Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Bao Solutions: We are Patrick Strunkmann-Meister (43) and Benedikt Reschberger (32). We help sales organizations find the "perfect" sales pitch for each situation.
We We met in a mutual friend's garage, where Benedikt was playing drums. The idea for the software originated from a consulting project Patrick was responsible for. At the time, we worked with psychologists to develop a systematic methodology for the sales process.
Patrick earned his degree in Business Administration from the University of Bayreuth and the ESC Bordeaux. He wrote his doctorate in International Key Account Management and also brings several years of experience in sales and management. Benedikt studied media informatics with a focus on artificial intelligence and data science. His first startup experience was at InnoActive, where he worked on a cloud platform in the virtual reality sector.
“What do top performers do better than the rest?”
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Bao Solutions: We solve two major problems in sales:
Problem 1: In many companies, inside sales teams fall far short of their potential. There's little reflection on which strategies are most successful. Everyone does their own thing, and systematic analysis is lacking. As a result, some employees close one deal after another, while others are repeatedly rejected by customers.
But what do the top performers actually do better than the rest?
Bao Solutions provides the answers: We open the “black box” of salesSales organizations can identify best practices and ensure their consistent application through real-time support. Automated documentation of conversations creates structured data that can be systematically evaluated. This allows organizations to continuously learn, for example, about crucial objections that regularly threaten their success.
Problem 2: When talking to potential customers, salespeople must be able to put themselves in their counterpart's shoes, understand their challenges, overcome objections, and, of course, document the whole process. And, of course, they have to sell! A clear conversation structure and efficient documentation reduce employees' mental load, allowing them to focus on what's truly important: listening, engaging with the other person—and selling!
Bao Solutions is therefore a solution for all those who want to gain more transparency and structure in their sales process and want to continuously improve with the insights generated.
“Conversation Intelligence is still in its infancy in Europe”
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Bao Solutions: That's not entirely true. Conversation intelligence is still in its infancy, especially in Europe. The US market is a bit further along in this regard. However, US companies are taking a different approach: Their platform records all conversations and generates a large amount of unstructured data, which they then attempt to identify patterns in.
However, due to prevailing data protection regulations, this approach is difficult to implement in the EU. Furthermore, unstructured data makes systematic learning difficult. At Bao Solutions, we use an expert-based approach and generate structured data from the conversations. This not only enables a steeper learning curve but is also data protection compliant.
Munich Startup: Has there ever been a point where you almost failed?
Bao Solutions: After an investor commitment fell through at short notice, things got really tight. Not everyone on the team at the time could handle the resulting pressure. But we were able to rely on other investors who supported us.
Bao Solutions is growing continuously
Munich Startup: How are things going?
Bao Solutions: Business is booming, and our remote sales product fits the times well. We've been able to acquire three to four new customers almost every month this year, so we now have 40 licensed customers under contract. However, the coronavirus pandemic has also affected us, as we were just preparing a financing round in March, and companies are very cautious about implementing innovations under uncertainty.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Bao Solutions: The location is expensive—especially in the start-up phase without financing, this is a burden. However, there are many competent supporters, business angels, and experts.
Munich Startup: Get up early or stay up all night?
Bao Solutions: There's a deep divide running through the company here, with a 50:50 split. Our CEO, Patrick, is clearly an "early riser."
