How Testbirds was born: What I’ve learned from evaluating business ideas

When you want to start a business, at the very beginning there is only an idea. Back in 2011, we had a completely different idea before we started thinking about Crowdtesting and Testbirds – we looked into mobile payment.

We evaluated the idea for quite a long time: eight months part-time, while working elsewhere. We spoke to many stakeholders and gave it a lot of thought. In the end, we decided that our idea was too risky, as too much investment would have been necessary and the success of such a business depends on many external factors and stakeholders. With the idea for Crowdtesting and Testbirds it was the complete opposite – it was born in only a week! We quickly evaluated it full-time and decided to found a company based on it.

What I have learned from this process? We carried the mobile payment idea with us for too long before deciding that we were not going to do it. Evaluate your idea quickly and consistently, talk to people about it and then bring it to life! Hard decisions must be made in these kinds of situations. If you are not sure about the idea, most likely it’s not the right idea to make a business out of.

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Testbirds specialises in the testing of software such as apps, websites and Internet of Things applications by using innovative technologies and solutions. Under the slogan, “Testing Reality”, the company offers various testing methods to its clients looking to optimise the user-friendliness and functionality of their digital products. With over 250,000 registered testers located in 193 countries, Testbirds is one of the world’s leading crowdtesting providers. In addition, the IT service provider utilises cloud based technologies to support customers in the optimisation of their digital products. The combination of the two testing methods delivers a unique and extensive portfolio that takes the quality of software to the next level. Testbirds was founded in 2011 by Philipp Benkler, Georg Hansbauer and Markus Steinhauser. Today, the company has over 100 employees. Other than its headquarters in Munich, there are now offices in Amsterdam, London and Stockholm, franchises in Hungary and Russia and sales partners in Italy.