"Reasoning for people under 18 needs to get easier"

Eike Czada is a student and serial founder. In the interview, he talks about the hurdles of starting a business under 18, entrepreneurship at school and his plans for the future.

An appointment with Eike Czada is only available in the afternoon. Like many founders, he has a lot to do. But the fact that it can usually only be in the afternoon has another reason: Eike Czada is 18 years old, still a student, attends the upper school at a grammar school. From morning to mostly afternoon he sits there in subjects like German, mathematics or sports. In the evenings, he sets up his business, entirely at his own expense.

Mr. Czada, you founded your first company at the age of 16. How do you come up with something like that?

I tried my hand at it really early, when I was 12 or 13, I read a lot of books and taught myself a little bit of programming. I came across the podcast "No Limit" by the founders of Simpleclub, where they explicitly covered entrepreneurship in one episode and explained their involvement with "Start-up Teens". I then took a look at that.

Start-up Teens aims to teach young people about entrepreneurship and starting up, to help them turn ideas into reality. What ideas did you have?

I always had an idea that I hadn't implemented. I wanted to build an app that would connect sports partners or sports groups that didn't know each other yet. I then asked a friend to do it for me. I had taught myself a little bit of programming by then, but in retrospect it has to be said: I couldn't really do anything. We had no Macbooks, no time resources. But then after nine months we had a code structure and a business plan.

It sounds like you've scaled.

On the contrary, we discontinued the app again. We had kept building it before and tested it far too little. We always went by what we thought was good and not others. We then realized that the entire structure wasn't working and discontinued the project.

How does it feel to bury your first company at the age of 15?

Of course it's not a nice feeling. But I noticed in the project what I liked, what I enjoyed. That is especially selling and sales, connecting with people. That then motivated me to start my second business: Czada Marketing. A marketing and consulting agency for small and medium sized companies, focusing especially on young target groups.

It took me two months to win my first client and four months to earn money for the first time.

Eike Czada, founder of Czada Marketing

How do you win customers as a 16-year-old?

Only with difficulty. I had to offer some companies to work pro bono, others just smiled at me. I'm still a high school student, after all. It took me two months to get my first client ever and four months to make money for the first time. But then it became lucrative.

Czada Marketing was an independent company. How does it work if you are not yet 18 and therefore of age?

Unfortunately, it's different in every region of Germany, which makes it difficult. In Darmstadt, I needed an official decision from the family court that I was fit to do business. For that you need the school reports, statements of the teachers, signatures of the parents and a business plan. Others had to have complete financial and time plans. At the time, this took me several weeks. A month and a half later I had the decision, went to the trade office and was allowed to start up - and theoretically also hire employees or rent an office.

That sounds very complicated indeed.

I was lucky that the authorities in Darmstadt helped me a lot with everything. Many others my age need eight or twelve months to get such a decision. Then it's either stuck in the authorities, or there are numerous discussions with the parents. In these, the authorities want to clarify whether it is really wise for someone who is not yet 18 to start a business. Some of these meetings drag on for months, but they don't help at all.

Why do you think that?

If someone goes to the trouble of thinking up a business idea at the age of 16 and then spends weeks putting together a business plan, plus managing their time between school and business, then they are ready. Talks like that don't stop young people, they just hinder them. This needs to be simplified in Germany so that more young people dare to start up at an early age.

There is no need for lessons on founding, because teachers are teachers - they don't even know how to do it.

Eike Czada, founder of Twentyone Studios

Would you have liked more support from school?

When I have important business meetings, the school gives me a few hours off, I expect that and it helps me a lot. But I would like the school to raise more awareness about entrepreneurship. For example, in PoWi(politics and economics, editor's note) classes we learn a lot about other fields and studying, which is great, but we haven't talked about entrepreneurship once. I find that a bit sad. There's no need for lessons about starting a business, because teachers are teachers - they don't know how to do it. But I think it would be good to raise awareness of entrepreneurship.

And what do your classmates say when you're excused for an external appointment?

Now they think it's really cool and they're happy for me, too. I spend a lot of time in the sixth form with people who want to achieve something career-wise and I'm also an inspiration to them, which is often reflected back to me. That turned around though, because in the beginning there was a lot of ridicule. But when it worked out and I was making money, such tones became quieter, today they no longer exist.

You will soon sign off Czada Marketing and have instead founded Twentyone Studios with your business partner Jan Michalczonek. There you bundle a digitization provider as well as an area for collaboration with other startups. How do you reconcile that with school?

I'm at school every day and work when I get home and then usually until 10pm. I also set aside once a week to do something with friends, usually Friday or Saturday night. Otherwise, my co-founders and I have outsourced most of the work to freelancers in the background. This means that I am primarily responsible for customer contact and sales, and of course I bear the responsibility. That's quite a workload, but I manage it well alongside school.

You are currently bootstrapped, i.e. you pay for everything out of your own pocket. When will the investors come in?

That is definitely one of our long-term goals. But at the moment it's not worth it because none of our current products are really scalable quickly. We are more on a middle path between agency and start-up. "But if we develop a completely new and innovative product that then also has to be established in a certain market, then I can already imagine drawing capital from VCs."

Thank you very much for the interview.

About the person: Eike Czada is a serial founder, has already founded a marketing agency as a student and is now striving to develop new products with the character of a world novelty. For this, he can also imagine the investment of a VC in the long term.


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