What advice would you share with other founders?
My tip is always to get reliable and trusted colleagues on board, rather than found the company alone. As a founding team, you can pool your variety of expertise and develop a strong bond in order to survive the high and low phases during the founding process. At Penseo, the core of the founding team, consisting of Sebastian Gauck, Morten Hartmann and myself, already knew each other through previous successful projects and ventures. That's how we knew that we could rely on each other and on the strengths of the respective participants. In my opinion, it’s also more fun in a team, because team spirit boosts us as individuals.
What surprised you the most when you started out?
When I founded Penseo, the most important thing I had to learn is to be patient. Not everything that is set in motion through processes and discussions is immediately ready for conclusion. The implementation often takes longer than you would assume. However, another realisation I’ve had is that patience mostly pays off. It shows how much you believe in your project and often, with more time and space, larger things can be implemented much better than if they had been rushed.
What do you want from politics and from Germany as a business location?
During our startup phase, we realized how much bureaucracy was needed to complete each step. This was at times very complex and could, in our eyes, have been solved digitally. As a FinTech startup, we’re always interested in digital, paperless solutions, which is why we see clear potential in bureaucratic processes such as registration, taxes, and social security contributions to be solved simply and virtually, yet securely.
Why doesn’t Germany have a leading startup ecosystem?
Because Germany is always looking for the fly in the ointment, always trying to find fault with something. This could have something to do with our culture or might be a question of envy. However, I do feel that Germany has the right framework for a leading startup ecosystem. Germany is a very attractive location for startups from all over the world, and there is plenty of international investment and support here. Of course, there’s also room for improvement in this sector but startup conditions, such as state support, rent, and livelihood, as well as political order, are ideal starting points for new founders. That’s why I consider Germany to be a very good place for founders.
