions” who, in addition to their own entrepreneurial success, have also contributed to putting Europe back at the top of the “innovation world map”. And this with topics that address current social and ecological challenges.
