Monika Černiauskaitė and Elvira Bechtold already have a name for their company: Rest:art.

The two food technology students from the Geisenheim University in the Rheingau want to produce meat substitutes and soft drinks from spent grains, a waste product that accumulates in breweries.

As you describe, spent grain contains plenty of protein, fiber and valuable micronutrients.

However, they are often thrown away during beer production because they perish quickly.

Around two million tons of this accumulates annually in Germany alone.

The two founders want to use this.

The idea for her start-up came about in May last year when Černiauskaitė was brewing beer during an upcycling internship in Denmark.

The company has not yet been founded.

But the concept is there, the students have developed it over the past few months as part of the "Hessen Ideas Scholarship".

However, a crucial building block is still missing for the foundation: "We can do the product development, but where we really lack the expertise is in the entire business development area," says Bechtold.

That is why they are looking for a co-founder who ideally should already have start-up experience.

In order to find someone with exactly these skills, they came to the Techquartier in Frankfurt for the “Meet your Co-Creator” event.

They would not build up a company alone for several reasons, as they say: on the one hand, the emotional support of co-founders is important, on the other hand, it is presumptuous to think that a single person can cover all competences alone.

Like speed dating

"That is also the reason why we are organizing this event," says Sarah Gronwald from Techquartier, a cross-industry innovation platform based in Frankfurt.

Ultimately, investors also want the founders to be able to absorb crises.

This works best by distributing responsibilities to different people so that they can focus on their own core competencies.

That's why the Techquartier offers events to find potential co-founders.

Around 20 founding teams and numerous potential co-founders come together to find suitable partners.

"We're simply creating a platform to bring these people together, not just the young professionals, but also people who already have more experience," says Gronwald.

It works a bit like speed dating.

In a one-minute presentation, each start-up presents its own founding idea and what is important for its ideal partner.

They then stand by one meter high wooden boxes that are distributed in the open office space, ready for further discussions.

First contacts are exchanged, in the end maybe even coming together as a founding team.

Bechtold believes that the Frankfurt location is perfect for her, as there are many business courses here.

However, she agrees with her comrade-in-arms that too many founders in the team could lead to difficulties.

"The magic number is three, which simplifies democratic decisions," says Černiauskaitė.

Maximilian Bannasch, one of the founders of Circolution, sees it in a similar way.

Together with Kirils Jegorovs and Alessandro Marchiaro, he has developed a new, sustainably scalable reusable system for all food segments.

constant challenge 

This is intended to avoid single-use packaging and accelerate the path to a world without packaging waste.

The three met in the “Futury” incubation program in September 2019. The three-month project brought them together as a founding team and gave rise to the idea of ​​a sustainable reusable system.

"We complemented each other very much with our skills," says Bannasch.

He combines the topics of partnerships, sales and IT, while Marchiaro takes on the topic of financing.

Harvard graduate Jegorovs is responsible for product development and, thanks to his 15 years of expertise at various food manufacturers, is the brain behind the concept.

However, since they primarily want to build a digital platform for reusable items, they are still looking for a fourth co-founder - a programmer, preferably with start-up experience. 

Joining the existing team as a co-founder can also pose problems, says Bannasch.

"You didn't go through thick and thin together, because it can be difficult, especially at the start," says the business IT specialist.

Nevertheless, Bannasch believes that "an event like this can be a good start".

The Circolution founders want to take several months to see to what extent candidates fit into the team based on their personality and skills.

After all, the founding team constantly challenges each other.

This is the only way a company can grow.

When founding a company without a partner, there is a risk of getting bogged down and getting lost in your own thought bubble.

"To make really fast progress, you simply need people you can rely on," says Bannasch.