WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.820
Hello, and welcome, everybody. This is Joe from Startupradio dot Joe,

2
00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:07.754
your Startupradio podcast and YouTube blog from Germany. Welcome

3
00:00:07.975 --> 00:00:11.334
another guest from Frankfurt in our series, Tech Startups

4
00:00:11.334 --> 00:00:14.934
Germany, with the European Enterprise Network, Hessen. Hey, Max. How are you

5
00:00:14.934 --> 00:00:18.200
doing? I'm fine. Thank you very much for the invitation. Happy to talking to you

6
00:00:18.200 --> 00:00:22.040
today. Totally my pleasure. As I said, our enabler today is

7
00:00:22.040 --> 00:00:25.635
Hessen Trade and Invest and the Enterprise Europe Network. This

8
00:00:25.635 --> 00:00:29.475
recording was made possible by Hesen Tread and Invest and the Enterprise Europe

9
00:00:29.475 --> 00:00:33.015
Network, Hesen. These organizations have made tremendous

10
00:00:33.310 --> 00:00:37.070
contribution to helping start up businesses succeed and thrive,

11
00:00:37.070 --> 00:00:40.510
providing a range of services from helping to find friends to

12
00:00:40.510 --> 00:00:44.184
ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources,

13
00:00:44.405 --> 00:00:48.085
start up companies can network and develop innovative strategies for

14
00:00:48.085 --> 00:00:51.400
success on the international stage. The dedicated

15
00:00:51.540 --> 00:00:55.380
support of HDAI and the enterprise you work work

16
00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:59.075
Hessen is paramount in providing start up businesses with the tools

17
00:00:59.075 --> 00:01:02.915
for lasting success. You can learn more in

18
00:01:02.915 --> 00:01:06.590
the show notes down here in the show notes down here below

19
00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:10.590
wherever you will looking at this or listening to this. For everybody who's

20
00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:14.350
watching, sorry for the red eye, but allergy season is

21
00:01:14.350 --> 00:01:17.725
up on us again. Now that we

22
00:01:17.725 --> 00:01:21.405
have everything out of the way I'm sorry. That that that

23
00:01:21.405 --> 00:01:25.140
that was a lot of initial stuff. Maximilian,

24
00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:29.280
would you like to introduce yourself and how you, an Austrian guy,

25
00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.994
ended up setting up a AI Startupradio

26
00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:36.785
in Frankfurt? Yeah. Sure. Thank you very much. So hi, everyone. My

27
00:01:36.785 --> 00:01:40.385
name is Max. I'm 26, and I'm originally from Austria in Vienna, as Sir

28
00:01:40.385 --> 00:01:44.130
already mentioned. And, yeah, how we came up Menninger scavenger here in Frankfurt is

29
00:01:44.130 --> 00:01:47.729
actually I was doing an internship already more than a year ago here in

30
00:01:47.729 --> 00:01:51.189
Frankfurt where I fell in love with the city, and we got to know

31
00:01:51.525 --> 00:01:55.045
the, like, props on the stage to our very good lawyer, doctor Jan Felix

32
00:01:55.045 --> 00:01:58.805
Kumpka, who was of big help of all the bureaucracy that's going on

33
00:01:58.805 --> 00:02:02.320
around founding a Startupradio who suggested us because we really

34
00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:05.520
trusted him to set it up here in Frankfurt where he could be of help

35
00:02:05.520 --> 00:02:09.065
the whole time. So, yeah, started here and stayed here.

36
00:02:09.445 --> 00:02:13.045
As everybody can tell, not everybody from Austria need to have an

37
00:02:13.045 --> 00:02:16.565
accent like Schwarzenegger. I have to admit right now, I do

38
00:02:16.565 --> 00:02:20.230
believe his accent is kind of an act, that

39
00:02:20.230 --> 00:02:23.900
people instantly recognize. Oh, that's a kind

40
00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:27.735
of branding stuff. You studied

41
00:02:28.115 --> 00:02:31.635
in Vienna and balcony. But what I found

42
00:02:31.635 --> 00:02:34.855
very interesting, you have been a professional

43
00:02:35.315 --> 00:02:39.140
athlete for some time according to your LinkedIn profile, which,

44
00:02:39.140 --> 00:02:42.739
by the way, we are also linking down here. Can you talk a little bit

45
00:02:42.739 --> 00:02:45.400
about that, what you did here, and what kind of sports?

