We interviewed Mylivn COO Benjamin Birker.
Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Benjamin Birker, COO MylivnMylivn is the next-gen social lifestyle app from Munich that will not only revolutionize the social media world, but also aims to become the European super app. Founded in 2016, we focused on product development for the first three years. Mylivn is now available live on iOS and Android, as well as in beta for the web.
Reward creativity with the Creator Program
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Benjamin Birker, Mylivn: With us, the days of social media fatigue due to an abundance of content or the feeling that you no longer see the content that is important to you are over. Compared to other social networks, we give users much more freedom and offer functions and features that enable a new, individual social networking experience. The basis is our channel system, which is much more interactive and allows you to check out the latest posts and stories. We are also proud of our features – group and location channels and channel collections – which our users can use to individually organize and select content. With channel collections, users create a new channel and add selected users – just like creating playlists. And let’s not forget our interactive map, where you can discover local posts and stories or leave your own footprint.
Because we also believe that creativity should be fairly rewarded, we offer content creators the opportunity to qualify for our Creator Program and thus monetize their content in a new, independent, and fair way – similar to YouTube. Since influencers are no longer dependent on collaborations to monetize their content, the Creator Program brings long-missing aesthetics and authenticity back to the social media landscape.
Mylivn wants to bring aesthetics and authenticity to the social media dreariness
In addition to the need for communication, Mylivn, as a super app, will also fulfill the needs of mobility, shopping, and services in the long term. We also approach the sensitive issue of data protection differently. As a German company, we have different ideas about privacy and higher standards of data protection, and we strictly adhere to European guidelines.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time, hasn't it?
Benjamin Birker, Mylivn: On the contrary: A hybrid of Instagram and YouTube – but in an improved, more user-friendly form, combined with a super app – that has never existed before.
Available in 55 languages by the end of 2020
Munich Startup: How is business going?
Benjamin Birker, Mylivn: Our seedfinancing was €7 million. Mylivn is already available in 23 languages, and our users come from 78 different countries worldwide. Our goal is to be available in 55 languages by the end of 2020 and to expand our presence in our main markets of Europe and America. The Mylivn team, based in Munich, consists of over 40 employees, with new support joining monthly.
Munich Startup: What does Munich mean to you?
Benjamin Birker, Mylivn: Munich is in no way inferior to the Berlin startup scene – Bavaria provides excellent support for its founders in this area. Especially when it comes to recruiting from home and abroad, Munich's location regularly benefits us, as its high quality of life makes it more attractive to many than, for example, Berlin. However, we find the ever-increasing cost of living in Munich problematic – especially when it comes to rent. If we had one wish, it would be: less bureaucracy.
Munich attracts staff with high quality of life
Munich Startup: How does your startup become the next unicorn?
Benjamin Birker, Mylivn: Regardless of the definition of a unicorn in startup jargon, we have long been a unicorn: No other social lifestyle app combines as many innovative, unique, and compelling features as Mylivn. In Europe, there is currently no major global player in the social networking sector – and certainly no social lifestyle super-app from Germany. Our app not only meets today's most important user demands, but also represents a lucrative benefit for the industry. Just as the rare mythical creature, the unicorn, stands out from the herd due to its uniqueness, so we stand out from the crowd thanks to our unique DNA. The only logical result of this is that in the long term, we too will achieve the professional category of unicorn, ie a company valuation by investors of at least 1 billion US dollars.
Munich Startup: Hiking or beer garden?
Benjamin Birker, Mylivn: Hike to the beer garden!
