This start-up story shows how important good female investors are

Lelia König and her co-founder launch the first dashcam specifically for cyclists. Getting there was difficult. An investor made the difference.

There is a point in many start-up stories when founders realize that they can't go on like this. In the case of Lelia König and her co-founder Sandro Beck, this point was reached after six months and a loss of 50,000 euros. The couple had trusted for so long that the external company would actually manage to turn their idea of a dashcam for cyclists into a concept and then a prototype. "We then realized that they had completely ripped us off," says Lelia König Nothing came of the lofty promises - and König and Beck had to start all over again.

The fate of König and Beck shows how quickly start-ups can fail when others suddenly want to make money too. And it is a lesson in how important business angels can be in the early phase of a start-up in order to avoid such missteps. However, the past few years in the history of Dashfactory also show that a setback is just a setback - and does not necessarily have to be the end.

When König and Beck finally parted ways with the external company, the idea of the dashcam was already many months old. It was born out of their shared hobby: cycling. Both König, who recently won the Digital Female Leader Award in the Mobility category, and Beck enjoy cycling, sometimes in competitions. In recent years, dangerous situations have repeatedly occurred during training rides. Sometimes the car didn't keep the minimum distance, sometimes they overtook far too closely. No matter what they did: They couldn't prove the misconduct. So they initially screwed a Gopro to the bike, which was legally unacceptable. Constantly filming is prohibited in Germany. But is there any other way?

The first pitch deck was created in one day - and was a hit

What the pair had in mind was a dashcam specially designed for bicycles, equipped with a distance sensor that monitors the cars behind you, a rear light and a camera that can film at a 120-degree angle. Although the camera is on all the time, it records itself every few minutes. Only if a car drives too close or the camera registers a fall does it save the recording - giving cyclists the opportunity to prove the driver's misconduct for the first time.

However, the fact that the camera exists today is by no means a matter of course. Not only were König and Beck unsure at the beginning whether they should even take the plunge into self-employment. The trained bank clerk in particular was hesitant, it seemed too uncertain to start up. And then there were massive difficulties on the way to the first product - which the two were only able to overcome thanks to an investor.

The idea for such a camera had already been in their heads for several years. However, they realized it for the first time at a start-up workshop in Jena in November 2018, where they designed a pitch deck within a day, fine-tuned the idea and presented it in the evening. They received so much positive feedback after the pitch that they started their own business a short time later.

They had even already won over an investor, even if she was only active in an advisory capacity for the first few months: BM-T Beteiligungsmanagement Thüringen GmbH, or more precisely Katja Butzmann. She was to be the one to accompany the young start-up until its camera was ready for the market. "Without her, the start-up would probably not exist. When things are going badly, she helps you up and when things are going well, she has kept us grounded. That was worth a lot," says König today. Butzmann introduced them to the start-up world, adjusted the marketing budget upwards and made the contacts that the founding couple needed.

The start-up is half-funded by state donors

BM-T, a semi-state investor, later became the start-up's first financial backer. The investment company initially invested 125,000 euros for ten percent of the shares and will later inject around 600,000 euros together with another investor in the form of a convertible loan. "You don't hear that much about investors, at least not much good, but we hit the jackpot," says König about Butzmann.

Before it got that far, however, Dashfactory had a veritable odyssey ahead of it, as König recounts today. The business plan and the idea were established relatively quickly. However, as neither of them had a technical background, they needed external engineers and a company to implement the whole thing. After a few weeks, they had found a company. Four months and 50,000 euros later, it was clear that there would be no concept. Two different consultants and a second developer followed, with whom they terminated the collaboration three months later. Only then did they go into production.

Things went faster with the new external company. The technical concept for the dashcam was ready within a year, the first prototypes were produced shortly afterwards and the first deliveries are now rolling off the production line in Slovakia. The start-up has already received 1,500 orders, although the cam is only available for pre-order and at the impressive price of 229 euros. The target group, either commuters on bicycles, parents who buy it for their children or adults who buy it for their parents, are clearly not bothered by the price. It was worthwhile for König and her co-founder to keep going.