46
00:02:46.694 --> 00:02:50.375
Sure. Of course. Very happy to. So, yeah, I was playing, hockey

47
00:02:50.375 --> 00:02:54.080
from a very young Joe, actually, from 4 years on. And, yeah, I

48
00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:57.760
went through, like, on the national level to an international level and

49
00:02:57.760 --> 00:03:01.485
was captain of the Austrian youth hockey national team here. Played couple

50
00:03:01.485 --> 00:03:05.005
of European championships, won I think in the end, there was 4

51
00:03:05.005 --> 00:03:08.765
championships of the Austrian in the Austrian level. Yeah.

52
00:03:08.765 --> 00:03:12.000
It was a really great time looking back into it. And, yeah, I'm busy from

53
00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.520
time to time. And we're talking about here field

54
00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:19.200
hockey, not ice hockey. Right? We're talking about field hockey. For me, it's always clear,

55
00:03:19.200 --> 00:03:22.615
but for someone who didn't play field hockey, obviously, ice hockey is the first thing

56
00:03:22.615 --> 00:03:26.155
that comes to mind. Okay. You did a

57
00:03:26.215 --> 00:03:29.740
few internships, including at Deloitte where we did not

58
00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:33.560
met, and you have been at

59
00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:37.265
the Financial Times Challenge. What was this all about?

60
00:03:37.725 --> 00:03:41.084
Yes. It was actually a very cool initiative by the Financial Times. Back then, it

61
00:03:41.084 --> 00:03:44.790
was supposed to be in London. And luckily, obviously, it was COVID, and I was

62
00:03:44.790 --> 00:03:48.550
doing it back from my living room. Nevertheless, the challenge was really, really

63
00:03:48.550 --> 00:03:52.310
cool. It was for 3 days on where you had to basically, the

64
00:03:52.310 --> 00:03:56.015
Financial Times gave you the most pressuring issues of the time, and you

65
00:03:56.015 --> 00:03:59.375
were supposed to build a Startupradio it that more or less solves those

66
00:03:59.375 --> 00:04:03.050
issues. So I would say it was, totally cool. You were

67
00:04:03.050 --> 00:04:06.030
given, experts and access to a lot of knowledge,

68
00:04:06.730 --> 00:04:10.545
from experts from the Financial Times and could build, in a nutshell, the start up

69
00:04:10.545 --> 00:04:13.285
in 3 days that then got accessed by XUEZ.

70
00:04:14.225 --> 00:04:17.765
Mhmm. Mhmm. What what was your start up idea?

71
00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:22.029
Our idea was actually back then because it was the time a detector that detects

72
00:04:22.089 --> 00:04:25.705
particles in the air to make, like, an early detection

73
00:04:25.784 --> 00:04:28.205
system for transmittable diseases like COVID.

74
00:04:29.465 --> 00:04:33.289
I I assume they will still be useful in the future. And

75
00:04:33.289 --> 00:04:36.430
then you started your own company in January 2020,

76
00:04:37.210 --> 00:04:40.970
stopped that and started with scavengerai according to your

77
00:04:40.970 --> 00:04:44.295
LinkedIn profile. Can you take us through this journey? Because,

78
00:04:44.775 --> 00:04:48.155
you stop Joe company and then you instantly start with another

79
00:04:48.375 --> 00:04:52.000
in an AI company. How did you meet your cofounder? How how

80
00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.300
did you get started with the idea? Definitely. So

81
00:04:55.840 --> 00:04:58.319
back then, I like my background is a bit of a different one. Like, I

82
00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.755
actually studied business law, which has way more of a law focus than a business

83
00:05:01.755 --> 00:05:04.555
focus, which is also Joe reason why I worked first at Deloitte because I said

