Arik Willner: ‘At Impossible Founders, we combine quality with speed!’
On 1 November 2025, Impossible Founders began operations with the aim of making Hamburg one of Europe's leading startup hubs. In this interview, CEO Arik Willner explains how he and his team intend to achieve this ambitious goal and what alliances he is forming to do so.
What was the response in Hamburg, particularly from the business and scientific communities, to the founding of Impossible Founders?
Incredibly positive. There is a great sense of optimism, especially in the scientific community. This is also the result of the funding of another cluster of excellence on materials research at the Technical University of Hamburg, which was announced in May 2025. In addition, the four clusters at the University of Hamburg continue to exist. This and the launch of Impossible Founders are important steps towards greater entrepreneurship at universities.
In the business community, the prospect of being able to find more innovations in Hamburg in the future is causing euphoria in particular. We are already receiving enquiries from companies asking how they can support us. We are also in contact with the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and various associations.
How have you experienced the months since the announcement of the acceptance for Impossible Founders?
It's been a wild time, but it was worth it! Lena Sofie Gericke, who works for us as CFO and COO, and I were kind of sitting on two chairs at the same time. We still had our responsibilities at DESY and were simultaneously taking the first steps in setting up Impossible Founders. Now we're happy that things are really getting started with a great team and we can focus on the specifics.
How big will the Impossible Founders team be?
As of November, there are ten of us, and we're aiming for a team of around 50.
What strategy are you pursuing now and what are the next steps?
Strategically, we are setting two benchmarks: quality and speed. We are currently hiring excellent people who will kick-start the first projects and are setting up an internal task force with them. From 12 to 14 December, there will be a Startup Weekend entitled "Impossible Founders Sprint". Further events with experts from the ecosystem are planned, and we also want to bring investors on board.
Speed means checking whether something that would normally take four months can also be done in four weeks. We want to accept the first startups into our programmes within the next six months.
When building our organisation, we are applying a ‘digital first’ approach, which means we are trying to digitise as many processes as possible. All steps are subject to quality control. We are also trying to raise additional funds.
Are there any quantitative targets?
We have already published some figures on our website: for example, we have set ourselves targets of supporting over 170 startups and achieving an investment volume of more than 1.8 billion euros. However, this refers to a period of ten years. To achieve this, we are setting up an accelerator, among other things, which is scheduled to launch in the middle of next year. We will be offering a highly attractive programme for startups from all over Germany. Already in December, we will be conceptionalising something that does not yet exist anywhere else: an IP incubator. Participants will be able to develop their business ideas there and then sell them or start their own companies.
How does the collaboration with universities and Startup Port look like?
We have already established several partnerships with universities in Hamburg. Jetta Frost, Vice-President of the University of Hamburg, has a seat on our advisory board, and we have so far been able to recruit 40 professors as ambassadors for Impossible Founders. Entrepreneurship is to become an integral part of the curriculum across all disciplines. We will actively approach universities and aim to establish Impossible Founders as a brand that stands for the connection between science and business. We are also seeking agreements on IP transfer and want to make it easier for companies to access talent.
With Startup Port, we want to strengthen its role in inspiring students to start their own businesses and supporting them as they take their first steps into the world of startups. It is therefore an important partner in winning people interested in starting a business for our programmes.
Impossible Founders is largely based on private sector initiative – what expectations do the two foundations have of you?
The foundations want us to promote networking between science, business and politics and set a common course of action. Always with an eye on quality and speed. We all hope that Impossible Founders will give rise to startups that achieve a valuation of at least 100 million euros, ideally including some unicorns.
Your focus is on artificial intelligence, quantum technology, new materials and green tech – where is Hamburg already well positioned, and where is there still room for improvement?
We still have some catching up to do in artificial intelligence, especially in international comparison. However, in the other areas mentioned, the situation looks much better. In quantum computing, the Hamburg Quantum Innovation Capital initiative is setting new standards, in green tech the Technical University in Harburg is doing excellent work, and Hamburg is also playing a leading role in new materials, as I know not least from my work at DESY. I would also like to add life sciences to our focus industries. Although Hamburg is not a classic pharmaceutical location, there are exciting developments on the scientific side.
Your goal is to make Hamburg a leading startup location in Europe. Doesn't that require a rapid reduction in bureaucracy and a significant simplification of processes?
We hope, of course, that our ambitions will also give politicians a certain push. We are already in contact with the Hamburg Senate to speed up the founding process. One of our tasks will be to act as a kind of lobby association for startups, exerting a positive influence on opinion-forming and making our voice heard in relevant committees.
Admittedly, many decisions are not made here locally, but in Berlin or at European level. We will therefore join forces with Startup Factorys from all over Germany to put pressure on the federal government. Helmut Schönenberger, CEO of UnternehmerTUM GmbH and professor of entrepreneurship at the Technical University of Munich, is playing a leading role in this endeavour, having demonstrated how fruitful the combination of science and business can be.
So there is already cooperation between the Factorys in Germany?
Of course, as Helmut Schönenberger says, ‘only together can we save the world.’ There is already a talent exchange programme and a CEO table, and if I had the time, I would visit all the locations, but even so, we already have very good contacts. For almost all of us, setting up a Startup Factory is uncharted territory, so we also support each other in establishing structures.
What role does the internationalisation of Hamburg's startup landscape play for you?
A crucial one! We think internationally from the outset and will establish English as the first language in our programmes. The international nature of Hamburg is evident, for example, in the participants in our Future Founder programme, which has just entered its third round.
Your headquarters are initially located at the Digital Hub Logistics & Commerce in the Speicherstadt. What are your plans for the future?
We will continue to be based in the heart of Hamburg – where the ecosystem thrives and networking takes place on a daily basis. For individual projects, we can also imagine using other locations that are closer to the universities. However, nothing has been decided yet.
