Heinrich Rusche

In February it will be 6 years since I had a 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘁. With some distance Business Insider has asked me to talk about my experience in consulting, my burnout and the new company I started: WirDämmenDeinHaus.com You can find the link in the first comment.  (I’m also happy to share the pdf, in case you cannot access it.) My ask to you:  𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝘁. Having talked to many people that suffered a burnout, my observation is that it can be tremendously helpful to get a nudge from people that care about you. It is a common burnout symptom to “try to keep pushing through” and “take care of one self, after X, Y, Z is finished” -> this often significantly prolongs the healing process. Be there for the people you care about and encourage them to take care of themselves now and not when it’s too late. I’m also here for anyone that wants to talk 1:1 about their experience or ask questions. Please feel free to reach out. Happy holidays to all of you!

341

42 Comments

Hamburg Startup Grants: Opportunities on the horizon!⛵ Tired of chasing down grants in a maze of state-by-state programs? I've compiled a treasure map of the main essential funding opportunities specifically for Hamburg startups. No need to wander the high seas of bureaucracy. This list has everything you need to unlock the gold mine of support for your innovative venture. ✉️ Need help navigating the map? Reach out! #HamburgStartups #Funding #Grants #Innovation

15

What a night - German Startup Awards 2024! Last Thursday, we attended the annual German Startup Awards ceremony in the heart of Berlin, organized by the Startup-Verband. It was an inspiring night celebrating founders, investors, and the growth and innovation within the German startup ecosystem. As Verena Pausder pointed out, "Some say the lights are going out in Germany. I think: We haven't even turned them on yet." This spirit of optimism is precisely why Amazon Business is proud to have partnered with the Startup-Verband since 2023. Congratulations again to all the winners. Here's to the future of German startups! #GSA24 #Startups

327

15 Comments

𝗜𝘀 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗜? Key insights into the German AI landscape to evaluate the current situation: 🔹 Startups: Germany hosts 687 AI startups, a 35% growth from last year. 🔹 AI landscape: Berlin and Munich dominate, with around 50% of Germany’s AI startups located there. 🔹 Patent applications: Germany holds only 6% of global AI patents, far behind China (29%) and the US (27%). 🔹 Investment: AI investments from 2013-2023 saw the US at $335.2B, China at $103.7B, and Germany trailing with $10.35B. 🔹 Public funding: Germany plans €1B in AI funding over two years, while the US spent $3.3B in 2022 alone. 🔹 Corporate spending: Western European companies invest 45-70% less in AI and IT than US firms. 🔹 Newly founded AI companies: Germany launched 319 new AI companies from 2013-2023, while the US founded 5,509. Actionable points for German company leaders: 💡 Simplify AI projects—start small and scale. 💡 Integrate risk-taking and innovation into business strategies. 💡 Align AI with company culture for effective implementation. Germany's asset is unique data on B2B business models. Using this data to develop unique products is a real opportunity to take the lead in the B2B space again. More insights on tech, data, and AI transformation needed? Follow this link 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eJqRj3Xn Sources: OMMAX Analysis, applied AI institute for Europe, EFI/ KfW, Stanford University #AI #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #BuildingDigitalLeaders

51

4 Comments

🔥 OUT NOW! 🔥 Our study, "State of Innovation in German Companies," is released today. What impact do German innovation leaders achieve with their efforts? 💡 The good news: German companies have established essential foundations for innovation. However, obstacles remain that hinder the full realization of their innovation potential. ❌ To demonstrate the impact of their innovation activities, leaders need to measure the return on their investments. Yet, only 27% of innovation leaders use financial KPIs to assess their efforts. 🔄 What needs to change? Corporate innovation must shift from an internal, intrapreneurship-driven mindset to a more entrepreneurial approach. Discover the success factors for unlocking this potential and explore all the insights from our study here (see link in comments). The English version of this study will be released shortly. Stay tuned! A big ‘thank you’ and shoutout to all authors and contributors to the study: Florian Altmann, Anna Elin Seidel, Svenja Krämer, Theresa Dolle, Isabell Göttert, Benjamin Borrow #Deloitte #innovationKPIs #research #DeloitteInnovationstudy