84
00:05:04.555 --> 00:05:08.075
I wanted to get a bit of a background more into business and then also

85
00:05:08.075 --> 00:05:11.860
started the first company, which back then was called Walking Art, and

86
00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:15.300
it was more yeah. My first steps into entrepreneurship, I would say, together with a

87
00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:18.825
colleague of mine. What we saw during COVID that, like, the art sector is

88
00:05:18.825 --> 00:05:22.665
struggling a lot because artists don't have access to art,

89
00:05:22.905 --> 00:05:26.070
or, like, to exhibitions anymore and they're art fans. So we said, okay. We're more

90
00:05:26.070 --> 00:05:29.750
or less in a nutshell to an online art gallery where they can host online

91
00:05:29.750 --> 00:05:33.565
exhibitions and so on, which was very nice. But

92
00:05:33.565 --> 00:05:37.005
then I joined because it was actually a case that I was way more interested

93
00:05:37.005 --> 00:05:40.630
in the business side, and I joined Bocconi University in Italy to

94
00:05:40.630 --> 00:05:44.150
study management there. And as then, the work required a lot of

95
00:05:44.150 --> 00:05:47.450
personal meetings with the artists. It was a local business focused in Vienna.

96
00:05:47.945 --> 00:05:51.705
It was not possible anymore. But, luckily, in Bocconi, I had

97
00:05:51.705 --> 00:05:55.085
my lovely cofounder Felix, who is leading the tech part at

98
00:05:55.380 --> 00:05:59.140
Scavenger, who I reached out to to very, very early

99
00:05:59.140 --> 00:06:02.965
on. And, Yeah.

100
00:06:03.764 --> 00:06:07.225
He was a fan of the idea. We talked to it a lot. And

101
00:06:07.845 --> 00:06:11.570
yeah. So over long nights and early mornings, we talked in coffee chats

102
00:06:11.650 --> 00:06:15.270
at Macquarie University about it and, in the end, decided to fund together.

103
00:06:18.050 --> 00:06:21.895
I see. So, basically, you're an Austrian guy and your cofounder

104
00:06:21.895 --> 00:06:24.875
is German? Yes. My cofounder is German. He's from Aachen.

105
00:06:25.975 --> 00:06:29.470
From From from Aachen and from Austria, and you end up setting up

106
00:06:29.610 --> 00:06:33.050
a company in Frankfurt. That is pretty

107
00:06:33.050 --> 00:06:36.895
interesting. How did you get started? Can we first

108
00:06:36.895 --> 00:06:40.735
talk about what scavenger does and then how he got the idea

109
00:06:40.735 --> 00:06:44.550
to do actually something like that? Because for me, personally, to

110
00:06:44.550 --> 00:06:47.930
have, a business lawyer

111
00:06:48.150 --> 00:06:50.729
doing AI is is quite a stretch.

112
00:06:51.955 --> 00:06:55.555
Definitely. So Felix and me both, before doing our masters, we worked in big

113
00:06:55.555 --> 00:06:59.315
corporates first. And we were basically coming back from our summer internships

114
00:06:59.315 --> 00:07:02.740
where we worked in big corporates before, and we saw a problem that all of

115
00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:06.500
the companies say that data is super important, yet nobody really likes to deal with

116
00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:09.965
it. So you end up that all of the companies have tons of data. They

117
00:07:09.965 --> 00:07:13.245
create more and more data every day, but they lack the time and they lack

118
00:07:13.245 --> 00:07:16.525
the resources to actually draw any insights out of it. And that was a problem

119
00:07:16.525 --> 00:07:20.110
that I'm sure your listeners, like, also know of that. It's really difficult if in

120
00:07:20.110 --> 00:07:23.390
a company you have to take a decision but do not have the necessary insights

121
00:07:23.390 --> 00:07:27.070
into your data to actually take that decision. So, yeah, long story short, we came

122
00:07:27.070 --> 00:07:30.715
back from that summer internship. We exchanged that idea. And

123
00:07:30.715 --> 00:07:34.555
luckily, you got very early on on initial funding. Like, I was still then working

