Feliks Eyser, Serial Entrepreneur & Investor | Founder Stories

About this episode

In this first regular guest episode with Feliks Eyser, we dive into the practical side of founding: How do you build a new company step by step? Feliks, known from his time at Regiohelden, shows together with his partner Stefan Tietze as founding investors how they built a new company with two CODE students that has been running in stealth mode for several months.

Phase 1: Building the Right Team

The foundation of every successful startup is the team. Feliks and his partner deliberately chose a balanced mix: two technically skilled founders – a designer and an engineer – combined with Feliks and Stefan as founding investors. This constellation enables them to develop products completely in-house without failing due to technical limitations.

"The technical skillset must be there from day one," emphasizes Feliks. Only this way can the team iterate quickly and respond to market feedback.

Phase 2: Build a Dummy Instead of Programming

This is where many founding teams make a crucial mistake: they program entire products before testing them in the market. Feliks and his team took a different approach, focusing on building a functional dummy in Figma.

This design prototype can be used in customer demos without needing to be programmed first. This allows features to be evaluated based on real customer feedback without investing days or weeks programming features that ultimately nobody needs.

How to Test the Market Properly

Since the team operates in the small and medium-sized business sector, they specifically sought potential customers in their target group. The process was a direct sales approach: calling, writing, and inviting leads to product demos.

In these demos, potential customers were guided through the design prototype as if the product already existed completely. The crucial step: At the end, they collected Letters of Intent (LOIs) – a clear indicator that customers are actually willing to spend money once the product is completed.

Phase 3: Evaluate Customer Feedback and Develop Roadmap

With more than 10 LOIs, it quickly became clear: the product has real revenue potential. Even more important were the concrete wishes of customers, which directly flowed into the product roadmap. This created clear priorities for development – based on real market needs rather than assumptions.

Phase 4: Fundraising After Market Validation

Only after evaluating the market need did fundraising begin. This approach paid off: due to the solid customer interest and Stefan and Feliks' existing network, the first round could be closed within one week.

Feliks' recommendation for fundraising: "You should try to get to know investors before you need them." In a more relaxed environment, they can observe you and build trust. Fundraising is about trust – many people forget this.

Those who don't know investors yet should get introduced by trustworthy people: other founders, networks, or incubators can help here.

With the completion of the funding round, the notary appointment was also scheduled – everything in one go, and the GmbH was founded.

Phase 5: Strategy Offsite and Team Building

With secured funding, the team can now be steadily expanded. Next steps: strategy sessions and targeted hiring to implement the product roadmap.

Key Takeaways for Founders

• –Team first: Technical skills must be present from the beginning
• –Prototyping before programming: Design dummies save time and money
• –Market validation before fundraising: LOIs are worth their weight in gold
• –Build your network: Get to know investors before you need them
• –Structured approach: Each phase has its own priorities

Feliks demonstrates: founding isn't gambling, but a structured process. Those who take the right steps in the right order maximize their chances of success.