Hendrik Grote, May 18th, 2020, bitsandpretzels.com, NEWS

We’ve all been working from home over the last couple of weeks and we’ve already seen that the current crisis caused by coronavirus accelerates the digitalization of work. But how’s our everyday experience in the home office going to look like? 

At our Bits & Pretzels Live Event we’ve asked 6 startups to pitch in front of a jury and to explain how their ideas are changing the future of work. Here are their answers:

ShareYourSpace – The Pitch Winner

“ShareYourSpace will be the Airbnb for the office”, says Dr. Tobias Wagner, the CEO, who started the company in 2018 in Munich. Offices, workplaces and meeting rooms are usually not occupied 24/7. ShareYourSpace offers to book office space that is not permanently needed. Tobias adds: “Our mission: boosting flexibility and sustainability in the office world. (…) “The solution is to use existing workspace better. (…) Sharing for the office world. Workspace as a service, pay per use.” If someone books a space, ShareYourSpace will receive a provision for their services.

Ciara

“Ciara will become the assistant of the future. You won’t have to use all the applications you use right now – Ciara will become the new and only UI you engage with in the future.“, says Konstantin Krauss, the co-founder and CEO. Ciara is a digital conversation assistant that helps sales professionals around the world improve sales calls and productivity. 

It was founded in 2019 in Munich by Martin Heibel and Konstantin Krauss. Their software integrates into most business applications and takes over all the tasks that would sidetrack a salesperson, such as taking notes and researching while on the call. Konstantin explains: “Ciara joins every single conversation you have. (…) And it gives you guidance about the things you have to say and it reminds you of them. Ciara can also surface information like an email and gives it to you exactly when you need it.” For their services Ciara offers a monthly payment plan or creates a custom solution.

VRDirect 

“VR Direct will change the way information and knowledge will be shared and distributed”, says Dominik Möcklin, who acts as managing director in the startup. VRDirect was founded in Munich in 2018 by Rolf Illenberger. It enables companies without prior knowledge to create virtual reality content. Customers can access the software platform and create and share their own VR content and embed them into their websites or their marketing campaigns. VRDirect either charges a monthly fee or, for bigger projects, creates a customized pricing plan. Dominik is sure, “VR Direct (is) the next generation of Power Point, the better way of marketing and the most efficient way to train or sell to everyone.”

WorkGenius 

“Freelancing right now is pretty much broken, because on average, 40 hours of freelance work comes with 11 hours of management”, says Daniel Barke, CEO and co-founder of WorkGenius, an end-to-end freelance solution. The company was founded by Marlon Litz- Rosenzweig and Daniel Barke in 2012 and has 75 employees located in Hamburg and New York. 

It covers challenges companies typically face when working with freelancers: sourcing, managing and paying. Projects are automatically matched to freelancers, as the company claims, it finds “the right freelancer in only 28 minutes”, with no selection or interview processes needed. For the service the company demands provision of the net remuneration that the company pays the freelancer.

Userlane

Userlane was founded in 2015 in Munich by Felix Eichler, Hartmut Hahn & Kajetan Uhlig with the goal “to enable anyone to use any software instantly without any previous training”, according to Margaret Quigley, its Senior Business Development Manager International Markets. With its technology Userlane wants to enable large organizations to increase the usage and adoption of software among their customers and employees. They create personalised walk-throughs / intros to the specific software, so that the users will be guided individually and will learn quickly, as the company claims. The pricing of their service varies, depending on the amount of users and implemented features. 

4tiitoo

“In the future every workplace will have eye control, just as every mobile phone has a touchscreen today”, says Stephan Odörfer, the CEO and co-Founder of 4tiitoo. 

4tiitoo is a Munich-based enterprise software company and was founded in 2013 by Stephan Odörfer and Tore Meyer. It offers the software platform NUIA Productivity+, that claims to increase the efficiency, ergonomics and UX at computer workplaces by controlling applications based on user intention, using a combination of eye tracking and artificial intelligence. For the use of their software solution 4tiitoo charges a price tailored to the customer. Stephan adds: “Why do (enterprises like SAP) use it? Because faster workflows mean bottomline savings.”

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