Munich Startup: What motivated you to start your own business?
Anna Hocker: It was always clear to me that I wanted to build something bigger than myself. I come from a family of entrepreneurs and always knew I wanted to follow in their footsteps. In my previous professional roles, I learned that the shortage of skilled workers is the biggest problem of our time, and Technologization The greatest opportunity is to overcome the problem.
Munich Startup: What would you have liked to know before starting your first business?
Anna Hocker: How difficult it is to rebuild a corporate culture when the company is largely remote.
Business angels as advisors
Munich Startup: How is your company currently financed?
Anna Hocker: We are proud to have some great investors. In the last Financing round In 2024, we were able to bring two very experienced venture capital firms, UVC Partners and Redstone, on board. Prior to that, in the pre-seed round, we were supported by many angel investors who continue to be among our greatest mentors and advisors.
Munich Startup: When and where do you get your best ideas?
Anna Hocker: Either in dialogue with sparring partners or whenever I'm not actively looking for it, for example during sports, cooking, or just before falling asleep.
Munich Startup: What are your 3 favorite work tools?
Anna Hocker: Good old to-do lists, N8n, Demo desk (incidentally, also a female-founded Munich startup).
“Fake it till you make it”
Munich Startup: Your top tip on pitching?
Anna Hocker: Self-confidence and positivity are everything – if necessary, fake it till you make it. In my experience, men usually find this easier.
Munich Startup: Does this seem like a good time to start a business? Why?
Anna Hocker: I believe that automation and AI now give us much better opportunities to quickly develop digital products that would otherwise take forever to create. Furthermore, awareness of innovation is growing stronger in Germany and the EU as well.
Munich Startup: Which technology or industry would you focus on for your next startup?
Anna Hocker: Definitely AI-based solutions combined with genuine industry expertise. The construction industry itself is also attractive for startups because there's still real potential for change, as it's not yet as highly optimized as other industries. Or something completely offline, because I believe that offline experiences will become much more important again.
Munich offers a well-established ecosystem
Munich Startup: From your perspective, what could be improved about Munich as a startup location?
Anna Hocker: The actual process of starting a business is expensive and arduous; the tax and legal requirements for employee or founder participation in companies and exits are complicated, often very expensive, and potentially unattractive as a result. This is a challenge not only in Munich but throughout Germany, and it is detrimental to the city's reputation as a business location.
Munich itself is a great environment and ecosystem, as we are very well positioned with TUM and LMU, and more and more venture capital investors are settling here instead of or in addition to Berlin.
Munich Startup: Which founder would you like to meet in person? And what would you ask them?
Anna Hocker: The Flix-Founders, because they are a great role model for us when it comes to expansion into the USA.
