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How scientists become successful entrepreneurs  Interview with Klaus Lehmann, Partner Successful industrial technology start-ups – Klaus Lehmann has helped scientists and researchers to found successful start-ups on behalf of the High-Tech-Gründerfonds since 2014. Now the industrial technology expert has been appointed partner of the HTGF. In an interview he explains what start-ups from the world of science and academia need …

How do Industrial Tech founders recognize Product-Market Fit? Part 2: The analytical and quantitative perspective By Ingo Fehr and Gregor Haidl (both Investment Managers) Supported by Yann Fiebig (Senior Investment Manager), Fabian Hogrebe (Analyst), Dr. Andreas Olmes (Principal) “Are there any objective criteria or KPIs that can indicate that my start-up is on a good way to reach Product-Market Fit?” …

Status quo Start-up Germany? Interview with Dr. Alex von Frankenberg HTGF celebrates its 15th birthday in 2020. After all these years and nearly 600 investments — what, do you think, is the state of the German startup landscape today? Germany is in pretty good shape and has caught up extremely well in many sectors. There are now more ‘Made in …

Author: Dr Martin Pfister, Senior Investment Manager According to a recently published study by Wayra, the accelerator programme set up by the Spanish telecommunications operator Telefónica, major corporations founded 264 new venture capital businesses in 2018. It is interesting to note that this type of support for innovative, non-corporate projects has experienced a new boom since the 2008 financial crisis. …

Author: Martin Möllmann, HTGF Investment Manager Especially at the beginning of a company’s history, resources are extremely scarce. Everybody helps out everywhere. This situation is no different in product development. While established companies can fall back on an entire structure of product managers, designers and developers, this is rarely the case for young start-ups. The technical component is often included, …

Tanja and Dr Dennis Schmoltzi, the CEO of Emma – The Sleep Company (Bettzeit GmbH), discuss the right HR strategy in high-growth startups Tanja:  Hi Dennis, so we invested in your company, Emma – The Sleep Company, back in 2015. At that point, you were of course a classic seed company. Just 4 years later, you’re making an annual profit …

By Gregor Haidl (Investment Manager) Supported by Yann Fiebig (Senior Investment Manager), Fabian Hogrebe (Analyst), Ingo Fehr (Investment Manager), Dr. Andreas Olmes (Partner) Part 1: The emotional perspective „Have I found Product-Market Fit?“ This question is particularly difficult to answer for first-time founders in early-stage start-ups. The answer has far-reaching consequences: If I don’t have Product-Market Fit (yet), everything in …

By Ingo Fehr (Investment Manager), Gregor Haidl (Investment Manager), Fabian Hogrebe (Analyst), Yann Fiebig (Senior Investment Manager), Dr. Andreas Olmes (Partner) The founders of Industrial Tech Start-Ups master difficult technological challenges: problems are identified, large problems are broken down into small elements and detailed analyses are performed. For most of the Start-Ups, this way of working solves the most difficult …

This is what usually happens. You take your car and go to the Mediterranean for your holidays. You prepare everything but you don’t think about the fuel your car needs to reach your destination. Although it’s clear that your car needs additional fuel on the way, you are sure to find many stations on your journey offering enough petrol to …

A post-mortem Analysis of the HTGF Industrial Technologies Portfolio By Gregor Haidl (Investment Manager), Fabian Hogrebe (Analyst), Ingo Fehr (Investment Manager), Yann Fiebig (Senior Investment Manager), Dr. Andreas Olmes (Partner) Every year we read through hundreds of pitch decks or business plans at High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) created by technology startups in the industrial environment. In recent years, we have repeatedly …