For 2 years, we scaled our tech startup COMBY to +5,000 users and convinced investors.
In 2020, we drove it right into a wall.
Since then, we have decided to use our knowledge for other startups.
Let's start at the beginning - 2018
2018, Canteen University Frankfurt. At the party last weekend, I (Max, who writes this post) noticed that there was no way to create a playlist together and live. The result is that you are at the mercy of the host's arbitrariness (and bad taste in music).
The idea of a digital jukebox was born. A few days later, in the canteen, then the pitch in front of my buddy Chris. Buddy becomes co-founder.
A journey marked by ups and downs begins. Pitch here, online course for app and web design there, a startup is slowly emerging. Most of it is self-scribbled, designed, nocoded - after all, the budget is never there.
After the first drafts, it quickly became clear that the project was too complex and our technical understanding and design knowledge was too low for just the two of us to handle it. Nadja comes on board a little later. Nadja brings color (and a good dose of fun) to the team.
When the basic functions of the app have been designed, the next stop is on:
How do we finance the whole thing?
Tech resources (no-code just emerged) are expensive, so you need a budget. A few pitches and no luck later, the decision: Kickstarter will sort it out.
Over 20,000 euros of support from family, friends and people we don't even know, later the realization: Kickstarter is not enough to finance the entire app. Fortunately, the commitment from 2 private investors follows promptly.
Then the launch at the end of 2019. +5,000 downloads in the first week, +5,000 followers on social media, +20,000 € invested in development.
Then the stagnation.
Too many bugs, too little real added value, too few real use cases.
In 2020, not because of Corona, but at the same time, then the decision: That won't work out.
Back to today - 2023
After a short pause for reflection, it was clear to us that our journey together was far from over and we decided to found Virtual Entity without further ado. A simple YouTube ad made us aware of Webflow at the same time, so it was time to learn and sell.
Always on the assumption that startups achieve better results when they work with an agency partner who has start-up experience himself, we have been using our knowledge for other startups ever since.
The first website project was not long in coming and as early as 2020 we were able to make up for our loss of COMBY with Virtual Entity.
On everything we've taught ourselves to save resources for our own project:
- Webdesign
- Webflow Development
- UX and UI design for B2C apps
Our partners can now build. And we are also told by exactly these partners that we are doing really well:
“When it comes to the performance of Virtual Entity, I'm speechless.”
- Maxi Borkowski: CMO Melibo
“From the start I was impressed with how quick and responsive the team was. Communication was easy and also very proactive, often suggesting optimizations.”
- Oliver Kuttruff: Search Experience Manager @workpath
“I can't praise the Virtual Entity team enough! Working with them to create our new website was absolutely fantastic.”
- Jacky Zink: Co-Founder @chaanz
It is obvious to us that this is, of course, just the beginning of something great. To date, we have been able to
- Go live over 120 projects
- Get over 70 customers excited about us
- Become an official Webflow partner agency
- Observe 35M € of investments in our customers
- Accept 8 awards from CSS Design Award
and we're excited to see what the future holds.