A look behind the scenes at Create F

A few students play Viking chess on the slightly damp meadow behind the Leibniz University in Hanover, some women have met at a bench and laugh at their dogs playing. Founder Valerie Vaske is only a few meters away. The 31-year-old, dressed from head to toe in a gray-brown color scheme, with black chucks on her feet and a short hairstyle, has her hands in her trouser pockets while director Franziska Pohlmann throws her questions. “How big was the step into self-employment?” Asks Pohlmann. Vaske laughs and jumps forward so far with her right leg that she almost does a split.

The founder is one of the ten participants in the founders show Create F, a kind of “lion’s den”, but only for female participants. Compared to the well-known TV program, however, they are accompanied on their entire path to independence, it is not just about pitches, as is the case with the well-known TV format. In addition to the business idea, the show wants to fully show the entrepreneurial and related personal development of the founders, it wants to take an individual look at each participant. “We want to visit all female founders individually in order to take their development with us,” explains Pohlmann.

A homestory about Vaske will be produced this Monday, and the contribution will be shown in the third episode, which will appear three days later. It’s a smaller shoot than the big studio productions, which involve up to 100 people in total – on this day the team, including the protagonists, is five inside. “That’s something really special, in this small group,” says director Pohlmann. She is with every shoot, the home story falls on the twelfth day of shooting. Four more days of shooting will follow during the week, including in Cologne and Berlin. A total of thirty days of shooting are scheduled. The last shoot will be the Create-F finale on November 21, 2021 in Berlin, in this case one of the major studio productions.

For today’s homestory, the journeys were short not only for the Hanoverian Vaske by choice. The production is carried out by the cineteam from Hanover. Cinematographer Andre Bergmann and his assistant Cristina Gerstenberg accompany the Create-F participant to places that played a role in her founding, and of course also visit her at home. “I also tidied up extra, but didn’t look in the closets,” jokes the 31-year-old. In the morning she also went to the hairdresser, she says, while the camera is not running. “For me, the day is like meeting friends,” she says happily. Vaske laughs a lot, she seems authentic with her, in front of the camera, somewhat reserved manner.

This is exactly what this shoot is all about: a close-up picture of the founder from Hanover is to be drawn. No large set with lots of lights was set up for this, there is no mask or someone who arranges outfits and powdered the nose again. Instead, the team, consisting of cameraman Bergmann, assistant Gerstenberg, director Pohlmann and social media manager Holly Geddert, spends most of the day outdoors. Cameraman Bergmann travels with as little equipment as possible, after all, everything has to be carried permanently. He has his Sony camera secured to a kind of tripod strapped to his back, and the boom with directional microphone is connected to the camera via a cable. Gerstenberg’s assistant carries the boom, other cables and other equipment.

This is how the team turned up at the first location: in the courtyard of the Hanoverian co-working space “Hafven”. “This is where things started,” says Vaske with a smile. At the location in the northern part of Hanover, she and her co-founder Kurt Merbeth (33) pushed “Goverly” – and actually found the impetus to participate in Create-F. “I met Mira Jago here,” remembers Vaske. Jago is one of the show’s mentors, she is a founder herself and works in the tech field. “Mira told me about it and said it would be a good fit,” said Vaske. At first she wasn’t sure, but in the end she decided to participate.

Apparently that was a good choice. “I enjoy it and I can advance ‘Goverly'”, says the budding founder. The show and the founding are a full-time project for her. Every week she gets tasks that are given to her in the Create-F coaching and then discussed. “Currently I have been rummaging through the papers for the foundation application,” said Vaske. A lot of paperwork is needed for your company to become official. This bureaucracy can also be a hurdle, Pohlmann knows. So it is a concern of the show to accompany the founders in these tasks and to support them. “I also keep a video diary at least once a week,” says Vaske. With this you can keep track of the current status of your company. “It’s always very unusual for me to sit in front of the camera like that,” she laughs.

