Company: formie GmbH
Founding team: Alicia Grein, Johan Grotkopp, Cilem Cizgili-Grotkopp, Samira Laibach, Adil Nasri and Nabil Nasri
Date of foundation: October 17, 2024
Industry and company: App development

What drives you? What is your motto?
We want to help people understand bureaucracy - simply, clearly and with a good feeling at the end.

What is your start-up about and what is special about it?
We founded formie to save people from the bureaucratic jungle. Starting with the parental allowance application, our app turns complicated forms into simple questions - uncomplicated, convenient and intelligently automated. This means that everyone receives the best possible support and exactly the amount of parental allowance they are entitled to.

What are your initial successes?
We won our first pitch straight away (InnoStartWi of the state capital Wiesbaden), achieved immediate sales on launch day and had over 1,000 active app users after just three weeks - these successes clearly show us how great the need for our solution really is and that we are on the right track!

What is your professional background?
Johan is an experienced consultant, while the rest of the team has years of experience in process optimization, digitalization and software development. Friends and long-standing colleagues eventually became a strong founding team - and formie was born.

What was the trigger for you to start your own company?
Our start-up began with Johan's parental allowance experience: 300 euros became 1,600 euros. It became clear that the application was unnecessarily complicated. When we talked about it, we realized: This is not an isolated case, but a structural problem.

With our expertise in digitalization, process optimization and software development, we saw an opportunity to make a change - to simplify the complex in a way that really helps people.

Our mission: formie puts an end to the administrative jungle and makes government support more accessible.

Who advised you, who are your helpers and mentors?
A lot of support came from my co-founders, with whom I have been working for years - they not only give me advice and support, but also a lot of backing and confidence.

After the start-up, the Wiesbaden Chamber of Industry and Commerce and StartHub Hessen also helped with valuable discussions and advice.

How did you experience the first few days as founders?
The first few days were more about organization, but things got really exciting months later shortly before the launch: uncertainty, spontaneous adjustments and a lot of hope. The joy was all the greater when the app finally went live and immediately aroused great interest.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
The biggest hurdle was the intelligent automation of the complex application. Delays, pressure and night shifts sometimes led to frustration in the team. But through appreciation, compromises and a constant focus on our vision, we managed it together.

How do you draw attention to your company? What is your best marketing idea?
We gain the most attention via social media - that's where we reach parents directly. Recommendations from satisfied users are particularly valuable. Direct cooperation with parental allowance offices would be ideal - but we currently lack access.

How did you finance your start-up?
Our financing is mainly based on our own funds, supplemented by funding from InnoStartWi since the middle of the year.

What dream would you still like to realize?
formie is known throughout Germany and supports people with all important applications, and I get to work with a great team.

Please complete the following sentence: If I had more time, I would...
... give more space to the little moments.

What is your special tip: What would you recommend to founders?
Don't wait for perfection: start small, test, learn. An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) grows with you - and still helps people.