Entrepreneurship
What a failed start-up taught me
Funding, timing, luck, obstacles, and knowing when to quit: the lessons of founding Trashre.
From 2019 to 2022 I founded and led Trashre, a Munich start-up that grew mycelium foam from agricultural waste to replace polystyrene and polyurethane packaging. It did not survive. This page is about what I learned.
Trashre
Trashre turned agricultural waste into a compostable foam, using mycelium, the root network of fungi, as a natural binder. I raised capital, led product development and built partnerships. When the numbers no longer worked, I led a one-year orderly liquidation. Trashre on LinkedIn · Trashre on F6S
Failing taught me more about strategy than any success had. It is also, quite literally, what got me into business school.
What makes a start-up work, and what does not
Funding follows proof, not passion
Investors fund evidence that a market wants what you make. Grants and competitions buy time; they do not replace paying customers.
Timing and luck are real
A good idea at the wrong moment is a bad business. We started months before a pandemic. Plan for luck to be against you.
Hardware is slow and expensive
Deep-tech and materials start-ups need patient capital and longer runways than software. Budget for it from day one.
Navigate obstacles with a narrow focus
When everything is a priority, nothing is. Pick one customer segment and one product, and earn the right to expand.
Know when to quit
Set your stop criteria early, while you can still think clearly: runway, milestones, and what evidence would change your mind.
End it well
An orderly closure protects people, partners and your reputation. Liquidation is leadership too.
How to approach funding
- Stage your money. Match each source (friends and family, grants, accelerators, angels, venture capital) to a specific milestone.
- Tell one story. Problem, proof, market, team, and what the next euro unlocks.
- Read the term sheet. Dilution and control matter more than headline valuation.
- Keep twelve months of runway where you can, because fundraising always takes longer than planned.
What it brought to the rest of my career
Running a company gave me business acumen that a career in communications rarely provides: reading a balance sheet, pricing a product, negotiating with suppliers and investors, and making decisions with incomplete information and real consequences. It made me a better partner to executives in my corporate roles.
It also opened the door to research. That experience of strategic decision-making under uncertainty is what helped me be accepted as a doctoral student in a business school, and it still shapes the questions I ask.
Draft thought-leadership text written from my experience. To be refined over time.