Munich Startup: What motivated you to found a company?
Friderike Bruchmann: The impetus for founding was a personal experience with side effects after taking medication. After intensive online research, I discovered that the available information often tends to create uncertainty rather than help. This motivated me to create a platform that provides patients with access to reliable information, enables confidential exchange with other patients, and offers the opportunity to provide feedback.
Essential: resilience and a clear focus on “business-model-market-fit”
Munich Startup: What would you have liked to know before your first founding?
Friderike Bruchmann: I would have liked to know how crucial market readiness is for a successful funding round with VCs. It’s a long journey from an idea to a market-ready and scalable product that convinces customers and investors. Resilience and a clear focus on “business-model-market-fit” are essential here.
Munich Startup: How has your company been financed so far?
Friderike Bruchmann: We are financed by various business angels, family offices, and VCs. 80 percent of them are from the healthcare sector, the others are from the software sector. Among them: Grazia Equity, Bayern Kapital and Isartal Ventures.
Munich Startup: When and where do you get your best ideas?
Friderike Bruchmann: This sounds very clichéd, but I actually get my best ideas in the shower. I also get them while traveling on business, for example on flights. They offer a break from desk routine and let my thoughts wander. The distance helps me see the bigger picture.
Munich Startup: What are your 3 favorite work tools?
Friderike Bruchmann: The “Reminders” app on my phone is definitely high on the list. There are so many small and big things you would otherwise lose track of. I also use the “Notes” app for the obvious – I write down all my thoughts there. This way I don’t forget anything and keep my mind free at the same time. Tool number 3 would be the same thing analog: pen and paper. Because every now and then, writing things down by hand is quite good and liberating.
“The golden years between 2018 and 2021 are over”
Munich Startup: Your top tip on “pitching”?
Friderike Bruchmann: I always memorized the first four sentences, because if you get the opening right, it usually flows more smoothly after that. Of course, memorizing everything is counterproductive because it just isn’t authentic. For the rest of the pitch: practice a lot. That gives you routine and confidence.
Munich Startup: Does it seem like a good time to found a company right now? Why?
Friderike Bruchmann: To be honest, not really. The golden years between 2018 and 2021 are over. We’re living in difficult economic and geopolitical times, there’s less access to capital, and trust in startups has declined for various reasons. Add to that the known reasons like Trump’s election and the government coalition’s failure in Germany, and on the other hand the failure of major startups like Babylon, Gorillas, and Lilium.
That doesn’t mean I would advise against founding. If someone has a great idea and wants to implement it, or generally really wants to found a company, they should do it anyway. But everyone must make a conscious decision about how much they can sacrifice for it, both financially and privately, and how challenging and exhausting the journey is.
Positive impact in healthcare or education very high
Munich Startup: Which technology or industry would you focus on for your next founding?
Friderike Bruchmann: I would always go into the healthcare or education sector because the positive impact is very high here. I would also focus on the use and application of AI and the metaverse. The latter has lost some of its “hype,” but I’m convinced that there will be another boom here.
Munich Startup: What could be improved at the Munich startup location in your view?
Friderike Bruchmann: The offerings in Munich are already very good. In particular, TUM contributes a lot to making Munich a strong founding location – it’s not for nothing that it’s Germany’s number 1 founding university. But many parties have contributed to a great founding ecosystem in recent years.
Munich Startup: Which founder would you like to meet in person? And what would you ask them?
Friderike Bruchmann: I would look forward to meeting Mark Zuckerberg. He is one of the most important tech founders of all time. I would ask him about his vision for Meta and the metaverse.
