More than 500 participants

On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management hosted its third Start-up Night. 54 Start-ups, many of them founded by FS alumni, as well as enterprises such as Deutsche Bank or Ernst & Young participated. The event gave the students the chance to get information about new technologies and job possibilities. More than 500 people joined the fair.

Persistence pays off: FS alumnus talks about founding process

On behalf of Frankfurt School, Joanna Karajanov, Chief Information Officer at the business school, welcomed the attendees. She empasised, that students as well as company representatives should get in touch to benefit from each other.

In his welcome speech, Stefan Kempf, CEO of Elbe Finanzgruppe and Frankfurt School graduate, talked about difficulties founding his own company. “After graduating, I worked for a big corporate – I could not change anything there. Thus, I founded my own company. However, it was not easy. You always need goals and to be persistent. Moreover, you have to be open for change”, empasised the former Frankfurt School student.

Vahe Andonians, Senior Lecturer at Frankfurt School, mentioned five key factors which are crucial for the success of a Start-up. According to the expert the most important factors are funding, the business model, the idea, the team as well as the timing. As an example for the right timing of an idea or product, Vahe Andonians mentioned the development of smartphones. “In addition to a perfect marketing strategy, Apple launched its first IPhone at the right time in 2007 – followed by Samsung with its Android phones one year later. However, Windows Phone was launched in 2010 – that was too late”, the expert explained.

 Following, the official part of the career fair started.