Some (but not all) of Our Takeaways from Bits & Pretzels 2022

From the moment that this year's Bits & Pretzels event began to ramp up, you could feel a rush of prolonged excitement that likely didn't exist in previous instances. It was palpable, and let's dig in as to why.

If you haven't been keeping up with current events lately, the world has been going through some…interesting times. The shutting down of most of the corporate world for two years has been detrimental to the forward progress of fledgling startups, whom so many aspire to use events like Bits & Pretzels to connect with their peers and potential investors.?

So, after two years of relative silence in the halls of Internationales Congress Center München, Bits & Pretzels 2022 definitely felt like a collective catharsis. Corporate party-time was back, and there were two years of pent-up creativity and innovation to connect with.

Lederhosen is the new black

We would argue that our experience of a startup conference-slash-Octoberfest combo would not be more complete without featuring the world's foremost Austrian-American. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It did not disappoint.

Opening statements by the man, proudly clad in his traditional "lederhosen tracht," were a sight to behold. For those who had never been to Bits & Pretzels, it set the stage for the uniquely bavarian theme of the entire event.?

The startup environment is predominantly SaaS and AI

As we set up our booth, one of the first things we noticed was the overwhelming prominence of software-as-a-service offers. Every day, you could find startups, stages, and speakers where people were talking about their SaaS.?

It seems like it wasn't all that long ago that one visiting an event similar to this would walk in and experience row after row of startups and scale-ups showcasing their newest mobile app. Well, it seems those days are long gone, my friend. This whole moment within the digital solutions ecosystem appears to be around finding new ways to further carve out a piece of that sweet rundel pie.

It's an exciting moment in history because one might argue that building a viable product and taking it to market is now easier than ever. We could be moving closer to an equilibrium with the digital space—where bootstrap startups can equally compete with the titans of industry, but only time will tell.

Female-led companies are driving serious change

One noticeable takeaway from this year's Bits was the representation by all of the female leaders and entrepreneurs that took to the stages and the floor with their thoughts and innovation. Of course, we can't name them all, but one of the more notable presentations we attended was by Lilian Schwich , the co-founder and CEO of the startup Cylib .

Her company focuses on finding a new and innovative way to recycle batteries—specifically the batteries that are present in the electronics we use daily, like our mobile phones. Speaking to a mainly European audience, she made it clear how important this is for Europe due to the lack of abundant natural resources in the area:

"It pretty clear that we need a circular economy to really reduce the effects of mining, and reduce the dependance on other countries that are criticized globally. We get graphic from China, nickel from Russia, and cobalt from the Democratic Republique of Congo."

Putting the aside the politics, Schwich presented a compelling argument for a circular battery economy instead of what she called the Take, Make, and Waste process that industrial society currently engages in.?

"In order to meet the EU climate goals, we will need to have a recycling capacity of a 1 megaton [1 million tonnes] by 2030, in comparison to the 150,000 tonnes that have right now. And that is not even considering the level of quality to the recycling."

While Lilian Schwich had just a quick 15 minutes on the large stage, watching a presentation advocating for "making" use of what we already have, rather than trying to advocate for "making" the next big thing, was inspiring.

Don't Chase Trends, Develop Zeitgeist

Another notable female speaker was a scientist and futurologist, Kirstine Fratz , who spoke about Shaping Zeitgeist: The future of premium mobility. Fratz is a recognized figure in the German-speaking environment and is currently collaborating with Audi around her specialty in Zeitgeist research. She describes Zeitgeist as "not a moody phenomenon of trends and fashions, but the most powerful and creative force in our culture."

During the presentation, she stated:

"Working with Zeitgeist means that we are working with cultural evolution, and that is a totally different thing than just adapting to trends. Because when you adapt to trends, you just looking at what you have now, and then looking to what you need to do to be relevant in the future. But if work with zeitgeist dynamics you begin creating the next thing will begin a cultural evolution."

There were definitely some deep philosophical and spiritual undertones to the proposal that Fratz took on during her talks, with statements like "Zeitgeist is a crack in the matrix." However, one might argue that this kind of deeper cognitive investigation needs to happen more in the corporate world. Therefore it was a refreshing experience to listen to Kirstine Fratz and her ideas.

There is a lot of VC Potential in Africa

We sat in on a presentation with two engaging African entrepreneurs, Tesh Mbaabu , Co-Founder & CEO of Marketforce , and Babs Ogundeyi , the CEO of Kuda . While both built businesses in two different countries, Tesh, headquartered in Kenya, and Babs focuses on the Nigerian market. They had some interesting insights about VC potential in African countries. Tech explained it from his perspective as follows:

"Our first pre-seed round in 2018 took 12 months to raise the first $500,000, so it was a gruesome experience. But things have really changed since then. One of the more interesting things is that last year more that 5.5 billion dollars raised in Africa, which is more than the last five year combined. There has been a huge structure shift, with a growing number of startups and talent pool. So it's only up from here."

They also brought to light the American/Euro-centric predilection to homogenize all of Africa. They went on to point out that with 54 countries, approximately 200 languages, and innumerable cultural differences, there are definitely challenges to breaking through in African markets. Babs went on to explain:

"There are lots of similarities in terms of what African want. In terms of my business, its access to affordable and reliable financial services, and that is the same everywhere. However, the landscape is different when you start looking at things like regulatory requirements, culture, religion, language. The way a business builds their products need to factor those in."

Lastly, the Big Boys Could Eat Some Humble Pie

It may be common practice to use these events as branded marketing exercises. "Example brand" will sponsor a stage and curate a list of talks to establish their thought leadership and support a specific incentive. We have all seen that before, and it has become somewhat of a ubiquitous practice in these types of events.?

This year, it was a bit heavy-handed. On more than one occasion, we experienced moderators segway the speaker's point back towards the hosting brand—regardless of whether that speaker was directly affiliated with that brand.

Now we understand that the innovation playing field is leveling out between the big brands and the scrappy startups, so there is no surprise larger enterprises want to make sure that they are affiliated with radical innovation.?

However, it may be of importance to note for those industry giants out there that when you're the whale in a pool full of minnows, it's not really necessary to dominate the conversation with proof of how big you are.?