No Room for Bullshit Bingo

Fastbill was founded to improve accounting processes back in 2007 – long before Fintech had become a synonym for innovative financial solutions. The company is now one of the top three providers in Germany for invoicing and accounting software for SMEs and freelancers.

Startuprad.io, the podcast and youtube blog covering the German startup scene supported by Hessen Trade & Invest (HTAI), had the chance to talk to René Maudrich, CEO and founder of Fastbill. In the interview, René does not only talk about his experience of founding a startup but also about the recent takeover by Freshbooks. And he also reveals what he would ask for if he had one wish regarding politics in Hessen. Spoiler: It is not tax reductions.

René shares some quite interesting insights about the business location Hessen for his startup, saying that he moved to Frankfurt when he started his first business because of the very friendly ecosystem. He chose the city in Hessen to get good projects and jobs and to get paid well by clients. In this area, Berlin was not that interesting for him because nobody wanted to pay him: “They just wanted to get the work done. So Frankfurt was the right place to start for me.“

René also remembers the great support he and his team received in the Hessian startup ecosystem: “We had a lot of help during those first years. Without those envisioning co-founders and early business angels we wouldn’t have made it. So it was very important to find an IT culture with people willing to build successful companies." Luckily enough, Fastbill also secured important funding for their mission: “We received almost one million euro research funding (*) This was a great aspect. You can apply and you relatively easy get the money for free. This is maybe more difficult in other places,“ he tells during the interview and adds: “Meeting great people to share a vision and work together is definitely possible in Frankfurt. There is not so much bullshit bingo around here.“

What would he ask for if he had one wish regarding change in politics in Hessen? “I would ask for more awareness regarding initiatives for startups aiming to bring people together,“ he reveals and immediately comes up with an idea: „Why don’t we have a great yearly startup congress here? That could be really helpful!“

If you want to find out more about Fastbill’s journey and the “how“ and “why“ of its exit to the Canadian unicorn FreshBooks, listen to the whole interview here: Fastbill’s Exit to Canada Based Unicorn FreshBooks - YouTube

Learn more about the company landscape in Hessen at: Company Landscape / Invest in Hessen (invest-in-hessen.com)

(*) Fastbill received research funding from the European Regional Development Fund with professional support by Hessen Agentur consultants