Startup cooperation diary of the RKW competence center

Startup cooperation diary of the RKW competence center

The RKW Competence Center is a non-profit and neutral  advisor for German medium-sized businesses and is aimed at people who want to develop their established company as well as those who want to build up a new company with their own ideas and energy. It is promoted and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Ambivation has been in exchange for some years with the RKW Competence Center and the authors Dr. Matthias Wallisch, Dr. Kai Morgenstern and Alexandra Koch, which published now the cooperation diary for Mittelständler, an interesting format, which we would like to present here. This workbook was developed to make it easier for medium-sized companies to cooperate with startups. It is a “book for companies who want to understand if and how startups can help them to develop and launch innovative products”. Thus, it serves as an aid and creative companion for small and medium-sized companies to gain an overview of the start-up scene and to better understand their culture and working methods. In order to illustrate and convey the content well, the authors work not only with reading material, but also with interactive learning processes of various kinds, such as painting, drawing, filling out graphics, bingo and extra space for personal notes.

Which contents can I expect?

First, the cooperation diary explains the basics: What is a start-up anyway? What are its typical characteristics? Why should I, as a medium-sized company, deal with startups? Answers to these questions, among others, are given, and in addition, some important basic terms of the startup culture are explained. According to the sociologist Roland Eckert, cooperations can be divided into three phases: Learning, coming together and collaborating, or learn, match, partner, as found in the study by the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. The cooperation diary is also structured according to these phases, so that assistance in the respective phase can be guaranteed in chronological order. Furthermore, the cooperation diary deals with the most common methods used in the startup sector, such as Design Thinking or the Lean Startup Methodology according to Eric Ries.

Source:  Kooperationstagebuch_MittelstandmeetsStartups_RKW.pdf

Since medium-sized companies differ greatly from startups in their working methods, this is particularly helpful in getting to know and better understand the other working methods. Here, the cooperation diary provides detailed insights, e.g. the Lean Startup Method explains the various types of MVPs and the Build-Measure-Learn cycle is illustrated (see figure). Furthermore, the cooperation diary reports on some successful use cases, e.g. the cooperation between the traditional company Babor and the startup Picavi, which actually come from very different areas, but both could benefit from their cooperation. You can read more about this and other case studies in the cooperation diary.

Source:  Kooperationstagebuch_MittelstandmettsStartups_RKW.pdf

Due to different action areas and the associated different locations and networks, medium-sized companies and start-ups rarely meet each other by chance in their everyday lives. Therefore, one of the first hurdles at the beginning of a cooperation can be getting to know each other. So that SMEs are not put off by this and get an overview of the various possibilities, the cooperation diary also provides some tips. In order to illustrate all this information in the best possible way, some graphics etc. will be used here again. In addition, the workbook deals with further aspects such as business model development, innovation theater, start-up ecosystems or intrapreneurship. It also uses the Value Proposition Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder to convey what you can offer to startups or what benefits startups have with you as a cooperation partner.

Source:  Kooperationstagebuch_MittelstandmettsStartups_RKW.pdf

If you, as a medium-sized company, are thinking about cooperating with startups, the cooperation diary can be a wonderful help. In addition to meaningful explanations of basic terms, the Workbook offers insights into the working methods and practices of the startup culture. Furthermore, there are plenty of informative tips and tricks that can make both the start of a cooperation and the collaboration easier. The learning units and examples enriched with graphics illustrate the information provided in the best possible way and convey it in a variety of ways. If we have aroused your interest in cooperating with a startup or in dealing more intensively with the topic of startup cooperation, you can order the workbook free of charge here on the RKW website.

About the authors

The cooperation diary was jointly developed by Alexandra Koch, Dr. Kai Morgenstern and Dr. Matthias Wallisch. Alexandra Koch worked at RKW from 2014 to 2020, during which time she built up an accelerator in nine EU countries. In the meantime, she has taken over the management of the Global Entrepreneurship Network in Germany, as well as that of the public relations department at Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden AG. Dr. Matthias Wallisch completed his doctorate in 2009 on the topic of Business Angels, and since then has been leading projects in the areas of Startup meets Mittelstand and start-up ecosystems. Three years later, Dr. Kai Morgenstern joined RKW after completing his studies in physics and his doctorate in climatology. At RKW he was head of the project Energy Efficiency Impulsgespräche until 2014, and worked on workshops for better cooperation between SMEs and start-ups until 2020.