Tim joined The Nest team this year to support German fast-growing companies as our new Business Director in Germany! Here’s a Spotlight on Tim Kirchner.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, Tim?
I was born, raised and educated in Berlin and never left. Don’t know, whether that’s a good or bad thing. Besides investing literally everything I had in building my startup LUUV (R.I.P.), I spent my spare time as an OCR-Runner and switched to CrossFit as soon as I realized that Olympic Weightlifting is more fun than running.
As a former startup founder, what would you say is the biggest challenge for startups in terms of customer experience?
As a founder you have the intention of doing everything perfect. A good approach for the early stages, but often obstructive when it comes to scaling. Spending too much time on tiny bits instead of figuring out repetitive processes and structures is not only time consuming but keeps you from working on the company (instead of in the company). Living a healthy 80/20 lifestyle from the get-go should be founder-101 imho. That applies to CX as well!
Get to know your customers, be confident and assertive and figure out patterns and strategies. But don’t start from the beginning, every time you’ll face a seemingly new obstacle.
The BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry has not always a very “sexy” image: why inspired you to join The Nest team?
I experienced a lot of unhappy relationships between corporates and startups in the past, mostly because of miscommunication and false expectations. I simply wanted to change that with having someone on the corporate site who truly speaks and thinks startup. Furthermore, I see The Nest as a unique and awesome opportunity for startups to scale internationally. It was clear for me from the very beginning that The Nest can be a true game-changer for young companies out there, and I wished I had this opportunity when was in the startup game myself. And true, the BPO image is pretty “unsexy”, but as soon as you have a closer look, your perspective changes and I’m here to help with that process.
When should a startup work with a third party support provider, if ever?
If something isn’t your core business and/or is repetitive, think about involving an outside professional instead of stacking up internally. When startups reach a certain maturity, often between Seed and Series A, they are ready to “push the button”, meaning they are ready to scale and conquer new markets. For this, third party providers can guarantee the necessary speed while maintaining a top notch level of quality.
From your point of view, could you name 3 startups that you find particularly interesting and promising in your country?
It’s hard to nail it down to my Top 3 as there are hundreds of mind-blowing startups out there. 2021 is a great year so far, especially for the German ecosystem. But ok, if I can only pick 3, I would personally choose: Gorillas, Vytal and Planetly
What’s the first thing you’re going to do when we get out of this COVID-19 period?
My first 3 things, in this order will be: Gym, Restaurant, Cinema.
