Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Mastli: We are Stephanie Schiele (31 years old, M.Sc. in Medical Engineering), Elisabeth Schmidt (31 years old, Dr.-Ing.), and Markus Weis (32 years old, M.Sc. in Production & Logistics). We met during our studies at the Technical University of Munich. Since the chemistry was right from the start, we have since become good friends and started our project together at the end of 2020. Mastli – Magical Story Listening (with MArkus, STephanie and LIsi).
Exciting audio experiences on your smartphone
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Mastli: The Mastli app is a digital audio guide with which we aim to offer captivating experiences in a wide variety of locations. This makes exciting tours possible at any time: for young and old with smartphones, with or without COVID-19, and affordable for everyone.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Mastli: No, the experiential nature of our audio tours, thanks to sophisticated soundscapes and the inclusion of local tour guides, is unique. Our goal is to work with local tour guides to create captivating audio experiences, narrated by authentic characters, and to captivate listeners with our unique narrative style.
Munich Startup: Has there ever been a point where you almost failed?
Mastli: No. We don't see difficult situations as unsolvable problems, but rather as challenges that must be overcome. Because we've divided our tasks well according to our individual strengths and complement each other well, we can always motivate each other when our moods are low or on bad days. This way, we always end up finding a clever solution or a good compromise that everyone can agree on.
“We want to break the sales barrier of 1 million euros by 2025”
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Mastli: After we launch our app soon, we plan to expand our range of experiences in the app next year and offer additional audio tours for more cities and regions. It's also important to us to generate the first significant revenue by 2022 and gradually maximize it. We'd like to break the €1 million revenue barrier by 2025.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Mastli: For us, Munich is an excellent starting point, as it allows us to scale our project very well in one of Germany's most tourist-heavy cities. We can also take advantage of many opportunities here, from consulting to funding. We feel at home here.
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long breath?
Mastli: We put our heart and soul into our startup, and we absolutely love watching its development and actively participating. Since we're not running out of steam anytime soon and want to be represented worldwide, our motto is: The journey is the destination.
