Many people know the problem: Christmas comes as a surprise and every year the same question arises: “What should I give as a present?” Heyfam founder Milana Marks declared war. She knows:
“As nice as giving gifts is, it still causes me, and 62 percent of Germans, headaches.”
The 28-year-old’s solution is Heyfam, a smart app for family and friendship organization with the option of data-driven gift-giving. Profiles of friends and family members are created in the app. Users then receive timely reminders for all important family appointments and milestones. At the same time, the app schedules a buffer for gift searches and notifies them when it's time to call relatives. With one click from within the app, users can also send gifts and small tokens directly. But how do you find the right presents? Marks explains:
"Heyfam is the first platform that unites different brands and finds perfect gifts for friends and family. Based on the stored profile, including age, location, and interests, gifts from a wide variety of product worlds are suggested, perfectly curated for the recipient. The great thing is that our app learns over time. It knows what has been added to the wish list; age changes from year to year, as do interests – so the gift suggestions can become even more suitable over time."
Heyfam: 20 percent for 150,000 euros
Regarding her business model, the economics graduate explained that the app is completely free to use. The company earns money through a commission from its respective partners for each gift sold through the app. To enable Heyfam to continue growing, Marks requested an investment of €150,000 and offered 20 percent of her company shares in return.
The visibly enthusiastic atmosphere during the pitch in the Christmas Cave quickly gave way to the first rejections. Nils Glagau disliked the basic idea of the app:
"I think it would be wrong to invest in this platform because I want people to engage with other people a little and go out of their own way to do so."
Because he didn't have the right skills to support a tech startup, Ralf Dümmel withdrew from the list of potential investors. Tilmann Schulz doubted the founder's business plan, which he considered lacking in vision. Dagmar Wöhrl also pointed out that the requested sum wouldn't be enough to make the startup truly big. The founder's declared favorite lion, Carsten Maschmeyer, but was convinced by the young entrepreneur:
“A dynamic, communicative founder like you is as sought after as a white Christmas in Germany.”
At the same time, he agreed with his jury colleagues:
"The business plan is garbage. Millions have to be invested in it."
Nevertheless, he offered Marks an initial investment of €150,000 for 25.1 percent of the shares and to act as her mentor. The visibly moved founder accepted the offer – and was delighted with her "blessed Maschi Christmas."
