Suc­cessful start-ups re­quire a wide va­riety of com­ponents: In my ex­pe­rience, one of the most im­portant is support! In ge­neral and from pro­fes­sionals, like the great team around Audrey Hoffmann! Right at the be­ginning, the "coa­ching before founding" was a helpful anchor and source of me­thods, ori­en­tation and support for me. Both the as­sessment in ad­vance, which was a group coa­ching session and we still meet and support each other today, and the 1:1 coa­ching af­ter­wards. More than 3 years after my start-up, I can only say thank you! And re­commend every founder to take ad­vantage of this great support as well. Be­cause a network is more than the sum of its nodes. 

In summer 2018, I took part in the four-day pre-start-up coa­ching as­sessment, where I also got to know Audrey as the se­minar leader. Alt­hough, or perhaps pre­cisely be­cause, we par­ti­ci­pants had dif­ferent start-up ideas and were also at dif­ferent stages of rea­lising our ideas, the at­mo­sphere was both pleasant and in­spiring. We were in­tro­duced to the va­rious topics using a va­riety of me­thods. I still re­member the ele­vator pitch. The four days gave me even greater clarity about the fact that I want to become self-em­ployed and how. 

I always wanted to start my own business, the pro­fession I had learnt just wasn't so­me­thing I was pas­sionate about. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do. I wanted to start a 100 % eco­lo­gical com­mercial cleaning company, but how exactly should I do it, what should I start with first? I had so many ques­tions. But I knew I had to do it now, I thought about it every day. I became more and more in­te­rested in what and how I could start my own business. Then I found out about the "Coa­ching before starting up" pro­gramme. But you had to do an as­sessment first. To be honest, I didn't know exactly what an as­sessment was. I only knew that if I passed the course, I would get coa­ching ses­sions. So­me­thing like a ri­gorous exam, that's how I ima­gined it. 

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When I think back today, in March 2021, shortly before my 50th bir­thday, to my first (and only) as­sessment centre at the Frau­en­Tech­nik­Zentrum Berlin e. V., it seems to me as if a lot of de ja-vu's are taking place. A lot has hap­pened in more than four years. And yet it still seems like yes­terday. In keeping with this feeling, I talked about my AC just last week in my online start-up workshop from 25–26 Fe­bruary 2021 for the Volks­hoch­schule (Vhs) Pankow. Espe­cially be­cause in the course, after ex­plaining the nu­me­rical part of the business plan, I also re­ferred to the added value of the ele­vator pitch for cus­tomer ac­qui­sition and self-mar­keting. The ele­vator pitch was one of the central building blocks in the AC to present your business idea to other people and po­tential customers. 

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The idea of founding a company had been around for some time, but it was more of an idea than a con­crete goal. The ap­pli­cation for the start-up coa­ching took place during the lockdown and the as­sessment centre was held online. To be honest, I was a little appre­hensive. Ho­wever, my con­cerns were un­founded. A group feeling quickly emerged and we all worked tog­ether and in­di­vi­dually on our re­spective start-up ideas. It's amazing how clo­seness could de­velop in the di­gital space de­spite phy­sical di­stance. I would have least ex­pected that. A few par­ti­ci­pants con­tinued to ac­company me after the as­sessment centre. And the re­sulting coa­ching turned the idea into a start-up project. Exactly six months after the as­sessment centre, I founded www​.ab​schieds​ge​stal​terin​.de and am gra­teful for so many people who have ac­com­panied me on this journey. Thanks to Audrey and Ines for the well-struc­tured as­sessment centre. 

The idea of founding a company has been ma­turing in my head for a long time. The pre-start-up coa­ching gave me the courage and focus to fi­nally get going! Spending 4 days in a group of like-minded people in­ten­sively ex­ploring my own vision under very com­petent and fri­endly gui­dance was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to a great mix of know­ledge transfer and dia­logue with other people who want to set up a business, I was given es­sential me­thods, can clearly see my goals and fi­nally got an overview of the "start-up jungle". Even though the AC took place via Zoom, an app­re­ciative and bene­volent sense of com­munity de­ve­loped after a very short time. Net­working with the group is still an im­portant cor­ner­stone for me now that the company has been founded; we con­tinue to support each other and follow the path of our fellow cam­pai­gners with great in­terest and en­thu­siasm. I can highly re­commend the AC to every new founder. If a dream, an idea or a vision has been running th­rough your mind for a long time, this is the place to fi­nally give it space, to get to the bottom of it and to take the first step towards rea­lising it! 

"How was the atmosphere?":
Very nice and fri­endly at­mo­sphere. The pre­sen­tation style was very good. Ever­y­thing was very varied and in­ter­active and the per­sonal en­vi­ronment was created with many prac­tical ex­amples. 
"How did the me­thods help you?":
I am glad that I had the chance to take part. You also heard about other ideas and vi­sions. It was very helpful for me to develop/​assess a vision for the next 1 – 2 years. The group work was also good. The role play was par­ti­cu­larly good be­cause you could si­mulate social reality in the game and get an idea of what pro­blems may arise in the future and how to react spon­ta­neously and confidently. 

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The pro­gramme and the pre-foun­dation as­sessment was the best thing that could have hap­pened to me in my pre-foun­dation phase. For me, it was a stroke of luck that I ended up on this pro­gramme. How did this happy co­in­ci­dence come about? I phoned the centre for female founders to en­quire about ad­visory ac­ti­vities and offers. During the phone call, we quickly rea­lised that I al­ready had a lot of know­ledge about the actual start-up and was very far ad­vanced in my pre­pa­ration process. The lady on the phone couldn't offer me any coun­selling from the founders, but re­ferred me to the pre-start-up coa­ching and gave me the contact de­tails of ZGS. She asked me to give them a call and en­quire there. No sooner said than done! When I called ZGS and de­scribed my con­cerns and my business idea, I was given the green light to take part in the coa­ching sessions. 

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The at­mo­sphere at our Zoom start-up coa­ching was simply great. After a short time, I almost forgot that I was sitting at a screen and not in a room with all the other par­ti­ci­pants. The me­thods all worked won­derfully online and always put the right finger in the right wound, so that you came away from each day of coa­ching with great ideas for further de­ve­lo­pment. The as­sessment felt more like group coa­ching and we are almost all still con­nected with each other today – both as friends and in joint projects.