GUIDE: How to start a startup in Karlsruhe

by Adina Weiler, Associate, First Momentum Ventures

Within the last decades, Karlsruhe became a recognizable force in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Germany. While already having a prosperous history as an innovative capital for information technologies, the city was able to attract more and more young entrepreneurs in recent years — currently more than 200 startups are based in Karlsruhe.

Often these founders studied at one of the local universities, e.g. at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. As one of the largest research and educational institutions in Germany the university gained an international reputation for being leading in the fields of engineering and the natural sciences within Europe. Moreover, the university itself is well known for many inventors and entrepreneurs, who studied or taught there, including Heinrich Hertz, Karl Friedrich Benz and the founders of SAP SE. Looking around the campus the term “startup” is not only a fancy tech buzzword or an area of study, it’s a mindset deeply rooted within the city and the minds of its promising students.

Regardless of your own current expertise or experience, the following guide: “How to start a startup in Karlsruhe” present resources and starting points, allowing you to capitalize the network and infrastructure within that vibrant startup ecosystem. Have fun while exploring it!

PART I: Exploring Karlsruhe

“The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.” — Walt Disney

You will soon notice, that like-minded peers are a great source for brainstorming ideas, collecting feedback, or meeting collaborators. Therefore, interested individuals are key to the success of a lively ecosystem. So, take the first step and get involved!

Initiatives within the numerous universities offer mentoring programs and advice. It is a great place to learn more about startups or to solidify ideas for their own business. In addition to a strong on-campus community, there is a lot you can learn about startups from the classes and academic resources the universities provide.

Especially as a student, the innovation scene in Karlsruhe is your oyster, but in general, the offers address the public. No matter if you are solely interested in experiencing the entrepreneurial lifestyle and networking or if you already gained solid background knowledge, the organizations, incubators, co-working spaces and student initiatives below allow you to find your footing…

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

• PionierGarage e.V. — Besides mentoring, a strong network and support system, the PionierGarage is the main student organisation for entrepreneurship at the KIT. You should absolutely stop by at one of their weekly meetings every Tuesday, where you can get in touch with student founders, startup employees, hackathon enthusiasts and many more. A good idea as a first step, even if you are only interested in getting started!
• Launchpad of the PionierGarage — The PionierGarage also founded the Launchpad: The first student-focused incubator in Germany. In the rentable co-working space, you can easily put your idea into action. In addition to consulting and office space, you will also be offered contact to industrial partners and meet inspirational people. The rent is comparatively low since it is from students for students.
• Enactus — The team of Enactus committed themselves to social entrepreneurship, supporting and organizing ideas that serve a good cause. If you want to get started in a relaxed atmosphere and with a lot of support, then you should give it a try.
• G-Lab — The student initiative G-Lab at the HS Karlsruhe aims to provide insights about entrepreneurship and digitalization to fellow students.
• Innovate — The student initiative Innovate organizes every Thursday a weekly meeting at the Steinbeis-Haus for founders and the interested public.

ON-CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS

• The Center for Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship at KIT — At the CIE university students provide their theoretical knowledge and competent advice to (potential) founders. They offer initial consulting appointments to which you can register informally. Recommendation: Every now and then, the CIE offers the Gründergrillen, which is hosted together with changing start-up partners. It is a nice event to learn more about upcoming companies, but also an opportunity to network in a laid back atmosphere.
• Gründerschmiede at KIT — The Gründerschmiede represents the entire support network for founders at KIT. In contrast to the CIE, external spin-offs i.e. from research institutions are also supported here.

OTHER RESOURCES

• Cyberforum e.V. — The non-profit organization Cyberforum e.V. connects more than 1,200 European entrepreneurs, founders, creative people, researchers, and investors. A visit is highly recommended! Additionally, the affiliated IT accelerator CyberLab supports founders in all phases of growth with mentoring & coaching.
• EnTechnon — The Institute of Entrepreneurship, Technology Management, and Innovation EnTechnon aim to transform scientifically established knowledge and skills into business practice for a forward-thinking economy. Besides that, they offer various interesting courses for upcoming founders.
• IHK Karlsruhe — IHK Karlsruhe represents a powerful regional innovation system and value creation chains which you can use to succeed in the market. Apart from consulting they offer various events and talks on topics related to business formation, technology, digitalisation or innovation in general.
• Technologiefabrik — The office-space Technologiefabrik was founded by the IHK Karlsruhe. Since then over 390 companies have been supported and evolved successfully. The rents are affordable and working with other inspiring startups door to door might boost your own business!
• K3 Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaftsbüro Karlsruhe — If you are planning to found a startup in the creative field, the K3 is the right address. To businesses in the cultural industries it offers a wide range of consulting and services as well as events.
• Schlachthof Karlsruhe — Another offer that suits the needs of the creative and cultural sector: At the Perfekt Futur co-working center, located in the quarters of the Schlachthof, founders can rent containers to work on their innovative ideas and extraordinary concepts.

