The job platform Enwikuna aims to help independent IT specialists and programmers land the right projects. It also offers practical tools for task planning and automated invoicing to boot. We asked Enwikuna’s founder, Johannes Gmelin, our ‘Seven Questions’.
Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do?
Johannes Gmelin: Hi! I’m Johannes (22) from Enwikuna — the job platform for IT and programming projects. I’m currently the sole founder, but have lots of support from friends and colleagues with different specialist knowledge. I’m a qualified computer scientist and trained at Siemens AG in Munich. After completing my training, I ended up working for a software service provider in Munich where I’ve been working for a Munich-based vehicle brand since.
I came up with the idea to develop Enwikuna while looking for a platform myself to earn a little something on the side as a computer scientist with occasional projects. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any satisfying German platforms that offered high-quality jobs at a fair price. That’s how the idea for Enwikuna developed. The name Enwikuna is an invented word that’s a combination of Entwickler (German for developer), Kunde (customer) and Anwender (user).
Job platform and project management tool
So many things were important during the concept stage, aspects such as focusing on a clean and simple design that’s easy to use, high-quality jobs that are verified by a specialist colleague and a variety of services that aim to make work easier for customers and developers (such as a personalized planning board for tasks, automated invoicing, NDA services for large and particularly top-secret assignments and much more.) The most important factor, however, was for Enwikuna to be free for developers because there’s no guarantee that the right kind of jobs will be available at all times. Enwikuna is also free for customers in the beginning. Customers only pay after they find the right developer. That means creating a job posting doesn’t require immediate payment. Enwikuna doesn’t want to just be a job platform, but also aims to be a project management tool that can be used to both post and complete jobs. That makes it particularly interesting for smaller companies that can’t afford large planning tools like JIRA and don’t want to use multiple applications at the same time.
The main goal for further development is to recognize and fulfil the wishes, interests and concerns of our customers and developers to make Enwikuna an even better and customized product. In the end, it’s exactly the things described here that make Enwikuna different and set it apart from the competition. One issue is the chicken-or-egg problem, because if you don’t have customers, you don’t have developers and vice versa. Because Enwikuna has a very full backlog and is constantly growing, Enwikuna is expecting quite a few new members from the fields of computer science, economics and marketing in the near future.
A variety of free features
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Johannes Gmelin: It is on this scale and with so many features and ongoing development as mentioned before. The fact that Enwikuna is also free for developers and offers so many features sets us apart from other companies.
Munich Startup: What has been your biggest challenge so far?
Johannes Gmelin: The biggest challenge wasn’t the conceptual design, but the founding itself. If you want to be cost-effective when founding a startup, you’re forced to do and learn everything yourself.
There are of course service providers that can help you along the way, but that means you won’t have as much of your own capital in the end. In retrospect though, I can say it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Of course there’s plenty of red tape when founding a company, but if you take enough time and read through everything carefully, it isn’t a problem.
Enwikuna puts the focus on customers
Munich Startup: Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: How is business going?
Johannes Gmelin: The portal went live four months ago and has been diligently collecting developers since. After all, the developer community is really big, which is why we’re focusing on our customers to begin with. The feedback has been excellent throughout and many aspects of the platform have already been improved. Several jobs have already been posted.
Enwikuna has even received several investment offers, which is of course very positive. That’s why the focus right now is on finding companies to build up a network of customers. That is also the biggest challenge at the moment.
Munich Startup: What does Munich mean to you?
Johannes Gmelin: Munich is simply a beautiful city and also my home. The fact that Munich also has a big startup scene makes this city one of the best locations for startups.
Balance between jobs and quality
Munich Startup: How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we be seeing you at an Epic Fail Night soon?
Johannes Gmelin: The long-term aim is for the platform to become a complete product for companies and private individuals, which means it will take IT even further. The goal is not quantity, but rather a balance between jobs and quality. Because IT is evolving and growing at an ever-increasing rate, I also see a great future ahead for Enwikuna.
Munich Startup: Steckerlfisch (fish grilled on a stick) or Schweinshaxe (knuckle of pork)?
Johannes Gmelin: My absolute favorite is a nice knuckle of pork with red cabbage and dumplings — and you also need to have a beer, of course.