Halfway through KielRegion.Accelerates: Progress, Lessons Learnt and the Road to the Final

The aim of the accelerator is to provide targeted support to start-ups during their critical growth phase – offering personalised, practical support backed by a strong network of regional and national experts.

Dynamic, motivated and yet pleasantly relaxed – with a palpable sense of excitement, the programme for the new start-ups anymize, conformally, curly.do, edaira, Kopexa and mySpirulina has officially kicked off.

On site, they met many of the accelerator experts and programme partners for the first time – and got straight into networking. This meant that, right from the start, the teams were able to speak to exactly the people who will be supporting them throughout the rest of the programme.

Shortly afterwards came the Health Check for the start-ups – the basis for individual support within the programme and thus the heart of KielRegion.Accelerates.

For the start-ups, the launch was as exciting as it was challenging: they received in-depth feedback – often with a clarity they had not experienced before.

Together with the Health Check experts Alexander Graf, Christoph Haß, Julian von Hassell, Simone Menne and Thomas Ewoldt, and the start-up advisors from the cooperation partners, the following was analysed:

• Where do they currently stand?
• What challenges are critical to their growth?
• Which content and priorities are truly relevant?

The result: targeted questions, honest feedback and a personalised roadmap for each team.

The experts also drew a thoroughly positive conclusion: the diversity of the start-ups and the different approaches were particularly highlighted. At the same time, it became clear that all teams are already operating at a high standard – an ideal foundation for the next steps.

Building on the results of the Health Check, we moved straight on to the substantive work. In addition to individual support, various meetups are held twice a month, at which our experts share practical knowledge on a range of topics – always with a direct link to the current challenges facing start-ups:

• Meetup #1: Investor Readiness & Venture Capital
  Together with Erdinç Koç from Media TechHub Potsdam, the focus was on fundraising. The key question: Is venture capital the right path?
   
• Meetup #2: Sales as a Growth Driver
  The sales workshop with experts Nils Karow and Tim Eisenreich from karoweisenreich focused on building scalable sales structures – a crucial factor for sustainable start-up growth.
  
  “Sales from the very start – that’s exactly what we wanted to instil in the start-ups. […] Now it’s time to dive deeper and, above all, put it into practice!” said Nils Karow.
   
• Meetup #3: Investor Readiness from a Legal Perspective
  Together with lawyers Caroline Frohnwieser and Christoph Prochnau from HEUKING, typical pitfalls in discussions with investors were examined – and how to address them proactively.
   
• Meetup #4: Fundraising from search to closing
  In the meetup with Kai Dührkop, Stephan Langkawel and Julius Jagau from the RTC Group, the entire fundraising process was made tangible: from types of capital to professionally approaching investors.
   
• Meetup #5: Using Funding Strategically
  A previously under-explored aspect was addressed in the workshop with Roman Charkoi from Poleccon: the strategic integration of public funding into growth planning. The focus: When does funding create real added value?
   
• Meetup #6: The perfect pitch
  With Lars Hartenstein from the pitch perfect academy, the focus was on the foundations of compelling pitches: presentation, the impact of the founder’s personality, and storytelling. The aim was to convey the content clearly – and to truly convince the audience in the process.

One thing is already clear: the topics covered in the accelerator programme are as diverse as the start-ups themselves. From fundraising and sales to legal issues – the modules are interlinked and build on one another in a targeted manner.

What matters is not just the breadth, but above all the quality: our experts bring not only theoretical knowledge but also practical experience from the start-up world.

The coming weeks are going to be busy.

At #diwokiel26, anymize.ai, edaira.ai and Kopexa will be taking to the stage to present their topics and offer insights into the digital future across four sessions. At the same time, the programme will delve deeper: with a leadership meet-up with Nico Dudek, which rethinks leadership – and an online meet-up in cooperation with The Bay Areas e.V., including a live link-up to Silicon Valley with Fred Kim

And then comes the finale – on 18 and 19 June, the start-ups will take to the stage at the Waterkant Festival by opencampus.sh – but deliberately not in the traditional pitch format. Instead, they will present themselves as what they have become: experts in their field, with clear themes and perspectives.

We’re on the right track. Now we’re entering the decisive phase – and it’s a tough one.