PART II: Implementation

“Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.” — Guy Kawasaki

Now once you have gotten your first insights about the start-up scene in Karlsruhe and began to socialise, you may find yourself with an idea or a few potential cofounders in mind. Turning this complex idea into an actual business plan seems like an overwhelming task. Not sure what to do next? Fortunately, Karlsruhe has some great resources to help you planning out a business and turning your idea into a real start-up.

A way to get started is competitions. It is a promising chance for you to try out some ideas, or maybe just to practice your problem solving and pitching skills. In general, you propose something innovative which solves an existing problem. In the end, you present it to judges, to receive feedback, support, and maybe even win a (cash) prize.

Since the events may vary over time, this guide only points out a few of them: Hackathons are quite popular in Karlsruhe and there are a variety of them like the Open Codes by Hack & Söhne.

Additionally, there is the yearly student founding contest GROW by the PionierGarage. Within a timeframe of 11 weeks, you have the possibility to start from scratch and become an entrepreneur. With support and existing infrastructure, you may build a business and test market opportunities. While some teams start with nothing, others already worked on their prototype. Nevertheless, the competition values progress; it doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you are able to grow. At the end, you can get the chance to pitch your progress in front of over 500 people including an experienced jury.

Another perfect opportunity to pitch your startup: The start-up BW Elevator Pitch is an attractive platform to present your business plan to a jury and an audience of regional institutions, financiers, business partners, and potential customers. At the event, entrepreneurs receive 3 minutes to make the audience curious about their idea.

Recommendation: The websites of the organizations mentioned in Part I often state upcoming events. Having a look now and then won’t hurt.

PART III: Capital and Launch

“Don’t stop me now ’cause I’m having a good time.” — Queen

After working on your startup for a while, you might reach the first boundaries of what you can do on your own, especially as a student. Regardless of your needs, to truly launch your startup you will most certainly look for additional resources. But before heading to Berlin searching for capital and help, you should check out our local incubators, coworking spaces (Part I) and investment funds in Karlsruhe. Support your local heroes!

• First Momentum Ventures — That’s us: First Momentum Ventures. We are Germany’s first student-run and student-focused Venture Capital fund — which means we know the challenges you may face as a young founder. Been there, done that. Our main goal is to provide young inspiring startups with a first investment, even in a pre-seed phase. Our five founders (Karl Lorey, Sebastian Böhmer, Benedikt Stolz, Alexander Kaiser, Andreas Fischer) are intensively involved in the local startup scene, so it is quite likely that you meet them at events. Just feel free to get in touch with us and pitch your ideas.
• CyberForum e.V. — Besides being an accelerator and IT-cluster, the CyberForum also established a very own Angel network and preseed programm.
• LEA Partners, Karlsruhe — LEA Partners is a multi-stage private equity and venture capital firm that funds and supports ambitious B2B Tech founders and executives.
• Kizoo, Karlsruhe — KIZOO provides mentoring, seed and early-stage financing for Biotech and IT startups. They are a source of capital with lots of added value.
• LBBW Ventures — As an independent subsidiary of the Landesbank Baden Wuerttenberg, LBBW Venture invests in early and late growth stages of companies. Apart from financial support, they offer access to their corporate client network.
• Business Angels — Looking for an investment, you may also consider the various business angels located in Karlsruhe.

CONCLUSION

Karlsruhe offers a solid foundation to start a company of your own and grow it to success. Especially as a young entrepreneur or student, this is the best time in your life to be brave and try out something new, something unfamiliar and daunting. Whether you’re looking to simply learn about a new topic or if you are willing to dedicate a few years to build that next unicorn, just remember to have fun on this journey! Allow yourself to try, to fail and to try it again. But you will be surrounded by the best support system you could ever wish for: Peers as passionate and brilliant as you are …

So, are you up for the challenge?

As a pre-seed investor, we help your startup to gain its first momentum by backing you with a first investment as well as world-class mentoring, a strong community, and the required know-how. Read more at firstmomentum.vc, stay up-to-date with our newsletter or get in touch through Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn