Melon founder Cornelia Weinzierl on the balancing act between studies and founding a start-up out of university

"I've always had the urge to do something myself."

Here you can listen to the full interview as a podcast. (German)

Cornelia Weinzierl is only 24 years old and already CEO of a start-up. In 2020, the Munich student founded the Melon app. Today, the start-up is represented in several German cities:?

?"I always had the urge to do something myself, but I didn't feel ready to start up until I had an idea I was convinced of,"

explains the young entrepreneur. The Melon app is a platform that connects nutrition-conscious people by giving them the opportunity to cook healthy and vegan food for each other.

Cornelia Weinzierl defines herself as part of the Melon target group:

?"My physical and mental health is ultimately important to me. One important aspect that often came up short for me in everyday life was simply food. I had little time as a young professional. [I also] lacked the knowledge to eat healthy, balanced and consciously. I didn't find a platform that could provide me with not only material to read, but a community to actively support me on my journey."?

That's where Melon comes in: "We offer a community of food bloggers and nutritionists* who know, who want to take you by the hand, and who you can ask questions of." Using the app, customers can find, pay for, and pick up homemade vegan food in their area. The food is prepared at home by nutrition experts (called hosts) and can be enjoyed or picked up by customers on the spot. The focus here is not only on the food itself, but also on the exchange between the cooks and guests.?

When Cornelia Weinzierl founded the company, she was still a student: "In the beginning, it was supposed to be a side project next to university. Then that turned around very quickly," the young entrepreneur recalls.?Thanks to good planning, discipline and the high online component of her studies, however, she was able to reconcile both.

Because of the pandemic, the young entrepreneur also had to change the focus of her business idea: While Melon was originally supposed to network its customers for communal dining, the focus was instead on self-pickup. "Different, but not necessarily worse," the founder sums up. The app now offers its guests and hosts the option to choose between self-pickup and shared dining.?

Despite her studies and a pandemic, Cornelia Weinzierl doesn't regret founding so early: "I would have liked to have known earlier how much fun it can be!" She also says it's incredibly fulfilling to get feedback from the community and to feel so directly that you're bringing something positive into the world with your work and even changing lives. "It's not just giving. You get so much back," the founder enthuses about her startup. And yet, she says, it's important not to avoid the "boring and complicated things" in particular. The young entrepreneur advises other founders to have the difficult conversations right at the beginning: Because only when you have clarified the distribution of tasks, the shares and the question of who contributes how much, can you get started with self-confidence. If you don't do that, it can be an unbelievable hindrance later on.?

In the beginning, the most important thing was to balance supply and demand, to create a regular offer and to bind hosts and guests to the platform. A large part of the work still consists of community management. After all, Melon does not offer its users a product, but a community.?

The concept seems to be working: What started in Munich is now also present in other German cities. This is partly because the idea is so easy to implement: "Melon is not tied to a specific location. Every living room and every kitchen can become a place of exchange," is how the entrepreneur sums up her vision. Cornelia Weinzierl also has big plans for the future:?

"We want to be the app for everyone who wants to deal with conscious nutrition: In Germany, Europe and the whole world."

An undertaking that the young entrepreneur is certainly capable of!

Curious now??

If you want to learn more about the balancing act between studies and start-up, founding a community and Cornelia Weinzierl's mission, then listen in to our podcast!?

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