Start-ups: repeat offenders

Long working days and hardly any free time, courting investors, the constant battle with the administration and, last but not least, the worry of whether one's own idea will ultimately succeed on the market or possibly face bankruptcy - founding a start-up is not a party, but hard work.

Nevertheless, German founders would take the step again at any time: 95 percent say they would found a start-up again with their current experience. This is the result of a survey commissioned by the digital association Bitkom among more than 250 start-up founders in Germany.

8 out of 10 founders (79 percent) would also recommend other young people to found a startup. At the same time, a good one in three founders (31 percent) say that they were afraid of failing with their start-up and thus being considered a failure when they founded it.

"Those who don't make it to the finish line deserve respect for the courage to have dared to do something - and shouldn't have to worry about being socially stigmatized"

says Bitkom President Achim Berg.

"We need a culture of second and third chances if we are serious about Germany as a startup nation."

Other results:

Two-thirds of startups (64 percent) created new jobs in 2016, and three-quarters (77 percent) plan to hire additional employees in the current year. On average, every start-up in Germany currently employs 18 people. A year ago, the figure was just 15 employees.

More than one in two start-ups (53 percent) has already been unable to fill a position due to a lack of suitable candidates. Developers in particular are often in demand.

7 out of 10 startups need fresh capital for the next two years, with an average of 2.5 million euros needed. However, a large majority (85 percent) are confident that they will be able to raise the capital.

Only 14 percent of the start-ups consider an IPO to be conceivable in the future, while 14 percent rule it out in principle. For two-thirds (65 percent), going public is not an issue at present.

More than half of the founders (55 percent) say that the situation for their own start-up has improved in the past two years, and only five percent see a deterioration. Around 9 out of 10 start-ups (88 percent) are satisfied with their location.

More than two-thirds (68 percent) of founders would found their start-up in Germany again, compared with only 44 percent a year ago. At the same time, following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.S. is becoming less attractive for German founders: Whereas in 2016 32 percent would have liked to start their start-up in the U.S. again, today only 15 percent would.