Make use of our expertise

Personalised advice for company founders

Are you looking for individual support and tips for general steps into your self-employment, or on your industry or business plan? We advise Hamburg-based start-ups, entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs in all matters relating to founding companies.

Initial and introductory advice

As part of our initial and introductory advice given via Microsoft Teams, you will receive information that is crucial to your first step into self-employment, and which will help you thoroughly prepare for establishing your start-up business. We will also provide information about other offers and services available at Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.
Online registration for initial and introductory advice

Concept advice

In concept advice, we go through your prepared documents with you. This means possible gaps can be discussed, any planning errors can be identified, and further steps talked over. Our goal is to perform a technically well-founded and objective assessment of your start-up project and to conduct a plausibility check on your financial planning. In addition, we will point out prospects for the next implementation steps, signpost public financing assistance, supply additional contact persons, and provide you with our chamber of commerce’s supplementary service offering in terms of founding and advancing businesses. The advisory discussion is also your opportunity to discuss all your questions about founding your company.
Tip: Do you not yet know how to design the content of a business plan? No problem. Simply register at Hamburg Business Workshop free of change and you will be digitally guided through the creation of your concept, step by step.
Making an appointment: First, register with the Hamburg Business Workshop, create a “Setting up a business” project, and create your business and financial plan there. If you already have finished documents, you can upload these in the “Documents” area. You can then make an individual appointment with your personal expert.

Opinion for start-up subsidies

Employees who are ending unemployment to take up independent activity as their main job can apply for a start-up subsidy for living subsistence and social security. This is combined assistance in the first support phase which is intended to secure living costs and social security for founders. 
Making an appointment for an opinion from an expert body: First, register for free with the Hamburg Business Workshop, create a “Setting up a business” project, and create your business and financial plan there. If you already have finished documents, you can upload these in the “Documents” area. Additionally, upload the required documents and forms in the “Documents” area. You can then make a one-to-one appointment with your personal expert.

Advice on the pitch deck

The pitch deck, a presentation of a business idea, plays an important role in the search for debt capital and/or investors. In the course of our pitch deck check, we will review whether the created pitch deck is meaningful and target-group-oriented. We will then agree a personal appointment and give valuable advice and tips.
Making an appointment: First, register for free with the Hamburg Business Workshop, create a “Setting up a business” project, and upload your pitch deck in the “Documents” area. You can then make an individual appointment with your personal expert.

About the Hamburg Business Workshop

The Business Workshop is a professional online tool for planning your start-up project.
A protected workspace: The Business Workshop is the secure platform for implementing your business idea. With the Business Workshop, you can work and communicate on your start-up idea alone or in a team with other founders across Germany. Share your canvas, business plan, financial plan or documents with your bank or investors. That way, you always have everything you need in one location and can create trust, digitally and personally.
Online support: If you wish to, you can receive expert and personal support from your start-up expert at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. We will look after you free-of-charge online in our Business Workshop, by phone, or face to face – whichever works best for you.
In the Business Workshop, you can share your canvas, business plan, financial plan or documents with your start-up expert. That makes it possible for you to receive feedback as quickly as possible; on the same day or soon after, depending on the scope of planning and the information you would like.
First steps:
  • Register with the Business Workshop with just a few details
  • Create your start-up project as a “project”
  • Release it for the team – or work alone in the tool
  • If you wish to, get expert advice from the chamber of commerce’s start-up advisor – work together in the tool, by telephone, email or schedule a personal consultancy appointment
  • At all times, you can control who has access to what data
  • You can then delete your account at any time if you would like to
Even if you wish to set up a company outside Hamburg, you can still use the offering – for this case, the inter-regional online portal Unternehmenswerkstatt Deutschland (Business Workshop Germany) is available.