Munich Startup: What motivated you to start the company?
Franziska Scheuerle, founder of Loremo: The love of art, innovative design and high-quality aesthetics. This passion coupled with my incredible impatience have led to the success of Loremo If something is going too slowly for me or things need to be changed, I tackle it and implement it until the result meets my expectations.
Munich Startup: What would you have liked to have known before starting your first business?
Franziska Scheuerle: I think it was a good thing that I didn't know a lot of things at the beginning; otherwise, I probably would never have started a business. Starting a business is like having children (even though I don't have any yet): Once the baby is born, you love it more than anything and fight like a lioness until it grows up.
Munich Startup: How has your company been financed so far?
Franziska Scheuerle: Bootstrapping.
Munich Startup: When and where do you get the best ideas?
Franziska Scheuerle: In exchange with inspiring personalities or in lively, vibrant metropolises.
Munich Startup: What are your 3 favorite work tools?
Franziska Scheuerle: MacBook Air, iPhone and Earpods.
Munich Startup: Your top tip on pitching?
Franziska Scheuerle: Make it short. Be charismatic. Catch and release.
Overall economic situation? Currently no unicorn ride
Munich Startup: Does this seem like a good time to start a business? Why?
Franziska Scheuerle: That's a difficult question, given that the economic situation in Germany doesn't look very promising at the moment. Investors are more cautious than in previous years. Given that startups are taxed the same as large corporations, and we're experiencing inflation and recession due to rising energy and living costs, the situation isn't exactly a unicorn ride. Many already successful companies are considering relocating their headquarters abroad.
It therefore depends heavily on the business idea and the corresponding brand positioning. Positioning in the mass or luxury market is promising. Premium, on the other hand, will incur losses according to trend analyses. The luxury conglomerates LVMH, Kering, & Richemont will further expand their market potential in the coming years. The snake game among the economic giants is intensifying. The luxury sector is booming.
A key ingredient for starting any kind of business, despite political and economic crises, is passion. Without passion, determination, optimism, a solution-oriented approach, and a can-do spirit, you won't be able to sustain the marathon of building a company in these difficult economic times.
Franziska Scheuerle: “I would use AI sooner for my next start-up”
Munich Startup: Which technology or industry would you focus on for your next startup?
Franziska Scheuerle: We are currently developing an artificial intelligence (AI) for our algorithm-based art configurator. I developed it myself and coded it with the help of programmers. At Loremo, we rely on the lean management principle, try to automate as much as possible, and always stay on the cutting edge of technology. We love ChatGPT, as well as keeping up with trends like Web3, NFTs (Non Fungible Token, note Red.) and the metaverse. However, for my next startup, I would focus on AI much sooner. In a few years, AI will be the ubiquitous standard and our reliable companion – while in 2023 we'll still be talking about the year of AI as a hype. Although I'm a tactile person, when it comes to technology, I'm very much guided by science fiction films, scientific innovations, and trend analysis.
Munich Startup: What could, in your opinion, be
Can Munich still be improved?
Franziska Scheuerle: I love Munich and am very grateful that we chose this location. It's absolutely the right fit for our exclusive Loremo target group. However, the support for startups in the arts and culture sector must be drastically improved in the context of digitalization. The arts and culture sector urgently needs to be made more innovative and digitized. With Loremo, we are making a statement by taking a pioneering role. But there is still much to do to elevate the sometimes very outdated art market to a completely new level: modern. innovative. immersive. The latest technologies on the market already offer fantastic opportunities for this.
Munich Startup: Which founder would you like to meet in person? And what would you ask them?
Franziska Scheuerle: Hanno Renner from PersonioI would ask him how much he (still) sleeps per day and what his biggest challenges were in building the Munich Unicorn.