124
00:07:34.555 --> 00:07:38.120
with my internship in Frankfurt at a venture builder with focus on software and

125
00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:41.800
AI, where I got more in touch with that. Felix was working before 2 years

126
00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:45.240
as a lead in software development, so he also had a bit of more experience

127
00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:48.905
in that field. And so, yeah, Felix built a short POC overnight. We reached

128
00:07:48.905 --> 00:07:52.425
out to early investors, Scott from Catelligent and Volker Ford and

129
00:07:52.425 --> 00:07:56.070
Ashkara, a very early investor early on that believed in the

130
00:07:56.070 --> 00:07:59.190
idea, where back then, it was just Felix, me, and the pitch deck and the

131
00:07:59.190 --> 00:08:02.950
POC that he built overnight. And, yeah, then

132
00:08:02.950 --> 00:08:06.055
we quit our jobs because we thought it might make more sense to work on

133
00:08:06.055 --> 00:08:09.835
this full time than before work and after work. And, yeah, here we are.

134
00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:13.100
It is quite interesting.

135
00:08:15.900 --> 00:08:19.740
If I wrap it up, my understanding is from what you

136
00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:22.995
guys are doing is you have 3

137
00:08:23.135 --> 00:08:26.675
distinct AI tools that help you analyze

138
00:08:26.815 --> 00:08:30.490
data you have from your own company, Menninger

139
00:08:30.490 --> 00:08:34.030
up data, doing statistical analyzes, and

140
00:08:35.210 --> 00:08:38.765
generate an output in in

141
00:08:38.765 --> 00:08:42.385
simple language. In which languages

142
00:08:42.845 --> 00:08:46.410
is this available? And can you take us a little bit through the

143
00:08:46.410 --> 00:08:50.250
journey? Is, like, 22 of those tools, are they for

144
00:08:50.250 --> 00:08:54.085
cleaning, for aggregating data, or how does it work? Yeah.

145
00:08:54.085 --> 00:08:57.685
Definitely. So in the end, what we wanna do is offer customers a one stop

146
00:08:57.685 --> 00:09:01.445
solution. So they can upload as you mentioned before, they can upload any kind

147
00:09:01.445 --> 00:09:05.180
of data. Any kind of data sounds generic, but it's on purpose. It is generic.

148
00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:09.000
So you can imagine you can upload 27 excels, free PDFs, a

149
00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.515
word, whatsoever, or connect your company databases to it.

150
00:09:13.455 --> 00:09:17.055
Yeah. Once you've done that, you can ask a very simple question. Like, normally, you

151
00:09:17.055 --> 00:09:20.800
would always ask yourself like, okay. How can I improve my profit? From a

152
00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:24.240
user perspective, that's everything you need to do. And then as you mentioned before, we,

153
00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:28.079
in the back, actually have developed 3 different AI tools that are connected

154
00:09:28.079 --> 00:09:31.915
together in one workflow to solve the problem of the user in less than 10

155
00:09:31.915 --> 00:09:35.355
seconds, but you can also only use 1 out of the 3 tools if you

156
00:09:35.355 --> 00:09:38.990
want to. And, yeah, actually, very correct, as you mentioned before. The first

157
00:09:38.990 --> 00:09:42.670
tool, it all starts with data clean, where we have a tool that automatically detects

158
00:09:42.670 --> 00:09:46.190
anomalies inside the datasets, also does all of the statistical data

159
00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:48.904
cleaning, and separates the numerical from texture data.

160
00:09:49.765 --> 00:09:53.445
2nd, we save the texture data. We forward the numerical data to the next tool,

161
00:09:53.445 --> 00:09:56.930
which is more or less the key of scavenger dotai, which first has an

162
00:09:56.930 --> 00:10:00.769
algorithm that detects based on the question you asked, based on the data that got

163
00:10:00.769 --> 00:10:04.585
uploaded, what's the right mathematical numerical test to run. But then

164
00:10:04.585 --> 00:10:07.965
we don't stop there. We don't run 1. We run, like, 100 of tests simultaneously,

165
00:10:08.265 --> 00:10:11.945
choose the one which has the highest statistical fit, also safe that where

