Münster. These are around 310,000 inhabitants in figures, nearly 45,000 of them students and almost every one of them rushes through the Westphalian metropolis to events every day or circles the city on the promenade. Compared to the big cities of the founders' scene such as Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt, Münster is more likely to swim in the pool of small fish.
But the cathedral city attracts attention with a small but fast growing start-up scene besides the big players!
This founder’s spirit is based not least on an excellent combination of university, technical college, experts and companies. Münster is well positioned in the fields of economics, business informatics and information technology.
Two examples of support for the start-up scene are, among many other organisations, the Venture Club Münster e. V. and the Digital Hub münsterLand.
The Venture Club Münster e. V. has developed into an important initiative in the Münsteran start-up scene. The association offers ambitious and talented students the opportunity to network with founders and companies. Many of the club's "speakers" talk about their life and experiences in the start-up scene. It is not only about positive insights, but also about mistakes and how to learn from them. Our founder Matthias, who started BULLAZO in 2015, also supports young founders as a mentor. Since he is a successful graduate of the University of Münster and is now well acquainted with the business start-up scene in Münster, he almost always has the right advice.
In addition to the transfer of knowledge on the subject of entrepreneurship and networking, the founders' scene at Münster University of Applied Sciences will also be revived. A good basis for the city's entrepreneurial spirit.
A step further from the "empowering students to become entrepreneurs" of the Venture Club, it goes to the digital hub.
The project Digital Hub münsterLand aims to promote the digital economy by networking companies, science, institutions, associations and start-ups. The core idea of the hub is that creative start-ups with established companies promote innovative digital business processes and models, ideally contributing to the attractiveness of the Münsterland location. The threads converge in a central experimental and learning environment with a connected coworking space at the port of Münster. Numerous networking events take place here and freelancers are also given the opportunity to pursue their business and exchange ideas with others at the same time.
In mid-November, the Founders' Week joins this spirit of entrepreneurship.
The Founders' Week Germany takes place every year in close cooperation with the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). The GEW is a worldwide action week that, with over 25,000 events in 2016 alone, has inspired millions of young people in 170 countries to come up with innovative ideas, start-ups and entrepreneurship. The Founders’ Week in Münster is coordinated by the network "münster Gründet!” In numerous workshops and events founders, students or simply interested parties can gain an insight into foundation, financing, online marketing and many other topics.
(For those interested: http://www.muenster-gruendet.de/media/muenstergruendet_programm2016web.pdf, registration for individual events is also possible at short notice by telephone)
Back to the core:
Münster is and will continue to be a place where young people with creative, innovative ideas can take the step to found a start-up company and take this step, not least because of this close exchange in the start-up scene, a good Ruhr area connection and its small town charm.
From our own experience we can say from Münster:
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing!
A startup that supports us in our office every day is Flaschenpost. In the event of an acute shortage of water and caffeine or the "Wish you were beer" concept at the end of the day, Flaschenpost will deliver any desired beverage to us in a very short time. It's hard to imagine office life without them!!