Munich Startup: What motivated you to start the company?
Sabine Häußermann: I believe that all people with chronic respiratory diseases – regardless of income, background, or level of education – should have access to optimal treatment. The innovation that I believe is needed to achieve this can be efficiently implemented in a startup environment.
Fast progress with an excellent team
Munich Startup: What would you have liked to have known before starting your first business?
Sabine Häußermann: That I will have so much fun being self-employed every day, especially because I am working in a startup with this excellent team rapid progress can achieve.
Munich Startup: How has your company been financed so far?
Sabine Häußermann: Mainly through business angels from our industry, who saw from the very beginning how important our product is for patients and treating physicians and who trusted us.
Munich Startup: When and where do you get the best ideas?
Sabine Häußermann: It varies a lot, but it often happens when I go for a walk or ride my bike.
Munich Startup: What are your 3 favorite work tools?
Sabine Häußermann:
1. In a personal conversation or meeting, that is the best way for me to get a feel for the situation,
2. my smartphone, because it is so incredibly versatile and
3. the internet, because it always has answers and surprises.
The story counts
Munich Startup: Your top tip on pitching?
Sabine Häußermann: Your pitch deck will never be perfect, but that doesn't detract from the pitch; it's all about the story.
Munich Startup: Does this seem like a good time to start a business? Why?
Sabine Häußermann: In any case, it's a good time to start a business. The digital revolution is bringing us a period of change, and we need to help shape it to ensure the best outcomes for society and health. I firmly believe that innovative ideas are best developed and implemented in startups.
Munich Startup: Which technology or industry would you focus on for your next startup?
Sabine Häußermann: Digitalization in healthcare continues to be a challenge. Germany is lagging behind in this area and needs to catch up quickly. Otherwise, we'll be overtaken by companies from other countries that are more advanced and may not be as adaptable to our circumstances.
Startup center for digital health desirable
Munich Startup: In your opinion, what could be improved at the Munich startup location?
Sabine Häußermann: Munich, like the rest of Germany, has the disadvantage that startups have incredibly difficult access to funding. There are no loans, and it's not always easy to raise large sums in the early stages. The USA and Israel are way ahead in this regard.
Personally, I would like to see a startup center in Munich that focuses on digital health. Martinsried with the BioM is great, but simply biotech-heavy.
Munich Startup: Which founder would you like to meet in person? And what would you ask them?
Sabine Häußermann: Elon Musk, because he demonstrated incredible courage with many of his ideas (Tesla). At the same time, from a distance, it looks as if there were also some wrong turns. I'd like to ask him if he never had or still has self-doubt.