166
00:10:11.945 --> 00:10:15.399
already the textual data is waiting. And lastly, we have an interpretation

167
00:10:15.459 --> 00:10:19.300
agent that enriches all of it with industry data, looks at the question, looks at

168
00:10:19.300 --> 00:10:23.140
what outcome we've generated, and translates all of it into a nice looping dashboard

169
00:10:23.140 --> 00:10:26.605
that answers the question that the user asked before. That is pretty

170
00:10:26.605 --> 00:10:30.444
interesting. How far along are you? You guys

171
00:10:30.444 --> 00:10:33.800
just straight erased. By the way, that was the trigger,

172
00:10:34.420 --> 00:10:38.260
while we're talking today. You raised €1,100,000 in pre

173
00:10:38.260 --> 00:10:41.985
seed funding. Investors includes HTGF, the

174
00:10:41.985 --> 00:10:45.505
high-tech, By the way, everybody who like to,

175
00:10:46.225 --> 00:10:50.019
get to know the CEO down here in the show notes, we link our interview

176
00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:53.480
with him and Camp Storm Ventures from

177
00:10:53.540 --> 00:10:57.045
Vienna. So you're in pre

178
00:10:57.045 --> 00:11:00.745
seed, how far along are you and what kind of

179
00:11:00.885 --> 00:11:04.645
data can you work with, and how do your clients look like?

180
00:11:04.645 --> 00:11:08.350
Is it like the handyman from around the corner, or is it like the big

181
00:11:08.350 --> 00:11:11.410
international banks? Definitely. So,

182
00:11:12.430 --> 00:11:15.490
both, actually. All of the options you mentioned below.

183
00:11:16.713 --> 00:11:20.095
Joe, yes, all all of

184
00:11:20.095 --> 00:11:23.694
them, basically. So the way what we say at the moment, we

185
00:11:23.694 --> 00:11:27.220
launched our 1st MVP back in November 2023. And this

186
00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.820
MVP, we're at the moment trying out and testing out with pilot partners. Why are

187
00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:33.875
we doing that? Because we say, okay. We wanna be as close as we can

188
00:11:33.875 --> 00:11:37.715
in development to our potential and future customers while we

189
00:11:37.715 --> 00:11:41.235
already generate from that, value for them. So, actually, a win win situation,

190
00:11:41.235 --> 00:11:45.020
ideally. How are our customers look like? I'm actually unlikely not allowed

191
00:11:45.020 --> 00:11:48.620
to do some big name dropping here, but we're working with big

192
00:11:48.620 --> 00:11:52.055
enterprises, Joe, like, the big ones that you actually know to, like, the

193
00:11:52.055 --> 00:11:55.735
classical SMEs in Germany. And, yeah, based on that,

194
00:11:55.735 --> 00:11:59.170
because in the end, the software itself is very, very flexible. It's a very

195
00:11:59.170 --> 00:12:03.010
mathematical software that with the LLM layer that we put on top make

196
00:12:03.010 --> 00:12:06.790
it accessible for also people who don't necessarily studied

197
00:12:06.930 --> 00:12:10.775
statistics or mathematics to understand it, which then I would

198
00:12:10.775 --> 00:12:14.455
say in, big enterprises, we always talk to head

199
00:12:14.455 --> 00:12:18.260
ops and depart head of departments, and in smaller companies, SMEs, we always talk

200
00:12:18.260 --> 00:12:21.900
to the c level executives. And yeah.

201
00:12:21.900 --> 00:12:25.660
Because you also asked before, and I totally forgot to answer it, like, the

202
00:12:25.660 --> 00:12:29.405
software at the moment is available in English, but it's no problem to

203
00:12:29.405 --> 00:12:33.185
switch language. It also works in Italian, German, French, and Spanish,

204
00:12:33.565 --> 00:12:37.230
if I remember correctly so far. But we're happy to add another language if the

205
00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:39.730
language barrier should not be covered by that yet.

