Campus - 21.03.2025 - 10:00
There was hardly a startup at the START Summit that did not advocate the use of AI. But there is more to it than just hype, as was evident from the various talks and discussions on the Builder Stage. Here, successful entrepreneurs and investors gave practical tips on what startup founders need today.
“Being fast is crucial today. Thanks to AI, even entrepreneurs who can barely programme can quickly produce an MVP, or a minimum viable product,” said Christoph Klink, an international startup investor. This opens up opportunities, but also makes the competition tougher. “I've seen many founders fail because they underestimated how quickly they had to develop their startup,” said Klink. A financing round might give a startup 18 months of financing. “The next financing round takes three to four months, which means that you have to be able to demonstrate verifiable progress within a little over a year in order to convince new investors,” said Klink.
Failure is part and parcel of founding a company, a fact that was repeatedly emphasised on the Builder Stage. Many of today's most successful AI companies have developed, tested and discarded hundreds of ideas. “With AI, failure and moving on quickly is more important than ever,” said Zahra Zahid, who supports startups at Amazon Web Services. AI is democratising access to technology and infrastructure. “AI can take a lot of development work off our hands. This means that human skills such as creativity and resilience will become increasingly important in the future
Bettina Hein, who co-founded START Global as a HSG student 29 years ago, and tech entrepreneur Thomas Suarez had previously discussed the human side of entrepreneurship. Suarez, who is 25 years old, is currently setting up his second startup, Raven Resonance. This company is developing a pair of augmented reality glasses that can be worn in everyday life that, for example, display information about their activities to users or allow them to communicate while keeping their hands free. He also emphasised the importance of many rapid iterations. “If you keep developing your idea and try out many solutions, one of them is bound to work.” This involves a steep learning curve – and for Suarez, it took so much time and focus that he put his degree course at a renowned US university on hold. “You have to think in small steps and small successes, that takes the edge off major stress factors,” he said. He also recommended surrounding yourself with like-minded people. “That's how you realise that all founders have the same problems.
“Entrepreneurship is a hard road. You're on an emotional rollercoaster and you have to learn how to deal with stress.”
Bettina Hein agreed: “Entrepreneurship is a hard road. You're on an emotional rollercoaster and you have to learn how to deal with stress.” The HSG graduate and multiple founder emphasised the importance of admitting relapses and considering alternative paths. “There will be times when you might need to come back to reality and need a normal job – and that's okay. I worked nights at a call centre while launching my startup in the US.”
Melanie Gabriel also hosted two panels on the entrepreneurship of the future. The HSG graduate is co-founder of the successful fintech Yokoy. In 2023, she received the HSG's Founder of the Year award.
Gabriel spoke with Petter Made, founder of the payment service provider SumUp and head of a startup support programme. His most important message to all founders: “Find mentors as early as possible – this will save you from making a lot of mistakes and will save you time and money.” He also emphasised the importance of good relationships with investors. “This can help if you need additional financing as a company that is growing very quickly.” In general, good financial planning is very important, especially during rapid growth. “Despite all the euphoria during growth phases, a CFO is needed to plan carefully.”
Eva Valerie Gfrerer and her company Morphais are investigating the question of what makes founders successful. Among other things, the company uses AI to analyse which startups are most likely to succeed and then creates analyses for investors. “In Europe, we have the largest dataset of startups in an early business phase. What makes startups successful varies, of course, but in general, the more diverse the team, the more successful they are.” Gfrerer called AI the “biggest game changer of the last 15 years” in the startup sector. “There are extreme cases in which startup founders make millions in sales without having any employees.”
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