Smart ideas meet concentrated knowledge

At the STARTUP WERKSTATT event in Leoben top-class experts discussed ideas with young company founders, giving them valuable advice for a successful start along the way.

Access to top-notch experts for 72 hours, the opportunity to discuss corporate strategy with them, to carve out target groups or obtain critical and constructive feedback on business models – that was the unique experience provided by the STARTUP WERKSTATT event which was recently staged in Leoben. The opportunities offered here are priceless and young founders from all over Austria flocked here to seize them. A total of 40 experts volunteered as sparring partners for an entire weekend. 35 participating founder teams sought to benefit from this valuable time, expertise and access to new networks. Wolfgang Stiegmaier of WILD Business Development was also keen on sharing his knowledge in a keynote speech on “Linking Startups to Manufacturing Companies”. “Startups should be seeking to establish contacts to manufactures at a very early stage so that they can contribute to their development and production experience in time. One should not only strive to bring products to technical perfection, product development must, above all, focus on the customers’ requirements”, Stiegmaier explains. WILD is constantly on the lookout for new, state-of-the-art technological products which the contract manufacturer can then help make marketable quickly and cost-effectively using its development and production know-how.

Wolfgang Stiegmaier’s personal impression of the event was extremely positive: “I was really delighted with the support provided to the startups here in Leoben. A whole weekend packed with all of the necessary information, from financing and marketing to subsidy programmes. My compliments to the organisers of the STARTUP WERKSTATT. It definitely provided these founders with a framework in which they can successfully implement their ideas.”