innFactory is characterized by a strong founding team. That’s why we want to introduce the founders of innFactory in short interviews.

Name:

Maximilian Grassl, Co-Founder and CFO

Education:

Industrial Engineer

When did you first hear about Tobias’s idea to start a company and how did you become a co-founder?

Tobi and I talked on one of the window sills in the atrium at TH Rosenheim (then still FH). Tobi said to me: “I’d like to start my own company. Would you like to join?” and I said “Yes.” – and that pretty much settled it. Shortly after, we met up with Toni. The gut feeling was right from the start, and we went out celebrating that same evening and toasted to our own company.

What would have been your Plan B for the future if you hadn’t co-founded? Where would you have liked to work?

I believe if you’re founding and thinking about a Plan B, you’ve already lost. If you always have in the back of your mind “If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just do this or that,” you run the risk of not approaching the whole thing with the necessary seriousness. And so, from the first moment, we three devoted all our heart and soul and focus to innFactory.

What was the most difficult moment for you and which was the best since the founding?

The most difficult and the best moments are actually very close together for me. When we scrapped our first idea at the end of 2017 and initially stood there without a product, without customers, and without money, that was a difficult situation that demanded a lot. At the same moment, however, knowing that you have two people at your side in Tobi and Toni with whom things just fit despite the situation and you get up and keep going together is just a great feeling. This feeling of solidarity and team spirit still runs through all of innFactory. And we can all be a little proud of that at innFactory.

What surprised you about running a company or what didn’t you expect?

I didn’t think the chicken-and-egg problem would be so present in the early founding phase. “Everyone’s talking about digitalization and we can do software development,” I thought, so it can’t be that hard. But you always need reputation to get someone excited and convinced about you, your product, or your work. Apart from our various work experiences before and during our studies, at the beginning we had little to show for what we had implemented with innFactory at that point. And without reputation no customer and without customer no reputation. Fortunately, we can now look back at some great partners and customers, so the situation has changed. With completely new, proprietary products, we still partly see this problem, which is why we rely increasingly on the respective industry know-how of our partners.

What significance does the Rosenheim location have for you and innFactory?

Rosenheim is our absolute location of choice, and we would come here again every time. The Stellwerk18 startup center, first under Daniel Artmann and now under Florian Wiesböck, was and is a great connector for us to companies in the region and partly beyond. The fact that Stellwerk18 works hand in hand with TH Rosenheim and also with ROSIK in the areas of entrepreneurship and networking activities is, I think, one of the greatest assets that speaks for Rosenheim as a business location.

Where do you see the biggest challenges and opportunities for the company in the coming years? Where do you see innFactory in 5 years?

The biggest challenge will probably be the building permit for our 20-story innFactory tower. But we have the chance to be featured on the Rosenheim skyline. :)

What does your work week currently look like?

I’m in a lot of exchange with our partners and customers regarding developments, business models, and possible adjustments. Accordingly, I call and Skype a lot and think about our own products, which direction we want to drive things, and how we position ourselves. With now 16 employees, there’s also quite a bit of personnel, tax, and financial topics to deal with. So a good mix that I also really enjoy. :)