Just a few more days until startup enthusiasts, investors, and other decision-makers from the startup ecosystem once again find their way to Munich. Not because of Oktoberfest (or at least not only), but because Germany's largest startup festival, Bits & Pretzels, is taking place once again. Here, well-known entrepreneurs from all over the world meet young, aspiring entrepreneurs and real Hollywood stars. Here are a few of our highlights.
Bits & Pretzels will open on September 24th with a keynote speech by Stefan Raab, who, as an entrepreneur and entertainer, will get the participants in the mood for this year's founders' festival. And hopefully, he'll have some ideas, following in the footsteps of Kevin Spacey, who captivated the audience last year with a mix of Frank Underwood style and motivational speeches. What role the Hollywood star, who is coming to Munich again this year, will play at Bits & Pretzels 2017 is still unclear. So far, he has been announced as an "international guest" – we hope for more. Other speaker highlights include Philipp Lahm, who will speak on the topic of “Professional football vs. startup world: A learning from two perspectives” together with his Fanmiles partners Fabian Schmidt and Alan Starnberg.
It could be instructive in the panel “Why Germans lack the courage to go international: A Nordics Unicorn Lesson” with the founders and CEOs of Klarna, iZettle and Slush. The discussion also focuses on “Disrupting multi-billion dollar companies: The new French unicorn generation” to other European countries and presents Fred Mazzella from BlaBlaCar, Quentin Sannié from Devialet and Loïc Le Meur from Leaders.
Particularly interesting for startups: On the one hand, the Academy Stage, which, for example, covers topics such as “How to build global champions?” with Marc Samwer from Global Founders Capital, “How to do fundraising?“ with Rainer Maerkle from Holtzbrinck Ventures or “How to hire the good programmers?” with Joel Spolsky from Stack Overflow.
On the other hand, the Pitch Stage: Startups compete against each other on the dedicated pitch stage on the first day. The winner is chosen in the grand pitch finale on the main stage at the end of the second day.
Also exciting: the Pretzel's Stage, where, among other things, “The ultimate Founder Stories” will be told on the first day of the event.
New this year: the Investors Dealmaking Stage, where Grownup Startups share exclusive company insights with a selection of the best investors.
Also new: on the Corporate Innovation Stage In "how-to" sessions, large, established companies will learn how to best implement and drive digitalization and innovation. In the second part, corporates will present their accelerator programs for startups.
To facilitate exchange between participants, various networking formats will be offered, including a networking tool for scheduling appointments in advance and a power-building area. The second evening will also feature Startup Night, with startup events taking place throughout the city.
The third day will once again take place at Oktoberfest in 2017: Participants can choose their "Table Captain" in advance on a first-come, first-served basis. Table Captains are individuals from the digital startup scene who are happy to share their experiences with interested attendees. There's also a new format, the so-called "Topic Tables," where everything revolves around a specific topic that like-minded people discuss together at the table.
