Dear friends,
many of you helped me in the last weeks through interviews, discussions, feedback. I wanted to share back with you what I am learning, so here is a short and sweet update on my journey to building my next startup. Let me know what you think! :)
Decision-time. In February I’ve decided to settle on a specific problem area: the tech talent shortage. Today there is already a global war for tech talent, work-from-home intensifies this, while companies of all sizes want to double-down on investments in (software) technology. This volatile environment is ripe ground for innovation. So next I will start to identify problems which can be solved through technology-driven, scaleable solutions.
Facts and data on the tech talent crunch
14 million TECH positions out of 45 million will be hard to fill, with 4 million (1) which cannot be filled at all by 2030. Engineers, Product Managers, Designers, TECH-recruiters, … Education cannot keep up with this gap.
8 of 10 top jobs 2021 in America were TECH jobs. (2)
venture capital investment in technology is at an all-time-high, e.g. in Germany 19.7bn EUR versus 7bn in 2020 (3)
84% of executives believe they need to build new digital businesses or deeply embed technology in their current businesses shows McKinsey study. (4)
My focus areas are currently: (1) find the right specific idea (2) find co-founders. The third required area for starting a business “finding investors” isn’t yet a priority. Still I was lucky to already have several VC/Angel conversations, all very supportive. Interesting: the “tech talent crunch” is also a pain for early-stage-VCs who struggle to “staff” their new startups with technical people, especially product leaders.
Female Co-Founder Search. In January and February I intensified my search for potential female co-founders and met 5 very interesting, motivated female founder personalities. Why: I strongly believe multi-gender founder teams will perform better in the long run. (Evidence from the corporate world. Source). Yet, it is clear I need to be very, very proactive to find the right person. Woman are very underrepresented in startups. For example, In Europe, female-founded startups account for just 1.3% of VC funding raised since 2017. In all the new unicorns from 2021, there are just 2 female founders versus >50 male founders. I’ll try to reach out even more actively in February - stay tuned. If you know somebody who might be a good co-founder match for me - connect us ;)
Web3 and Crypto Hype - I went down the rabbithole of Web3 and Crypto. My summary: there is great technology advancement in many areas, yet I still don’t see great business models. NFTs seem to be the latest in a series of pyramid schemes. It’s the wild west. Three long-form articles for those who want to dive in as well: Great Summary, critical thinking from Berlin + everything you could ever read - thanks Zeke!) Unless I meet a crypto-expert as a co-founder it’s very unlikely I will invest in this area for my startup.
Random: Ikea Hack - Clara and I needed a wardrobe for our entry area. But endless research led to nothing high-quality and reasonably affordable. Ikea hacks to the rescue, we found superfront which create beautiful fronts and sides for Ikea Pax (& others). We ordered the “bottled green” as a sample and it should look nicely with our sofa.
Thanks again for all your support through conversations and feedback!
One request: if you know anybody who is also looking for co-founders - connect me!
Best,
Philipp
Very interesting ... a completely new area to me. Looking forward to talk about it with you!