Today we are happy to have a particularly exciting founder in our interview – Miriam Janke, Co-Founder of Website Miriam Janke,
Dear Miriam, I am very happy to introduce you to our community in the Role Model Interview. You’re in the highly exciting fields of digitization and software development. Would you like to give our readers a little insight into your professional/entrepreneurial career?
Of course, Kinga. “It’s a journey, not a sprint” – I would say here. My entrepreneurial career started when I was about 14 years old, at that time I was very interested in following different blogs and they were just experiencing their boom. Besides school, there was a lot of time for blogging and programming. My love for digital was sparked and since I was always taken to the agricultural factories by grandpa as a kid, my interest in #DeepTech was piqued (which shaped me a lot back then). When I started my little world trip at the age of 18, I came into contact with digital nomads a lot and the topic of “working from anywhere” and especially entrepreneurship became top topics with me. In 2018, I moved to Berlin to start a business. In college, I started an organization my first semester and ran events to empower students.
We all know Berlin is a metropolis of meetings and so I met the marketing manager from a Silicon Valley investment bank. Here, I assisted with a mobility campaign and did PR for a best-selling author. After that, I made the decision that I could do this myself, with my own agency. Mayvary was born and after two months I already had four people and it really took off.
Subsequently, I met my current business partner. And yes, today I am a co-founder of a software company called Trilleco. We want to provide companies with access to the modern circular economy and thus help them achieve greater sustainability through the extraction, visualization and use of data with the help of our NoCode platform. In particular, the use of new digital solutions (energy management, asset management, 3D Digital Twin, predictive maintenance, etc.) is a focus. ) are the focus here.
2. I am delighted every time I meet female founders who move out of stereotypical roles and also venture into the apparent “male domains”. How did you discover your passion for the “technical world”?
Through my grandpa I discovered a fondness for tractors (especially the John Deere one with trailer and front-end loader), through my dad for video games/building, and through my mom for finance. We are shaped so incredibly strongly in our childhood, and I was lucky enough to be given technical things from a young age. However, that was only the starting point. My technical affinity and getting involved with future technologies also has a lot to do with reading books, dreaming/visioning, exchanging ideas with smart/inspiring people, and the love of learning. Trial and error and creating from curiosity, making decisions and innovating for the future, that’s what the tech world is all about for me.
3. trilleco was established in 2021. In your LinkedIn profile, I found the following description to be highly engaging: “Trilleco’s goal is to enable greater efficiency, simplicity and sustainability in businesses, support prudent use of resources, optimize capacity utilization and provide outcome-based solutions through our NoCode IoT platform solution.” In fact, a lot of exciting images immediately pop into my head, but for our not-so-tech-savvy readers: Could you explain in a simplified way how exactly your platform solution and the associated service on your part can be imagined?
Sure Kinga, with pleasure. There are many challenges to solve: Volatile markets and the pressure on companies to innovate, the shortage of skilled software developers and data scientists, the digital transformation of companies, and the evolution of companies toward greater sustainability. Many traditional companies are overwhelmed with technology and do not have budgets that can cover large software projects. Our NoCode Platform, with its pre-built, customizable digital solutions, is right there to help solve many of their current challenges. The enhanced combination with best-in-class emerging technologies, such as Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality in a NoCode platform helps to create a customized enterprise solution that solves today’s challenges.
4 The topic of “sustainability” plays a decisive role for you in this context. How exactly can we imagine your contribution to the circular economy here?
We focus on the circular economy by enabling companies to operate more sustainably and use resources responsibly through our platform. First and foremost, we look at the status quo by working with existing data and installing sensors with our partners. We make this data usable by visualizing it graphically in our NoCode platform dashboard. In addition, individual parameters can be selected and reports drawn. The data is then the basis for further solutions and optimizations, such as energy management. Here, for example, we are helping container ports in the Mediterranean region to reduce their electricity bills and thus their electricity bills as well. Since NoCode does not require programming, change requests can be easily completed and new solutions or processes can be implemented in 1/10 of the time it would take to program. My vision is to achieve interoperability and full interconnectivity in enterprises. Our platform serves as a building block to continuously create more circularity and add more digital solutions.
5. we often get the impression that we in Germany are still quite restrained when it comes to technical innovations. Would you confirm that, or has our mindset regarding innovation perhaps even changed for the better?
Germany is definitely still very much behind when it comes to digitization, and in all areas. Corona has definitely been a driver of innovation, and the EU’s 2050 climate targets also promote new directions in sustainability. I think that companies are now forced to innovate more to meet societal and economic demands and to maintain a competitive advantage in the future.
