A world champion, a game of Thrones-Star, two power women and the winners of the pitch competition: Even after the crashing start on Sunday, Bits & Pretzels kept up the pace on its second day.
What happened so far: On opening Sunday Stefan Raab celebrated his comeback at Bits & Pretzels. After almost two years, the comedian made his public return to Munich. However, Oscar winner Kevin Spacey stole the show that evening by announcing his surprise entry as the fourth organizer of the Munich Founders Festival.
By Monday the dust had settled somewhat, but the program remained top-class: The first was Philipp LahmThe World Cup captain reported together with the founders of his Investments Fanmiles about their business model and how they found each other.

DLD founder Stephanie Czerny met, as she herself said, one of her role models: entrepreneur and professor Ann-Kristin AchleitnerThe talk between the two successful women revolved around core topics of the startup scene: Czerny asked Achtleitner how the practical skills of entrepreneurship could theoretically be taught at a university. What can be achieved at a university, according to the entrepreneurship professor, is for students to discover their own potential.
For Achleitner, confidants with whom one can exchange ideas and collaborate are invaluable on the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur. In general, she's looking less for network contacts and more for real friends:
“I don't like networking so much, but friendship is important.”
Both Czerny and Achleitner shared their enthusiasm for Munich's startup scene, with its high-caliber education, strong economy, and strong networking. The main difference between Munich and other major ecosystems around the world is that it is less heavily promoted by media coverage.
#achleitner:: success means having the #courage >> be #dynamic # independent #beyourownmaster #BeBold | #bits17 #bitsandpretzels pic.twitter.com/hnIGVUdJ4F
— Jan Wichmann (@jan_wich) September 25, 2017
Virtual tour of the holodeck
Meanwhile, the program continued on the other stages: Visitors to the Academy Stage received practical assistance with typical startup questions. Corporates introduced themselves and their work to the audience, and startups pitched to investors. In contrast to the world's largest startup festivals such as SXSW or the Web Summit, visitors to Bits & Pretzels still have the opportunity to take part in most of the program items that are relevant to them, as there are fewer overlaps in the program of the Munich Founders Festival than at the other major events.

In breaks between two sessions, it was worth visiting the exhibition stands of startups, organizations and corporates. Holodeck VR had set up its virtual world in a separate room: visitors could physically move through four different worlds and also a product visualization of the Munich clothing manufacturer Bogner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZdwGT-Hkn2/?taken-by=munich_startup
And the winner is…
A pitch competition took place on a separate stage throughout the entire two days of the fair: With significantly better acoustics than last year, 100 pre-selected startups competed against each other in six theme clusters. The six winners from each theme cluster ultimately competed in the finals. The winners CATCHYS can now take part in the Extreme Tech Challenge on Richard Branson's dream island Necker Island.
The winner of the Munich Startup Awards was also determined — but not yet announced. The best Munich startup in the pitch competition will receive its award and 5,000 euros in prize money from Economic Mayor Josef Schmid tomorrow at the Bits & Pretzels Oktoberfest in the Schottenhamel. Last year, the Munich Startup Award to Cleverciti.