For Sascha Schick, everything started the same way as for many other founders. With an idea: finding and booking services with two clicks as easily as online shopping.
By transferring the Uber principle to the industry and with the goal of becoming the Amazon for services, Sascha Schick creates something completely new with these role models. The brilliant team, the right concept and the desire to live away from the comfort zone motivate him to always go one step further.
Family man and businessman in one
Life as a family man is everyday life for Sascha Schick. Just like as a businessman. He already had more than 20 years of professional experience in the digital industry when he founded his first company. Together with his colleagues, Schick founded praktischarzt 11 years ago. It developed into the most sought-after job portal in the profession. Making the world easier with digitalization was and is Schick’s vision.
Before his time as founder of praktischarzt and now anyhelpnow, the IT industry was his home. As CIO at MODEL AG, he optimized IT strategies and was able to win prizes such as the “Supplier of the Year” or the “Global Partner Award” from P&G. Through his position as Global Group Director Digitalization and IT at Amcor Group GmbH, a world market leader for developing and producing responsible packaging, Schick was not only crowned top named CIO of the decade by Switzerland in 2020, but also developed into an expert in his field.
The journey begins
In Sascha Schick’s position at Amcor, he was responsible for the global markets and travelled to Asia, America and Europe 95% of the time for many years. Business trips were the order of the day. Due to the Corona pandemic, he was finally at home for three months at a time and made the decision: Start a new business. The early 40-year-old family man was convinced by the market’s clear need for the business model. “Making finding and booking services as easy as online shopping,” is how Schick sums it up. Finding capital in particular proved to be a challenge in the beginning. “You can’t let that get you down as a founder. The first attempts are always difficult,” he explains. Digitization is a big promise in Germany, but few deeds follow. Digital ideas are often met with skepticism but Schick’s idea is not. While the pre-founding phase was financed entirely with Schick’s own capital, he and his team have now achieved a seven-figure financing round.
How it goes
Schick successfully builds up the network that is extremely important for his business model. It’s clear to him that he can’t do it without his team. “Even when the idea came to me, I knew: without the right colleagues, I don’t even have to try,” Schick recalls. ” The idea, Excel spreadsheets and my reliable team have brought us the investments so far.” Now the fresh team is facing its second round of financing. And Schick knows exactly how to keep the entire company on track.
“Every day we come up with new ideas and the development doesn’t stop. Neither we nor anyhelpnow are allowed to move into a comfort zone. Personally, it makes me – paradoxically – not feel comfortable. I may have passed that on to the company,” Schick laughs.
At the Cologne Dialogue in October 2023, he will take on his new speaker role and talk about the path to becoming a successful founder. This speech also has the motto “Get out of your comfort zone”. He and his team pursue similar goals with an in-house podcast. Schick talks about his story, gives advice on founding Start-ups and meets guests from all kinds of industries.
Every new product should solve a problem
“Shortly before Christmas, our heating system broke down. Two weeks of warm showers at my parents-in-law’s house later, the idea for anyhelpnow stuck with me,” Sascha Schick laughs. According to the motto: any help now. The team offers customers free access to a digital pool of expertise. Registered users can post their search queries for services here and, for example, use the integrated appointment system to book their next visit to the hairdresser. On the other hand, industry professionals or companies offer their services and answer enquiries. In the role of intermediary, anyhelpnow accompanies the path of its customers and at the same time its service providers. For companies, anyhelpnow also acts as a marketing tool and contributes to more visibility on the internet. “One of the USPs lies in the digitalized end-2-end process from search to commissioning and billing. The second lies in the transfer of the Uber principle to the service industry. People who need help connect with people who can give help,” Schick summarizes.
There is only one direction
For the future, Sascha Schick hopes that anyhelpnow will not stand still but continue to develop. The DIY area, help via video chat and online tutorials will be launched this year – all for more hand-on mentality. There are still many opportunities waiting around the corner. Standing still is a nightmare for Sascha Schick. Just as it is for his ideas.
More information’s www.anyhelpnow.com
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