Munich Startup: Who are you and what does Onesome do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Onesome: We, Anouk, Swantje, and Nadine, founded our company a year ago with the goal of democratizing coaching and thus giving more people access to personal development. The result is Onesome, a digital coach for personal development that works without human support and is therefore more affordable and available at any time.
The three of us combine diverse skills. Anouk Harde (29) combines psychological and technical knowledge and holds a degree in Human-Computer Interaction. Nadine Priessnitz (29) is our startup expert and also has expertise in innovation management and strategy consulting in the HR environment. And Swantje Benussi (56), as Managing Director of connect&develop, a consultancy specializing in coaching and executive search, brings crucial background knowledge in HR development and coaching.
Since our founding team comes from two different generations, we are often asked how we came together. Nadine and Anouk have been friends since 5th grade, and Swantje has known Anouk her whole life. All three of us faced our own challenges in everyday life: As a coach, Swantje was always limited by her time, but wanted to help more people than she was currently able to. Anouk's goal was to have greater leverage in coaching and to provide people with a long-term change coach. And Nadine was looking for a companion for self-discovery and orientation on her own path and saw that she wasn't the only one feeling this way. Swantje and Nadine met through Anouk, and the decision matured to develop our own product on the topic of digitalized coaching. Onesome was born.
Onesome wants to lower the barriers to coaching
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
OnesomeIn times of extreme change – just to name a few keywords: transformation, new work, or the new (working) circumstances brought about by Covid – the need for personal development, often in the form of coaching, is growing ever greater. The reason is obvious: targeted personal development strengthens our orientation, motivation, and satisfaction, and also makes us more resilient and productive in everyday life. However, coaching is often associated with high hurdles and immense costs. This also applies to companies, where personal development in the form of coaching is therefore primarily offered at the upper levels of the hierarchy. For the vast majority, there are hardly any options available – even though many organizations would like to invest in their employees.
That's why we're initially offering Onesome to companies, because we see that as the greatest leverage. Our app is an alternative to traditional coaching—a digital tool that makes the methods, questions, and results from coaching technically accessible. This allows us to meet the needs of many companies because Onesome is cost-effective, allowing everyone to be included on the path to the future.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Onesome: So far, the market has primarily consisted of platforms that offer automatic coach matching and allow you to book coaches for virtual coaching. This is still only possible at a comparatively high cost. Our digital approach makes the process affordable. And there's greater flexibility, because with Onesome, you don't have to adjust to anyone's schedule. What also sets us apart from other digital offerings is that we place great emphasis on a user experience that focuses on the user, not the company. Onesome is meant to be fun and in-depth.
“We want to build a community with Onesome”
But that's not all: We want to build a community with Onesome. That's why we've integrated Community Sessions into Onesome. Within the app, everyone can first focus on themselves in a safe and anonymous space. The next step is to meet virtually with all other Onesome users in the company and exchange ideas—about their own insights and those of others. Through this exchange, our own insights deepen, and we become aware that we are not alone with our issues. This strengthens our interactions with one another, our communication, and ultimately, the community within the company.
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Onesome: In a startup, there are many different things that come up, for which there are no experts or even employees. Maintaining an overview, reacting and yet not losing sight of the actual goal was a major challenge in the initial phase, and one that we are still constantly growing from. As first-time entrepreneurs, we have always sought outside advice on various topics such as product development, sales and marketing - and of course we will continue to do so. At the same time, we must also be able to make decisions quickly and trust in our own expertise. After all, we are the experts on our product, our market, our business and our vision. This self-confidence has grown with every day that we work on Onesome.
“We communicate at eye level”
Another challenge is that the attitude – the mindset – of the people we work with is important to us. We want the people who work with us – employees, partners, and investors – to share similar values. This isn't about always agreeing. That would be boring and not helpful for our business. We communicate on an equal footing, regardless of age or young, experienced or inexperienced someone is. But if things don't work out, you have to actively set boundaries and communicate openly. This is a big step every time, and it's not always easy for us.
And to follow on from this: open communication is of course important to us, among ourselves as a team, because it builds trust. But that means giving each other honest feedback when something about the other person bothers us. Ideally, we should do this directly in the situation. It's not always easy, but it has led us to truly trust each other. Because we know that if the other person doesn't say anything, then everything is fine. And if the other person says something, it's based on deep affection.
Companies are just the beginning
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Onesome: We are convinced that the need for coaching will continue to grow. The world is characterized by change, and people's insecurity is increasing. Furthermore, it's becoming increasingly important for many of us to find meaning in what we do and to be self-effective. Self-awareness is key here. And more and more people need high-quality support on this path. The coaches currently available simply can't cover this, and unfortunately, most people barely afford it.
That's why we want to continue expanding Onesome's content over the coming years to support as many people as possible with their issues. Onesome already exists for companies, but it will also be available for individual users who are interested in developing themselves and being effective. We also want to support people who have no access to coaching at all and offer Onesome to the long-term unemployed, students, schoolchildren, and other members of society.
Munich Startup: How do you rate the Startup-Location Munich?
Onesome: We really appreciate Munich, both as a place to live and work, and we're all well-connected here, which is a key success factor. In addition, more and more exciting startups and formats are emerging, inspiring new ideas and leading to interesting exchanges. Although we launched in 2019, real startup life for us actually began during the first lockdown. Therefore, we haven't had the chance to properly get to know the startup scene here in Munich. What we would like to see is more funding for startups. The Bavarian state advertises a lot, but ultimately getting support isn't that easy.
Munich Startup: Isar or English Garden?
Onesome: We just had a good laugh here. Anouk said she prefers the Isar River, because it's right around the corner from her. At the same time, we discovered the English Garden, because an evening dip in the Eisbach as a team is a lot of fun and lets us forget about our asana tasks for a moment.
