"We should hide the fact that we are married"

Women are significantly less likely to found a company than men. If it is even a start-up from the tech scene, their share decreases even further. Stefanie Langner took this step anyway and has no regrets.

It is still quite early in the morning when Stefanie Langner sits down in front of her computer. The founder of Leankoala from Hamburg has a lot to do. By 2022 at the latest, the start-up wants to market its product more widely outside the DACH region. Leankoala offers an easy-to-use tool that users can use to optimize their websites, from search engines to the processes that run in the background when ordering online. In this interview, Langner looks back on the first few years of Leankoala and talks about the importance of networks, especially for women.

Ms. Langner, as a woman in the tech scene, you are an absolute minority. Where does your enthusiasm for the subject come from?

I was already fascinated by computers as a teenager. My family has been in the hotel business for generations. When I was about to leave school, I really wanted to have my own PC in my room. As a result, I ended up using the entire line of my parents' hotel for surfing. That caused a lot of trouble, as guests could no longer get through to make reservations, for example. Even back then, I was totally enthusiastic about the internet and the digital possibilities.

Working in the hotel industry yourself was out of the question for you?

Following tradition, I trained as a hotel manager in the top hotel industry after leaving school and then studied hotel management. I then went into PR. When I moved to Hamburg, where we are based today, I seized the opportunity to immerse myself in the digital world, where I finally got stuck. I joined Axel Springer's real estate portal Immonet.de in the area of marketing and cooperation. That was exactly my thing, because it also meant working closely with digital product development. It felt like my partner had always been a web developer and was very well known in the scene. That probably fueled my interest even more and I also wanted to switch to development. I then taught myself a bit of coding through courses. I can still do a bit - but even today I wouldn't say I'm particularly good at it [laughs].

You then founded Leankoala together with your husband, how did that come about?

Before we founded the company, Nils was responsible for digital quality management at Gruner+Jahr and Bauer Verlag. In my position on the other side, I knew only too well what it means when digital offerings don't work properly and sales are lost due to missing advertising or broken pages. Automating and securing this with a software solution was the starting signal for Leankoala.

You still had doubts before founding the company, why?

I myself come from a family business, so I'm very aware of what you're getting into. In my opinion, it's essential to start a company with the right idea, where everyone can contribute their strengths and develop them. This is definitely the case with Leankoala. It wasn't necessarily easy at the beginning. Personal and professional communication and collaboration are different and you can't step on each other's toes or take things too personally. But we've been doing it for a while now, we're a well-coordinated team and very successful in this combination.

What vision do you both have with Leankoala?

Our vision is that there will never again be a moment when you realize that sales or reputation have been lost because your web presence is not working properly. Our solutions take over the 360° monitoring of websites and ensure that everything from the accessibility of the site to contact options and the shopping cart is always technically up and running. This allows operators to focus on what they like to do best: making customers or users happy, generating sales and developing products. If something is not working as it should, we sound the alarm. We have been pursuing this mission for three years with our professional tool Leankoala for large sites and portals and with our latest product koality.io specifically for online stores and websites.

You were founded at the end of 2016 and received funding right from the start through the InnoRampUp program of the Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank. There was another six-figure financing round in 2019. How difficult is it for you to get funding?

It wasn't that easy, actually. At the beginning, we were always strongly advised not to say that we were married. Because that obviously inhibits investors. They then think: "What happens if they have a private falling out, can the start-up survive?" If a female founder is on board, many also ask whether she will get pregnant soon and what that means for the business. A man would never be asked such a question. I'm absolutely certain that we weren't even invited to some of the interviews.

What have you done to combat such prejudices?

When we started building our start-up, I already had two children and was at a different stage of life to many other young female founders. So the question of what I would do if I got pregnant didn't arise for me. But the basic rule for women is: Be self-confident, even if it may be difficult. For example, if a woman founds a company together with two men, she should be the main speaker at the pitch. That way, she can make it clear from the outset what her position is. I know myself that this is not easy for many women and is easier said than done.

So you advocate a more self-confident appearance. How can this be achieved?

Unfortunately, sometimes the only way is to jump in at the deep end. I have gained a lot of self-confidence from my networks. There is the private one, consisting of colleagues, mentors, founders and a number of investors. They are good sparring partners. Going through your own ideas and challenges together helps a lot. It's also important to me to support others. That's why I'm an ambassador for the Geekettes. This is now an international network of women in the tech scene. We also support each other there by regularly networking, challenging each other and offering further training.

Why are you so involved there?

I firmly believe that networks can help us women to progress enormously. But I don't just want to consume, I also want to create. That's my advice to all women, by the way: Get involved. It strengthens your own self-confidence, creates lots of new contacts and helps the scene. For all the women who are reading this and need a tip, please get in touch with me.

Thank you for talking to me.

About the person: Stefanie Langner founded the start-up Leankoala together with her husband at the end of 2016. The company offers a tool that allows users to optimize their websites. Langner is one of the few female founders in the tech scene. As an ambassador for the international Geekettes network, she helps other women to assert themselves in the tech scene.