lenne.TECH

 

Dr. Inga Haase operates lenne.Tech, a digitalization company in the Sauerland region, together with her husband Kai Haase. In addition to app and web development and training programs for companies, both alumni are active in the region's startup and economic development.

What are your professional backgrounds?

Inga
I studied business administration at the University of Siegen, then completed my doctorate externally on the topic of communication and open innovation. I spent two years managing innovation in a medium-sized company and working as an assistant to the management. During my postdoc years, in 2020, I started lenne.Tech alongside my academic pursuits. I was initially a hybrid entrepreneur, then fully self-employed, and currently, I am back to being hybrid.

Kai
I completed my multimedia producer training in Cologne at SAE. Realizing my passion for programming, I pursued computer science in Aachen and later in Siegen. Concurrently, I operated my own business as an administrator and web developer. Eventually, I joined an agency with Sascha Weinrich. Subsequently, I worked as an employee in various software companies, holding roles such as software developer, project manager, team leader, and trainer. However, in 2020, it was time for entrepreneurship again.

How did the joint venture come about?

Inga
It happened organically. During our studies, we explored the same topics from different perspectives: Kai technically, and I from a business perspective. This led to common interests and many shared projects and ideas that we can now implement in our company. Our expertise complements each other extremely well.

Is working together as a couple in the same business unproblematic?

Kai
Founding a business as a couple is a significant benefit. We are both passionate about the same business and can have constructive professional and personal discussions. Moreover, there is greater understanding when one of us needs to work longer in our respective roles.

Inga
Flexibility is completely different through our own company. If I need to finalize a concept, Kai takes care of our child, and vice versa. We can mutually support and complement each other optimally. We see very few problems – of course, if the other is stuck in a tunnel, you may have to push the food over and say, "Alright, that's enough, take a break now." Like everything, it's a matter of agreements and communication.

What does entrepreneurship mean to you in general?

Inga
It is different from jobs where you are purely employed. In my entrepreneurship, I am passionately dedicated to my topic. Freedom is an essential aspect. The ability to decide and manage time as it suits best – some days I accomplish a lot, and sometimes not. That's okay. One day it might be a 9-to-5 job, and on another, an 8-to-6. However, we can arrange it, and that's a big plus, especially as a complementary team.

Kai
Of course, there are also time-sensitive tasks, so there is more pressure at times, but that's okay. The greatest freedom I have as an entrepreneur is the flexibility in managing my time. I don't have to inform anyone if I want to do something else in between. I choose it myself, but it also means that I sometimes work at night or on weekends, but it's my decision.

What personally motivated you to start lenne.Tech?

Kai
I wanted to realize my own ideas and have the freedom to decide over my time. I believe that when you want to implement your own ideas as you truly envision them, you often have no other option than to be at least partially or fully self-employed.

Inga
Through various employment experiences, you have already encountered different leadership styles and might think: Yes, I wouldn't do it that way. With my own company, I have the opportunity to create conditions and lead it the way I see fit.

How do you implement this motivation at lenne.Tech?

Inga
Working conditions and employees are crucial to us. For example, as employees, we didn't have enough vacation days to cover all holidays together. Our employees have 40+ days of vacation, flexible working hours, and the option to work remotely. Having this freedom, starting anew, and creating a place where we and our employees enjoy going to work motivates us.

Kai
We try to provide as much freedom and self-responsibility as possible. Additionally, our employees choose their projects in collaboration with us. It's much more flexible. While we offer the opportunity to work completely remotely, employees actually prefer coming to the office.

Inga
Of course, this way of working doesn't suit everyone; different people have different needs, including how they work and the degree of freedom they want. Therefore, we always start with an internship or trial work before someone starts permanently. This way, we can see if our company's concept, the existing team, and applicants are compatible. Almost all of our employees were or are students, so it always worked well.

Kai
In the end, the whole team votes on whether the new person fits, anonymously of course. This is an advantage of our company size; it works well in small teams. Appreciation is crucial for everyone at lenne.Tech, and that's why we can collaborate so well – new people must fit. Technical expertise plays a significant role, so we also offer the opportunity to develop further with us. Our onboarding process includes participation in lenne.Learning, our academy for app and web development. In times of a shortage of skilled workers, employers should be creative in dealing with such challenges: If someone is interested and motivated, we can fill gaps that might have led to rejection elsewhere.

What are your core business areas, and where else are you active?

Inga
Our core business is app and web development for individual customer projects, hourly support for IT departments, and our own projects. Since we found ourselves in the first lockdown just two weeks after founding and opening our office, we strategically diversified from the beginning. Therefore, we expanded into education and training, offering lenne.Learning to other companies, not just our own employees. Currently, we also collaborate with schools and have opened the Coding Dojo, a program for young people interested in software development.

Kai
In addition to our core business, we are part of the STARTUP TEENS e.V. network and provide mentoring for digitization and apps. Otherwise, we are active privately in the region, in LenneStart economic development, with our project store, at InfoTastic, and Inga is on the board of our LEADER region. Supporting startups, in general, is one of our main concerns.

Here is the startup's homepage.