6.you have not only dared to “jump into the cold entrepreneurial water” once. Some women are accompanied by a strong sense of “fear” when they think about starting a startup or a business. Do you have a tip for (aspiring) female founders that you might have liked to receive yourself at the beginning?
My tip is to seek mentors, industry experts, and network with other founders. LinkedIn is an incredibly good network for finding these three things, and for gaining further visibility. In the beginning, an entrepreneurship program helped with me to connect with peers and form accountability groups. Motivation, consistent pursuit of goals, exchange with the market and constant adaptation of one’s own business model by continuously obtaining feedback are good foundations for leading one’s own company to success. Besides that, the selection of the team is the most important thing. Someone here once gave me the tip: Hire slow and fire fast. Especially when it comes to co-founding, you should have worked with the respective people beforehand. Otherwise, vesting is also a way to hedge expectations internally.
Many women still face challenges in the startup scene, whether it is gender bias, lack of investor funding, or balancing entrepreneurship and family. You also have another exciting title in addition to your founder title, because you are also the Vice Miss Germany Berlin. As an entrepreneur, have you ever faced any of the above challenges as well, or have you faced reservations because others may not have been able/willing to comprehend or accept your diverse areas of interest and titles?
Oh yes, Kinga. Total. I once had an investor meeting in my early 20s and the investor had treated me as an assistant first. After he chose an inappropriate phrase and my co-founders directly said that I owned the company, he was very embarrassed and his behavior towards me changed abruptly. Furthermore, there are some cases where meetings are confused with dates. Here it should be made clear directly that we can either continue to talk business or should rather go our separate ways. When he’s professional, he takes it with humor. If not, so be it, and things will continue to move forward. I had to learn this in many situations, but the fault does not lie with us women.
And when it comes to compatibility with family and entrepreneurship, I think no one can judge, and everyone should do what he/she thinks is right. I hope gender biases and arguing against role types stops with our generation, Generation Z, because we are the generation of the future.
8 Another exciting task you have dedicated yourself to is that of being an advisory board member for the Social Media Pirates. For those of our readers who don’t know how to become an advisory board member or what exactly you do in this position. Could you take us on your journey here as well?
As a member of the advisory board, I provide strategic advice to the company and have an overall view of the company’s development. In addition, the exercise of this mandate also involves the steering, coaching and sparring of managing directors and shareholders. The advisory board regulations usually specify the tasks. If necessary, an advisory board can even exercise controlling functions. With the Pirates Group, I am in Munich 2-3 times a year for this. In my opinion, many more GenZ’ers should be brought in as advisory board members, because we have grown up with the new technologies and work very creatively. What worked then doesn’t work now.
9. multi-founder, advisory board member, innovator – As if these roles weren’t already very impressive, your commitment as a mentor in particular is a component I don’t want to forget in this list. As such, you are (or were) active at the HUBerlin, the UniMannheim or FemGems, among others. To what extent is mentoring an important component of entrepreneurship for you?
I love mentoring because I love giving back. If my mentees are 1-2 years faster as a result of the knowledge they have gained, or if they are spared some negative experience, then I have done everything right. Furthermore, as a mentor I also gain insights into new trends/markets and the reverse mentoring idea is the way to go for me. But we should not forget that a mentor can also be our business partners, friends, acquaintances as well as YouTubers or Instagram role models. Knowledge is available everywhere and I also continuously seek support from other founders and industry experts.
10 With regard to your personal and entrepreneurial development, readers are certainly very curious to see what the future holds for you and Trilleco. Would you like to leave us a little snapshot of the future for the next few years?
Of course. First of all, it must be said that only 7% of companies are circular. The circular economy needs to be made accessible to businesses, and we want to increase that percentage for businesses of all sizes through our NoCode approach. This is one of my future snapshots to make ecological, but also financial savings. Furthermore, we intend to expand into additional markets. Next year, a round of investors is planned and the team will grow. Furthermore, I intend to inspire and motivate more women to start up. In addition, a big personal goal for me is to become Forbes 30 under 30 in Tech.
Dear Miriam, thank you very much for these exciting insights! I’m sure that if the visibility of such inspiring female role models like you continues to rise, many young women will boldly venture into the tech field and perhaps even consider starting their own.
About the author
Kinga Bartczak advises, coaches and writes on female empowerment, new work culture, organizational development, systemic coaching and personal branding. She is also the managing director of UnternehmerRebellen GmbH and publisher of the FemalExperts magazine .
