Already a 19-year-old entrepreneur: Domenik Klingenbrunn is fulfilling this dream with his startup Real2Web, which is currently in the incorporation stage. The Lohrer got support from the Starthouse and his father, Oliver, who launched a startup a year and a half ago.
The business idea that the 19-year-old developed with his father and now wants to implement it in a joint startup is to “digitally represent reality and make it tangible”. Everyone talks about virtual reality, but it often portrays only a small portion of reality? A virtual museum tour here, and a digital sales room there.
However, according to Oliver Klingenbrunn, Real2Web “relies on linking individual sites that belong together regionally in order to make them digitally available together and thus more interesting in general”. Last Wednesday evening, the father and son introduced their business idea at the digital event “Starthouse Spotlight”.
Tours and products
Using Lohr as an example, they showed how they want to combine 360 panoramas in tours with product presentations. Oliver Klingenbrunn explained: “We don’t just rely on the images here, but we enrich them in a way that the visitor can interact with them as if they were actually there.”
The range of possible uses ranges from retail and commerce to tourism and culture to management: for example, a tourist must be able to take a virtual look around the hotel from home and reserve a room. The adjacent store allows its customers to view merchandise digitally and get advice from the seller in the integrated live chat. Real estate agents can offer virtual tours so that potential buyers can get a first impression. “I don’t have a field to specialize in, but I’m open to everyone,” says Dominic Klingenbrunn.
Advice from other founders
The 19-year-old, who has rented a digital startup center in Lohr since the beginning of May, is also open to constructive criticism and advice from Starthouse Manager Anja Güll and other emerging teams there. Domenik Klingenbrunn considers the network, which includes not only startups but also established regional companies, to be very beneficial. The father-son team idea is only six weeks old. So much remains to be done.
The day-to-day work of the young company founder is, on the other hand, cumbersome. 40 hours per week are reserved for training. Then he goes into the office for another three to four hours to get going. Starting next week, Lohrer wants to start acquiring its first customers in the area.
Domenik Klingenbrunn is in charge of Real2Web’s operational business. He takes photos, takes interest in sales, and lets his father introduce him to accounting. “My father is there as a teacher because he has sales experience,” says the 19-year-old. He describes the collaboration as “huge.” The two try to separate work from private matters as much as possible. “When we are at the dining table, we are not talking about work,” he asserts.
Dominic Klingenbrunn explains that his family has always supported him when he wants to start his own business. According to his statement, there was only positive feedback from the circle of friends, even if some of them found it clear that he was already establishing a startup. He understands the reaction, after all, 19 isn’t quite out of date. “But so far it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” he said.
With virtual reality glasses
In the “Starthouse Spotlight”, the founding team also showed participants how their product could be realized using virtual reality glasses. Dominic Klingenbrunn emphasized that “technology makes the customer feel really at home”.
Scroll through the virtual start house, enter new rooms and offer the integral online shopping option on a houseplant. The 19-year-old explained that regardless of whether it is a fashion store, shoe store or auto dealer, anyone can book it.
During the ensuing question-and-answer session, Lohr Advertising Association President Angelika Winkler spoke. It listed the Lohr on Plan smartphone app, the regional sales platform Mainlokalshop and Watch my city, a website that includes 360-degree tours of Lohr’s public places, restaurants and shops. With so many different modules already out there, Winkler wondered how to avoid excessive presentations of comparable information.
Oliver Klingenbrunn replied that what is available and what is good can be easily combined: “We don’t want to build predatory competition here, but instead fill in gaps in the depth so the overall offer is interesting.” Father and son have a vision.
If they implemented this, many people would at some point be able to see the virtual world through the two eyes of Klingenbrunns and stroll, communicate, and consume in it.
Jump start
Dominic Klingenbrunn, 19, was the youngest founder to rent a Starthouse in Lohr. According to Anja Güll, president of the Digital Startup Center, seven teams currently share coworking spaces there. The age group for startup founders ranges from 19 to 59.
According to its director, Starthouse’s goal is “to give founders the best possible start”. The 28-year-old sees herself in the role of a mediator. She wants to give new entrepreneurs the appropriate training offers, inform them of financing programs and facilitate the exchange of ideas between founders. The network is also very important in relation to the regional economy, which can impart a lot of experience.
Dominic Klingenbrunn and his father, Oliver, have already benefited from the experience of a well-known businessman who does not come from the region. The latter co-founded the startup Aschaffenburg, “Green MNKY”, which offers mobile-friendly screening films. Last year, his company secured financial support from financial entrepreneur Karsten Mashmaier for the TV show “Die Höhle der Löwen”. When he visited the startup Aschaffenburg, Oliver Klingenbrunn showed the investor a business idea that he and his son had developed using virtual reality goggles. According to the 19-year-old, Mashmeyer was so excited that he advised marketing him in his startup. “To me this was the last point that showed me that I should do it now,” says Domenik Klingenbrunn. His startup Real2Web is currently in the incorporation stage.
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