Business start-up

The realization of a professional independence is referred to as a business start-up . In an economic sense, it means founding a company , although this term is used more for the creation of larger companies beyond the middle class . In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, small and medium-sized commercial enterprises (SMEs) and freelancers often start out as sole proprietorships .

A start-up company , on the other hand, is a young, innovative company that aims to expand its business model ( scalability ) and repeatability ( business field development ) and open up sales markets . These companies are often started in the field of high technology .

Under the term entrepreneurship or “entrepreneurship”, what happens around the founding and founding personalities is considered, which is also viewed as a separate field of science.

background

Starting a business regularly means a change in everyday life. Professionally, independence is linked to the choice of the profession as an entrepreneur: in addition to professional competence , self-competence and methodological competence are particularly required in order to found, manage and control a company and to solve tasks. These include:

Definition of products, services and arguments for customer talks ( sales talks )
Market observation and assessment of risks and opportunities
private provision for accidents, old age and unforeseen events (also taking care of ongoing operating costs, wages and so on)
Communication and dealing with offices and authorities (public order office , tax office , health department and so on)
Communication and discussion with associations ( IHK , Chamber of Crafts , Employer's Liability Insurance Association and so on)
Creation of calculations and specifications (e.g. sales specifications) as well as their management and success monitoring
Self-motivation and self-control (appointments, tasks, work / leisure time and so on)

Germany

Permits

The business start-up takes place at the beginning of the business activity , in formal legal terms by registering a business or in the case of freelance professions by registering the freelance activity with the responsible tax office . This completes the first part of the foundation. Afterwards, the founders can face further formalities, such as membership in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) (or the Chamber of Crafts for trades that are subject to licensing and for trades that are not subject to licensing). Membership in the chambers is compulsory . In the case of business activities in the travel trade (and not in the standing trade ), there is no obligation to be a member of the HwK and the IHK, only if the trader is assessed for trade tax (IHK Act § 2 Para. 1).

For crafts that require approval, there is a master craftsman requirement - the qualification must be proven in the form of a master’s certificate or a comparable one. The freedom of trade is also restricted for certain activities in the industry, trade and service sectors. The granting of the permit is tied to certain requirements. A special permit is required e.g. B. Insurance brokers , certain restaurateurs as well as arms dealers or pharmacists.

In accordance with the EU Services Directive , since December 28, 2009 it has been possible to electronically handle all administrative procedures related to taking up self-employment. A point of single contact can also be used for these procedures .

As a rule, when registering a business, not only the chambers but also the tax office , the trade association and the state statistical office are automatically informed.

Business plan

The basis for applying for funding is usually a business plan . This contains as detailed information as possible about the founders, the product, the market and the financing.

Founding workshop Germany

The “Gründungswerkstatt Deutschland” is an online platform with which founders can prepare for their own business. It is operated by around 40 regional partners ( IHKs , HWKs ). The online tool is used for orientation and planning and provides practical tips. After registering, users can create their own business plan step by step. They are supported in this by tutors. The tutors, employees of the responsible IHK or HWK , can be consulted to answer questions during the entire establishment process. Founders from regions without their own start-up workshop can also use the basic portal. Use and registration are free for the founders. The start-up workshop combines the advantages of e-learning and personal advice: It provides detailed information about the first steps towards self-employment and offers a personality test and a knowledge check.

Business plan competitions

In these start-up competitions, start-ups submit their business ideas in the form of business plans to the organizing institution (e.g. city / state economic development agency). These are assessed by experts and investors according to uniform criteria for a successful and high-potential corporate concept. The winners of these competitions not only look forward to a confirmed and successful corporate concept, but also to material and cash prizes. The largest regional business plan competition in Germany is the Berlin Brandenburg business plan competition .

advancement

The federal and state governments support business start-ups through loans, grants and equity capital.

Advisory funding

The advisory funding distinguishes between two advisory and funding levels according to the status of the establishment. “Before the establishment” refers to the time before the business registration or notification of the entrepreneurial activity of freelancers at their tax office. "After the establishment" describes the point in time from the start of business activity after registration of the business or after notification of the start of a freelance activity by a freelancer at their tax office.

Before founding

The federal states provide grants for the costs of consulting, business plan development and coaching prior to founding. Information on this is provided by the chambers of industry and commerce , the chambers of crafts and the funding institution (usually the investment bank) of the state, as well as the local economic development agencies of the municipalities and districts.

After the establishment

The new funding program with the name "Promotion of entrepreneurial know-how" combines the previous programs "Promotion of entrepreneurial know-how through management consultancy", "Startup coaching Germany", "Turn-around advice" and "Round table". The Federal Office of Economics and Export Control ( BAFA ) is responsible for implementing the program . The measure is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) of the European Union. The KfW participates financially in the transition phase in 2016 in the promotion. The directive came into force on January 1, 2016.

Business start-up support

The federal and state governments provide loans for the operating and office equipment, equipment of a warehouse, deposits, advertising measures and other investments that are necessary for starting self-employment.

The most important federal loans are:

the KfW StartGeld
the ERP capital for start-ups
the KfW entrepreneur loan

The loans offer different conditions that should make it easier for you to start your own business. For example redemption-free start-up times, lower interest rates and partial release of collateral. According to the house bank principle, promotional loans must always be applied for from banks or savings banks. Every year, the KfW banking group provides information in its publication “Gründungsmonitor” about start-up activity in Germany, gives key funding figures and shows trends in start-ups, as well as the willingness to lend funds by credit institutions.

Information about the programs of the federal government, the federal states and the European Union can be found in the federal funding database.

