Munich Startup: What problem do you offer a solution for?
Dominic Preiß, CEO and Co-Founder: Finding the perfect restaurant, a good bar, or a new café is often unnecessarily complicated these days. We see this not only in our own experience but have also heard it reflected back to us by many acquaintances. Especially in new cities, many people struggle to find truly good and relevant restaurants, bars, or cafés.
Ultimately, the process often unfolds similarly: people check Instagram, continue their search on Google Maps, and also ask friends for recommendations. At the same time, many people no longer have a high level of trust in anonymous reviews on platforms like Google Maps.
This is where Localee comes in. We're building a social discovery app that brings together genuine recommendations, posts, social signals, and local guidance in one place. A particularly important aspect for us is that you can also see what your own network has actually recommended, visited, or reviewed. Because when it comes to decisions like choosing restaurants, bars, or cafes, recommendations from friends and acquaintances are often the most valuable.
Munich Startup: What can you do as of today?
Dominic Preiß: We combine social discovery with genuine local contextFor us, it's not just about finding a place on a map, but also about understanding why it's relevant, who's been there, and whether it truly suits your own taste. Furthermore, recommendations from your personal network play a much stronger role in your perception than on traditional review platforms.
That's precisely the crucial difference for us: places aren't just displayed, but made much more tangible through social context. With features like personalized search, recommendations based on your surroundings, and, in the future, more intelligent suggestions, we want to significantly improve this kind of discovery.
The idea behind the founding of Localee
Munich Startup: What triggered the founding?
Dominic Preiß: The trigger for me was a problem I knew all too well and constantly witnessed in my own social circle. This situation arose time and again: you want to go out to eat with friends or acquaintances and spend ages trying to decide which restaurant to choose. One person checks Instagram, another uses Google Maps, and yet someone else asks friends for recommendations – and still, the decision often remains unnecessarily difficult.
This behavior eventually stuck with me. I realized that while recommendations are everywhere, they rarely come together in a way that truly makes a decision easier. This observation gave me the idea for Localee.
Challenges in the development process and a look to the future
Munich Startup: Was there ever a moment when you thought about giving up?
Dominic Preiß: Not giving up, but definitely moments where we realized how hard product development really is. We often had a very clear picture in our minds of how Localee should ultimately look and function – and yet, in the implementation phase, we repeatedly discovered how many iterations, technical hurdles, and open decisions lay in between.
There were phases where development took significantly longer than we had anticipated, and we felt like we were progressing more slowly than expected. It was precisely in those moments that I realized how quickly one's own perfectionism can hold you back. At the same time, however, it was always clear to us: the problem is real, and that's exactly why it's worth persevering.
Munich Startup: How would you know in a year that you're on the right track?
Dominic Preiß: When Localee has truly become a part of everyday life in Munich and other cities – when people not only find the app exciting but use it naturally to discover new places, share recommendations, and orient themselves within their surroundings – when this results in genuine usage, repeat visits, and real relevance, then we know we're on the right track.
Localee was founded in 2025 by Michael Gratz, Faisal Mohammadi, and Dominik Preiß. Together, they built TriMndTec, the company behind Localee. The three already knew each other from their professional lives. After many brainstorming sessions, they eventually decided to start their own business together.
Munich Startup: Would you start a business in Munich again, and why?
Dominic Preiß: Yes, absolutely. Munich is a great starting point for us because the city has a vibrant restaurant, café, and bar scene and also offers enough dynamism for new digital products. Plus, we're from Munich ourselves and know user behavior here very well. For Localee, it was exactly the right environment to launch.
Munich Startup: Perfection or speed?
Dominic Preiß: Today, speed is absolutely crucial. In the beginning, I was much more of a perfectionist and wanted to optimize the product until it felt truly finished. But that's precisely what held us back. We realized how easily you can spend too much time fine-tuning internally instead of learning from real users.
That's why speed is more important to me today. Especially with a product like ours, perfection is of little use if you spend too long developing it in isolation. You have to gather feedback early and understand what's truly relevant to users.
