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STEP Alumnus INERATEC join forces with Sasol by combining INERATEC’s innovative reactor technology with SASOL’s highly efficient Fischer-Tropsch catalyst

With the innovative chemical reactor technology of INERATEC and the highly efficient Fischer-Tropsch catalysts from Sasol, INERATEC has managed to broaden the range of applicable areas for the Fischer-Tropsch process and extents the international Power-to-X and Gas-to-X market, making it more sustainable.

INERATEC’s manufacturing concept combines serial production and a numbering-up approach to deliver cost-efficient technology. Greenhouse gases can be recycled and a fast market ramp-up of renewable chemical products and fuels for a sustainable future is possible.

Tim Boeltken: “We are delighted to announce that we use Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch catalyst, which allows INERATEC to offer customers the latest Fischer-Tropsch solutions.”

INERATEC is an award-winning clean tech company that provides modular chemical plants for Power-to-X and Gas-to-Liquid solutions for the production of sustainable fuels and products. The modular chemical plants are equipped with sub-millimeter structured chemical reactors. Strongly endothermic and exothermic chemical processes are intensified, due to enhanced heat and mass transfer. Thus, highly active catalyst systems can be utilized. The chemical plants are highly load-flexible and especially suitable for converting renewable hydrogen, produced for instance from solar, wind, or hydropower into storable hydrocarbons with high energy density. Read more. 

STEP Alumnus Merula Cup awarded highest score in ÖKO-TEST

The “Merula Cup strawberry (pink)” menstrual cup from the Rhineland-Palatinate start-up Merula GmbH received the highest score of “very good” published in the trade journal “ÖKO-TEST” April issue.

A total of 15 different menstrual cups were tested. The products were tested for their ingredients, resilience and other defects. The “Merula Cup strawberry (pink)” received the highest score of “very good” in all categories and also in overall assessment. Click here to read more (available in German only).

Blog post #2: The top 5 qualities you need as a successful German founder in the U.S.

It is the dream of many German startups to enter the American market, securing a huge venture capital investment with one of the top funding firms on the East or West coast and gaining significant market shares while growing business at home and overseas.

What do you need to get going in that direction?

1.      Resilience:

As a founder, you are used to being exposed to an enormous amount of pressure. That holds even more true in the U.S. American investors are impatient and demanding. Speed matters. A minute in New York goes by faster than 60 seconds in Germany. The difference between failing in America and Germany is that IF you fail – you fail faster.

However, failing overseas is not considered as a shameful or negative experience. Founders who failed have learned from their mistakes and usually come back stronger and wiser.

Investors are looking for serial entrepreneurs for this very reason. Be prepared to answer their questions on potential failures, be honest about them and sell your business mistakes as true learnings.

2.      Presentation skills:

I have attended countless startup pitches, both in Germany and the U.S. What always amazes me is that German startups many times have a more mature product and are using more sophisticated technologies. The trouble often is that German founders tend to be on the ‘underselling’ side. “We have created xyz, but it’s not perfect yet, because…” — let go of perfectionism! It’s about building meaningful MVPs and selling those successfully.

Another piece of advice on doing successful presentations: Make them fun! Americans love being entertained. Build in a joke about yourself or show an unexpected picture. Don’t only be the dry German number guy that neutrally talks about every technical detail of his product. Your audience will play with their cell phones to endure your ‘boring’ presentation. Ergo: The less people playing on cell phones while you present, the better your act! 😊

3.      Self-confidence:

American startups usually are excellent at selling whatever they are working on. It’s certainly helpful to keep in mind that children growing up in the U.S. are often holding presentations in their school classes. This is a very active part of the curriculum and their education. From a very young age on they tend to feel comfortable in front of audiences. This skill paired with a stable self-confidence comes in extremely handy, once they enter their professional lives.

So, be bold, make yourself heard, believe in your product… because nobody does it better than you do! A stable self-confidence is absolutely indispensable in the American business world.

4.      Know-how:

Easier said than done. It not only takes guts to enter a foreign market, but it also takes a tremendous amount of effort to gather all the needed information to really do it right.

So how to go about it?

Use existing resources. Many associations have company directories that will provide you with the names of potential clients. Another good idea is to contact our legal services department at the GACC New York for a first free consultation on all of your legal questions: legalservices@gaccny.com

Acquaint yourself with intercultural differences that play an important role in the business world. Don’t assume that what works at home works well overseas.

Be aware that marketing and sales are done quite differently in the U.S. Companies use a lot of social media, much more than in Germany. Twitter is a very successful tool over there, whereas Facebook ads are not really popular anymore. LinkedIn is much more than just a digital business card, it’s the network you use to do sales big time. American company websites engage their customers actively. They are about inspiration and the company’s vision.

Furthermore, American customers expect that you provide them with a phone number they can call in the U.S. to answer all product-related questions. Inform yourself on standard U.S. return policies.

