Munich Startup: Who are you and what does Familypunk do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Jutta Merschen: I am Jutta, 40 years old and the Founder of Familypunk. Our mission with Familypunk is to empower parents to follow their own path as a family – with joy, serenity, and a little bit of "punk." We do this by offering parents access to short, crisp audio content on the topics of parenting, everyday family life, parenting, and child development via our audio platform.
I have three young children myself and know the joys, but also the challenges, that come with being a parent. The idea for Familypunk was born from my personal background and from many conversations and surveys with over 1,500 parents. After more than ten years in consulting and technology management at McKinsey, I decided: The best time to start a company is now.
Digital companion for parents
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Jutta Merschen: We surveyed over 1,500 parents, and 75 told us they find their daily family life challenging or very challenging. Over 80 of them are actively seeking support with parenting. However, most parents don't even have time to go to the bathroom alone in their daily routine, let alone devote hours to a book or online course.
And that's exactly where Familypunk comes in: We read the content, prepare it with our experts, and compile it into short, snappy audio sessions. These can be easily integrated into your daily routine and can be listened to while cooking, in the car, or pushing a stroller.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Jutta Merschen: Of course, there are many places where parents can seek advice: books, internet forums, blogs, online courses, parenting coaches, and family therapists. However, the market is fragmented, and parents simply don't have time for many of the offerings: books aren't read to the end, and online courses aren't watched to the end.
Our platform, with its short, crisp audio content, is unique. We also develop our content together with experts in educational science, psychology, and pedagogy, ensuring that the content reflects the latest research.
Familypunk: Short info sessions for in between
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Jutta Merschen: By far the biggest challenge was the departure of my co-founder Janet at the beginning of 2021 for personal reasons. Janet and I founded and built Familypunk together in 2020, so becoming a solo founder was a major change for me. Being responsible for everything from A to Z was a huge challenge at first. I've now settled into the "new normal," but I'm also looking for co-founders in product, marketing, and technology. As a team, we can move Familypunk forward much faster and better. If you're interested, please get in touch!
The second major challenge is, of course, the pandemic. On the one hand, it should help us business-wise, but we see that parents are investing even more in their children's activities than in themselves. On the other hand, the pandemic isn't making working with children any easier, whether we're working from home or not. Our three children were at home for months in 2020, and since fall 2020, they've been out of kindergarten for weeks at a time, requiring an additional degree of flexibility, both as a business and as a family.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Jutta Merschen: We want to make Familypunk the leading digital companion for parents. Therefore, in a year's time, we plan to offer our audio content in a user-friendly app, so parents can access our content even more easily and quickly.
In five years, we want to be present not only in the German-speaking market, but also in the English-speaking world. Parenting is such a universal topic, and we want our offering to reach parents all over the world.
“I love Munich and the active startup ecosystem”
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Jutta Merschen: Since Familypunk is a remote company, location isn't as critical for us. The team is from all over Germany, and we work from home or in coworking spaces. This was a major priority for me when I founded Familypunk: to enable flexible, time- and location-independent work to better balance work and family life.
At the same time, I love Munich, the mountains, and the very active startup ecosystem. I can't wait for the effects of the pandemic to subside: In 2019, I spent a lot of time at events and networking in person.
Munich Startup: Get up early or stay up all night?
Jutta Merschen: Both, but not on the same day! I'm an early riser and often sit at my desk at 5 a.m. to work in peace before the day begins around me. But sometimes things have to be finished in the evening. I still try to be in bed on time, because in an emergency, sleep comes before startup.
Starting a business with children also means having to organize yourself differently. The romantic idea of pulling an all-nighter and then sleeping until 11 a.m. the next day doesn't work.
