2022 Recap

💥 Some things were not good in 2022. Not only in global politics and economics, but also at clous. All the more important to take stock as a #founder - and also to see the positive!

⬇️ The #lowlights

We had to quickly adequately replace a key person who quit for personal reasons. This was challenging on a personal and professional level. (❓How do you handle key people in your company? What do you do when they quit unexpectedly for personal reasons?)

I put a large part of my own work into fundraising. I like this task, but it is time-consuming and you have to be good at dealing with cancellations - which is not always so easy.

In addition, there have been big, advanced deals with new customers that were close to being signed, but still fell through. That's something you first have to digest as a start-up.

🆙 The #Highlights

One of the biggest and most important points was changes to the business model. As a start-up, it is in our self-image that we develop towards the market, constantly questioning and adapting ourselves. This is the only way a company can function in the long term.

We are therefore adapting our offering. In addition to general engineering process automation, we now offer preconfigured processes that can be used immediately (e.g., upload technical drawing, download 3D model ✅ to name just one use case). I strongly believe that the #clous.engine will be received great by the market.

In addition, we have further solidified our young company, expanded the team and gained more investors for our idea. This gives us enough strength for all upcoming goals.

#Team is a good key point here and one of the most positive aspects of this year. It made me proud how we acted together and were able to quickly introduce new people (@Stephan Schumacher) into the team in key roles. Thanks for that to the entire crew!

The #Podcast is also one of my highlights. Many great conversations that gave me exciting insights. A learning 👉I was shocked how quickly one becomes business blind. The podcast keeps me on my toes. By the way, you can find all previous episodes here: https://bit.ly/3jifKRo

💥 And 2023?

Next year will be very exciting for clous. We're venturing into new territory with our product strategy and will also be significantly expanding our team - challenges that I'm very much looking forward to.

But for now I'm looking forward to Christmas, which my family will be celebrating for many days. For me, it is the most beautiful holiday of the year.

In this sense, I dare to take a little LinkedIn break until the end of the year and wish you all happy holidays!

What are your highlights of the year? :)