Die 20 venture leaders Gewinner fliegen nach Amerika und machen bald Boston und New York unsicher. Dennis Just, CEO von Knip, berichtet exklusiv bei Startwerk in regelmässigen Abständen von dem US-Abenteuer. Dennis, take it away:
Die 20 venture leaders Gewinner sind bereit für die Reise nach Amerika. Dennis Just (grünes T-Shirt) wird uns von den Erlebnissen berichten. (Bild: Jordi Montserrat/zvg)
Dear Startwerk readers, dear startup enthusiasts,
Over the next two weeks, you will have the opportunity to take part in the ups and downs of young entrepreneurs. With the support of Startwerk, I will give you an update about the trip of the Swiss Startup national team every second day. I will talk about the good times and the bad, and be honest, direct and without compromise. Basically like a good three-volume book that was turned into five movies for excitement.
For those of you who don’t know me: My name is Dennis and I am the founder and CEO of the digital insurance broker knip.ch. We founded Knip one and a half years ago and are now one of the fastest-growing Fintech startups in Europe. We are a team of 55 and have offices in Zurich, Berlin and Belgrade.
If you have always wondered how to properly prepare for a trip like this, you obviously never worked in a startup. The magic word is improvisation. Like all fast-growing startups, we are in the final stages of our next round of financing, and the trip to the US plays an important role. Due to the sudden interest in Knip of one of the largest European VC funds, I had to fly to Berlin last night to pitch for the general partners today. Since return flights are limited in the afternoon, I didn’t have time to go back home and pack before going to the US. Equipped with just my hand luggage, the trip will surely be a great adventure.
My team and I have a clear goal for this trip. Germany will be the next market that we want to conquer, but we don’t want our vision to end at the German national borders. Today’s insurance brokers don’t make sense anymore for our generation. They have the wrong motivation for doing their job. The US system has the same problem. The questions we need to answer are very operative:
- Does the application fulfill the expectation of American customers?
- Are there market dominating insurance companies or insurance associations that could complicate market entry?
- Who can help us conquer the market and how much money and time do we need for that?
Well, bording will begin soon and Terminal E looks like the perfect place to have a beer beforehand. On this note: See you in two days!