206
00:12:40.829 --> 00:12:44.635
Mhmm. There is right now

207
00:12:44.695 --> 00:12:45.915
a lot of

208
00:12:48.215 --> 00:12:51.820
tools out there. There's like a sea of tools in data

209
00:12:51.820 --> 00:12:55.180
analytics and AI. How are you guys different

210
00:12:55.180 --> 00:12:58.620
here? Definitely. I mean, we are obviously in a client.

211
00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:02.095
We do look at the competition, and we see that it's a very crowded space.

212
00:13:02.315 --> 00:13:06.074
Yet one thing we've always tried to mention is, like, we really wanna

213
00:13:06.074 --> 00:13:09.030
live by that, is that in the end, you have a technology, like, at the

214
00:13:09.030 --> 00:13:12.550
moment, it's artificial intelligence that you want to use not for the sake of using

215
00:13:12.550 --> 00:13:16.345
artificial intelligence, but to actually solve the problem of the user, which in the

216
00:13:16.345 --> 00:13:19.625
end is the good thing. How you solve it, the user doesn't care. So the

217
00:13:19.625 --> 00:13:22.105
way that we say it is, like, yeah, we have developed, in the end, its

218
00:13:22.105 --> 00:13:25.810
free AI tools that are AI powered, which are, at the moment, the best possible

219
00:13:25.810 --> 00:13:29.570
way to solve the problem for the user. But as described before, we have

220
00:13:29.570 --> 00:13:32.725
developed this one stop solutions that is powered by the free tools where the user

221
00:13:32.725 --> 00:13:36.485
literally doesn't have to do anything else than throw all of the data in, ask

222
00:13:36.485 --> 00:13:40.024
the questions, and we do all the analytics more or less like a consulting project

223
00:13:40.084 --> 00:13:43.590
on a click for them. You're not permitted

224
00:13:43.650 --> 00:13:47.330
to drop names, but can you drop industries? And what kind of

225
00:13:47.330 --> 00:13:50.575
industries are your customers right now working? Yes. Definitely.

226
00:13:51.595 --> 00:13:54.714
So we're working a lot in the food and beverage sector. We're working a bit

227
00:13:54.714 --> 00:13:58.550
in the, in the sports sector as well because

228
00:13:58.550 --> 00:14:02.070
also there, there's a lot of data available. And we're working also with the

229
00:14:02.070 --> 00:14:05.830
classical, I would say, like, German hidden champions, let's say it

230
00:14:05.830 --> 00:14:09.404
like that. Mhmm. Scalability is

231
00:14:09.404 --> 00:14:13.165
often a challenge for AI startups. How do you guys plan

232
00:14:13.165 --> 00:14:16.390
to scale in terms of operations and infrastructure?

233
00:14:17.649 --> 00:14:21.410
Definitely. So in terms of infrastructure, Felix and the tech team here did a

234
00:14:21.410 --> 00:14:25.235
really, really great job and set everything up in a very modular structure. In

235
00:14:25.235 --> 00:14:28.295
tech terms, it's called microservices, which allows us

236
00:14:28.675 --> 00:14:31.735
to have a very, very scalable approach of the software.

237
00:14:32.650 --> 00:14:35.610
Also at the moment, like, which is one of the few of the reasons why

238
00:14:35.610 --> 00:14:39.310
we got the cool investment is that we're really set up for scalability,

239
00:14:39.450 --> 00:14:43.295
and our costs in that case are very, very low. So that's very

240
00:14:43.295 --> 00:14:46.815
nice. In operational levels, like always, it's something you have to do with time. We

241
00:14:46.815 --> 00:14:50.570
are gonna grow. Like, with the investments, we're gonna grow up to 20 people

242
00:14:50.570 --> 00:14:54.410
because, obviously, operational load is getting heavier. But, like, we're also covered

243
00:14:54.410 --> 00:14:57.790
with the investment to, to lift that definitely.

244
00:14:58.635 --> 00:15:02.235
Mhmm. You talked about investments. After pre

245
00:15:02.235 --> 00:15:05.995
seed, it usually suggests that you want to do a

246
00:15:05.995 --> 00:15:09.839
siege round. What are you guys' long term goals?

