How should young companies position themselves in times of the Corona crisis and what impact does the situation have on the work of the startup network Baystartup? An interview with Carsten Rudolph, Managing Director of Baystartup.
Munich Startup: You offer many workshops for founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs and have now completely switched your offerings to webinars and online coaching. How are these formats being received?
Carsten Rudolph: The offerings have been very well received. The digital business planning workshops alone are in high demand, with around 100 participants each—significantly higher than our in-person workshops. For the specialist workshops, which we organize together with subject matter experts from our sponsors, we have deliberately set a maximum number of participants. This ensures that the interactive nature of the workshop remains intact.
Workshop series “Crisis Management for Startups”
In addition to these courses, we also want to provide concrete support to startups in the current situation. For this purpose, we have launched the "Crisis Management for Startups" workshop series. Here, we offer a broad target audience guidance in the current flood of information – and do so on a daily basis. On the one hand, we provide our assessment of the suitability of government rescue packages for startups, but on the other hand, we also highlight measures that startups urgently need to take themselves. This includes, above all, strict liquidity management.
The response was positive, with approximately 600 participants participating in the first three episodes, and many questions were asked via the online tool. Among the participants were experts who were able to provide additional input on the topics. We are continually expanding our offerings as needed; we will publish current dates and registration options on a regular basis at www.baystartup.de/termine.
Munich Startup: Are you also having positive experiences with this and are you considering becoming more digital in some areas in the future?
Carsten Rudolph: Simply becoming more digital isn't an end in itself. Of course, we've also introduced some tools much more quickly than originally planned and will retain many of them. We've occasionally worked online in the past, for example, in our financing coaching sessions. What we're noticing now is a huge improvement through consistent daily use, rather than just occasional use. As we get used to it, many things work more smoothly and professionally. This applies not only to us, but also to the startups we support—including the digital ones.
However, we're already noticing that compact seminars of approximately one hour are very well received. The online format is ideal for such effective "know-how input" simply because it eliminates travel. For intensive workshops, however, the situation is quite different: Whether it's more enjoyable in the long run to hold four hours at your own desk or to interact face-to-face with other founders in a room remains to be seen.
Munich Startup: The third phase of the Munich Business Plan Competition is just beginning — has anything changed for the participants?
Carsten Rudolph: There are no significant changes for participants. We are sticking to our schedule for 2020. With the competitions, we have the great advantage that both the submission and evaluation processes are largely digital anyway. So nothing will change there.
Positive nervousness is difficult to portray during a pitch online
The situation is different for jury meetings and awards. Of course, we would like to continue honoring the winners in person; we firmly believe that live applause is irreplaceable. The excitement and positive nervousness of a pitch in front of a jury of experts are certainly difficult to replicate online. We will implement these things digitally where necessary, but we very much hope that we can celebrate our grand finale in Munich in July.
Munich Startup: As one of Germany's largest financing networks, you are very close to investors—what is the current mood among investors?
Carsten Rudolph: In fact, the mood is becoming more subdued from week to week—especially when it comes to new investments. It's clear that investors are currently focusing on their existing activities and helping wherever they can. Ultimately, this should be seen as a positive sign that demonstrates effective cooperation between the parties involved.
Overall, however, I would describe the situation as more of a "wait-and-see" situation. Many decisions will depend on the overall economic consequences of the lockdown. Our assessment is that the decisive factor here will be less a lack of money on the investor side, but rather the expected future economic success of the startups. After all, they have to hold their own in the tense market situation.
Munich Startup: Do you have any tips for startups that are now up against the wall?
Carsten Rudolph: There are several. These include checking your account balance daily and keeping an eye on your burn rate. Startups also have to take necessary steps to ensure the company's survival. These are largely difficult decisions that aren't fun, but unfortunately, they're part of the job.
“Quick action is the order of the day”
Many will certainly also have to consider whether their business model will still be as attractive "after the crisis" as it was before, whether they need to shift their focus, or whether their offerings might even be in greater demand. We're seeing many people expecting things to return to business as usual after the lockdown, as if it had "only" been a one-to-two-month standstill. I don't believe that. Swift action is essential.
