Lena Jüngst studied product design in Schwäbisch Gmünd. She and her four co-founders complement each other well: With Tim Jäger, Lena Jüngst wrote her bachelor's thesis on the Air Up prototype. Fabian Schlang, for his part, studied food technology and conducted intensive research on the later aroma pods as part of his studies. Later, Jannis Koppitz, the current co-CEO, and CSO Simon Nüesch joined the team, bringing the necessary business expertise.
The aforementioned bachelor thesis with the prototype of the drinking bottle was ultimately the trigger for the founding of Air Up. The starting signal for the company was ultimately a Exist Founder's Grant End of 2017. Last year, the team was able to secure initial seed funding from Frank Thelen and Ralf Dümmel, among others. as investors and shortly thereafter launched the product. One The startup received 2.3 million euros in interim financing in January 2020The Series A is now planned for this fall. We spoke with Lena Jüngst.
All on one card
Munich Startup: Lena, what motivated you to start your business?
Lena Jüngst: We didn't initially intend to start a company and developed Air Up merely as a bachelor's project. As more and more people around us gave us feedback about the potential behind our development, we took it more seriously and developed it further. And when we received our first start-up grant at the end of 2017, we decided to put everything on the line: We interrupted our previous career paths—I would have had the opportunity to work for Philips as a product designer—and Air Up founded.
This was the best decision of my life: As an employed product designer, you have very little influence on the product development process and little say in the type of products the company develops. Added to this are lengthy negotiations with multiple parties. Even though I enjoyed the craft on my own, it was always important to me to create products that align with my value system. As an employee, I would definitely have had more free time in recent years, but with Air Up, I seized the opportunity to actually realize my ideas.
Munich Startup: Did you have any role models when you started your business?
Lena Jüngst: I don't have, and never had, a particular role model I emulated. But there are many women I admire. What they all have in common is that they excel in their field and have become successful because they didn't conform to external pressures and did their own thing.
From the corporate world, this is Janina Kugel, who, despite her conservative background, championed issues such as inclusion and diversity. Or singer Ali Neumann, who didn't conform to money and commerce, but brought her own unique musical style to the stage. I also find Neri Oxman fascinating, a professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Editor's note:) unites two seemingly opposing worlds in her work: She combines art and design with biology, medicine and computer science.
Curiosity is fundamentally important
Munich Startup: When and where do you get the best ideas?
Lena Jüngst: I'm a very creative person, I enjoy drawing, and I'm constantly exploring design, trends, and innovations in my private life. This inspires me. But inspiration can also come from completely different areas, sometimes even from areas I haven't had much contact with before.
The initial inspiration for Air Up, namely to harness the power of design and neuroscience, came from a Ted Talk about neuroscience with my co-founder Tim. Curiosity and interest in new things are fundamental to being creative. As Chief Evangelist, I'm involved in our product vision, trend research, brand building for Air Up, and product strategy. Being curious and interested in new things is fundamental to this.
Lena Jüngst is not afraid of risks
Munich Startup: Your greatest talent?
Lena Jüngst: My greatest talent is connecting dots from different areas and developing out-of-the-box ideas. In other words, I'm creative. I'm not afraid to try new things and take risks. I prefer living an exciting life with extreme highs and lows to living in the safe, but for me boring, middle ground.
Munich Startup: The biggest mistake you have ever made?
Lena Jüngst: One of the misconceptions was thinking that we would only need about three to five additional months of development time from our initial prototype to a marketable product. Unfortunately, that took over a year longer than expected.
Munich Startup: Your secret weapon when networking?
Lena Jüngst: I'm generally an open and curious person, and I really enjoy exchanging ideas with others. I find it very important to learn from those around me and to be able to share my own experiences. Of course, it helps me network that I'm 100 percent convinced of our idea and our product. And I want people to get to know Air Up and be inspired by us to live a more sustainable and healthier lifestyle. My personal icebreaker is also this: I usually address everyone I meet informally. I'm familiar with this from the creative industry or abroad, but it's not yet common here in Germany. It certainly helps to make stiff initial conversations more pleasant.
Munich Startup: The three worst prejudices you have encountered in your everyday life as a founder?
Lena Jüngst:
- Designers always just want to make everything more beautiful or to assert their design ego and therefore cannot think entrepreneurially or strategically.
- (Technical) innovations come from men, women are responsible for marketing.
- You need a corporate identity so that you can later write a nice saying on the company wall.
What the future of Air Up could look like
Munich Startup: Was being a female founder an advantage or disadvantage for you? What was easier, what was more difficult?
Lena Jüngst: I'm the only woman in our five-person founding team. I certainly stand out in that respect. Not because I'm a woman, but because I'm the designer and the creative part of our team. In everyday life, women generally encounter more prejudices to fight against than men.
Women are still largely seen in the role of assistants: They handle communication issues, organize, and provide support. But when it comes to the nitty-gritty, men are still tasked with doing the work. Women are rarely trusted, which is also due to the fact that women communicate differently than men. They usually talk less about how great they are. In a male-dominated world, this is quickly misinterpreted as a lack of self-confidence and thus a lack of ability. However, I don't think this means women have to adopt a completely masculine demeanor. It would simply be nice if both sides met in the middle.
Munich Startup: What’s on top of your desk right now?
Lena Jüngst: At the moment, I'm still very busy with brand building. We recently updated our corporate identity, our communications, and thus our visual appearance. At the moment, we're still working on additions and details, but also on initial adjustments. My next major task will be product vision. That means considering which products we want to launch in a few years. I'm currently screening consumer trends and developing initial ideas.
Munich Startup: Where will you spend your next vacation?
Lena Jüngst: That depends entirely on the coronavirus situation. If I could choose, I'd like to go to southern Europe, to Portugal, Italy, or even further afield to Morocco. I've never been there, but it's been on my bucket list for a while. I'd be incredibly interested in Japan from a design perspective.