5.      Network – the most important resource!

An intact business network is key to success everywhere, but it is absolutely indispensable in America. Networking in the U.S. is an art in itself. Prepare yourself for network meetings, bring your international business cards and have a complete and meaningful LinkedIn profile. Ideally, you have endorsements in your profile – it grants you more credibility. Make the best use of your time at the network gathering by answering these questions beforehand:

·        In order to call it a successful network meeting, what do I want to get out of it?

·        Who will be there?

·        Who do I absolutely want to talk to?

·        AND: prepare an airtight 30-second elevator pitch. Learn it by heart.

Approach your identified business contacts proactively. Engage them in a conversation on your product. Tell them why it is so exciting – but from THEIR point of view.

Nobody has a perfect business network. So build it! Improve your LinkedIn profile. Search the net for your competition in the U.S. and find out which investor has given them money. Connect with that person on LinkedIn. First step done!

Let’s do this and stay safe – Andrea

Blog Post #1: Coronavirus: A new experience – internationalizing your startup from home

It sounds like the script of a scary science fiction movie. The world is coming to a halt. People are obliged to stay in their homes. Children can’t go to school or child care centers. A dangerous virus floating around. Everybody may catch it…

Simple things like grocery shopping feel like a visit to the moon. Empty shelves. People fighting over the last pack of toilet paper. In supermarkets it’s that distrustful expression on many people’s faces that gets fiercer as soon as somebody comes too close or even coughs.

For most of us this is a totally new experience – or, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel puts it „The biggest challenge we have been confronted with since World War II”.

What seem to be silent times outside of the home, are fulminant times within.

Young children develop unknown amounts of energy that need to be discharged, while not being able to leave the house or play with their friends. We worry about our jobs, how to pay bills and how not to panic when everybody around us starts a buying frenzy.

For startups this is very challenging time as well. Being young and vulnerable, many of them are in the midst of their internationalization phase, trying to access new markets and introduce their products overseas.

With all that craziness around us, how can we stay focused and productive?

First of all, this Coronavirus wave is serious, definitively. So, we better stick to the rules put forth by governments and ruling institutions. The bad news is: This is just the beginning of a longer development that might go on for months. The good news is: the more we stick to the rules now and respect others by staying away from them, the sooner we will get through this.

Stay calm:

We need to stay at home and create new concepts to get through this crisis.

So here is some helpful advice on how to succeed with your internationalization strategy while working from home:

  • Create a strong pitch deck that follows US standards:
    Keep it short, comprehensible and relevant. I recommend a pitch deck that is not longer than 7 slides:
  1. Introduction of company
  2. The problem you solve
  3. Size of market of problem
  4. The solution you offer
  5. Traction (if you have any)
  6. Team (optional)
  7. The “ask”: money and / or introductions
  • Research your relevant community on LinkedIn, Xing or Twitter
  • Identify your target group (VCs/clients/other startups)
  • Identify your competition abroad – who are they? What differentiates you? How does their marketing work? Who is invested in them?
  • Build your contact lists based on your research
  • Reach out to the identified contacts by asking for a phone or video call. Remember that almost all of us are sitting at home at the moment… Be sure to send them your pitch deck and follow up with them. And one clear word here: With regards to U.S. – VC investors, you have to be REALLY persistent. So, contact them until you hear from them.

Crisis means turning point. Things that have worked well in the past may not be functioning now anymore. However, this phase of falling back on ourselves and experiencing quiet reclusiveness gives us the opportunity to come up with new inventions, products and even routines.

Besides all the negative aspects, let’s also focus on what can be done.

Stay positive!

Talk to you soon, Andrea

STEP alumna PerAGraft in 12th place on Germany’s 2020 Top 50 Startup!

PerAGraft develops patient-specific implants for the treatment of complex aortic aneurysms.

This novel manufacturing process consists of a continuous digital process chain and an innovative textile manufacturing method. The automated production process enables the delivery of individualized implants in the shortest possible time. The PerAGraft platform technology will be successively extended to further fields of application. For example, the customized implants enable precise therapy that is specifically tailored to the patient.

Click here for the original article in German.

STEP USA alumni company German american chamber of commerce NY

Stuttgart based Porsche Ventures & California based NeueCapital Partners invest in STEP alumnus “Nitrobox”

Hamburg software start-up concludes financing round in the single-digit million range

Hamburg, 4 February, 2020 | The software start-up Nitrobox GmbH has concluded a financing round in the single-digit million euro range: The “NeueCapital Partners” fund from Silicon Valley and Porsche Ventures, the venture capital unit of the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer, took a stake in the Hamburg-based company. Nitrobox has developed a cloud platform which can be used for automatic monetization and billing of digital business models. The company intends to use the funds from the financing round primarily to further expand its market position in Germany and to prepare for its entry to the US market.

Click here to read more.