247
00:15:09.839 --> 00:15:13.459
And, when when you go to the website, you can basically register

248
00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:17.665
to be a test client. Do you have any guesstimate when

249
00:15:17.665 --> 00:15:21.285
you'll be open to all clients out there?

250
00:15:21.665 --> 00:15:25.480
Yes. That's a very perfect concession. Love to love to tease it out here

251
00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:29.160
at this at this point. So, yeah, actually, at the end

252
00:15:29.160 --> 00:15:32.765
of Q2 2024, so, like, in end of June, we're

253
00:15:32.765 --> 00:15:36.605
gonna launch the whole software live. So from then on, you

254
00:15:36.605 --> 00:15:39.964
can actually you don't need to be a test partner anymore, which obviously also has

255
00:15:39.964 --> 00:15:42.660
its advantages. Joe if you still want to be a test partner, happy to work

256
00:15:42.660 --> 00:15:46.420
with you. Yet from end of June 2024, your whole software

257
00:15:46.420 --> 00:15:50.185
is gonna go live. Mhmm. I see. I

258
00:15:50.185 --> 00:15:54.024
see. What other

259
00:15:54.024 --> 00:15:57.590
plans do you have? We're now drifting a little bit into into the

260
00:15:57.590 --> 00:16:01.290
outlook area, in terms of geography, but

261
00:16:01.910 --> 00:16:05.654
I would believe everybody from the European Union is pretty safe

262
00:16:05.875 --> 00:16:08.834
in throwing your data into the,

263
00:16:09.235 --> 00:16:11.975
analytics tool because you're based in the European Union.

264
00:16:13.230 --> 00:16:16.130
Do you plan to expand for international clients?

265
00:16:17.230 --> 00:16:20.910
Yes. Definitely. Like, first grade that you mentioned it, like, at the moment, which is

266
00:16:20.910 --> 00:16:24.464
very, very important for all our customers that we have so far, is that all

267
00:16:24.464 --> 00:16:28.225
our servers, our databases are in actually in Frankfurt in Germany

268
00:16:28.225 --> 00:16:31.960
as well and are 100% GDPR compliant, which

269
00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:35.720
obviously is is huge. So I would say, like, also due to, as mentioned before,

270
00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.275
the language variant because we're already set up very, very well in terms of

271
00:16:39.275 --> 00:16:43.115
data security, which in Europe obviously is way more protected than when you look

272
00:16:43.115 --> 00:16:46.940
to the Asian market or the American market. Joe I would say, like, also in

273
00:16:46.940 --> 00:16:50.640
case of those crucial issues, we're already set up for expansion here.

274
00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:55.654
Mhmm. You already have

275
00:16:56.035 --> 00:16:59.475
4 investors. Mhmm. I I was

276
00:16:59.475 --> 00:17:03.070
wondering, and for most people who are listening to this are

277
00:17:03.070 --> 00:17:05.650
wondering, are you open to talk to new investors?

278
00:17:06.670 --> 00:17:10.510
Yes. Definitely. I mean, like, before the round, after the round, and vice versa, I

279
00:17:10.510 --> 00:17:14.195
would say. So we're always open to talking to new investors.

280
00:17:14.195 --> 00:17:17.555
Actually, like, straight after the free seed round, straight after the closing, we

281
00:17:17.555 --> 00:17:21.290
already went into talks with new investors for the seed round, which

282
00:17:21.290 --> 00:17:24.730
we still is far away. Like, should be closed at the end of

283
00:17:24.730 --> 00:17:28.425
2025. But it's also always great to

284
00:17:28.425 --> 00:17:31.945
talk to investors and interesting people during times where there is not the regular

285
00:17:31.945 --> 00:17:35.540
fundraising chaos. So, yeah, very happy to also get in touch now.

286
00:17:36.560 --> 00:17:39.780
The regular fundraising chaos. Ah, yeah. I see.

287
00:17:41.445 --> 00:17:45.285
Usually, a lot of people are out here, looking for

288
00:17:45.285 --> 00:17:49.045
potential employers. Are you guys also looking for new

289
00:17:49.045 --> 00:17:52.810
people out there for new hires? Yes. Definitely.

