Munich Startup: What is Demi doing? What problem are you solving?
Philipp Munsch, co-founder Demi: We are building an AI Commercial Operating System for medium-sized industrial companies. At its core is... Demi is like an intelligent funnel: Companies feed in their information on products, markets, target groups, budgets, resources, etc., and Demi creates a digital twin of the company from it.
Based on this foundation, the user can now make strategic decisions. Demi then develops the optimal strategy and implements it automatically – from strategy development and roadmap planning to operational execution. Demi not only plans what needs to be done, but also creates concrete to-dos, assigns them to the right people on the team, and generates the appropriate content as needed. This enables medium-sized businesses with limited resources to implement their marketing and sales strategies efficiently, in a data-driven and results-oriented manner – all within a single system aligned with the overarching corporate strategy.
From Idea to Operating System
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Philipp Munsch: No – at least not in this form. There are many tools that cover individual subtasks – CRM, project management, content automation, analytics. But what's missing is the unifying system that brings together strategy, planning, execution, and learning loops in an intelligent architecture.
With Demi, we are developing, for the first time, a system that orchestrates all of a company's commercial processes – seamlessly linking AI, data, and decision logic. This eliminates the tool chaos that currently slows down many teams.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Philipp Munsch: The idea arose from a very real problem: I come from a family of entrepreneurs in the mechanical engineering sector. We build highly innovative products, but many companies often lag behind in marketing.
Niklas and I have known each other since our first semester and began working intensively on this question during our master's thesis. The idea was: What if strategies could be calculated and companies would therefore always know what to do?
The advent of modern AI systems made exactly that possible. We received the EXIST start-up grant for our idea, and together with Tobias, an experienced tech founder, Demi Technologies GmbH was born.
Building trust in AI is a long process.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Philipp Munsch: One of the biggest hurdles has been, and continues to be, skepticism towards AI among medium-sized industrial companies. Many businesses desire greater efficiency but simultaneously have legitimate concerns about data security, control, and change.
Our goal is to build trust in the technology and demonstrate that AI is not an end in itself, but rather provides tangible relief – especially for small teams with large workloads. We are now clearly seeing that we are succeeding in this and that the industry is becoming more open to such solutions.
At the same time, building a system that intelligently links strategy, workflow, and AI models is extremely technically demanding. And of course, anyone starting a business builds everything from scratch – from the invoice format to the first desks. This combination of technical complexity and entrepreneurial groundwork is certainly a challenge for all founders.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Philipp Munsch: Next year, we aim to move beyond the prototype stage and offer a fully functional, market-ready SaaS solution. We don't intend to limit ourselves to industrial mechanical engineering: Demi should also work in the service sector, in skilled trades, and in the software industry – anywhere companies want to implement their strategies efficiently.
In five years, we want to grow far beyond the commercial sector. Demi should then intelligently map not only marketing and sales, but also other business areas such as human resources and operations.
For example, if you say in HR, "I want to fill position XY," Demi automatically creates the appropriate recruiting strategy, operationalizes it, and integrates it directly into the team's calendars. In the long term, Demi should enable you to strategically and operationally manage your entire company.
Maintain focus
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Philipp Munsch: Munich is a very active and well-connected location for us. We ourselves come from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and were active in the TUM Incubator for a long time, which is why we know many founders from the ecosystem.
There's a lot happening here, especially in the areas of software and AI. There's a strong mix of scientific background, practical industrial experience, and entrepreneurial thinking. At the same time, the range of events and programs is enormous – so much so that you sometimes have to be careful not to lose focus and really concentrate on what's essential: your own product.
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long breath?
Philipp Munsch: I don't think this question even arises for us. In the end, you always need patience, because experience shows that almost nothing works right from the start.
