Dagmar Schuller founded her company audEERING together with a small team and little start-up capital. The founder is passionate about building new things and constantly developing. She first studied economics, then law, both with a focus on IT. In this interview, Dagmar Schuller tells us how she wants to leave a mark, why smiling is important, and what clichés she had to fight against in the beginning.
What motivated you to start the company?
Quite clearly: my conviction that intelligent audio analysis and AI will significantly influence our future. My motivation was to make AI accessible and usable in a meaningful and responsible way for people in a wide variety of—and especially everyday—application areas and life situations. My co-founders had already laid the foundation for this through their renowned research work at the Chair of Human-Machine Communication at the Technical University of Munich.
Additionally, even during my time as an employee, I was always responsible for business units that had to be completely rebuilt. After successfully negotiating several investment rounds for various companies and establishing and expanding entire business units nationally and internationally, the next logical step for me was to start my own business.
Did you have any role models when you started your business?
I didn't have a classic role model for founding a company like Bill Gates or Elon Musk. I never considered following a specific role model. It just doesn't suit me or my way of thinking. As a founder, you always want to create something new and are motivated to develop further. You work to leave your own footprint in a specific market or segment and are driven by it when ideas become actual projects and products. If you want to make a difference, you have to stand behind that difference yourself. That's why I've drawn inspiration from individual leadership styles and innovation processes that also suit me and our company.
“New approaches through intensive exchange”
When and where do you get the best ideas?
It depends very much on the situation. My ideas usually arise spontaneously from direct communication. When I put myself into a context and have a lively discussion about a problem with my conversation partner, I always try to build a bridge to the solution. This often leads to completely new ways of thinking. Even if the solution isn't yet clear and requires a lot of further consideration, the decisive idea usually emerges from this intensive exchange. Sometimes, however, I need a completely empty head for my ideas, to start from scratch. I get that best when I go for a leisurely run, completely stress-free, in the fresh air.
Your greatest talent?
My greatest talent is probably the ability to recognize trends and their potential early on. Even as a teenager, I was already working with neural networks, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithms. In the mid-90s, freshly back from New York, for example, as part of my work at Ernst and Young, I recommended to a large mail-order company that they convert their ordering processes to digital ones. This would have enabled them to respond to requirements early on, become trendsetters themselves, and prepare the market. At the time, however, the major players were not yet ready for this idea, and I was removed from the project due to the client's outrage at my "complete lack of understanding of retail trends." Today, online retail is indispensable, and the mail-order company in question no longer exists. For me, anticipating these developments and working with them has become one of my greatest strengths. audEERING to set trends today.
The biggest mistake you have ever made?
Fortunately, I've never made a truly serious mistake in a professional context. But of course, I've underestimated things along my career path. In previous professional contexts, for example, I had different expectations about how people would react to certain developments and the different motivations and driving factors that would lead them to a personal decision.
Your secret weapon when networking?
It's as simple as it sounds: smile and look people in the eye! That's the first step. Far too often, I see attendees at networking events just staring at their smartphones. They miss so many valuable opportunities. For me, networking means looking away from the screen, approaching the person I'm talking to openly, and using the time for meaningful conversation. Plus, a smile that comes from the heart will disarm any potentially stressed-out attendee.
The “women and money” cliché
The three worst prejudices you encounter in your everyday life as a founder?
Since founding audEERING, I've fortunately encountered very few prejudices. Normally, business partners and investors have concerns about whether the technology can really do what the presentation promises. But thanks to our existing reputation from our research projects, this was never up for debate.
Personally, I've had to contend with clichés from time to time in my career. Because I held positions of great responsibility at a young age, I was trusted less than my colleagues. I also encountered the classic "women and money" cliché. In an investor meeting, I was suddenly asked whether I was capable of spending the money they intended to invest in the company. A question you would never ask a man.
Was being a female founder an advantage or a disadvantage for you?
When I founded audEERING, I felt my role as a woman played a negligible role. The focus was always clearly on the expertise I bring to the table, which I bring to innovation and IT thanks to my business and legal background. In general, however, it remains less common for women in Europe to work in technology-oriented industries than, for example, in the US. That's why I naturally stand out at events or presentations in the technology sector. This can be a real advantage, especially when networking. You also connect particularly quickly with other women in the tech industry. Of course, this doesn't mean that all women should now look for business models in the IT sector and abandon their original plans. Rather, it's about staying true to yourself and seeing being a woman as a strength rather than a flaw. The question shouldn't be: “What do I need to be like to be successful in this field?”, rather "What am I like, and where exactly can I be successful with it? And most importantly, do I enjoy it and am I authentic?" Women should trust in their individual abilities and talents and not set limits for themselves, even if they encounter one or two clichés.
What’s on top of your desk right now?
Looking over, I see a fascinating scientific paper on emotion recognition in dogs lying next to my laptop. Plus, my now-cold lunch is still waiting for me. Every founder probably knows this – something always comes up.
Where are you going on holiday next?
I was in Denmark a few weeks ago, so I'll be spending my next few days off with my family in my native Austria. I'm originally from Styria and am looking forward to the breathtaking mountains, the clean air, Styrian potato sausage, and salad with pumpkin seed oil.
Innovations “Made in Munich” have nothing to hide
What have you always wanted to say to the people of Munich?
Only Vienna is more beautiful! No, joking aside – Munich is fantastic and I wouldn't want to change places. I would encourage the people of Munich to confidently present their city as an outstanding European center of innovation, because that's what it is. We often tend to look to the USA and see Silicon Valley as the center of the global startup scene. But if you look left and right here in Bavaria, and especially consider the Munich startup scene, you quickly realize that we have nothing to hide from our American competitors. Quite the opposite. The innovations "made in Bavaria" and especially here "made in Munich" are world-class.
