Name:
Christian Marschalek
Project:
maptivity
Founding date - How long have you been working on your idea?
The maptivity OG was founded in May 2020. However, we were already working on the idea before that.
Founding triggers: How did you come up with the idea?
The idea came to Harald when he was in Styria with his wife and friends and their child and they didn't know what they could do on a rainy Sunday with their child nearby. As is so often the case, the laborious search on various websites did not lead to the desired success and so Harald thought of maptivity for the first time.
Founding moment: How did you know that you wanted to realize your idea?
Harald and I worked for the same company and so, over an after-work beer, Harald told me about his idea that it would be cool to build a platform where you could find out about possible leisure activities in your area or anywhere else. This would put an end to the tedious and laborious searches on various websites, which usually don't lead to the desired destination anyway. I was able to identify with the idea right from the start, as I have often had the same experience as Harald in Styria and have laboriously searched for possible activities. After about two days, we got together again and decided to put the idea into practice.
Elevator pitch of your project:
As an online platform, maptivity offers active people the opportunity to organize their leisure time quickly, easily and in a tailor-made way. In contrast to established websites, maptivity offers all people with a wide range of interests the opportunity to find the ideal leisure activities for them.
Elevator pitch about yourself:
My name is Christian Marschalek and I graduated from the FH Steyr (Production & Management degree program) in 2013. Since then, I have worked in various companies and areas. I am currently working as a key account manager in the automotive supply industry and am also building up the online platform maptivity with my co-founder Harald.
How many of you are in the founding team and how did you come together?
Harald Eriksson and Christian Marschalek
University:
FH Oberösterreich Campus Steyr
How did your university support you when it came to founding and entrepreneurship?
I graduated in 2013 and at that time the topic of entrepreneurship was not as present as it is today.
Do's: What would you recommend to any founder, or what would you do again?
I recommend every founder or anyone who has an idea to just give it a try and, if possible, start part-time. We also work part-time on maptivity, as this keeps the risk low. It's more time-consuming, of course, as you spend many evenings and weekends working on the idea, but you always have the security of knowing if it doesn't work.
Don`ts: What would you do differently? What was your biggest learning?
Until recently, we put too much pressure on ourselves because we wanted to implement our ideas quickly and be successful as soon as possible. As a result, we sometimes lost the fun of founding and maptivity. We have learned from this and are now taking a more relaxed approach and working our way forward step by step.
How to start? - What would you recommend to anyone interested in starting a business?
Just do it!
