“Founding is not witchcraft – it’s heart, brain and attitude. And anyone can learn it. You just have to get started,” is the quintessence of Christine Tiedemann ‘s appeal to founders in an interview with the hei.Hamburger Existenzgründungsinitiative.
Christine is the network manager at Startup Port, the association of start-up services from ten universities and research institutions in the Hamburg metropolitan region. The association offers teams from universities (students, graduates, scientists) individual 1:1 advice, workshops and targeted networking on the way to founding their knowledge- and technology-based company – regardless of whether the idea is already concrete or still being developed. If the start-up idea is not knowledge- or technology-based, the Startup Port is happy to recommend other organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce or the Startup Unit Hamburg – because the start-up ecosystem in Hamburg is diverse and a strong network.
The core and starting point, according to Christine, is the initial consultation. Together with a start-up advisor, roadmaps are developed in individual discussions and ideas are transformed into clear plans. Then know-how, knowledge and skills can be expanded through a variety of workshops and training sessions – via formats such as start-up toolboxes, Meet & Match, Startup2Go, Founders Lunch, Co-Founders connect!, pitch events (such as SANTA Roast x Pitch Night Hamburg) and major events such as the Hamburg Innovation Summit (HHIS).
The Startup Port also provides support in navigating Hamburg’s start-up ecosystem – an important facet for Christine to ensure that founders find suitable and relevant offers. The advisors filter funding programs in a targeted manner and present platforms such as startupcity.hamburg to provide guidance on the city’s overall offering.
Another very important aspect for the network manager is to provide founders with individual support in developing their corporate culture, their respective role in the team, their entrepreneurial thinking and their resilience – because the lack of a suitable team, clarifying the target group and clearly validating the problem behind their solution are often typical stumbling blocks on the path to founding a company. This is where the Startup Port provides support with formats for team matchmaking, offers to develop a strong vision and value orientation and training to build entrepreneurial spirit.
From Christine’s point of view, what are the advantages of Hamburg as a start-up location? According to the Freiburg University Happiness Atlas, Hamburg is one of the happiest cities in Germany and attracts many international professionals. It also has a growing start-up community with a wide range of support services for early-stage start-up teams. And most recently, a very strong partner has been added in the form of Impossible Founders, which creates optimal conditions for start-ups in later phases.
Christine is convinced that Hamburg can become “a real future laboratory for innovation and entrepreneurship” with “international appeal”. The key to innovation is the interdisciplinarity of science, business and the funding landscape. “Anyone can learn how to start a business,” emphasizes Christine. And this is exactly where the Startup Port comes in – as a bridge builder and facilitator for founders, from the initial idea to the founding of a company.
The interview was conducted and published by hei.Hamburger Existenzgründungsinitiative.
