DynAmaze is a B2B2C platform on which we sell free capacities of high-quality leisure providers such as spas, amusement parks, and zoos to end customers. Unlike other platforms, we use dynamic prices that adapt to the utilization of the respective provider and only refer customers when the provider has free capacities.
Founding story
DynAmaze: Our story started when Pétur and Jasper met each other during their economics bachelor studies at the University of Cologne. In the first years of their bachelor’s degree, they exchanged ideas on how to apply economic theories to real life. This is also where the topic of dynamic pricing first became relevant. During his masters, Jasper focused on entrepreneurship, and thus further explored the practical side of dynamic pricing.
Pétur also continued his education on the topic during his masters, and studied the theory and algorithms of dynamic pricing, using the example of the airline industry. After the focus of the research fell on the leisure industry, the prospective founders sat down with large leisure providers based in Cologne and worked out the needs of the leisure industry.
With the feedback from the providers, the decision to found their own company was solidified. At this point, Jasper and Pétur realized that information technology resources are a must to put all the ideas into action and program DynAmaze. Therefore, they decided to bring Timo, a friend of theirs, onboard, who was equally enthusiastic about the idea of DynAmaze. After the process and the development of the idea, the three founders were ready to start Dynamaze.
Financing & Fundraising
DynAmaze: We successfully applied for different scholarships/federal grants (such as Gründerstipendium NRW), which helped us to fully focus on DynAmaze. We are currently looking for seed investment to expand and automize DynAmaze.
Which were the challenges your startup had to overcome?
DynAmaze: The most impactful challenge for DynAmaze was/is Covid-19. Our launch took place at the end of 2019, and thus shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic. Covid-19 prevented us from continuing our business model and ticket sales for a large part of the time, as it was simply not possible to enjoy leisure activities. We are very happy that the lockdown is finally over and that we can continue to grow our ticket sales.
How did you become an entrepreneur?
DynAmaze: I have always been very interested in the topics of innovation and technology. I didn’t really plan to become an entrepreneur from an early age. I was very convinced of the founders-team and the concept. I strongly believe that dynamic prices will become the standard pricing technology in a couple of years. I am very happy to try and implement this strategy in the field of leisure activities. All in all my motivation mainly stems from the idea and the team, rather than just wanting to be an entrepreneur.
Which were the challenges you had to overcome?
DynAmaze: Overcoming the several lockdowns we had to face due to the covid-pandemic was extremely challenging. It’s a lot harder to keep on working on an idea if you don’t see the results of your work immediately (ticket sales). Also, the level of uncertainty was extremely high. I am very proud of our founders’ team, for have overcome the past lockdowns.
Key learnings as an entrepreneur
DynAmaze: Perseverance, high stress, frustration, and tolerance are by far the most important attitudes for entrepreneurs. From my experience, so far a strong network to the most important potential investors is the most important thing if you successfully want to close an investment. It is much more promising to carefully select the best potential investors (some criteria: verticals, portfolio, ticket size, preferred business mode) and use your network to get an intro to them, than just randomly send out your pitch deck to investors.
