Eike: Unfortunately, this will be a longer answer, because roughly speaking, I'm responsible for everything you can see. That means design in particular, but also everything that has to do with websites, html and the like. This means I'm active in all areas, because of course a lot of things are implemented with these technologies and everywhere something has to be made pretty. Web programming in particular is an extremely refreshing and active field where young people come up with innovative and fresh ideas. As a so-called full-stack developer, I can fall back on this and thus implement an idea from scratch to a mature product.
I also look after our Android app and many special projects, such as document image recognition, our support system and our new product that fileee will be launching. The fileeeBox. The latter is also my personal favourite project. It is a physical object and it is nice to work on something completely different than just bits and bytes. I am also convinced that we will revolutionise document storage and make it much easier.
You like to take advantage of the flexible working hours of a young start-up and sometimes have breakfast at lunchtime. How come?
Eike: I tinker with my world conquest plans at night *laughs* - No, kidding! But as a classical computer scientist, you quickly get used to working at night. Simply because you can concentrate completely without distractions. The peace and quiet of the night is very beneficial. Of course, these are the advantages of a start-up, where it's not necessarily important to keep classic working hours, but to get features done. How and at what times doesn't matter. There are also other advantages of a start-up. For example, the flexibility and freedom to implement one's own ideas with the latest technologies - which other companies might not be willing to try out yet. So I always keep my eyes open to see in which direction the scene is developing and which technologies currently have more or less momentum. That way, work is fun and doesn't become routine.
You are a co-founder of fileee GmbH. What was your personal reason for revolutionising paperwork back then?
Eike: The Bafög! That sounds stupid, but it was actually my first encounter with hair-raising and nerve-racking paperwork. Even back then, I wished for a system that would make the whole application process and the gathering of documents easier. After all, it's all about money. As a young student, I only came into contact with tax returns later on. For many people, that is certainly the typical example of the struggle to deal with private paperwork. Moreover, I have always been fascinated by how large the target group is that can actually use fileee and benefit from it. After all, we're not just talking about the Facebook generation or tech-savvy people, but about almost every German citizen who can save time, money and nerves with fileee.
Thank you - Eike - for the interview!
