Fast Biotechnologies: When slowing down isn’t an option.

The business

Fast Biotechnologies is the brainchild of Balendu Avvaru

Meet Balendu Avvaru, a scientific superstar who’s saving the world from a future of drug-resistant bacteria with his startup, Fast Biotechnologies (Fast BT).

He used an elite talent investor programme to bring his startup idea to life

After a successful scientific career, he joined the second cohort of the Entrepreneur First (EF) Berlin chapter as a way to pursue his startup ambitions.

EF is a programme that accepts only exceptional individuals who want to start technology companies and helps them do just that.

EF means entrepreneurs (have to go) fast

For EF participants, the pressure is on from the start. They have 3.5 months to find a co-founder, develop a viable business idea and incorporate a company to qualify for the programme’s funding round. Needless to say, time is of the essence.

The obstacle

The only German things that move fast are on the Autobahn

Germany has one of the most complicated regulatory systems in the world which makes it hard for entrepreneurs to gain any momentum at all. Before you can get started you have to get a company name check, draft articles of association, visit a notary, open a bank account, get entered into the commercial registry, register a trade and complete a tax office questionnaire.

Being the resourceful person he is, if Balendu was, for example, in England or the USA he could have easily worked out the incorporation process himself. However, unlike England and the USA, Germany ties businesses up in red tape. On top of that, Balendu had another thing working against him: he couldn’t understand German officialese.

How not to let German bureaucracy slow you down

With EF’s tight deadlines, Balendu decided to get some outside help and contacted us. We helped him incorporate his company in the shortest possible time. During the incorporation process, he had a human being who explained everything in English, guided him through the process and did all the paperwork. No burning time on endless research or grappling with language barriers.

When you’re a scientist and entrepreneur but not a finance guy 

Post-incorporation and post-EF, Balendu settled into life as a solo entrepreneur, embracing the day-to-day hubbub of leading a cutting-edge sci-tech startup.

Balendu is a scientist and entrepreneur who thrives on all the challenges that startup life throws at him – except when it comes to accounting. And to be honest, there’s not much chance of a startup founder in Germany being able to do their accounts correctly.

Moreover, in the early stages of a startup, it is usually neither possible nor desirable to create an internal finance department to handle the accounting.

The way

How to outsource to optimise operations in the early stages 

By outsourcing both his bookkeeping and annual accounting to firma.de, the only financial admin that Balendu has to do is send in his invoices. He doesn’t even have to stay on top of all the important dates – we follow up with him until everything is done.

This is what makes firma.de different. Unlike a tax consultancy, our business model is 100% customer-centric. Our sole focus is to meet the needs of startups and SMEs by offering a single solution to Germany’s complicated bureaucratic system. A big part of the bureaucratic machine in Germany is accounting, so we only partner with firms that specialise in helping businesses.

Business is about having the right priorities 

What does that mean for Balendu? It means more bandwidth to focus on the things that only he can do, like running his lab and overseeing product development. This is particularly important because Balendu isn’t developing a run-of-the-mill product. He is developing a product that could very well one day save the life of someone you love.

Balendu’s startup story has the potential to have a huge impact on the world, and we are honoured to be a small part of it.