Munich Startup: What motivated you to found your company?
Anna Hocker: I’ve always been clear that I wanted to build something bigger than myself. I come from an entrepreneurial family and have always known that I wanted to take that path as well. In my previous professional roles, I learned that the shortage of skilled workers is the biggest problem of our time and digitalization is the greatest opportunity to address this problem.
Munich Startup: What would you have liked to know before your first startup?
Anna Hocker: How difficult it is to build a company culture from scratch when the company is largely remote.
Business angels as advisors
Munich Startup: How has your company been financed so far?
Anna Hocker: We’re proud to have some great investors. In our latest funding round in 2024, we were able to win two very experienced VCs – UVC Partners and Redstone – on board. Before that, in our pre-seed round, many angels supported us and continue to be among our greatest mentors and advisors.
Munich Startup: When and where do you get your best ideas?
Anna Hocker: Either in dialogue with sparring partners or whenever I’m not actively looking for them – for example, while exercising, cooking, or just before falling asleep.
Munich Startup: What are your 3 favorite work tools?
Anna Hocker: Good old to-do lists, N8n, Demodesk (by the way, also a female-founded Munich startup).
“Fake it till you make it”
Munich Startup: Your top tip on “pitching”?
Anna Hocker: Self-confidence and positivity are everything – if necessary, fake it till you make it. From my experience, this tends to come more naturally to men.
Munich Startup: Does it seem like a good time to found a startup right now? Why?
Anna Hocker: I believe automation and AI are giving us much better opportunities to quickly launch digital products that would otherwise take forever to build. Additionally, awareness for innovation is growing stronger in Germany and the EU.
Munich Startup: Which technology or industry would you focus on with your next startup?
Anna Hocker: Definitely AI-based solutions combined with genuine industry expertise. The construction industry itself is attractive for startups because you can really make an impact here – it’s not as optimized as other industries. Or something completely offline, because I think offline experiences are going to become much more important again.
Munich offers a well-developed ecosystem
Munich Startup: What could be improved at the Munich startup hub from your perspective?
Anna Hocker: Starting a company is expensive and tedious. The tax and legal requirements for employee and founder participation in companies and exits are complicated, often very costly, and potentially unattractive as a result. But this isn’t just an issue in Munich – it’s a challenge throughout Germany that’s unfortunate and damaging for the startup ecosystem.
Munich itself is a great environment and ecosystem though, because we’re well-positioned with TUM and LMU, and we’re seeing more and more venture capital investors settling here instead of or in addition to Berlin.
Munich Startup: Which founder would you like to meet in person? And what would you ask them?
Anna Hocker: The Flix founders, because they’re a major role model for us when it comes to expanding to the USA.
