Munich Startup: What does Aampere do? What problem are you solving?
Nikolaus Schmidt, founder and CEO: Aampere is a European C2B marketplace for used electric cars. We enable e-car owners to sell quickly. They receive an offer within 48 hours and at the best price across Europe. We enable our partner dealers, distributed across Europe, easy and secure access to electric cars that are only available through us. We handle the transaction including payment and delivery, so both parties can be confident in their (sale) purchase.
Aampere: E-car auction as a C2B business
Munich Startup: But that already exists, doesn’t it?
Niko Schmidt: Actually, it doesn’t! If you want to sell your e-car today, your only options are to sell independently on common marketplaces or to sell at a buy-back station or your local dealer. And when it comes to e-cars, nobody knows them as well as we do. So you have to choose between the best price and stress-free selling – for our customers, we combine both. Simply provide your e-car data, we auction the vehicles to our dealers, and upon successful contract conclusion, we pick up the car from your home at your doorstep.
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Niko Schmidt: Flo and I have known each other since school and have often had plans to build “the next app.” Maxi and Flo know each other from studying at TU München and so Flo brought us three together. As a team, we’ve been working together for three years now – before Aampere, we worked together on a project at the time, but that would be a longer story. Now we’re fortunately not just building “the next app,” but with Aampere we’re contributing to the transformation towards sustainable individual mobility. Of course, the market is still early, so a lot of education has to happen with our users. We’re contributing to that.
Making decisions under uncertainty
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Niko Schmidt: Making decisions under uncertainty – I think every entrepreneur knows that. Currently, the biggest challenge is certainly bringing the right people together behind Aampere’s vision – in other words, building a team that will enable Aampere to grow in the long term.
Munich Startup: Where do you want to be in a year, and where in five years?
Niko Schmidt: In one year, we plan to have around 20 to 25 employees and to have developed the relevant product components. In five years, this team and our product will enable us to become Europe’s largest marketplace for used e-cars. So when the market really becomes huge, we won’t be in the starting blocks anymore, but already ready!
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Niko Schmidt: In Munich, there are many great minds who want to change things for Germany as a location and especially for Europe as a location. The desire for change and the constant questioning of the status quo unite us.
Putting all your eggs in one basket
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Niko Schmidt: That’s a funny question to ask a startup: risk, of course! We’re aware that we’re putting all our eggs in one basket and that’s what makes it so appealing. Having the freedom to make decisions but also bearing responsibility for the consequences – that’s the risk. The alternative of sitting back and doing nothing is out of the question!
