Teams from the Startup Region Stuttgart: Synthavo

Who is part of the founding team and who is responsible for what tasks or has what set of skills?

• Sebastian Stöcklmeier, CEO, industry expert; M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, +5 years experience in the manufacturing and packaging machinery industry (Bosch, Syntegon), responsible for sales, marketing, investor relations, HR.
• Benedict Lindner, CTO, AI specialist; M.Sc. robotics, cognition, intelligence; software developer; master thesis on AI and object recognition; responsible for product development and IT infrastructure
• Alex Illg, COO, AI practitioner; M.Sc. industrial engineering (HS Albstadt-Sigmaringen); industrial engineer; data-driven projects in internship semester at Daimler AG; responsible for project management and execution, customer success

A brief description

Synthavo helps machine and industrial component manufacturers in the after-sales business to build a hybrid sales business, increase revenues and address service and sales inefficiencies. For this purpose, they develop a software for visual component search, which can be integrated directly into the webshop or service portal as an API.

The background of the development

Benedict Lindner was responsible for the development of a software for documentation creation during his work as a student trainee. He recognized the problem that working with machine documentation is difficult and time-consuming from the customer's point of view, as well as requiring experience in dealing with machines and systems.

During his master studies in "Robotics, Cognition and Intelligence" at the Technical University of Munich, he acquired techniques for data and information evaluation as well as classification of the information. The application of the theoretical basics to the previously identified problem area took place during his master's thesis. During this time, Benedict conducted research in the area of using machine learning techniques for component classification of mechanical engineering parts. While searching for an industrial partner, he met Sebastian Stöcklmeier and the two developed the concept of a service application for machine manufacturers and operators to found the company.

What was the biggest challenge for you last year?

On the one hand, developing a market-ready and customer-centric product based on a technological innovation as quickly as possible (technology push). On the other hand, the early acquisition of the first pilot customers (traction) without being able to offer a fully developed product.

Tips for founders / What would you do differently today?

Always choose the technically simplest and most imperfect (but fastest) solution first, which satisfies the customer's needs by 80%, instead of tinkering forever to find the perfect technical solution. This way, customer feedback can be gathered very quickly and it can be developed in the right direction. It's much more important to do the right things than to do things right (take advantage of coaching offers!). Also, work on the idea full time as quickly as possible.

Supporters of the project

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Michael Weyrich, IAS

Funding period

01.09.2021 – 31.08.2022

Area of application

Machine and industrial component manufacturers