90

9 Comments

🚨 Do startups born in tough times have an edge? 🚨 We found that crisis-founded startups exhibit unique growth patterns that set them apart from their stable-times counterparts. By examining young German firms from the Global Financial Crisis, we discovered that startups founded during the crisis faced fewer challenges in hiring—particularly attracting career starters. This suggests that entering the market during difficult times may offer unexpected advantages for new ventures. Policy implications: Supporting startups in tough economic climates can complement labor policies like short-time work schemes for established firms, that cause rigidities for labor market entrants. Thoughtful support for both new and established businesses may strengthen overall employment resilience. 🎉 We (Udo Brixy and I) are happy that this work has found a great home at Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal after a very constructive and targeted review process! Thank you to our editor and two anonymous referees! 🎉 Read more (in German): https://lnkd.in/dZrUFfpJ Read (and cite 😊) the full paper: https://lnkd.in/d32PXCzH #Entrepreneurship #Startups #CrisisManagement #Research #EconomicPolicy #LaborPolicy #Innovation Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal Rui Baptista BFH Wirtschaft Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung ZEW – Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung Universität Zürich | University of Zurich Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

47

1 Comment

😱 German VCs are in deep trouble 😱 - at least according to a recent article in manager magazin. Let's dive into it... 🤿 🤔 The key narrative of the article stems from two arguments: 1️⃣ VC funds who started investing in 2020 and 2021 are underperforming funds raised in 2017-2019 (so called "vintages" in VC-language). 2️⃣ Since the performance of recent vintages is "bad", it is harder for VCs to raise new funds, competiton amongst funds is getting stronger and managers start getting at each others throat. Voilà, the industry is in crisis! 😱 💸 As proof they showed that the "share of VC funds who distributed capital back to investors" for vintages 2020 and 2021 is lower after 3, 4 and 5 years, compared to vintages 2017-2019. 😤 This analysis immediately triggered me, because I see two problems with it: 1) "Share of VC funds who distributed capital back to investors" is first of all a very "odd" KPI, because it does only measure the "fact" of distribution, and not the "amount". A more typical measure of success is the DPI-Ratio ("Distributions-to-paid-in-capital-ratio), which is an actual performance measure of the fund, or the IRR, the internal-rate-of-return, which does not take distributions into account but shows the actual value increase of the existing holdings of a fund. 2) The Second "problem" is the that the mentioned KPI neglects the "timing problem" of the different vintages. For example, macroeconomic effects like the Corona Pandemic or the War in Ukraine affect all funds, but if you compare the vintages, the effect comes in a very different "stage" of the life cycle of the fund. The data for the analysis comes from Carta, so I went back to the original source ( 🤓 ) and found this median IRR analysis for different vintages, that paints a much better picture in my perspective. It is true that the vintages 2021 and 2022 had a rough start due to the end of the corona-startup-hype and the start of the war in Ukraine. But IRRs are constantly picking up. It rather seems to me, that these funds started "in a dip" and are now coming out of it. To frame it positvely, they may have even made some "cheap" deals during the recent years, which may pay off in the next years 😉 . Remember: VC funds run for 10+2 years. So there is still time to create great value from the investments done in recent years. But what about the lower share of "pay-outs" that the #ManagerMagazin highlights? I think that this is actually due to a shift in the VC landscape in general. While earlier vintages have invested strongly in B2C and B2B software, "younger" vintages have done more #deeptech investments which takes more time to mature and quick exits are rare, which is not a bad thing. By the way: The article on Carta was actually titled "Despite a slow start, investors are optimistic about recent VC fund vintages" which is probably more accurate than the headline in #ManagerMagazin which titled "Earthquake in Berlins VC scene" 😂 Thoughts?

