What does a private computer do when its owner isn't using it? Usually, nothing. The Munich-based tech startup Hivenet wants to change this and is working on a solution that allows everyone rent out the computing power of his PC CEO and co-founder Maximilian Pinker answers our 7 questions.
Munich Startups: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Maximilian Pinker: Hivenet is a Munich-based high-tech startup. Our team currently consists of 10 people with extensive experience in software development, science, finance, project management, and marketing.
Munich Startups: What problem does your startup solve?
Maximilian Pinker: What does your computer do while you sleep? Usually nothing. Most home and work computers worldwide are idle for more than 80 percent of the time. During this time, the computing power is unused and lost.
At the same time, the cloud computing industry is already generating around 250 billion US dollars from leasing computing resources in 2020 — and the trend is rising sharply.
Hivenet takes advantage of this misallocation of available but unused computing resources on the one hand and used but expensive computing resources on the other. We enable computer owners around the world to securely rent out their unused computing resources to paying customers.
When computer owners are not using their computer, they simply start the Hivenet software and Hivenet does the rest.
Hivenet monetizes a well-known concept
Munich Startups: But that's been around for a long time!
Maximilian Pinker: In fact, it doesn't exist yet. The idea of using unused computer power is not new. The first globally known distributed computing network was SETI@home, which launched in 1999 and served as a model for many similar systems. However, these always had some limitations: First, computer owners weren't paid, but rather used their computers largely "for fun." Second, the systems were always optimized for a very specific application, making them very inflexible and completely unsuitable for paying customers.
Hivenet integrates cutting-edge cloud computing knowledge with artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. This allows us to pay computer owners securely and fairly, while also providing a high degree of flexibility for customers and their applications without compromising security.
Munich Startups: What upcoming task do you currently have the most respect for?
Maximilian Pinker: After recently releasing the alpha version of our software, we are now in the middle of raising funding for the next project phase, which we will realize through a crowdsale of our cryptocurrency.
This cryptocurrency and the associated system are, in some ways, one of the highlights of Hivenet. Hivenet is intended and must appeal to customers and computer owners all over the world. However, this poses the problem that banks and financial service providers charge various transaction and exchange fees for international payments. Since the payments are so-called micro-transactions, these fees would completely consume the revenue. To prevent this, Hivenet uses a system we designed with our own integrated cryptocurrency, which allows us to reduce transaction fees to zero.
With our crowdsale, we're killing two birds with one stone: On the one hand, we can cover our financing needs. On the other hand, anyone interested in Hivenet can acquire a part of the ecosystem and thus participate in Hivenet's success.
Munich Startups: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Maximilian Pinker: In a year, we will already be preparing for our open beta phase, which will then be followed by the launch of Hivenet.
We expect that in five years, it will be completely normal to have your computer perform client calculations for a fee while you're not using it. Our goal is for clients and computer owners to use Hivenet for this purpose.
Bureaucracy costs time, money and energy
Munich Startups: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Maximilian Pinker: The Munich location certainly has strengths and weaknesses.
There is a very large number of highly qualified experts here, which forms the basis for a technology startup like Hivenet. Furthermore, Munich is well positioned internationally in the specialist areas relevant to us. For example, Munich is an important hub within Europe for blockchain technology, with many up-and-coming startups.
On the other hand, unfortunately, one often gets the impression that the German government has created an environment that hinders rather than encourages innovation and new ventures. Even today, we are still surprised by the amount of bureaucratic and seemingly pointless effort we are confronted with by government agencies and other institutions. This, of course, is man-hours, money, and energy that are lacking elsewhere. It would be desirable if politicians would at some point finally address the decades-old promise of reducing bureaucracy.
Munich Startups: Quick exit or long breath?
Maximilian Pinker: Definitely staying power. Distributed computing is the inevitable future, and we want to be a significant part of it.
