Company Rainbow-Day GmbH

Founder: Sebastian Krug

Date of foundation: July 3, 2023

Industry and company: Personnel services

What drives you? What is your motto?

Making local diversity visible.

What is your start-up about and what is special about it?

We are Rainbow-Day GmbH, a small start-up based in Wiesbaden. Our topics are colorful career services, our main product is the "Rainbow-Days". These are career fairs designed for the queer community - and everyone who lives and appreciates diversity. The focus here is on people and their personalities and not just the previous form of training.

The premiere took place in 2023 at Goethe University, as the only LGBTQIA+ career format at a university in Europe! After the great success in Frankfurt, the Rainbow Days have moved to many regions (there in central locations). This is one of our special features: the local/regional focus. This allows us to focus fully on sustainability in terms of travel distances and bring interests from the respective region to the "(trade fair) table". Rainbow Day currently takes place four times a year in Germany (Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich), once in Austria (Vienna) and next year for the first time in Luxembourg. Further locations are being planned. In Austria we were (and in Luxembourg we will be) the first queer career fair in the (respective) country!

What are your first successes?

For Rainbow-Day GmbH, the cooperation with Goethe University Frankfurt (via the Career Service) is essential, as is the collaboration with the student organizations on campus. Success for us is also when we can enter into partnerships with community organizations and associations that find our commitment valuable and worthy of support. Together we can achieve more is not just a buzzword.

What is your professional background?

I started out in a rather classic way: A-levels, vocational training, university studies. Then an internship at a large corporation. During my studies, however, I organized a job fair through an association and that's how I got my first permanent position after graduation. I stayed there for 10 years - and then founded my first company. I handed it over in 2019. During the Corona period, I organized pro bono projects in Wiesbaden for the "Freiwilligenzentrum Wiesbaden", including some smaller concerts for the residents of old people's and nursing homes (who, like all of us, were not allowed out and had very limited experiences). It really inspired me personally to get involved in social work. Then I was able to get to know working at a university and then returned to entrepreneurship, initially only part-time.

What was the trigger for you to set up your own company?

The impetus for the Rainbow Days came from the fact that such a local initiative (for a career event for the queer community) didn't exist before, but it was more than time. All people are equally important and deserve our support. Everyone should feel safe and comfortable in the workplace. Discrimination and unequal treatment have no place in working life. With our services, we want to help bring this openness to everyday life. As I myself had over 20 years of professional experience in organizing and implementing career events, it was a matter of honour for me to make this experience available in diversity issues. From a purely business perspective, other tasks and topics would certainly have been easier to manage, but I wanted to make a difference and support people directly.

Who advised you, who are your helpers and mentors?

I didn't have a direct mentor. When I founded my first company in 2010, I was able to look to the two companies where I had worked as an employee for many years. You take experience with you as to what you want to do similarly or differently (and then become). For the Rainbow Days, I asked around within the community, but then simply decided to give it a try.

How did you experience the first few days as a founder?

Here we go! As I had already founded a company in 2010, it wasn't something completely new for me - BUT - it still felt exciting to get going again. Founding a company doesn't mean the constant freedom that many people (especially employees) associate with it, but it does mean being allowed to work on your personal idea.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

The challenge is there every day. We have to inspire and acquire companies, which is currently very complex. Reaching the queer community is also not an easy task, because people first have to build up trust in our services. But we promise: we'll keep at it.

How do you draw attention to your company? What is your best marketing idea?

We have two target customer groups. Companies that should buy our services for a fee and people in the queer community (and everyone who cares about diversity) who can use our services free of charge. We need both for a successful company. The approach is completely different. But it is always a mix of measures based on different pillars (online, offline, in person). It is essential that we are and remain authentic and that people "out there" also sense this.

How did you finance your start-up?

Entirely from my own reserves (including my former company MYJOBFAIR GmbH).

What dream would you still like to realize?

To achieve more serenity for myself. And maybe study journalism again.

Please complete the following sentence: If I had more time, I would ...

... do even more with my daughter and show her that the world really is colorful. And that's a good thing.

What is your special tip: What would you recommend to founders?

I have the utmost respect for founders who get started straight after their training/studies or as a person from outside the industry. From my perspective, previous professional experience helps enormously and makes it easier to achieve success. Even if it sounds like a platitude, hard work is also irreplaceable, equated with your own personal touch. Those who are friendly and interested (in others) also have a big head start these days. And please don't be "mouthy", always burdening others with leading the conversation is exhausting for the other person - and anything but advisable from a business perspective.

To summarize: Be brave!