Stryber builds startups for its clients. The venture builder maintains offices in Munich, Zurich, and Kyiv. We spoke with Julia Kupke, CMO at Stryber.
Munich Startup: What does Stryber do?
Julia Kupke: Stryber is a strategic venture builder. We build portfolios with our partner companies and are an international team of experienced startup founders, product and technology experts, strategists, and former corporate managers. We develop a funnel of relevant themes, quickly validate them, and then build, test, and scale these ventures with our teams using the existing resources of our partner companies. Our approach enables the companies we work with to intelligently diversify their current business areas to build substantial future businesses.
Munich Startup: Who are the people behind the company and where do you come from?
Julia Kupke: Jan Sedlacek and Alexander Mahr are the founders of the company. Both combine their broad experience as startup founders in various industries with years of expertise in strategy consulting and as managers in large corporations. Together with Stefan Richter as CPO & Venture Director, Johannes Hübner as CTO, and myself as CMO, we lead the company.
“Munich is a strong business location”
Munich Startup: What sets you apart from traditional management consultancies? Why do you build startups for your clients?
Julia Kupke: We consciously differentiate ourselves from conventional strategy consultancies. While their lengthy transformation processes leave companies overtaken by digital challengers, the Stryber teams in Zurich, Munich, and Kyiv build a portfolio of powerful ventures in a short period of time. Thus, Stryber minimizes the risk associated with venture building.
Munich Startup: Why did you choose Munich as your location in Germany?
Julia Kupke: As a strong business location with its diverse range of industries, IT, and corporates, Munich is a very good strategic choice for us. The city is also attractive to our growing team and has a very good geographical location for advancing our business in the DACH region.
Munich Startup: What projects have you already implemented? What startups have emerged from them?
Julia Kupke: Together with one of our largest partners, Migros, we established Sparrow Ventures and have already spun off our first ventures. These include Miacar, a mobile supermarket, and Snäx, the smart refrigerator for the office. Both are successful in the Swiss market. In addition to our corporate venture building projects, we are also launching our own ventures. For example, Nux, a direct-to-consumer online store offering high-quality, label-free luxury products at affordable prices, and Butiqe, a marketplace connecting boutique retailers with select manufacturers.
Munich Startup: Where do you find suitable staff for your start-ups?
Julia Kupke: With over 80 excellently connected employees, we have a large network that we leverage for this purpose. That's why we get many of our hires through them. However, we also rely on active scouting by our talent team—because some good people aren't actively looking for a job—but they quickly become enthusiastic once they hear what we do. We've also filled positions through this approach.
