Executive Summary
UnternehmerTUM helps experienced entrepreneurs and students to start, accelerate or fundraise to build world-class companies including but not limited to Flix, Celonis, Blickfeld, Isar Aerospace, Konux, tado, e-bot7, ProGlove or Lilium. At the 2022 German Startup Awards, UnternehmerTUM won the Special Award for their work. Therefore we interview Stefan, its COO in our series with the German Startup Association, and learn more about him and their programs.
German Startup Awards 2022
This interview is in media partnership with the German startup association (Bundesverband Deutscher Startups https://deutschestartups.org/). Their German Startup Awards #GSA22 honor each year outstanding female and male founders and investors in special categories. You can learn more about the winners in our interviews and on this website: https://germanstartupawards.de/rueckblick/rueckblick-2022
You can also have a look at our history, we also interviewed many winners of the German Startup Awards 2021 already.
The Award Winner
This time we have a very special case since the legal entity UnternehmerTUM won the German Startup Awards’ 2022 Special Award. UnternehmerTUM itself is attached to the Technical University of Munich (TUM). It is also one of the cradles of Munich’s world-class startup talent and a light tower in the education of entrepreneurs in Germany. We, therefore, talk to Stefan Drüssler.
Stefan , COO of UnternehmerTUM, is no stranger to entrepreneurism. As a past consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), he has advised startups and Fortune 500 companies alike on how to grow their businesses. But when he joined UnternehmerTUM 5 years ago, he found his true calling in helping entrepreneurs bring their startups to life.
Located in Munich, UnternehmerTUM is one of the world’s leading incubators and accelerators for startups. It is also a hub for entrepreneur education, providing programs and resources to help founders get their businesses off the ground. Recently, UnternehmerTUM was honored with the German Startup Awards’ 2022 Special Award. This recognition is a testament to the incredible work that Stefan and his colleagues are doing to support startup growth in Germany.
Looking to the future, Stefan is excited about the potential for UnternehmerTUM to continue supporting more founders as they turn their innovative ideas into successful businesses. With the right mix of resources and support, there’s no limit to what German startups can achieve.
The Institute
UnternehmerTUM was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Susanne Klatten as a non-profit organization. With more than 50 high-growth technology start-ups each year and its unique offering, it is the leading center for innovation and business creation in Europe. It is an institute attached to the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Mrs. Klatten was raised in a successful entrepreneurial family and her family owns jointly the controlling stake in BMW. The organization’s goal is to promote entrepreneurship among students and scientists, and it offers a variety of programs and resources to support entrepreneurs and its members. In addition to providing educational opportunities, UnternehmerTUM also offers mentorship and networking programs to help its members connect with potential investors and customers. As a result of its efforts, UnternehmerTUM has helped to launch numerous successful businesses.
UnternehmerTUM helps founders from the idea stage to financing, they are also involved in teaching entrepreneurship at TUM. They have more than 350 employees working on 20 independent programs, where they help with ideation, incubation, acceleration, and finally financing. They not only have programs addressing students of TU Munich but also programs that are open to every entrepreneur.
In the past, they worked in different stages with unicorns Celonis, and Flix, but also startups like Lilium (the flying taxi startup listed on NASDAQ) or Blickfeld, Isar Aerospace, Konux, tado, e-bot7, or ProGlove.
Mentioned Startups
- We will publish an interview with one of the founders of Flix in December 2022.
- Here is the interview with ProGlove from 2018 mentioned in the interview https://youtu.be/dE76h-bKTH0
- E-bot7 is also an alumnus of UnternehmerTUM https://medium.com/startuprad-io/munich-based-e-bot-7-was-acquired-for-more-than-50-m-us-eb6694e4d1d5
All Links and Show Notes
Here is our blog post: https://medium.com/startuprad-io/unternehmertum-helps-entrepreneurs-to-start-world-class-companies-gsa22-beabccfc3ebc
Topics Discussed in this Interview
In this interview, we are talking about startups, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur education, entrepreneur training, startup founding, startup incubation, startup acceleration, startup programs, TU Munich, TU München, Technische Universität München,
Mentioned in this episode:
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