Sports Start Ups at the Trade Fair for Founders: Fanmiles, Goalplay, Runtastic

Sunday 24 September, 2017 – innovative minds should have more than just the German federal elections in their calendars on this day. It is also the start of the fifth “Bits & Pretzels” trade fair. Launched in 2012 with 1,400 guests in Löwenbräukeller, Germany, the world’s largest trade fair for business founders continues to attract more and more visitors – in 2016, more than 5,000 participants came to the International Congress Center in Munich.

Stefan Raab will hold the first keynote of Bits & Pretzels 2017, Kevin Spacey will also be there

This year, entertainer Stefan Raab will make one of his rare appearances after his retirement from TV and hold the opening keynote. Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey, who held the opening keynote in 2016 (“Virtual reality changes everything”) has also announced himself as a guest of the three-day event. It will finish on Tuesday 26 September with a networking event with prominent table captains at Octoberfest.

Oliver Kahn speaks about Goalplay

Just like last year, ISPO.com is the media partner for Bits & Pretzels and will report before and during the event – because the innovative sports business will also be present at the trade fair for business founders. On 24 September the German former national soccer goalkeeper Oliver Kahn will speak about his company, Goalplay, with which he wants to become a leading supplier of goalkeeper products. “From Goalkeeping Titan to Goalplay Entrepreneur” is the title of his keynote.

On Monday 25 September, Kahn’s former colleague at FC Bayern and world champion Philipp Lahm will make his appearance. The former captain of the German national soccer team has started his second business after the end of his active soccer career. He has been the sole shareholder of Sixtus Werke Schliersee since summer 2017, but he is also active as a founder. 

Philipp Lahm invests in Fanmiles

The founder of the Philipp Lahm Holding is partner of the Berlin start-up, Fanmiles, where soccer supporters are rewarded for their loyalty via a bonus system. Together with the Fanmiles founders, Fabian Schmidt and Alan Sternberg, Fanmiles investor Lahm will speak on the big stage of Bits & Pretzels about the topic of “professional soccer player vs. start-up world – what you can learn from both sides.” 

Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted supports Runtastic founder Florian Gschwandtner

What happens when a young start-up from Austria is bought by the largest and most successful sports brand in the world? The founder of Runtastic and the CEO of Adidas will answer this question. Runtastic creator Florian Gschwandtner already appeared in 2016 at Bits & Pretzels. (Read his interview here on ISPO.com: From fitness tracker start-up to life coach.)This year he will get support from Adidas boss Kasper Rorsted who is continuing his search for employees – perhaps he will strike gold at Bits & Pretzels?

Jobs in sports business – offers here! >>>

Innovation Journey with the network “Frauen verbinden” (Connecting women) at the Munich trade fair.

As part of the fifth Bits & Pretzels there will also be a premiere: The first “Innovation Journey”, which SZ Scala and the Munich trade fair will launch together with their network “Frauen verbinden” (Connecting Women). Thirty managers from DAX and medium-sized companies will get underway on a three-day journey around the innovation hub, Munich, to answer the question: How does innovation work? There are trips to the development unit of a large car manufacturer; participants will go to an e-mobility start-up, and even to Bits & Pretzels. The price for participating in the Innovation Journey, including access to Bits & Pretzels and to all one-off events as well as the concluding Octoberfest-networking evening with the Bits & Pretzels Table Captains, is 2,490 euros. Register or enquire by email at: mail@innovationjourney.net