As a German founder you are in a dilemma. Of course you start your
business to disrupt a market or at least to slightly change the world.
Otherwise you shouldn’t build a company in the first place. If you create a new
social network, you are going to aim for more than just 20,000 users one day.
If you create an online shop, you will want to sell more than just books for
the next 10 years. You are going for millions of users. You want to change the
way people do online shopping.
For a founder it is absolutely essential to have concrete visions
and to communicate them. But compared to the US, in Germany it is hard to do
so.
Although there is a German saying „Bescheidenheit ist eine Zier,
doch weiter kommt man ohne ihr“ (meaning modesty is good, but you will be more
successful without it), being moderate is really well respected. Of course, at
the first glance nothing is bad about it and to be honest, I do really prefer moderate people in my private surrounding.
But as a startup the story is different. A typical startup has too
little money, too little manpower, and too few users using a product which is
not yet ready. So as a founder, what can you do to change that?
Should you tell potential investors that most likely you are going
to fail like most startups? Should you tell potential staff that they could
earn more money in an established business? Or should you tell the few users
you have that you will probably never reach the critical mass needed for your buggy product?
No, no, and no!
No, no, and no!
You have to tell investors that you will succeed in any case, with
or without them. You have to convince employees that it is the chance of their
lifetime to become part of something huge. And of course you have to congratulate
your early adopters on being first using the next big thing.
You are the founder. If you do not believe in your baby, who else should? Besides the problem that many people in Germany will call you babbler, freak, or something like that (I don't care), the biggest challenge is to make your new users believe that they are on the next big thing. And they have to believe it! Otherwise, why should they tell their friends about it?
You are the founder. If you do not believe in your baby, who else should? Besides the problem that many people in Germany will call you babbler, freak, or something like that (I don't care), the biggest challenge is to make your new users believe that they are on the next big thing. And they have to believe it! Otherwise, why should they tell their friends about it?
Convincing new users of a product’s potential seems to be a bit easier in the US. Americans love to try out new things and they love to be the first ones using a new service.
Unfortunately the situation in Germany is quite a bit different. People here start using apps like MoID when they are perfect and when at least 5 friends told them to use them.
However, there are also positive examples: Two startups that overcame this dilemma are XING and ResearchGate.
So we are totally positive that MoID can perform like this!
Deal with it, Germany, MoID will be the next Facebook.
Unfortunately the situation in Germany is quite a bit different. People here start using apps like MoID when they are perfect and when at least 5 friends told them to use them.
However, there are also positive examples: Two startups that overcame this dilemma are XING and ResearchGate.
So we are totally positive that MoID can perform like this!
Deal with it, Germany, MoID will be the next Facebook.
Phillip Bellé CEO of MoID
