Tens of thousands of start-ups exist in Germany today, but how valuable are their innovative ideas and products to society? Prof. Dr. Nicola Breugst, Professor of Entrepreneurial Behavior at the TUM Entrepreneurship Research Institute, knows the answer. Professor Breugst’s insights can be heard today in the German language documentary “Start-ups“ (“Gründen für eine bessere Zukunft“) airing at 10:45 pm on ZDF and ZDFmediathek, after the “German Founder’s prize 2021“ award ceremony (Deutscher Gründerpreis).
The live stream of the award ceremony, broadcasted from the ZDF studio in Berlin, will be available in the ZDFmediathek starting at 8:00 p.m. the same evening. The six finalists are “yuri“, the developers of mini-labs technology for cost-effective research; “SoSafe“, developers of e-platforms for business learning; Sympatient, an app for treating anxiety disorders; “Hydrogenious“, a safe hydrogen transportation operation; “Wildling Shoes“, a sustainable shoe company; and “Nect“, an AI based identity verifying service.
Anja Utfeld’s documentary, “Gründen für eine bessere Zukunft”, addresses the challenges that start-ups face in realizing their business ideas. One core challenge is the growth process which many start-ups pursue and the recruitment of new employees. Being an expert in entrepreneurship and having researched the interactions between founders and employees, Prof. Breugst can explain how working for a start-up substantially differs from working in an established company: “The work in start-ups is less structured. Employees can define their own roles to some extent, but they also need to define these roles. This freedom can be overwhelming for some employees, but for most employees, it is an important reason to join the start-up.”
But start-ups do not only face internal challenges. They can also contribute to the development of their entire economic system and push this system in a more sustainable direction. According to the non-profit “Borderstep Institute”, green start-ups are characterized by a double dividend: In addition to economic effects such as job creation and returns for capital providers, green start-ups should also generate added value for society. But sustainable production is more difficult and incurs additional costs, as a result, sustainable start-ups are often at a competitive disadvantage compared to non-green competitors.
The post What Challenges and Hurdles Do Start-ups Encounter when Realizing their Business Idea? – ZDF Documentary about Start-ups with Prof. Nicola Breugst appeared first on Technical University of Munich – School of Management.