Aid from the Federal Employment Agency

Recipients of unemployment benefit I can receive a start-up grant in two stages for a period of 15 months if they end their unemployment by becoming self-employed. Recipients of unemployment benefit II can receive an entry allowance. The legal right to assistance from the Federal Employment Agency was revoked by a reform of the SGB on December 23, 2010.

Business start-up simulation game

For the playful acquisition of business start-up skills, business start-up competitions are held in various institutions (e.g. schools or universities):

The German Start- up Prize for Schoolchildren (formerly StartUp-Werkstatt ) is an annual nationwide business start-up simulation game for schoolchildren from the age of 16. The simulation game is part of the Deutscher Gründerpreis initiative . This is awarded every year in the categories pupil, start-up, climber, life's work and special prize for outstanding entrepreneurial achievements. Germany’s largest business start-up simulation game is supported by the partners stern , Sparkassen , ZDF and Porsche as well as the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy . During the game phase, the students set up a fictitious company and thus playfully learn about different stages of planning and realizing a business start-up. The game platform is the internet. The individual teams are looked after by their local savings bank. At the end of the day, the students receive material and cash prizes at federal and state level . There are also more playful start-up competitions to give interested parties access to the topic, such as the 5-euro business competition.

The youth founders competition is a nationwide competition for students organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research ( BMBF ) and part of the initiative group of the BMWi project “Entrepreneurship” in schools. In teams that can consist of up to six people, young people between the ages of 16 and 21 are given the opportunity to virtually experience a business start-up. The special thing about the conception of this student competition is the combination of ideas competition, internet simulation game competition, learning environment and expert system . All components of the competition are integrated in the form of a continuous story ("learning modules"). Young people are introduced to the topics of business start-ups and corporate management in a playful way through “Jugend gründes” .

Start-up research

Establishing research is an interdisciplinary research field, based on the analysis of the enterprise (English: Entrepreneurship ), which examines the entrepreneurial role in the overall economic process. In addition to economics , economic geography , sociological , psychological as well as legal and historical issues are examined. The research field includes the investigation of industry-specific start-up behavior, transnational comparative analyzes and the analysis of funding and support measures. The aim is to find both the determinants for the creation of new companies and the conditions for their success.

While research on start-up activities and success has been institutionalized in the USA for some time, German-speaking start-up research was limited to individual work until around 1998. The phenomenon of “founding” was not dealt with systematically and also not in the context of larger research networks. This was due to the traditional focus of business research on existing companies and the lack of special founding chairs. The Förderkreis Gründungs-Forschung e. V. (FGF) emerged in 1987 from the Schmalenbach working group "Innovative Entrepreneurship" to promote the idea of entrepreneurial independence and entrepreneurial activity. Today the FGF is the leading scientific association for start-up research, education and politics in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

In Germany there are no official statistics that fully reflect the start-up activity. This is why KfW Bankengruppe has been collecting the KfW Start-up Monitor as the largest representative population survey on start-up activity in Germany since 2000. The identification of founders is based on a broad definition of start-ups, which covers full and part-time, freelance and commercial start-ups. The KfW Start-up Monitor is the only data source in Germany to provide a comprehensive picture of start-up activity in Germany. The annual cross-sectional survey not only provides important structural information on start-up activity in a given year, but also allows valuable insights into start-up dynamics in combination. The KfW start-up monitor is collected using computer-aided telephone interviews (CATI). Every year 50,000 randomly selected people living in Germany are interviewed. The representativeness of the data set for the German resident population is guaranteed by means of special methods for generating samples and questioning the current market research standard.

One of the most important international comparative studies on the framework conditions for business start-ups is the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The Center for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development of the OECD also finances studies, workshops, exchanges of experience between projects and international comparative studies on local entrepreneurship development with a focus on employment and urban renewal within the framework of the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) program. The 2011–2012 work program focused on social entrepreneurship .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Steve Blank: Search versus Execute (English) . March 5, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2014.

↑ Duden | Start-up | Spelling, meaning, definition, origin. Retrieved March 19, 2013 .

↑ Differentiation between industry, trade, craft and services ( memento from September 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), IHK Berlin

^ Founding workshop in Germany. Retrieved July 25, 2019 .

↑ Entrepreneurship in School: Initiators. Retrieved April 29, 2014 .

↑ Profile "Young people start up", entrepreneurship in schools. Retrieved April 29, 2014 .

^ Leibrand, Frank: Gründungsforschung. In: Blum, Ulrich; Leibbrand, Frank (Ed.): Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship - Thought Structures for a New Time , 2001, Gabler, ISBN 978-3-409-11872-9 , pp. 111–159

↑ Wanzenböck, Herta: survival and growth of young companies , 1998, Springer, ISBN 978-3-211-83211-0 , page 9 ff

↑ http://www.fgf-ev.de Website of the FGF

↑ KfW: KfW Start-up Monitor 2016 - Tables and Methods Volume. KfW, accessed on March 14, 2017 (German).

^ Website of the international GEM consortium

↑ http://www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_34417_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

[1] Steve Blank: Search versus Execute (English) . March 5, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2014.

[2] Duden | Start-up | Spelling, meaning, definition, origin. Retrieved March 19, 2013 .

[Abgrenzung_zwischen_Handwerk_und_Industrie-3] Differentiation between industry, trade, craft and services ( memento from September 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), IHK Berlin

[4] Founding workshop in Germany. Retrieved July 25, 2019 .

[5] Entrepreneurship in School: Initiators. Retrieved April 29, 2014 .

[6] Profile "Young people start up", entrepreneurship in schools. Retrieved April 29, 2014 .