Founder of the month: evoach

20.02.2020 Gründerschmiede Founder of the month

"Coaching for all" is the unofficial motto of evoach, our Founder of the Month for February 2020. Founded in 2019, the Karlsruhe-based startup evoach has developed the first fully digitalized self-coaching application for companies and their employees. In addition, the founding team offers pure female power in the still quite male-heavy Karlsruhe startup scene. We interviewed evoach about the idea, the founding period and future prospects.

What does your company stand for?

With MARA, we help companies better understand consumers by automatically evaluating vast amounts of customer feedback. With the help of deep learning, we analyze online customer reviews, for example, and derive deep insights into the topics that move consumers.

In addition, as a team we stand for open interaction with each other, a strong desire to learn – something you do automatically every day when you start up – and the will to build a company where everyone feels comfortable.

Where and how did you come up with the bright idea to found the company?

Our foundation is essentially based on Tobias’ dissertation. During his doctoral process and even directly in his defense, the point kept coming up that you could “make something out of it”. However, Tobias first joined a top tier strategy consulting firm as a data science consultant right after his doctorate, and that’s where he met Ingo. About one and a half years after Tobias, Max completed his doctorate at the same chair – that’s how the two of them knew each other – and with the support of our joint PhD supervisor and the KIT, we applied for the Exist-Gründerstipendium and were accepted. Now, since April 2020, we are in the process of turning Tobias’ prototypes from the dissertation into a product, have already come quite far on this path and have been able to win our first customers.

Where and how did you get the idea to found the company?

The origin of the ideas came from Rebecca’s business coaching thesis on the topic of “online self-coaching”. She was particularly moved by the question of how to liberalize coaching through digitalization. From this, an interdisciplinary group emerged at the beginning of 2018, which felt like developing a prototype from an initial idea as part of a design sprint. This then landed us in the Pre-Lab of the CyberLab Incubator in June 2018, and in the end we were able to convince the jury to accept us into the IT Incubator. That’s really how it all began.

How did the founding team come together?

We came together in the current constellation only gradually through various networks. Rebecca & Stefanie, who unfortunately cannot continue to be part of the founding team for personal reasons, know each other through the Digital Media Women. They founded evoach together in June 2019. Pawel first joined in 2019 as a technical freelancer with a lot of experience in developing software & virtual worlds and building cloud infrastructures. Anke we were able to inspire with our idea and the team in summer 2019 and enriches us with her sales vein and the know-how to build digital business models. Of course, she also has a coaching education and as a leader has already gained a lot of experience with building agile organizations.

What do you see as the advantages of being your own boss?

Founder yes. Bosses, that doesn’t match our understanding of eye level, participation or collaboration. Why we founded? We are all similar in terms of our desire for freedom, to create something of our own, to bring our own ideas to the forefront, and above all to work in a more self-determined and productive way. We want to create something that we see long-term meaning in, both in terms of our own work and the impact we make with it.

What qualities should you have as a founder?

As a founder, you have to be able to change your mind quickly, you switch back and forth between several roles and tasks every day and have to keep many balls in the air at the same time. Curiosity and openness are important, as you have to acquire a lot of knowledge in a short time and keep trying new ways. Fail, Learn, Repeat. Above all, good self-reflection and a certain amount of self-irony should not be lacking; you must not take yourself too seriously.

Where do you see the hurdles on the way to a successful company? Where did you get support?

A major hurdle is the issue of financing, especially if you don’t fit the typical funding programs. Most programs focus on start-ups directly after graduation; founders with work experience in later stages of life (which often includes many women) are left out. In our experience, another hurdle is the issue of teamwork. Many do not pay enough attention to issues such as cooperation, openness and trust in the team and often seek outside help and support too late. Thankfully, we have access to a large private and professional network as well as good advisors, mentors and coaches who have supported us very strongly over the past year.

How did you deal with the increased workload during the start-up phase?

The workload will never become less, we are under no illusion about that. Especially when you have to plan for families and children, as we do. It is important not to get carried away by the somewhat different ticking environment. No, we don’t work 24 hours a day, and we always try to build in enough time for ourselves and our families. Otherwise, without a good balance, you can’t keep up the “start-up” marathon in a healthy way.

Do you have any tips for other young entrepreneurs?

Get support early on, whether from customers, your network, incubators or mentors. Founding as a team always makes your idea better, and the more diverse the team, the better your product will be.