Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Johannes Bader, Heyroom: We founded Heyroom to revolutionize the way we find roommates for shared apartments. Based on a vibe score, Heyroom offers a clear overview of potential roommates, tailored to the needs of the residents. No more copy-paste applications and endless casting calls – with us, finding new roommates is easy and stress-free. We believe that harmonious coexistence in a shared apartment is crucial for the well-being of its residents. With Heyroom, we want to help make practical shared apartments a thing of the past and help people feel comfortable in their shared apartment.
Munich Startup: But that has been around for a long time!
Johannes Bader: Heyroom offers shared flats an innovative solution for quickly and easily finding suitable roommates. When listing a vacant room, shared flats can specify their "vibe"—interests and values such as "hiking, day drinking, environment, art, veggie." Based on the vibe score, applicants can immediately see who would be a perfect fit for them. Ranking system is based on mutual respect and creates a harmonious shared living environment, regardless of gender, country, age, or income. Heyroom improves the image of shared apartments and makes living in a shared apartment more accessible to many. A service like this has never existed on the market before, but we developed it to revolutionize shared apartments.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Johannes Bader: Two years ago, my two friends and I lived together in Munich. When I had to move out, the question arose as to how we could find someone who would fit into the shared apartment. So I sent a speculative application to the market leader, WG-Gesucht, and shared my vision for how the platform could become truly effective and innovative. Unfortunately, my application was skillfully ignored. So we took it upon ourselves and, within just 12 months, created Heyroom, a highly innovative solution that is unrivaled in the market in terms of usability and user experience.
Heyroom now consists not just of one person, but of a team of seven interdisciplinary and multicultural experts with experience in top management, IT, and advertising. We are an unbeatable and powerful team with extremely high-quality output.
Heyroom: “A simple and straightforward way to find the right roommate”
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Johannes Bader: Our target audience are people who live in shared apartments and are looking for new roommates. The process of finding the right person to fit into the shared apartment is often time-consuming and frustrating without a suitable platform.
The biggest challenge is reaching this target group, as there have been no new options or solutions on the market for years, and no advertising in this area has been conducted to date. Therefore, many flatmates are not yet actively seeking alternatives, but are sticking with the familiar and inadequate platforms for finding shared accommodation.
At Heyroom, we want to close this gap and offer a simple and straightforward way to find the right roommate. Once our target audience hears about us and uses us, they're thrilled with the benefits Heyroom offers them.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Johannes Bader: We're currently revolutionizing the shared apartment scene in Munich and ensuring that no one has to live in a shared apartment anymore. We've already brought together over 2,500 registered users and more than 50 roommates. And we've done it exclusively in Munich, and within just three weeks.
Since we see that many people are already moving within Munich, vacant rooms are created and a chain reaction is occurring that is completely changing the Munich shared apartment scene.
In one year, the German rollout will be completed and the number of users will be well over one million, which reflects approximately 25 percent of the total market in Germany.
Our vision is to become the shared flat platform in Europe, making it easier for over 20 million people to find the right flat and roommate. We will also work hard to ensure that shared flats are also considered during construction in the future, shaping the living environment of the future and giving shared flats a voice in society.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Johannes Bader: The startup scene in Munich is primarily dominated by B2B businesses, resulting in a lack of social engagement. Especially in the areas of digital advertising, revenue streams, and guerrilla marketing, there's often a lack of expertise within the network, which hasn't really helped us. Nevertheless, we've received significant interest from the Technical University of Munich and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in collaborating with us on research or teaching projects. Our topic has a strong social dimension, is future-oriented, and considers shared living spaces as the most sustainable form of living today and in the future.
Munich Startup: Outsource or do it yourself?
Johannes Bader: Current status: Do it yourself and get support and input from your network. Check it out: www.heyroom.app – no agency can create such an app and associated marketing for you.
