BY RONALD HINZPETER,
Augsburger Allgemeine, August 26, 2019
The streaming service Netflix isn’t necessarily dangerous , but anyone working alone at home might well succumb to the temptations of its offerings from time to time instead of getting any work done. Tobias Armiri therefore says, somewhat jokingly, “We don’t have the threat of Netflix here.” By “here,” he means the small office in the Gründerzentrum of TFU GmbH, , which is located near the Dietrich Theater in Neu-Ulm.
Tobias Armiri is a co-founder of the small consulting firm TF GmbH ( ), which advises startups on digital topics such as corporate management and corporate communications. Since March, the small GmbH has been based at the Gründerzentrum—a very good decision, as Armiri believes: “It’s great. We’re getting more here than we expected,” he enthuses , “I’m really pleasantly surprised.” For a long time, he didn’t even know “that there were spaces available for us here.”
‘s Grandma and the TFU Gründerzentrum
This seems to be the case for quite a few aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own business. They’re not quite sure who to turn to for help in making their dream of self-employment a reality. And that’s where grandparents sometimes come into play—they have plenty of time to read the newspaper: “We sometimes hear people say, ‘My grandma told me to check this out,’” says Ulrike Hudelmaier, managing director of TFU, “You shouldn’t underestimate the influence of grandparents.” They’ve simply heard of the TFU, which launched 35 years ago as the “Technologiefabrik Ulm” to provide space and consulting services to newly founded companies.
Startups are in good hands in Neu-Ulm
Today, such promising new ventures are called “startups,” and accordingly, the TFU now operates as the Startup and Innovationszentrum for the Ulm/Neu-Ulm region. Since late 1997, it has been headquartered on the former Wiley barracks grounds in Neu-Ulm. Nothing but the austere architecture reminds us that the building was once a barracks; even the rifle niches, where firearms were once stored, now serve as storage for brochures or as frames for art.
The TFU is now spread across three locations. In addition to the Gründerzentrum on the Bavarian side, these include the Innovationszentrum in Science Park II on the Oberer Eselsberg and the Biotechnology Center in Ulm’s Weststadt district. Across a total of 10,000 square meters, 84 companies have established themselves, covering an exceptionally broad range of business sectors . These range from the aforementioned biotechnology, through numerous IT companies, management consultancies, and planning firms, to security technology and a drug testing laboratory.
Over the three and a half decades of its existence, the University of Applied Sciences ( , TFU) has supported around 300 companies, the vast majority of which have actually managed to remain in business . According to Ulrike Hudelmaier, over 90 percent of the startups at were successful—that is, they were able to hold their own in the market for at least five years. This is an “extremely remarkable figure,” she said in an interview with our editorial team.
: A Source of Comfort for Young Startup Entrepreneurs
Anyone who wants to take their first steps into the wild world of self-employment can rent space at the TFU for up to eight years at and, in return, receives office space and, above all, advice and support, because finding commercial space alone isn’t the problem, says Ulrike Hudelmaier. However, many feel left to their own devices there and first have to learn the basics of entrepreneurship. “This involves things like how to set up a sales team, how to write an invoice, when you need a lawyer, or how to deal with the tax office.”
And it’s not always just about hard business. “Sometimes you also get to be a bit of a source of comfort,” says Arina Ingendorf, authorized signatory at TFU . When things just aren’t going so well. And on the weekend, it’s also possible that a TFU employee’s cell phone will ring because a problem has suddenly cropped up at one of the young companies. Although the word “young” doesn’t necessarily refer to the biological age of the founders, since they’re around 40 years old on average. , the oldest tenant at TFU, is already over 70.
has always had co-working spaces here
One of the current economic trends is the “ ” “co-working space,” which is particularly popular among young creative professionals, especially in major cities . This used to be called a “temporary office” and has been part of the TFU from the very beginning, as seen at . These “Spaces” are nothing more than desks, , which are rented out complete with the necessary communication infrastructure. Above all, self-employed people who don’t want to work from home take advantage of this service—for example, because they suffer from loneliness there during the day or because the basket of unironed laundry “haunts” them. And then, of course, there’s the Netflix danger.
Anyone who rents space at TFU is also looking to network with other entrepreneurs. There’s plenty of that. The atmosphere alone speaks to this—Arina Ingendorf describes it as “a bit creatively chaotic.” However, no one expects Neu-Ulm to one day “produce the next Google,” as Ulrike Hudelmaier puts it. Above all, the TFU produces “nothing but solid small and medium-sized businesses.” Thus, the Gründerzentrum could confidently be described as a “hotbed for small and medium-sized businesses.” By the way: Demand remains high. The number of interested parties exceeds the available space.
Source: https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/neu-ulm/D as-Gruenderzentrum-ist-eine-Mittelstandsschmiede-id55258076.html
