Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP)

Fabian Tausch had already built significant credibility in the German startup ecosystem by running one of Germany's largest entrepreneurship podcasts for nearly 5 years. His co-founder had founded CODE University of Applied Sciences, Germany's first university where students could build a business while earning a bachelor's degree. While discussing the startup ecosystem together, they noticed a critical gap: young entrepreneurs (aged 17-23) lacked access to experienced mentors, peer networks, and structured guidance. This observation became the seed for Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP).

In November 2018, Fabian began validating the idea by interviewing dozens of young founders at different stages. He identified two core problems: lack of guidance and lack of peers. Four months of research later, in March 2019, he launched YEP as a one-year cohort program. The offering included peer-to-peer learning through accountability groups, one-to-one mentorship from successful founders, and workshops on startup fundamentals. Each participant paid €1,800 per year. In the first enrollment cycle spanning 2.5 months, they attracted 28 committed participants from the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland).

Fabian leveraged his existing advantages: his large podcast audience of aspiring entrepreneurs, relationships with experienced founders willing to mentor, and entrepreneurship initiatives at top universities. Growth came through these niche channels rather than paid advertising, since Instagram ads wouldn't reach their specific demographic effectively. As the program grew, he planned two enrollment cohorts per year with increasing participant numbers, and later pivoted to a paid online community model during the pandemic.

The initial traction was promising—28 founding members in the first cohort showed strong product-market fit signals. However, Fabian made several critical mistakes. First, he targeted too broad an age range (17-23) across different industries and stages, making it nearly impossible to build a program serving everyone's needs. Second, he hired a full-time employee after just 2 months without having clear operational structure, which created delegation challenges and slowed execution. Third, when the pandemic eliminated in-person meetings—a core program benefit—he pivoted to a paid online community model. This pivot failed because participants wanted the original in-person experience back, and there wasn't sufficient willingness-to-pay for a digital-only offering. By 2021, with roughly 35 active members (many inactive), no clear path to cash flow positivity, and Fabian stretched thin as the sole operator, the business was in crisis.

After 2 years and €150,000 spent, Fabian shut down YEP despite achieving €30,000 in ARR, because he realized the business wasn't set up for sustainable success. He refunded committed revenue to members and moved on. Looking back, he identified the core lesson: he lost focus on product-market fit by trying to serve too many customer personas at once. Today, Fabian advises early-stage startups on strategy and fundraising, and continues his podcast work interviewing successful entrepreneurs.