Founders in the ITHM alumni network profit from a number of perks and benefits. Six startups, awarded for their outstanding transformative impact, now received a special prize: a pro sales training at famed Maschmeyer Group.
You’re in this for life”, interprets InsurTech Hub Munich’s (ITHM) Startup Relations Lead Corine Ackermann the hub’s startup alumni network: “Our relationship with entrepreneurs doesn’t end once they’ve graduated from one of our Innovation Programmes.” ITHM provides them with pitching and networking opportunities at international events, workshops and discounted services in fields like legal, financial consulting or design support.
Six of the 40 startups that participated in the Innovation Programme in the spring of 2020 now were awarded with a special prize: an international jury, comprising of Vanessa Cann (Director of KI Bundesverband), Quentin Coolen (Co-Founder and CEO at Waffle), Fabian Nadler (Head of Digital Insurance & Insurtech at Bitkom), Marc Steven Schröder (Managing Partner at Maschmeyer Group Ventures) and Marco Affonseca (Managing Director at Derisking Ventures), selected them to participate not only in two high-ranking events but get an in-depth full-day sales training at famed Maschmeyer Group in Munich.
“We looked closely at how transformative the startups’ technology and product are, what their potential for consumers and the likelihood of scaling is”, resumes jury member Nadler. “We decided on Convaise, Fusionbase, Parloa, Pathmate, Peregrine and Pyoneer to be awarded with the ‘Transformative Impact Award’”.
Entrepreneurship is about life-long learning
ITHM gave the six startups the opportunity to present at international leading Insuretech Connect and Süddeutsche Zeitung’s C-level event on AI and Data Analytics in Insurance. Followed by individual full-day sales workshops hosted by the experienced team of famed Munich-based entrepreneur and investor Carsten Maschmeyer. Kevin Goßling, CEO and Co-Founder at data technology startup Fusionbase.io reports: „We have a strong tech background, so an extremely important takeaway for us was to double down on topics such as storytelling or negotiations methods.” The learnings from the sales training went directly into execution, says Goßling: “we have streamlined our processes so that we can qualify and address potential customers more efficiently than before.”
“The workshop really was an amazing ride, two thumbs up to InsurTech Hub Munich for making this happen”, resumes Tushaar Batt, co-founder and CEO of conversational AI startup Convaise. “My biggest takeaway is that sales isn’t necessarily a rocket science and there’s some tried and tested formulas to follow – though you always have to keep in mind that it requires a lot of prep work to be able to react to individual needs of potential customers.”
“Entrepreneurship is about life-long learning, about connecting the dots”, sums up startup relations expert Ackermann. “All the knowledge, all the counselling and matchmaking we funnel into the InsurTech Hub Munich network, pays back by making our community stronger and stronger”. Referring to highly successful ITHM alumni from earlier batches (we are currently in Batch 6) she explains: “Some join as early-stage founders, and two years later they’re on our list of top-notch mentors, speakers and industry experts.”
Text: Markus Walter