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It’s that time again: The German Start-up Monitor 2024 is here. Just the thought of it makes some experienced founders smile wearily. Unfortunately, you don’t learn much new, at least compared to previous years. An insight.
Year after year in the German Start-up Monitor from Federal Association of German Startups eV addressed the same issues. Year after year, hardly anything seems to change. But wait a minute! There are actually bright spots. But before we take a closer look at these, let’s first take a look at a few of the recurring grievances.
Start-up Monitor 2024: Bureaucracy is the eternal enemy
It’s like the proverbial elephant in the room: In 2024, the almost insurmountable bureaucratic jungle will again be pointed out. German start-ups still have the feeling that they are often more like administrative officials than entrepreneurs. Surprise? Hardly.
The following finding should therefore come as no surprise: The Start-up Monitor shows that 58.5 percent of founders expect progress in the digitalization of German administration – not to see it, but to hope for it. However, this hope has existed for years.
The German state is unable to significantly reduce administrative costs. We are still waiting for the “one stop” solution for registering new companies – and have been for years. One could almost think that bureaucracy is a sacred cow that cannot be slaughtered.
Financing and growth: welcome to the hamster wheel
Let’s move on to the next perennial favorite: financing. Despite all the hype about start-ups, DeepTech and AI, the financing options in Germany remain…let’s say: suboptimal. Capital shortages are not a new problem and access to collaborations with established companies also remains a challenge. Only 37.5 percent of founders rate the options for collaboration as good. This also represents a decrease compared to previous years.
After all, the emphasis now is on profitability and not growth at any price. This is certainly relevant for exits, but also a consequence of a lack of financial resources to generate growth. The financing round that OpenAI recently raised will certainly bring tears to the eyes of some in Germany. Start-ups are therefore focusing more and more on the B2B sector and sustainable business models. Rapid growth and the associated million-dollar transactions are a thing of the past. Welcome to reality!
Start-up Monitor 2024: Decline in female founders
And then there is the dwindling proportion of female founders. Despite all efforts to achieve equality, the proportion of female entrepreneurs is declining. Just a few years ago, one would have thought that the topic of “female founders” was slowly coming out of its infancy. That was probably wrong thinking.
In 2024, only less than a fifth of start-ups will be founded by women – a decline of 20.7 percent compared to the current 18.8 percent. An alarming sign, especially considering how often the issue of gender diversity has been emphasized.
The finance minister as a light in the darkness
A positive ray of hope: Christian Lindner, the brave finance minister. You have to give him one thing: he thinks about start-ups. You could even say he cares about her. So he has only recently new measures to support founders, especially in the area of financing.
So he tries – at least with big throws. Now someone just has to tell him that start-ups often have problems with small things: hiring employees from abroad, registering new companies and so on… But: Will Lindner actually be in office for long? There’s something brewing behind the scenes. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have to get used to a new person again soon. And what does the support look like? And will the bureaucratic hydra finally be defeated?
The eternal question: When will something change?
And so, after reading the Start-up Monitor 2024, here we are again, with the same problems and the same demands. Cutting bureaucracy? Better financing and investment options? Higher proportion of female founders? It would be nice.
But not much really moves. Should we even hope that anything will ever change? Or is the German start-up scene doomed to sink forever into the bureaucratic maelstrom? The answers to this are vague, although the solutions have been mentioned for years – but just not heard.
As the saying goes: hope dies last. The only stupid thing is that she just does it at some point.
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