Source:DIEMACHER
If your own idea does not yet exist on the market: simply start your own
start a company yourself! That's what the founders of the two start-ups Faelcon Rackets and MindEcho thought. What's more, their ideas have a positive social impact - be it for impaired groups of people or for sustainability. We took a closer look at what's behind them and introduce them with six W questions.
# If an enthusiastic tennis player doesn't come up with the idea of making tennis more sustainable, who will? Alexander Eckmayr is one of the top 50 players from Upper Austria and founded Faelcon Rackets on his own five years ago - as a sideline. His great idol? Roger Federer. He would love to challenge him one day with his innovative wooden rackets. Alexander now has a lot of support from his brother and his girlfriend. This year, the sole proprietorship will become a FlexCo.
# What When Alexander comes into contact with the wooden bikes from My Esel while on vacation in Flachau, he is immediately gripped by enthusiasm: "There should be something like this for tennis too," he thinks to himself. Although wooden rackets were already fashionable in the 80s, they were replaced by carbon rackets back then. With his start-up, he wants to go back to the roots and produce wooden tennis rackets. The name of the product: Björn. Inspired by the tennis legend Björn Borg.
# As at present, the rackets still contain 15 percent carbon, but the team is trying to replace this with other materials. The target group are passionate tennis players who not only play tennis, but feel it - and are willing to invest in something that is more than just a racket. They value quality, sustainability and regionality and want to set an example for conscious consumption with their purchasing decisions. And who knows, maybe the company will soon gain a foothold in professional sport. Alexander certainly has a large network there. He only uses his rackets in his own games and has been able to improve his performance as a result.
# When Alexander founded the company in 2020, which was exactly the right time, as people were getting back to basics and becoming aware of the benefits of regionality and sustainability in a globalized world. His family was skeptical at first and the odd prototype development was necessary to guarantee quality. In the meantime, the Björn racket has matured.
# Wo Faelcon Rackets is based in Upper Austria and production also takes place here. There is currently an online store for Austria and Germany. Expansion is planned for the near future. The big goal is first and foremost London - with Wimbledon the birthplace of tennis. The start-up has already received inquiries from Dubai, Italy and Taiwan.
# Why Alexander's vision: He wants to make tennis more sustainable. Or at least bring some of the production back to Europe and strengthen regionality. In recent years, a number of Austrian companies in the industry have moved to China or other countries. And he puts it in a nutshell: "We have become a throwaway society. That's why it's important to me to establish a sustainable brand where the rackets come back into the cycle."
# Who Creating a basis of trust before setting up together? Not necessary if you've known your business partner since childhood. Benjamin Hindinger originally founded the company MindEcho with his friend Dominik Stix. When it became clear that the start-up needed an IT all-rounder, he brought Bernhard Sommer onto the team as technical director. The two have been close friends since kindergarten. Common interests such as the Red Cross and new technologies strengthen this bond, and the collaboration runs correspondingly smoothly.
# What MindEcho is developing an AI-supported sound translator. This is primarily intended to open up the world of communication to children with speech impairments. However, the translator can be used by any speech-impaired person, provided they can form sounds. In the next step, it is therefore conceivable that the target group could be extended to include stroke or dementia patients, for example.
# How voice computers are generally known. However, these require active interaction with the device. It was important to Benjamin and his team to develop a system that works without the children having to do anything. This is because many of them have additional motor or cognitive impairments. The basis for the app's functionality is that caregivers assign the children's sounds to the underlying needs in the system. As soon as this training phase is complete, the AI recognizes patterns in the audio recordings of the sounds in order to automatically interpret the needs correctly.
# When MindEcho will originally be founded as a public company in 2023 for the proof of concept with the families with whom the feasibility is being tested. At the end of 2024 after completion of the PoC, it will be converted into a sole proprietorship. The actual foundation (e.g. as a GmbH or FlexCo) will take place in 2026 at the start of a research cooperation project to develop the prototypes. At this stage, the young company has positively evaluated the feasibility study and there will be an initial prototype phase in 2026. The company is currently looking for investors and is part of tech2b's "Activate" incubator program with a focus on submitting funding applications, among other things. The founders expect a market-ready product in 2027.
# Where MindEcho is based in Upper Austria. The market entry is to take place in the DACH region, as it is easier for the initial implementation to include only one language in the development. The team sees scaling potential for the whole of Europe and the USA, i.e. populations with similar access to technology. Basically, however, only a smartphone and internet access are required for the application.
# Why The idea was born out of his own concern. Benjamin sets out to find a communication tool to support his nephew Moritz, who has a speech impairment. When he couldn't find anything suitable on the market, he took matters into his own hands and realized that the number of affected people whose everyday lives could be made easier by MindEcho was much greater than originally assumed. Initially, his family was unaware of the idea, but now they are helping to develop the product to be as user-friendly as possible._
The two startups are supported by tech2b, the Upper Austrian startup incubator, and have been in the six-month Activate program since the beginning of June. All information about the tech2b programs can be found at tech2b.at.
Image copyright: fotokerschi; MindEcho
