From September 30 to October 3, another exciting weekend took place in Münster in person: the Make your Start – Start‑Up Academy. Spread over four days with a full program, participants from different fields got to know each other, refined their start‑up ideas, and continuously received fresh input from various workshops and talks.
In the workshops, participants learned the basic technical and legal foundations for their start‑up, thought about their problem‑solution fit, and worked on their Business Model Canvas. On the second day, they jumped straight into action and created their first prototypes.
In between, participants could catch their breath and gain more knowledge from exciting talks, for example about venture capital. The talks were organized by the initiatives recode.law, techlabs, Venture Club, Enactus, and beyond medicine, giving participants insights into a variety of fields and topics.
Exciting lecture series from VCM
The VCM lecture series featured high‑profile speakers. It started with Max Linden, Co‑Founder of the online broker lemon.markets, delivering a call to start a venture and a clear statement that anyone can found a company. Afterwards, Max shared his fascinating founding story.
Next up was Corinna Powalla, Co‑Founder of Modomoto and a native of Neumünster. She talked about financing the online menswear retailer Modomoto and how to let a company grow organically for as long as possible. We also learned that €200 for Facebook ads was enough at the beginning for the entire marketing effort.
Then Felix Baur, Co‑Founder of Picky, the platform for social matching, offered a contrast to Corinna, at least regarding financing. Picky plans to raise funding early, and Felix gave us a glimpse into the world of venture capital.
The session was rounded out by Dr. Maike Schäffler, Board member for Production, IT, and HR at Westfalen AG. She showed that even a nearly 100‑year‑old company can and must stay innovative, and how it uses funding projects to spin out start‑ups from within the organization. Afterwards, participants discussed the fresh input over a few soft drinks and let the evening wind down perfectly.
That was the final pitch competition of Make your Start
After many hours of work, they got to work on the pitch deck to present the ideas & start‑ups to the jury and the audience on the final day. The final pitches were, of course, the highlight on the last day. In total, there were five exciting pitches covering topics ranging from roommate matching via an app to expert booking for special purchases.
The final event was capped off with talks by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Philipp Schäpers and Dr. Stephen Weich of Flaschenpost SE. As a Junior Professor of Psychology of Entrepreneurship, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Philipp Schäpers knows especially well the hurdles young founders may encounter. In his keynote, he explained how to overcome the fear of failure and how young founders can benefit personally and professionally from their activities. "Just do it" is the motto!
Dr. Stephen Weich spoke about the importance of on‑site collaboration and, after the final pitch, took plenty of time to answer participants' questions in an intimate setting. That’s not often the case, so a big thank you for that.
After the successful final pitch event, all participants, organizers, and speakers relaxed the evening with a few soft drinks. The weekend was definitely worth it for everyone. The vibe was just great.
The Make your Start Academy was an exciting event that certainly won’t be the last of its kind.
