Munich Startup: What does your startup Amind do? What problem do you solve?
Marius Merkle, Amind: The Amind brand is the flagship of Amind GmbH. Our primary goal is to educate individuals and organizations in the field of applied mind science in an evidence-based manner. By promoting mindfulness, we strive to increase (self-)confidence and (self-)care, which in turn leads to sustainably higher performance readiness at both individual and organizational levels.
Our approach is characterized by factually-inspiring and data-emotionally balanced language. We support organizations, employees, and entrepreneurs in sustainably improving leadership competence, performance, and team cohesion by promoting effective stress management, focus accentuation, strengthening relationships, and (self-)care.
Our programs focus on central questions: How can an organization grow profitably and sustainably while strengthening individual well-being and building a positive organizational culture? Although our programs do not replace psychotherapeutic measures, they achieve therapeutic effects. In times of uncertainty and technological change, we want to provide individuals and organizations with a safe and humanized foundation: “The Secure Base”. This safe and caring base promotes the maintenance and development of efficient, collaborative, and innovative organizational cultures.
Munich Startup: But there are already so many coaching offers out there!
Marius Merkle: Amind is not a conventional coaching offer; rather, we strive for shared experience mediation. We are aware that we can never know everything, which is why we rely on intrinsic curiosity to better understand our partners’ backgrounds both cognitively and emotionally. Our goal is not to present prefabricated solutions through a fixed framework, as this would unnecessarily limit our partners’ creative development process.
Companions in the process of self-development
The Amind experience uses only certain tools to help our partners recognize, cultivate, and transfer their own secure bases. We see ourselves less as conventional coaches and more as supportive and empowering companions in our partners’ self-development process, so that they feel intrinsically more secure and can convey this perceived security to the outside world.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Marius Merkle: During my studies at IIM-C in Kolkata (India) towards the end of 2017, I first encountered the phenomenology of “mindfulness,” particularly through formal sitting meditation practices. The insights I gained from these courses helped me endure a severe dengue fever illness. I had to learn to accept situations without falling into lethargy. Formal meditation practice then became part of my daily routine.
When I started my first full-time position at Meta (formerly Facebook) in late 2018, I was pleased to see that mental health support initiatives for employees were also emerging there. Through free self-help apps we could independently work on our “soft skills.” However, from my own experience, I recognized that self-experimentation, while an important first step, fell short in key aspects like integration, reflection, and experience sharing.
“Enabling sustainable and profitable growth”
For these reasons, I decided to work on a mindfulness-based consulting concept that fully integrates the aforementioned aspects. After two years of behavioral therapy and a two-year training as an MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) instructor, I finally felt ready to translate my ambitions into an evidence-based consulting concept. This focuses on cultivating and conveying an inner secure base, because this secure base is what connects and unites us humans: the need to feel safe. Only with an internally developed (self-)security can we carry security outward. This will be crucial for organizations and leaders to enable sustainable and profitable growth.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Marius Merkle: Throughout my career at companies like Meta, Amazon, and TikTok, I always had the opportunity to work with startups from various industries. It was an exciting experience to support these young companies. However, from a distance, I could never fully understand the constant uncertainties and self-doubts that come with founding. Questions like “What if my venture fails?” or “Why should I leave the secure boat of permanent employment?” only became clear to me in the middle of the founding process. This should not diminish my conviction in my idea; rather, I regard these questions as gifts to weigh options without judgment.
Amind and the challenges of the founding process
The challenges of finding a “market” for my idea and translating the mindfulness topic, which is (mistakenly) dismissed as esoteric, into contemporary language were initially abstract, but have now become concrete tasks. From my previous freelance work, where my partners preferred to grow organically, I now need to switch to targeted new partner acquisition in order to be profitable as a company. This involves creating cross-channel content and implementing effective marketing campaigns. What was merely theoretical during my time at Meta, Amazon, and TikTok has now become a practice-relevant and existence-sustaining reality for my startup.
The uncertainty associated with the founding process is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges. In retrospect, I cannot overemphasize my respect for all the young entrepreneurs I have worked with over the past years. Courage and resilience are essential. However, my own meditation practice and the Amind experience help me create an inner secure base and feel more secure amid this perceived uncertainty.
The socially-oriented direction of Amind, both as a brand and as a company, is an unwavering guiding principle for us. As a company committed to the widespread concept of “social impact,” we must succeed in skillfully balancing between philanthropy and profitability. Although we do not call ourselves “pro bono,” it is our concern to make our consulting services freely accessible to organizations of all kinds.
In search of the business model
Munich Startup: Where do you want to be in one year, where in five years?
Marius Merkle: Over the next five years, my focus is on further optimizing my consulting services and positioning them more successfully in the market. I aim to work on a scalable business model, whether in the area of platform-based e-learning or fashion & lifestyle, for which I have already developed ideas. My self-image in this future vision is based on being in harmony with my current stage of development, and not feeling “forced” to necessarily change.
It is essential for me that I advance my already initiated projects with full awareness. Particularly at the outset, the focus is on raising awareness and sharing experiences to demonstrate the importance of perceived inner security (secure base) for individuals and organizations. My goal is to have taken all necessary measures to be able to claim in five years that I have made a comprehensive contribution to this. If I succeed in establishing myself both in the consulting industry and in the field of my developed ideas, I will not only be satisfied, but may also benefit as a person from some valuable partnerships.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced the Munich startup ecosystem so far?
Marius Merkle: Thanks to my network, which developed mainly during my master’s studies, I am impressed by the variety of startups being created in Munich. From deeptech to various SaaS solutions, I find the Munich startup ecosystem to be extremely diverse.
The mission of Amind: Acknowledging so-called weaknesses and fallibility, and growing
That said, I must confess that I unfortunately never had the privilege of studying in Munich, let alone living in this beautiful city for more than four years. Therefore, I would by no means call myself an expert and consequently claim that I still need to gather much more experience to allow myself a well-founded judgment. But that is precisely the mission of Amind: to acknowledge so-called weaknesses and fallibility in order to grow with intrinsic motivation. For this reason, I consider it a valuable learning gift to be able to learn more about Munich as a startup location.
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Marius Merkle: Counter question: Why not both? This way I can maintain a sense of inner security in potential risk situations and convey it to the outside world. At the same time, it allows me to consider certain residual risk in seemingly safe situations. Both aspects are not mutually exclusive. In terms of my professional career, I have always sought “security” in permanent positions at large technology companies. In retrospect, I can only guess whether I truly felt inner security in these positions.
However, I have now taken the first steps into self-employment and can certainly imagine combining both. This would be beneficial to the cause, as I could gain practical experience as a leader in an organization that could then be integrated into Amind’s service offerings. Security and risk are, in my view, extremely personality-related. Personally, I would describe my inclination as ambivalent, since I consciously seek risk in perceived security and simultaneously intentionally find security in a risky scenario. Both sensations always include and strengthen each other.
