Everything has changed for Kai Kuljurgis since Corona. The co-index co-founder wanted to start with his crypto investment platform. Now everything is at stake.
We don’t have to talk about it: the corona crisis affects every variable in our current situation. We have been working towards our launch with full power for two years. We actually wanted to start with our product in April. This is doubly important for us, because we have to prove ourselves on the market and convince customers.
Based on this, we plan our fundraising for seed financing in the summer – our financial and liquidity planning also looks accordingly. As it is in a startup – everything is sewn on edge. So it is vital for us that we continue to work at high pressure as a team. At the same time, as a founder, I have an entrepreneurial duty of care for my employees, which is even more important in the corona crisis than usual.
There is more to our startup than just the entrepreneurial existence of my co-founder Sergio and me. Some business angels have entrusted us with almost a million – and believe in us. We are now 14 team members and are developing an investment platform for cryptocurrencies. Our team mainly consists of long-trained developers who all work directly on the product and are therefore indispensable for us.
Switching to a home office is certainly easier for us than for a classic medium-sized company, we have a digital structure from the ground up. Nevertheless, we are losing punch. We are not a startup where it doesn’t matter where and especially when people work. And in this hot start-up phase, we have to coordinate hundreds of times a day, the call across the table is no longer possible. When working from the home office, this means that we have to work even harder to compensate for the loss of performance.
We are dependent on our partners
Why is our work so complicated? We have to develop a complex, regulatory structure and are completely regulated in Germany. With Coindex, the classic ETF investor should be able to invest very simply, transparently and reliably with an austerity plan in index-based portfolios of crypto values such as Bitcoin and Co. We are implementing this vision together with two regulated partners, a German private bank and a so-called crypto depositary, and we have to coordinate this with the supervisory authorities. Both of these partners use the software we have developed to create our product.
So we are at least as dependent on the fact that both partner companies remain capable of acting – if one of the two fails, this will also set us back. I am confident, however, because both of us, as regulated institutions, of course, like ourselves, have emergency plans.
At the same time, of course, I’m also looking – somewhat nervously – at the mood in the market, not least because I’m looking for investors for the summer. It is noticeable that the corona crisis also affects venture capitalists and that fundraising could become more difficult in some places.
My previous strategy was as follows: With the beta launch in April, I wanted to demonstrate that the structure and product work. Then in the summer, the seed round was planned – I want to collect between one and a half and two million euros. Accordingly, our liquidity from the last financing is planned until then. The entire planning has faltered due to the corona crisis and we are now considering measures to make do with the money longer. Honestly, as Ostwestfalen, we generally drive a slim tire and therefore do not have much air that we can deflate without loss of performance.
The state commitments are not for Coindex
The state commitments known so far are not for us. The communicated measures from KfW loans and tax instruments help a target group that has an established business model with a sales history. That does not help the many medium-sized companies, a start-up in the exhausting and decisive initial phase, unfortunately not. At least not if the advisor of the house bank continues to give you as a startup a flat rate for all such credit inquiries.
As a crypto startup, it is already difficult enough to find a house bank. If the many startups – which in good times are often referred to as “medium-sized companies of tomorrow” and drivers of innovation – are to survive the initial phase, politics must take a closer look. It could look like this: Funds and innovation funds could be used to provide funds in a non-bureaucratic way to ensure or extend liquidity. With a qualified application, startups could be helped over a period of six to nine months – i.e. over the expected duration of the crisis.
In the end, we could benefit from Coindex that crypto values like Bitcoin may soon be popular again, as they are often seen as a crisis currency. This also applies to our target group of end customers, for whom we develop Coindex and in the direction of which we conduct appropriate information.
Overall, I am confident because I am convinced of our product and know what my team can do. Of course, as with all other companies and people, times are waiting for us with many restrictions, uncertainties and certainly also concrete problems. But every crisis also means a new beginning and therefore many opportunities. That may be an empty phrase, but as an entrepreneur, I know that it’s true. I have to deal with serious crises on a regular basis even without a corona.