290
00:17:52.870 --> 00:17:55.910
Always. Like, we know that one of the key assets we have at the moment

291
00:17:55.910 --> 00:17:59.590
is great people, and our product and our company is only as good as the

292
00:17:59.590 --> 00:18:03.175
people that we have on board. So, yes, 100%. We are

293
00:18:03.175 --> 00:18:06.935
actually trying to as said before, we're trying to grow from 10 to

294
00:18:06.935 --> 00:18:10.730
20 people this year, meaning that we have still 10 spots available,

295
00:18:11.350 --> 00:18:15.190
if you're hearing this. Still, there's a bit of a focus on the

296
00:18:15.190 --> 00:18:18.515
tech team, yet we're also slow and steady trying to set up the business

297
00:18:18.815 --> 00:18:22.415
side. So, actually, no matter which background, we're always happy. We also have a

298
00:18:22.415 --> 00:18:25.935
spontaneous application field at the moment on the website. So always happy to

299
00:18:25.935 --> 00:18:29.760
receive application from bright people. Everybody who'd

300
00:18:29.760 --> 00:18:33.300
like to talk to you, we do have the LinkedIn

301
00:18:33.360 --> 00:18:37.165
profile of your LinkedIn, our blog post, as well as

302
00:18:37.165 --> 00:18:40.625
your career website in our show notes here.

303
00:18:41.245 --> 00:18:44.945
Since this is an interview with Hessen Trade and Invest,

304
00:18:45.950 --> 00:18:49.330
you would be, if you would like to address

305
00:18:49.710 --> 00:18:53.390
the decision makers here in the state by, like, one

306
00:18:53.390 --> 00:18:56.815
question, one idea for improvement, something like

307
00:18:56.815 --> 00:19:00.175
that. What what will you say to them? What would

308
00:19:00.175 --> 00:19:04.015
your, what what would be your wish for the

309
00:19:04.015 --> 00:19:07.520
future? Definitely. So first of all, I think that's

310
00:19:07.600 --> 00:19:11.040
actually, there are a lot of cool things going on right now in Frankfurt with

311
00:19:11.040 --> 00:19:14.735
the lately founded AI Hub, the Kaee Hub, also has CNEI and

312
00:19:14.735 --> 00:19:18.414
so on. Yet I do think that especially in the early stage of a

313
00:19:18.414 --> 00:19:22.060
start up, like, the less bureaucracy you have, the better. As also

314
00:19:22.280 --> 00:19:25.960
in the tech market, speed to market is absolutely crucial. And I

315
00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:28.995
remember we as well, we were sitting in front of a lot of applications that

316
00:19:28.995 --> 00:19:32.695
back then, like, it takes a lot of time. You're not allowed to be funded,

317
00:19:32.915 --> 00:19:36.455
like, officially incorporated back then. So I think those

318
00:19:36.595 --> 00:19:40.039
bureaucratic hurdles are quite steep at the moment still.

319
00:19:40.340 --> 00:19:44.179
So reducing that and making it actually easier for start ups to catch

320
00:19:44.179 --> 00:19:47.925
up with competition as fast because, as mentioned before, speed is one of the most

321
00:19:47.925 --> 00:19:51.545
important things in during this phase. Mhmm.

322
00:19:52.005 --> 00:19:55.799
I see. So get more speed. But but I have to admit

323
00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:59.240
that could be something I say, although for

324
00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:02.460
Germany, not sure what they can do about it here.

325
00:20:03.265 --> 00:20:06.865
Maximilian, it was again a pleasure to have you here. Thank you for

326
00:20:06.865 --> 00:20:09.845
Hessen Tried TO Invest and Enterprise Your Work Network

327
00:20:10.304 --> 00:20:14.100
for sponsoring this podcast. It was a pleasure to have you here. Thank

328
00:20:14.100 --> 00:20:17.020
you. Thank you very much for the invitation. It was really fun. Thank you. Have

329
00:20:17.020 --> 00:20:18.200
a good day. Bye bye.