So shooting the homestory is also something special for her. At the first location, the “Hafven”, her co-founder Merbeth is still there. First of all, both of them have to familiarize themselves with the situation that they are being filmed. When cameraman Bergmann suggests that the two of them should have a casual conversation, the conversation between the two is still a bit faltering. Director Pohlmann loosens the mood with a few questions about “Goverly”. The founders start talking with the familiar topic of the heart. Pohlmann throws in questions and suggestions straight out of his head, without a pen or pad. “This is our ninth home story today, I have already internalized the loosening up and a few questions,” she laughs.

Pohlmann seems to enjoy working on the flexible set, and Vaske and Merbeth are also becoming more and more relaxed. Vaske blossoms especially when she talks about her project. “Goverly” wants to use blockchain technology to secure documents and data, but still make them usable for everyone who needs access. Clubs, for example, could benefit from the system. Vaske, a trained wholesale saleswoman and studied computer scientist, would like to establish “Goverly” in the long term and with Merbeth puts a lot of time and leisure into the company. “We don’t have a real weekend for that, we just work when we work,” smiles Vaske.

The two do not have a permanent office, but work in the co-working space, at Vaske’s home or meet outside to discuss the next “goverly” steps. Then they sit, for example, on the church steps of the Luther Church in Hanover’s Nordstadt. For the shoot, too, the two casually sit on the stairs in the sunshine, the location is only a few minutes’ walk from the first location. The team also used the footpath across a popular Kiez street, Engelbosteler Damm, for some shots. Moving backwards, cameraman Bergmann Vaske filmed. “This is one of my favorite cafés,” she beams and points to a shop as she walks past. The northern part of the city is her district, she feels at home here – she radiates that too.

No wonder that the 31-year-old founder also lives in the district and of course knows a good kebab shop for the lunch break. “The kebab with the halloumi is great, I recommend it,” she says. Some trust this tip, the team enjoys eating in bright sunshine. Only Pohlmann is not there, she has to use the lunch break for a meeting. For the video call, she has already gone to Vaske’s apartment. “I still have a pretzel stick at home, you can have it,” the founder calls out to her. “That’s nice, thank you,” laughs Pohlmann back. The two have known each other since the summer of 2021 when filming started.

For Pohlmann, the shooting time is tightly timed, she is involved in the entire production. She is there when filming is on site, sifts through the material and is also involved in the editing. She also takes care of organizational tasks; for example, she speaks to the mentors and investors involved in Create F. Seen in this way, Pohlmann, as the initiators of the show, is busy with every part of the female founders’ show. “It’s a challenge,” sums up the director. She is happy to face this, however, the show is close to her heart. “The saddest thing is always that we cannot show everything that we have experienced together,” said Pohlmann.

One scene that obviously gives her particular pleasure on this shoot is a small private concert by Vaske. The 31-year-old has three ukuleles hanging on her living room wall. “So, are you going to play something for us?” Asks himself smiling and full of vigor. “Oh, I don’t know,” Vaske replies cautiously. “Come on, that would be great,” says Pohlmann. The founder is convinced and reaches for the ukulele. Your ukulele game will get it into that too Follow the home story create, you can hear softly from the off “Everything is wrong”. During the shoot, Vaske shows herself to be a committed and self-critical founder, with a calm voice who cares about her idea and the associated benefits for others. Instead of herself, she prefers to focus on “Goverly”.

She is also very relaxed when she can make herself comfortable on Mira Jago’s couch for the last shots of the day of shooting to talk to her about her development. She cycled on her racing bike to Jago’s multifunctional room “Diekabine” in Linden, the district borders on the northern part of the city. On the way she bought a colorful bag, generously she offers rubber worms, Smurfs, liquorice snails and other sweets to the group. Jago also grabs a piece before she begins to ask Vaske questions about the current status of her company. As a mentor, Jago is responsible for the tech support of the founders. The mentor and founder are on the same wavelength, Jago asks questions and gives tips, Vaske answers quickly and listens carefully. Iago wants to know what she is planning in the near future. “Just do things,” laughs Vaske. That is your motto on the step-by-step path to entrepreneurship. The Create F team will continue to accompany you – and viewers can talk about the Create-F-Youtube-Channel participate.