76

16 Comments

Sometimes, the best venture building knowledge just lies out there to grab for free. Take this online Entrepreneurial Finance course "The Start-up CFO" from Prof. Dr. Malte Brettel from RWTH Aachen University | WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. (see full course link in comments) Back when I watched this course for the first time it taught me: ▶️ The financial aspects you should consider as early stage start-up CEO ▶️ Understanding the role and tasks of the CFO in a start-up ▶️ How venture capital financing for start-ups really works Check it out! Of course, all kuddos to Malte Brettel! PS: The course is an oldy (2019) but goldy 🟡 #venturebuilding #startup #entrepreneur #finance

23

2 Comments

It's OMR in Hamburg. Here are my 5 (non-AI generated) small talk tips on the subject of AI 1. When will the bubble burst? "I think AI is really exciting, but I still don't see enough convincing practical examples. I can recognize AI-generated content 5 miles upwind! 2. Job security "Sam Altman says that AI will take over 95% of all marketing tasks. But in the end, it's always the human who makes the decisions" 3. AI Washing "What really annoys me: everyone pretends to be AI natives as soon as they have a headline written by chat.gpt.  4. AI Armageddon If climate change doesn't kill us, AI will. We won't need bats for the next deadly virus. AI will soon build it all by itself.  5. Search is dead. "I don't Google anything anymore - only AI. it's funny how backward Google search now seems." What did I miss?

10

2 Comments

☝ 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺, 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁, 𝗡𝗼𝘃, 𝟮𝟭 -𝟮𝟭! 🗓️ One key takeaway from our ongoing research is that successful companies truly leverage customer data to identify leads for their digital services. Rather than casting a wide net, they focus on understanding the unique value each service can provide to specific customers.  At our upcoming #Forum in Frankfurt, we’ll dive deeper into this topic, facilitating discussions around:  ▶️ Key Success Factors for Thriving in Digital Services  ▶️ Harnessing Data and Digital Capabilities to Enhance Service Marketing & Sales Strategies We still have a few seats available, and we’d love for you to join us!  📊If you can’t make it but are interested in the findings, participate in our research to receive an exclusive #copy of the #report: 🔗 Join the #Survey: https://lnkd.in/eGZEM-bd 🗓️ Find information about the #event: https://lnkd.in/eRwxgBrt Let’s unlock the potential of digital services together! 💡  #Partners: SERVICE 1 GmbH Syncron ___________________________ Noventum Service Management #DigitalServices #CustomerData #InstalledBaseData #Research #ServiceBusinessForum #ServiceSales

9

When does AI make sense – and when is not? Sharing my interview with Inpact Mediaverlag: “Hi ChatGPT. Can you tell me why so many people are skeptical about you?” Of course, AI knows the answer: "Many people fear that AI and automation could replace their jobs." That is indeed a good question. But the skepticism of many people reaches even deeper. Even into the deepest level of feelings. And there's no AI. This is what researchers have recently determined in a study. If the term "AI" appears in connection with a product, it now deters customers rather than convincing them to buy, Renata Thiebaut, professor of e-commerce at the Gisma University of Applied Sciences, has found out. The expert assumes that consumers prefer human interaction with a product over AI. "In my experience, the problem is that consumers don't just buy products, but invest in an emotional connection and the experiences that certain products and brands offer them," says Thiebaut. "I recognize a strong resonance between consumers and topics such as sustainability, fair trade and inclusiveness." These led to a purchase decision rather than "AI". You can read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eByWu6hA #artificialintelligence #ai #tech #trchnology #chatgpt #ecommerce

20

Personalization is like dating – it gets better the more you get to know each other! ❤️ Do you wanna know why and how? From Jessica Liu from Forrester, I learned at the #PersonalizationPioneers Conference in Berlin these days that many people have a misguided view of personalization. Often, we think personalization is a one-time task: a user enters the platform, and after a few clicks, we instantly know what they need. But true personalization works differently. Successful personalization is a continuous process, evolving over multiple interactions. Each "contact" is a new "getting to know you" moment, deepening the understanding of the users preferences – much like dating! 😍 Platforms like Netflix or Spotify are great examples - which you might know already. First their recommendations are based on general trends or broad interests. But with each use the system learns more and makes increasingly better recommendations. E-commerce platform like yes - Amazon - work similarly. They might start with bestsellers e.g. or women/men segmentation but over time, they begin suggesting products tailored specifically to the individual. So what key elements that are necessary for successful personalization? I took Jessica Liu insights and added one point: 1. Develop a strategy: Define a clear vision and let your customers guide where personalized experiences make sense. 2. Identify data: Audit what data is available or missing to enable personalized moments. 3. Activate technology: Choose the right technologies to bring personalized experiences to life. 4. Continuous measurement and optimization: Establish a process to monitor and adjust your personalization efforts over time. 5. Integrate feedback loops: Regularly gather user feedback to better understand their needs and fine-tune personalization - (Go and do Discovery) Personalization should not be a one-time shot, but a consistent learning journey. Every click, every search, every session adds a new piece to the puzzle. If you wanna get more concrete insights about how you can implement a personalization strategy or how you can do more Discovery -get in contact with me or Dr. Julia Engelmann and comment "yes I want". #personalizationstrategy #customerexperience #data #strategy #konversionsKraft #personalisierung #personalization

