Interview with SUMM AI

How would you describe your company in one sentence?

Flora: SUMM AI is the DeepL for easy language. We make the world understandable to everyone with understandable and accessible text at the touch of a button.

What problems are you trying to solve and who are your main target groups?

Flora: In Germany alone, there are more than 10 million people who rely on simple language to help them in their daily lives. For example, because they have a learning disability, they have educational disadvantages or they speak German as a second language. And that is why they are usually excluded from critical information with our complicated everyday language, and that is so important that there is also a legal requirement to provide easy language for public institutions as well as for private companies. And these are our target customers because we are marketing our solution to them to meet the legal requirements.

Where did your idea come from, what inspired you to start?

Flora: So among the founders, we are mostly studying AI research at the TU Munich and we decided to use our AI skills and knowledge to solve a socially relevant problem and we actually found it in my (Flora’s) family: So my aunt is part of the target group of easy language because of educational disadvantages and we basically started to build this for her and then we realised that this is a big problem that needs a solution that we’re providing now.

What was the most difficult hurdle you had to overcome in the beginning?

Vanessa: So I think the start, as Flora just said, we are straight out of university and we are first time founders. So it was really hard to find people and knowledge from people who have done this before to tell us what maybe our next steps should be. And I think what is also a big hurdle is accepting the things that they tell you. Some of the mistakes you have to make yourself to really understand “OK, this is what they meant”. But building this network of mentors, people who have start-up experience, which we also find here [at UnternehmerTUM], that was a big hurdle to overcome. And I think now the way forward is to find the right people to join our team, to grow our team and also to find someone who believes in the same mission and wants to change the world with us.

What milestones have you successfully passed?

Vanessa: So I think the first and biggest was finding our first paying customer. That was a huge achievement for us to see that there are actually people, companies, institutions out there that want to pay for something that we’ve created. That was a big first milestone.

Flora: Absolutely, and especially in the B2G sector, where people have told us that it’s so hard to sell to the government as a young company, and to be able to archive that was super awesome. But what is also great is our team. And especially finding our first full-time employee six months ago and now growing our team to more than ten team members. These are milestones that we celebrate as a team and we are really proud of them.

What do you currently lack, where are the hurdles or barriers?

Vanessa: So especially as a bootstrapped startup we’re trying to find the right way and the right ways to professionalise everything we do in terms of legal, tax and operations. And that is a part that we are trying to build right now and it is a big hurdle, especially as a bootstrapped startup, to find the right people to help us with that.

Flora: And also finding the right people in terms of the team. So there is a war for talent. We’re an AI tech company that also needs to hire developers and data scientists, and that’s just something that’s in high demand right now.

Where do you want to go in the future, what’s the main goal?

Flora: We are on a mission to make the world understandable for everyone. And when I say the world, I mean it literally. Simple language is a concept that exists in many other languages, not just German where we started. So we are looking at different languages and how we can bring value to people who are excluded from critical information in English, in French, in Spanish. So the main goal is to really look at the world and try to make it understandable for everyone.

How did you enter the ecosystem of UnternehmerTUM, TUM Venture Labs and the Legal Tech Colab?

Vanessa: So I think we went the whole way through the UnternehmerTUM ecosystem. We started with the XPLORE and XPRENEURS programmes, and alongside that we had a relationship with TUM Venture Labs where we got mentorship and everything. So we went through the whole ecosystem and benefited from a lot of things.

What doors have been opened for you through the connection to UnternehmerTUM, TUM Venture Labs and the Legal Tech Colab?

Flora: Honestly, countless doors. I don’t even know where to start. So we met potential investors, potential customers, especially mentors and people who just open up their network and help us find connections. And really give us this advice from their own start-up experience. So really valuable advice on what not to do, what to do. These are just a few examples of the many, many great people from the ecosystem that have helped us so far. And still counting ????

Vanessa: And maybe also being able to work together in a hub like the Munich Urban Colab and meet other startups. Especially through the programmes that we’ve done, you always have someone in your peer group that you can ask, “Hey, have you done this or that before?” And you can share ideas and knowledge. So I think that is also a very important part.

How can the Legal Tech Colab support you on your way?

Flora: So one important thing is to be able to work from this great place. So because of the Legal Tech Colab we are able to work in the Munich Urban Colab which is a great place to meet a lot of other startups and also to impress your team a little bit with this great building.

Vanessa: Then to be able to show our solution on the Vent stages, meet new people there, either find new team members or potential customers, investors. So just having a place to show ourselves.

Flora: And in terms of customers, also being able to explore use cases in the legal space. So complicated language is something that is very deeply rooted in the legal domain, I think. So it is really interesting for us to be able to talk to different people in the field and assess whether we can add value there.

What has changed for you personally since you started your business?

Vanessa: I used to be a very shy and reserved person. So even in class I would never have asked a question or anything. And now, I think just a few weeks ago, I had a meeting with the advisory board of a big company and I was excited to go in and not scared. Just growing at that level, being more confident in myself and my abilities.

Flora: And don’t forget, you pitched on a stage in front of 300 people, including Federal Minister Robert Habeck, so there’s a lot going on. (both laugh). And also doing new things every day and not being afraid to take on new things, like topics that you’ve never heard of before, where you really have to try to form an opinion, try to work in this new area very quickly and have this responsibility and this freedom to be creative and just work on great things. That has changed a lot.

What advice do you have for founders?

Vanessa: I think our main advice and the motto we try to live by is: Be brave and don’t be afraid to fail.

Your tip: What questions should you ask yourself before starting a business?

Flora: So you may have heard this countless times, but believe us, it’s true: Have you really validated your business idea? Have you talked to 1000 people to really validate outside of your own head whether your business idea is valuable. That’s the most important thing.

What are you most proud of when it comes to SUMM AI?

Vanessa: Having built up this amazing group of people who work with us on a daily basis to fulfil our mission. So every day when we start our day with our daily call and we have a growing number of people joining us and just hearing all their thoughts every day. So I think that is our biggest achievement from my side.

Flora: Absolutely. And also selling our product to the public sector in Germany, because there are a lot of people working on digitising the public sector and making it more accessible and better for the citizens of their country. And being part of that and making a difference there is super fulfilling and we are proud of that.

How did you find each other as co-founders and what is most important to you in working together?

Flora: So we studied together at the TU Munich in an interdisciplinary master’s programme. And that is actually one of the important parts. So being an interdisciplinary team, having different skills. But also different ways of thinking. So some of us are more visionary and bold, some of us are more realistic and also look at important limitations. So coming together in this great mix really makes a great team and that is important to us.

What has been your highlight as a founder so far?

Vanessa: I think for me it was being nominated as one of the startups in the newcomer group for the DEHub Pitch Night and being able to pitch in Frankfurt on a stage in front of 300 or more people and especially in front of Robert Habeck and other people from politics. I think that was a big milestone and highlight for me.

Flora: And for me it was actually being featured in the newspaper that my grandmother used to read every day for years and that made me really proud because if she had seen that she would have been so happy.