A hybrid of Check24 and Amazon for e-learning, digital continuing education, certification, and (online) study – that's how the Munich-based startup Treasurize aims to develop in the future. The founders reveal what's behind it in an interview.
Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourself and your product!
Treasury: Finding high-quality expertise or the right training is difficult and time-consuming. To help interested parties gain a comprehensive overview, we offer Treasurize, a Online marketplace for expertise and digital trainingUsers will find not only continuing education and online degree programs there, but also market and industry studies. In the future, however, we want to move beyond being "just" a marketplace and develop into a comparison portal for e-learning and digital continuing education.
Treasurize was founded by Thorsten Mötje in May 2018. Thorsten has been working as a management consultant for over 12 years and has worked in various disciplines, industries, and companies—from large corporations to medium-sized companies, SMEs, and startups. He has particular experience in the development and implementation of business models.
The second member of the team is Marco Englert. As a systemic business coach and management consultant, Marco has experience supporting decision-makers with the complex issues of their everyday professional lives. A specialist in brand communications, online marketing, and digital sales, he joined Treasurize as Chief Marketing Officer in 2019.
Treasurize brings together many previously unknown providers
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Treasury: Comparison portals have been established for years when it comes to finding the cheapest cell phone or electricity plan and the best car insurance. In the area of continuing education and e-learning, there hasn't been a way to get a comprehensive overview, compare providers, and find the best and most cost-effective course for yourself. However, especially in the area of continuing education and e-learning, there are currently many different providers, but few are truly well-known or established. This makes it difficult to evaluate the quality of the content offered.
Munich Startup: What are the three main ingredients for your recipe for success?
Treasury: A scalable business model that has never been seen before, fun at work and collaboration in a team.
Satisfied with what has been achieved so far
Munich Startup: Let’s get to the point: How is business going?
Treasury: The marketplace went live in August 2018. Back then, however, it was completely empty; there were no vendors or products. We now have more than 120 vendors and over 65,000 products. These include the largest and most well-known companies in their respective sectors—so we're very pleased with what we've achieved so far. Nevertheless, increasing awareness is very difficult.
Munich Startup: What does Munich mean to you?
Treasury: Thorsten came to Munich more than 12 years ago after graduating. The city and the surrounding area with its many lakes have become a second home to him. Marco doesn't live in Munich. Nevertheless, their collaboration is very close and works very well—which also shows that with all the technological possibilities available these days, you don't necessarily have to be in a local office. As a startup environment, Munich is naturally perfect and offers every opportunity you could wish for.
Munich Startup: How can your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
Treasury: With the attention we get through Munich Startup, the next unicorn.
A wide range of e-learning products
Aside from that, our product range is growing steadily and has more than doubled in the last few months. We aim to maintain this growth and soon offer more than 100,000 products on Treasurize, with a particular focus on e-learning.
We also want to provide our customers with even better information. For this purpose, we have been publishing the Treasurize Online Magazine for some time now. It features specialist articles on e-learning, continuing education, certifications, knowledge management, knowledge sharing, and digitalization. We also plan to expand our consulting service "Treasurize4u." With this service, we help companies find the best and most cost-effective e-learning courses and continuing education opportunities for their employees.
Munich Startup: Helles or Prosecco?
Treasury: Definitely light!