17

1 Comment

📈 The latest startupdetector report couldn't have been better for me. - the number of newly founded German startups increased in Q1 2024 - a trend reversal we waited for some time new! - Leipzig and Dresden were the cities with the biggest increase of new startups (+41%, +36%), while Jena had the most financing rounds per capita - while many regions had a smaller number of new startups, Saxony increased most by 35% - the energy sector saw the strongest increase from all industries - our Smart Infrastructure Ventures ('SIVentures') portfolio company traide AI GmbH with their founder Leonie Althaus got featured next to SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator alumnus Dr. Jannik Lockl from inContAlert - our partners from TGFS Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen are ranked #5 in the most active VCs list. Smart Infrastructure Ventures ('SIVentures') among the top investors in AI All in all a great job Arnas Bräutigam & team

61

3 Comments

There is an omnipresent deal killer in B2B sales, only 30% of founders & sales people see: Traveling by train to conduct a sales workshop for startup founders - hi there digitalHUB Aachen e.V. 👋- I overheard a loud phone conversation. A gentleman was discussing company succession and mentioned that he needed an 'argument' for a negotiation. Of course, I didn’t know the full story, but an internal alarm bell immediately went off. When negotiating with a prospect, I aim for agreement - not for arguments. I share this perspective with all my mentees too. Why? The words "arguments" and "arguing" are very close for a reason. It’s one person against the other. Why would you want to argue with your prospect? You want to agree with them, right? Agree on … their promised land. their challenge at hand. our mutual action plan. their needs, risks and mitigators. our impact, the price tag as well as their RoI. I always aim for a win/win situation—for my prospect and myself. If there’s an issue or my prospect is unsure about something, I simply ask questions: Why do you feel that way? How can we move around this? What can we do to find a good solution moving forward? Agreements > Arguments. What is your favorite question to ask in a tricky situation? - - - - - Hi, I am Florian, your tough love guy.  I mentor startups & corporate ventures to close their first 100 deals faster. Reach out if you want to know how! 🥷🏻 #sales #startups #gotomarket

22

2 Comments

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝘆 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 Startups and incumbents are adapting their business models to AI. At last week’s AI Conference in San Francisco, one thing was clear: profit margins are the battlefield. Is that new AI tool a feature or a new platform? What is its moat against the incumbents? If the incumbent incorporates the new feature, will users pay a premium? But closer to home: What does this seismic shift mean for your business? Discover why your go-to apps might become mere "features," how tech giants are redefining value, and what this means for YOUR bottom line. How are YOU gearing up for the AI-driven future? 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 and join the conversation. #AIRevolution #TechStrategy #FutureofBusiness #DigitalTransformation #EmergingTech

9

David Bland wrote together with Alexander Osterwalder (creator of the Business Model Canvas) one of the most useful books for Founders and Product teams. In our conversation, we talked about how to test ideas, why many founders want to do everything on their own and why this is dangerous. But this is equally applicable for a Product team working in a larger organization. The success of your product is tied to the success of your business model. And if you’re unable to bring the right people together to continuously discuss risk, you’ll end up building something that might not work for your business. In other words: not viable. Listen to the full conversation, to learn more about how to continuously test your ideas and - if you haven’t yet - make sure you get David’s book “Testing Business Ideas”

