MarketVista

IESE Business School

Industry: Retail, FMCG, Marketing, Technology

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Konrad S.J. Stolte

Brief Description of Solution: MarketVista provides FMCG suppliers with live shelf data to monitor their marketing campaigns and prioritize sales force visits. MarketVista works directly with a network of retailers and handles the data collection. Suppliers invest up to 20% of their sales in trade marketing promotions, but less than 50% of these investments have a positive ROI. MarketVista’s shelf data provides insight needed to significantly increase the success rate of these promotions.

Funding Dollars: We are currently bootstrapped.

What led you to launch this venture? Supermarkets have always held a special place in my heart. There’s something calming about browsing through their aisles, discovering new products, and comparing different offers. This love of the supermarket experience further motivated me to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds. I envisioned a retail environment where data-driven insights could enhance the customer experience, streamline operations, and create a more engaging shopping atmosphere.

The desire to innovate as an entrepreneur was sparked while I was still at school. I wanted to start my first company right after school, but my parents encouraged me to get a degree first. Following their advice, I studied electrical engineering and obtained both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

During my time at university, I immersed myself in the Munich startup ecosystem. Attending various events and networking with like-minded people really ignited my entrepreneurial spirit. After graduating, I started working as a Data Scientist at Siemens, where I gained first-hand experience of the power of AI and cloud technology.

I devised the idea for Marketvista during my IESE MBA. Live shelf data excites me because it allows me to combine my passion for retail and entrepreneurship with my experience as a Data Scientist. This venture represents my vision of a retail environment that harnesses the innovations of the digital world to enhance the physical shopping experience.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Our greatest accomplishment has been the successful launch of our first customer pilots. Earning the trust of mid-sized German supermarkets to collect their daily shelf data during three-month trials has been enormously gratifying. These pilots are an important milestone on our path to validate product-market-fit and generated invaluable real-world insights to guide future development. While receiving mentorship and grants have been helpful, nothing matches the significance of demonstrating our platform’s value to these early customers.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? The most significant challenge we’ve faced has been selling to independent supermarkets. These busy, hands-on store owners are difficult to reach via email or phone, as they’re constantly on the floor managing their workforce or interacting with customers. To overcome this, I had to take a more personal, boots-on-the-ground approach – a practice known as ‘Klinkenputzen’ in German. I went door-to-door to meet with these potential clients face-to-face. While time-intensive, this direct engagement has been invaluable. I have not only been able to secure those crucial customer pilots, but also build deep relationships and truly understanding their needs. This connection with our target market has been a game-changer for our company.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? Pursuing an MBA has been instrumental in furthering my startup venture. I decided to enroll in order to bridge the gap from being an employee to a founder, adding crucial business knowledge to complement my technical skillset. Beyond the coursework, the program has provided invaluable opportunities, like IESE’s Summer Entrepreneurship Experience. This course is built on the principles of ‘The Lean Startup’ – a framework I was already familiar with, but the hands-on application was transformative.

For our project, we had originally planned to interview store managers, but the person standing in front of the shelf with an iPad turned out to be a sales representative for a large FCMG brand. This first conversation made us aware of the need for granular, real-time shelf data. This pivotal moment crystallized the core problem MarketVista is solving. The program was also instrumental in building a meaningful professional network with leaders in the retail and FMCG industry. Overall, the MBA was an essential catalyst that provided me with business fundamentals, real-world startup experience, and the connections needed to turn my vision into a viable business.

What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? I always admired how dedicated and passionate my mother is as a teacher. My passion for entrepreneurship developed early on, despite a lack of entrepreneurial role models in my environment. However, my mother’s passion for teaching gave me the courage to follow my own dreams and embark on my entrepreneurial journey. Today, I’m inspired by Jeff Bezos’ vision and how he had pursued a clear growth strategy with Amazon and successfully stuck to it. I admire Berthold Beitz’s compassion, how he used his position and influence to help his fellow human beings.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? The “Executive Simulation” course was most valuable in preparing me for my startup. In this intensive course, we were divided into teams and occupied the C-level positions of a fictitious company. The biggest lesson was understanding the financial implications of strategic decisions across marketing, operations, HR, and other business functions. Acting as the CEO taught me the importance of effective communication and holistic decision-making.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? Mathieu Carenzo was our instructor for the IESE Summer Entrepreneurship Experience, and he continued to advise me throughout the second year of my MBA. Professor Carenzo consistently emphasized the importance of rapidly testing hypotheses and validating them directly with customers. This lean, iterative approach has been instrumental in shaping our product roadmap and ensuring we focus on solving real customer pain points.

Thomas Klüter also served as a crucial mentor for my venture. He provided honest and constructive feedback on my initial business ideas, repeatedly challenging me with probing questions that helped refine my thinking. Professor Klüter’s unfiltered guidance was invaluable in strengthening the core foundation of my startup before I began executing.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? After completing my MBA in Spain, I moved back to Munich and made an effort to get involved in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. This has been crucial for the growth of MarketVista. At an IESE alumni event, a fellow graduate put me in touch with an experienced serial entrepreneur who has become a valuable mentor. I also took advantage of events organized by institutions such as UnternehmerTUM, which have expanded my local network. More recently, MarketVista was accepted into the TUM Venture Labs accelerator and was awarded the AI+Munich grant – a great validation and boost that will further propel my startup.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? The long-term vision for MarketVista is to meaningfully transform the stationary retail industry for the digital era. Our core mission is to bring the physical store shelf into the 21st century by providing the real-time, granular data that can finally bridge the gap between online and offline sales operations. By delivering this crucial transparency, we aim to reduce retail food waste and optimize trade marketing investments of suppliers.

In a world where customer expectations for seamless product access continue to rise, we believe MarketVista can play a key role in making that a reality. Of course, this is an ambitious goal, but we’re committed to working diligently to drive both business value and positive social impact by minimizing waste and ensuring a more satisfying in-store experience. It’s an inspiring future that we’re dedicated to realizing through MarketVista.

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? Never stop filling the top of the sales funnel. B2B sales cycles are long and thus hard to predict, making consistent pipeline building crucial. Even when landing a major customer, neglecting lead generation is dangerous – the delayed impact of an empty funnel will come back to haunt you weeks or months later.