Starting a company is like embarking on a thrilling adventure, filled with ups and downs, challenges, and victories. Our Berlin-based Creator Economy startup cliqe, founded by Tiên and Felippe, has been on an exciting journey since its inception. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at cliqe's milestones achieved so far and explore the exciting next steps that lie ahead.

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The Foundation: Birth of cliqe

After validating the idea and underlying problem of cliqe, building a first product, and having onboarded over 250 well-known brands since the initial start in summer 2022, we took a significant step by establishing a legal entity as a German ‘GmbH’ at the notary in Berlin in March 2023. With this solid legal framework in place, we were ready to turn our vision into reality.

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Launching our Closed & Open Beta-Webapp

‍Following the legal setup, we wasted no time in making strides toward our product development. In the same month as our official foundation, we successfully launched our closed-beta web app, marking an important milestone in our journey. This initial release allowed us to gather valuable feedback from a selected group of users and refine our product for a wider audience. In May, we took a major leap forward by launching our open-beta web app to the public. This marked a significant step as it allowed a broader audience to experience and provide feedback on our cliqe platform including creating an own personal bio-site with the access to over 250 well-known brands via our marketplace. The invaluable insights gained from users during this phase drive the company's future product enhancements.

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Expanding the Team: Welcome Gina and Roman

To support our rapid growth, we started expanding our team. In May, the founding team of cliqe welcomed the first employee Gina as a Marketing Manager who is a content creator herself bringing in valuable influencer and marketing expertise. In June, the team grew with the addition of Roman who joined as a Founder's Associate Intern to support the founders with strategy, marketing, and finance. These new additions strengthen our capabilities and set the stage for further growth.

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Pitching Competitions: Winning Hearts and Prizes

‍Our unique offering for the long tail of content creators captured the attention of startup enthusiasts and industry experts alike at different pitching competitions. At the prestigious pitch battle of the startup-conference ‘Q-Summit’ organized by students of the University of Mannheim, cliqe was nominated as one of the five finalists out of roughly hundred applications. Although we did not manage to win the first prize in Mannheim, we won other pitching competitions such as the ‘Berlin vs. NYC Startup Battle’ and ‘Startup & Innovation Venture Day’ earning relevant prizes, including startup delegation trips to Italy and New York. These accolades not only brought recognition but also provided the financial support and exposure necessary for the next steps of cliqe.

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The Journey Ahead

‍With the milestones of the past months, we are now focusing on the next goals of our roadmap. The primary objective is to continue refining our product and leveraging user feedback to enhance the overall user experience. This dedication to improve our offering demonstrates our commitment to provide the best possible solution for our community of creators and partner brands.

From the employee perspective, cliqe emphasizes the importance of building a talented and diverse team. To achieve our ambitious goals, we are planning to expand our team in key areas such as business, marketing, and product development. By bringing in experts in these domains, we aim to leverage our skills and insights to further enhance our product and drive growth and therefore, always look for motivated and ambitious talents.

From a product standpoint, we are continuing focusing on product improvements such as incorporating more design elements, advanced analytics, and monetization offerings on our platform. By expanding the capabilities of our product, we aim to deliver a comprehensive and valuable solution to our users in order to provide the best solution when it comes to monetization for all content creators.

Our journey from its establishment as a legal entity to its first milestones getting positive feedback from users and jury’s of pitching competitions showcases our passion and motivation to create real value-add both for content creators and brands.

As we step into the future, we remain committed to our mission of delivering an exceptional user experience and enabling more fairness in the Creator Economy. To follow this mission, our growing team is ready for the next steps on the roadmap ahead.