“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin already knew this. Good preparation is half the battle, even on the path to starting your own business. Business, financial, and organizational issues are particularly preoccupying many aspiring entrepreneurs. The "Pre-Start-up & Succession Coaching Bavaria" funding program offers concrete assistance for future company founders.
We have Thorsten Krebs, funding program coordinator of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria, asked: What exactly is behind it, what opportunities the funding offers for founders and where to get help. Startup founders Mircea Popa the JobNinja GmbH, an app for digital job placement, participated in the pre-founder coaching and shared his experience with us.
Questions for Thorsten Krebs
Mr. Krebs, what is the Pre-Start-up & Succession Coaching Bavaria and how can startup founders use it for themselves?
The program promotes professional support during the early stages of starting a business or taking over a business. The goal is to give founders the opportunity to access coaching services early enough to launch successfully and sustainably into the market. The coaching offers the opportunity to receive targeted, individualized advice for their own project for approximately three months, even before starting their own business. To make it easier for founders to finance the coaching, the program provides a subsidy of up to 70 percent of the coaching costs.
What topics are covered by the funding and what cannot be funded through the program?
Coaching means "helping people help themselves." After the program, founders should be able to independently pursue their next entrepreneurial steps. Business consulting is always a priority. Therefore, all coaching measures that help founders compete independently in the market in the future are eligible for funding. Very popular topics include financing and financial planning, and company organization. Marketing, sales, and location issues can also be addressed in coaching. The traditional business plan for applying for funding from banks and investors is often the result of consulting.
Coaching services that primarily address legal, insurance, and tax issues are excluded from funding. Furthermore, the drafting of contracts, the development of IT software (including, for example, the creation of a website), and the creation of promotional materials (e.g., flyers) are not permitted within the scope of funded coaching.
Mr. Krebs, how can I apply for the program as a founder? What are the requirements?
The major advantage of the program is that the founder can choose a business consultant themselves. This allows each startup to select the ideal specialist for their company. For approval, we require a description of the measures from the consultant outlining the planned topics for coaching.
The requirements for submitting an application can be briefly summarized:
- The founder must live in Bavaria,
- the company must be founded in Bavaria
- and the founder must not be self-employed at the time of application. Incidentally, a business is considered self-employed if it has already been registered as a business or entered in the commercial register. Existing self-employment as a secondary occupation is permitted if it does not exceed 15 hours per week.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria offers on its website a Overview of the programThe application form can be downloaded as a PDF file and completed on your computer. We also require a resume and a business concept.
How does the application process and participation in the funding program work? Who can help me with questions?
After the application documents have been approved, the founder will receive an approval notice by mail within one month. This notice contains information about the number of subsidized consulting days, the maximum subsidy amount, and the duration of the coaching. This so-called benefit period is usually three months.
By the start of the first coaching day at the latest, the founder and coach will enter into a consulting agreement. This agreement will definitively define the consulting fee and the topics to be covered. For coaching, we recommend regular, smaller consulting sessions of, say, four hours.
To receive the funding, the founder must submit the consultant's invoice, a receipt, and a final report from the consultant detailing the individual coaching sessions. The funding, amounting to a maximum of 70 percent of the consulting costs, will be paid out within six weeks of receipt of the billing documents.
If you would like to take a closer look at the process, you can find it on the IHK website. Explanatory videos, which summarize the application and invoicing of the pre-start-up and succession coaching Bavaria very well, provide an overview of the coaching process and the required documents.
Any questions regarding the application process, coaching options, and funding disbursement are welcome to be discussed with me personally. A phone call or a quick email is usually helpful.
Thank you very much, Mr. Krebs, for the informative conversation!
Questions for Mircea Popa, founder of JobNinja
Mr. Popa, how and for which topics did you use the VGC as a founder?
There are numerous funding opportunities for innovative startups. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to know which programs are suitable for your project. Working with an experienced consultant from VGC, we were able to successfully apply for two programs: the INVEST grant and the Digitalbonus Bayern. Our consultant's extensive network also helped us find investors: We developed concrete financing options and were able to establish initial contacts with investors. Strategic partnerships—in our case, with the Federal Employment Agency—were also made possible through the pre-startup coaching. It was comprehensive support that even exceeded our expectations.
How did it specifically help you with the founding?
A concrete investor request and two funding decisions speak for themselves – thanks to the advice financed by the VGC, we were able to secure financing for our startup!
What experiences have you had?
As a young startup, we didn't have sufficient financial resources to seek professional advice. By covering the consulting costs of 70%, the VGC provided us with professional support in the area of financing – since then, I've recommended every founder to take advantage of this great opportunity!
The Pre-Start-up & Succession Coaching Bavaria program is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology and the European Union (European Social Fund ESF).
