Categories: Business

Starting your own start-up – how does it work?

Owning your own company and being successful on the market is the dream of a lifetime for many people. But they lack the idea, sometimes the courage or the knowledge. How does it actually work to set up a company? How do you succeed with a start-up? Let me take a closer look.

How do start-ups come into being?

Studies in the field of economic history have shown that there are essentially two types of successful start-ups. On the one hand, there are those that are based on special expertise. And on the other hand, those that arise from an idea that is a resounding success.

Start-ups based on an idea

Characteristic of this category are founders who see a problem somewhere in their everyday life. They find a clever solution to it and market the idea. Some of them simply come along at the perfect time. You don’t even necessarily need special expertise for this, but timing is crucial. Take one such example: the disinfection bracelet.

In the midst of the covid crisis, the need for hand hygiene solutions is on the rise. There are vials and wipes, but it is difficult to always have them with you. So clever entrepreneurs came up with something. They developed a plastic bracelet that houses a tank for disinfectant solution. This can be refilled and sprayed again and again. See video:

Optimal time, optimal solution. The wristband will certainly be used diligently even after Covid. The product is not high-tech, it can be made quickly and easily these days. You don’t have to have written a doctoral thesis on wristbands to have it made. In this case, the success of the start-up is largely based on the product idea itself.

Start-ups based on special expertise

The other type of successful start-up is only possible if someone has special knowledge in a very specialised field. Often these are employees of companies that produce highly complex products. There, some employees acquire knowledge and then recognise an opportunity from which a business idea can be created.

As a practical example, we would like to mention an entrepreneur whose expertise at the municipal utility has led to the fact that many heat meters are now read by radio. This technology was born out of the knowledge that it is an incredibly complex undertaking to read the heat meters of flats. Someone was constantly not at home, and there were always problems getting at the data. With this knowledge, the entrepreneur in question fiddled around until a solution was found to save himself this huge effort. With the help of simple radio sensors. They can be detected through the wall at any time. Without the expertise in this very special field, this business would never have been possible.