‘For almost every future problem there are technical people needed’
Start Up Campus Haarlem in conversation with Lukas Warnecke
Lukas Warnecke (21) is an Information Technology student in Haarlem. He moved from Germany to the Netherlands and works on his own start-up which helps tenants check their rental contracts via AI.
New challenges make my energy more flowing
“I would say, I’m a team player. I like working with people, having different tasks and new people around me. New challenges make my energy more flowing than when I do repetitive stuff. Also working in a group, where we can discuss ideas, makes it more fun for me."
“When I enter a room I like to go to people and talk to them. I ask a lot of questions and also share my ideas with them. Other perspectives give me valuable insights.”
"After my high school I started working at a marketing agency and later I decided to go travel and have seen many beautiful places in the world. But, a bit surprising maybe, the USA catches me the most even I know that this country is far from perfect. Their view on innovation is very unique and so different comparing Germany for example. You see, for almost every future problem there are technical people needed. If you make use of it in the right way, it will speed up innovation in a variety of fields.”
AI will democratize a lot of things
“When I worked in the marketing agency, I liked working with the people. But the work itself wasn’t fulfilling enough. I want to work with real problems that could help people. On a personal level."
“I’m working on a start up idea which is a chatbot for Dutch law where people can upload their rental and tenancy agreements for a check if the landlord is violating.”
“And if AI find some violating, it can create a letter that is signed by a lawyer and can be sent from the customer to the landlord and the huurcommissie. So it can help you get rent lowering or get stuff fixed in your house faster.”
"Most people that have troubles with their landlords or general with the law, don’t actually make use of their rights because it’s time consuming and costly to have an advocate working for you. People get annoyed by that, so that makes it a real problem for me to solve. For example my solution is able to scan a lot of text in just a few seconds. So we can decrease the amount of time and put that into the solution. I want to focus on tenancy law at the beginning and then expand into more areas. At the end I think that AI will democratize a lot of stuff and law is just one of them.”
Making law accessible
"I want to make the law more accessible to people that don't have the financial abilities to pay for a lawyer. No cure no pay. That’s an important starting point for me. To build and execute my idea I need on the lookout for like-minded partners. In the beginning mostly technical people who can build and train the chatbot. But definitely I need to reach out to lawyers to discuss the idea and discover how it can also benefit their work. I need to get a team together who is also convinced about the idea of democratizing law and especially that large language model in law will be huge. If they are convinced about that, and committed to work on the solution, then I like to onboard them.”
Start prototyping
“I joined the Start program of Start Up Campus Haarlem since September. Being surrounded by others who are developing an idea is valuable. This combined with the different workshops given by experts is very nice. I learned that my idea is full with assumptions. It’s good to know different ways to validate your ideas. Recently I joined the Inholland Pitch Battle, which was organized in Amsterdam. I got the opportunity to join because I’m a participant of SUCH. These benefits are useful as a student, especially as an international student like me."
“If you are walking around with an business idea in your mind, I would say: go to SUCH! You’ll find different ideas, people, industries and studies combined in one room. Basically it comes down to networking. During the pitch battle I came across a girl from a different school and she told me she knows somebody in law but who is also interested in technology. She suggested to introduce me. You see, if I didn’t decide to join the pitch battle, this opportunity would have never crossed my path.”
"In tech I’ve noticed that if you go to an event, having a working prototype is key. If you can show things, then you have real stuff to talk about and that will help to get things rolling. So start prototyping.”
Start Up Campus Haarlem is the place for entrepreneurial students at Inholland University of Applied Sciences. Through an inspiring five-month program of events and workshops, you work on entrepreneurial skills, and your network grows at lightning speed. Entrepreneurship begins at Start Up Campus Haarlem! Want to know when the next Start or Growth program starts? Check our Instagram or website.