Lambus: Almost a Silicon Valley start-​up #DHDL

The idea: an app that intel­li­gently combines travel plan­ning, bookings, storing all docu­ments and accoun­ting and makes it much easier for the user. Group trips in parti­cular should be able to be planned with consider­ably less effort. The foun­ders Hans and Anja proudly tell us that they have already gained almost 60,000 users.
The figure makes the inves­tors sit up and take notice, and Carsten Masch­meyer imme­dia­tely shows that he knows his way around this kind of busi­ness model, because he asks several ques­tions in one: whether these users had also regis­tered, or what exactly was being counted here? How many jour­neys had already been created in the app by the users and where they mone­tised?

In fact, there are many more aspects to this than might be assumed at first glance. Of course, the ques­tion about regis­tered users is to be taken lite­rally at first; the lion certainly wanted exactly this infor­ma­tion at this point. But there are a few „side effects“: If inves­tors ask this ques­tion, they often also want to see whether foun­ders are willing to mix the terms a little to perhaps look better. Or even if they don’t really have their numbers under control. Because foun­ders like to cite down­loads as users once in a while, but this is simply not correct. Because there are always direct app dele­tions after the down­load. Even if these are very low, poten­tial users are already lost here and you have to plan and work with a conver­sion rate. Foun­ders should there­fore always be 100% correct and trans­pa­rent with inves­tors and have dealt with the common terms befo­re­hand.

But the foun­ders can confirm this, the users they spoke of are all regis­tered. They have also created a total of around 50,000 trips via the app. Carsten notes that this is prac­ti­cally one trip per user. So, he is prac­ti­cally already reck­o­ning with a kind of average conver­sion rate for travel plan­ning here. On average, almost every regis­tered user actually uses the app, which indi­cates a high acti­vity rate. Strictly spea­king, one would still have to look at the exact distri­bu­tion, i.e. whether there are, for example, many users who create several trips and quite a few who do not even start plan­ning. But for a start-​up that has not been around that long, one can assume a fairly balanced distri­bu­tion for the time being.

However, such acti­vity metrics are extre­mely important for evalua­ting the busi­ness model: are people really using the app, is the concept catching on? Good acti­vity metrics can be a first step towards proof of concept, even if you still need to find out a lot more about your users to build a working busi­ness model.

Because when it comes to the ques­tion of mone­ti­sa­tion, things are a little weaker at Lambus; only a few part­ners are connected, who offer their services and pay a kind of commis­sion for them. Although further talks are underway, the foun­ders do not want to commit to revenue fore­casts, even if the lions ask several times and Dr. Georg Kofler then even drops out.

But the foun­ders are mainly targe­ting Carsten Masch­meyer anyway, as they admit a little later.

However, the big investor is scep­tical: a travel start-​up in the middle of the pandemic and then also with a rather high valua­tion? Mone­ti­sa­tion still seems a long way off here, but the foun­ders insist on their good user growth and the acti­vity rate.

Defi­ni­tely a rather American approach: think big, win many users first. But the foun­ders have not lost their footing in Germany: they already have part­ners and are in the process of further acqui­si­tion, and they also explain their plans for a paid pro version. In contrast to many Silicon Valley start-​ups in such a phase, the busi­ness model is clear in prin­ciple, it’s just a matter of details.

Carsten Masch­meyer is finally persuaded; he thinks the foun­ders are good, even if he doesn’t quite perceive them as entre­pre­neurs yet.

But he wants 25 instead of 15% from the foun­ders plus a „Corona miles­tone“, after which only the second half is paid out. A tough nego­tia­tion begins, and finally an agree­ment is reached on 18%. Which is perhaps less the exube­r­ance and influ­ence of American founder self-​confidence than the know­ledge that there will be further rounds with such a model if it is to be successful.

The founda­tion stone could now be laid, after all, the broad­cast happened just in time for the expected summer travel wave.

Photo (above): TVNOW / Bernd-​Michael Maurer