Mannheimer Alugha GmbH creates admission to global Blackbox-Network

As part of the two-week immersion program "Blackbox Connect", Bernd Korz, CEO of Alugha GmbH, gets up close and personal with Silicon Valley. The Mannheim startup had to go through a tough selection process that seven other German companies have passed so far.

August 2017 could become an important milestone in the development of the Mannheim-based company Alugha GmbH, which was founded in 2014: CEO Bernd Korz will take part in the 19th immersion programme "Blackbox Connect" in San Francisco from 14 to 25 August and will meet other selected start-ups from all over the world there. A total of eight German companies have now taken this step.

 

Founder's spirit is the focus of the Blackbox program

The non-profit organization Blackbox, which includes 56 other partners and above all "Google for Entrepreneurs", launches various programs for entrepreneurs that are active outside of the USA, in order to strengthen their opportunities on the global market. The strictly selected participants of the Blackbox Connect program will meet with experienced entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, but also with venture capital investors and professional mentors. The interesting and top-class workshops aim at developing the founder's personality in order to optimally prepare them for management tasks in globally active companies. Entrepreneurs such as Bernd Korz from Mannheim have the opportunity to look at what has been achieved so far, to analyze their own and often situatively grown corporate structures and to outline any need for optimization with experts.


Before the flight to San Francisco, however, high hurdles had to be overcome: Basically, only founders or co-founders of a currently operating start-up can apply for one of the coveted spots if a product has already been launched on the market and if the potential participant speaks English. Even the first round, i.e. the submission of a concise written application, leads to a rough selection of the most interesting projects. The initiators of Blackbox use Skype to get a first impression of each short-listed entrepreneur and his startup. If this promises more, the Blackbox founder interviews the applicant personally and in detail via Skype. Here not only deepening questions concerning the company and it's idea are posed, but also questions about the Blackbox program will be part of the interview . The following internal discussion with Blackbox leads finally to the participant listing for the respective program.

 

Global Blackbox network opens up enormous opportunities for startups

With around 350 black boxers in 60 countries, an elite global community is waiting for the Mannheim-based alugha GmbH, which, as the developer of a multilingual video platform, is tearing down the language barriers and raising the worldwide marketing of videos in a wide variety of languages to a completely new level. The two weeks in the Silicon Valley might open Bernd Korz new perspectives, Blackbox nevertheless strictly follows the approach to promote the founder because he is a crucial drivers for growth of the company and thus also of the economy. Under professional monitoring by consultants and mentors, Bernd Korz will assess his original vision and the resulting product "from the outside". Furthermore, he will assess his position in the company and in the market, but above all he will also review the lived corporate culture in exchange with other participants. This not only enlarges one's own perspective enormously, but should also initiate the next steps in corporate development.

The support does not end on August 25th when Bernd Korz will fly back to Mannheim. The black box network accompanies the members far beyond the start-up phase on their way to becoming a globally successful company that can be sure of one thing: In the proverbial corner of the boxing ring, which the respective market represents, a committed, experienced and above all helpful crew is ready to assist the founder on his way with words and deeds.