22

2 Comments

Founder Mode - This Too Shall Pass = I just congratulated Tomasz Boinski on founding Lobby4 and becoming member of the Founders Network. That was my trigger for this post. = I do not know whether you know this: Silicon Valley is now under a typhoon named: Founder Mode Here is what happened: Paul Graham is an English-American computer scientist, writer, entrepreneur and investor. His work has included the programming language Arc, the startup Viaweb (later renamed Yahoo! Store), co-founding the startup accelerator and seed capital firm Y Combinator, his essays, and The Hacker News. That celebrated cerebral Paul Graham penned an essay: Founder Mode lnkd.in/g72HirBS that's it ... all hell broke loose. Silicon Valley was stormed by Founder Mode typhoon. = Why did this happen? To understand this please vector your attention to a closely sounding word: Flounder verb struggle or stagger helplessly or clumsily in water or mud. "he was floundering about in the shallow offshore waters" Similar: struggle thrash thresh flail toss and turn twist and turn pitch splash stagger stumble falter lurch blunder fumble grope squirm writhe Opposite: make good progress struggle mentally; show or feel great confusion. "she floundered, not knowing quite what to say" Similar: struggle mentally be out of one's depth be in the dark have difficulty be confounded be confused be dumbfounded scratch one's head be flummoxed be clueless be foxed be fazed be floored be beaten be in serious difficulty. "many firms are floundering" Silicon Valley has been floundering for as long as I can remember (I have been hustling in Silly Con Valley since 1996). The tech industry is home to some of the world’s greatest innovators, most profitable and valuable companies, and incredible startup success stories. But, these achievements notwithstanding, it’s also a space where there’s a surprising lack of appreciation for skilled management. From my observations, lack of proper management leads to the failure of many great startups and ideas. More importantly, it’s contributing to the scarcity of engineering talent and, in turn, the rising people-related costs of building companies. That puts Silicon Valley at a disadvantage. That is: Flounder Mode At first glance, you might think that some of Silicon Valley’s best technology companies are incredibly well-managed. In practice, though, many of them are one-product wonders. They’ve figured out one product and have built, some would argue, a monopoly around that product. This is certainly true of both Google and Meta (formerly Facebook), both of which have one primary revenue stream (digital ads), and both of which have largely failed at building new products outside of acquisitions (Google Maps and Android being possible exceptions, though both started as acquisitions). = Silicon Valley is under the spell of Founder Mode Fever since it has been floundering under perennial bad management. Let Founders not Flounder.

37

12 Comments

Studying at Tomorrow University of Applied Sciences: How we use the Master program as an academic incubator for our startup journey… 🚀 Sarah & I are currently on a mission to identify an idea for our climate tech startup. We also started a Master's program in Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Technology at Tomorrow University in March. We did not start the program for the sake of an M.Sc. (we both already have a master's degree) but rather to help us on our journey. While we knew we had the skill set to build digital solutions, we also knew we had more to learn, especially in entrepreneurship. The program at ToU allows us to use our ideas in the courses, get feedback from a diverse group of students and extend our skill set. It's kinda like using the Master's program as an academic incubator for our startup journey ✨ Of all the courses (challenges) at ToU I did so far, three stood out for me: 1️⃣ Mission Identification with Dr. Thomas Funke This was the first challenge I've done and it really helped me to understand what drives me. I knew I wanted to work on solving the climate crisis, but I had never identified my why (purpose) and how (mission). This challenge with Thomas helped me accomplish that and also to build a support network for the future. 2️⃣ Finance for Entrepreneurs with Johannes Arning A few months ago, Sarah & I calculated a business case for an idea we had. It was alright, but after this challenge with Johannes, we had created a really sophisticated model that could easily be adapted for different business ideas. We had a clear overview of our profit & loss, cash flow and cost structure. This challenge gave us crucial new insights into our cases and helped us a lot in planning for 2025. 3️⃣ Getting Funding Ready with Christian Rebernik It is safe to say that funding from business angels or VCs is still way down the road, but nonetheless, I would say that this challenge was really eye-opening. Honestly, before this challenge, I would have always seen external funding as the second option and bootstrapping as the preferred choice. Learning about the different aspects, including shares, convertible notes, and dilution, was really eye-opening. Overall, it is safe to say that our pitch decks and business cases would not be as good without our studies at Tomorrow University. The vibrant community and discussions with fellow students are inspiring and broaden my horizons every time. I'm excited for my next year at Tomorrow University! 🚀 🦋

54

3 Comments