Munich Startup: What does Fairdoc do? What problem does it solve?
Sylvia Edmands: Clinics and hospitals are experiencing an acute shortage of doctors. Advertised positions remain vacant for months, sometimes even years. Departments, even entire hospitals, are being closed. This is leading to bottlenecks in medical care – and the trend is increasing.
Fairdoc is a digital agency for temporary employment in the medical field and helps close these gaps. Hospitals and facilities can recruit short-term, temporary replacements using the Fairdoc app. This enables clinics to plan their staff independently, flexibly, and cost-effectively. Doctors can easily find temporary assignments throughout Germany using the app. Registered doctors can apply for a temporary position tailored to their individual circumstances in terms of location, time, and duration with just one click.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Sylvia Edmands: We are the first digital temporary staffing agency for physicians on the market to pass on all the savings generated through digitalization to our clients. We designed our placement app as a one-stop shop. Hospitals and physicians can handle temporary staffing assignments completely digitally through Fairdoc: from initial contact through assignment management to payroll. The app's various features ensure smooth processes and transparency for both parties.
Fairdoc is a further development of Talentee
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Sylvia Edmands: Fairdoc is the further development of the networking and career platform TalenteeFor Talentee, we used algorithm-based matchmaking, similar to online dating platforms. This enabled us to connect students and doctoral candidates with the departments of companies looking for suitable talent.
As part of a pivot, we strategically refocused this recruiting concept exclusively on the medical sector and adapted it to the prevailing needs there: Since our work involves bringing people together for a highly demanding employment relationship, the matching of doctors and clinics at Fairdoc is carried out by our HR expert and co-founder, Mathias Tünnerhoff. He and his team review the AI-based pre-selection and ensure that the registered doctor precisely matches the requirements and needs of the facility – and vice versa.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Sylvia Edmands: Regulation and bureaucracy – Fairdoc acts as personnel service provider in the area of temporary employment. The Temporary Employment Act (AÜG) applies to the leasing of workers in all sectors, including healthcare. The AÜG protects employees and sets clear guidelines for the employment relationship. We require a corresponding license, which we initially had to wait several months for. Furthermore, we are regularly audited by the Federal Employment Agency regarding compliance with the AÜG.
The doctors we place are employed directly by Fairdoc as full-time or part-time staff. A contract concluded with us forms the basis of the agency relationship. For example, the Temporary Employment Act (AÜG) requires these contracts to be in writing, so we mail most of our contracts in paper form. Due to this contractual arrangement, we are the employers of the locum doctors. Therefore, cash flow is another challenge: our income is offset by relatively high expenses.
Improving medical care in Germany
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Sylvia Edmands: Within a year, our brand should be well-known in our (relatively small) target market. Physicians who want to work flexibly, as well as decision-makers in hospitals and facilities, will specifically seek out substitute assignments using our app and process them through Fairdoc. Because we live up to the "fair" in our name, it's their positive experiences with us that encourage them to recommend us.
In five years, we want to be largely digital and automated. This allows us to focus on the few human touches that distinguish our service. This, along with speed and user experience, sets us apart from our competitors. At this point, Fairdoc offers the physicians registered with us everything they need to succeed in their careers while maintaining the desired work-life balance. Overall, we at Fairdoc are doing our part to improve medical care in Germany (and perhaps in other markets as well).
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Sylvia Edmands: Munich is the place of choice! For me personally, because I feel such a personal connection to this city that I couldn't imagine starting a business anywhere else. More importantly, however, two of my co-founders, Marcus Otto and Michael Wenglein, are veterans of the Munich startup scene. Their first-class network benefits us in many ways. We are open to remote work among our employees.
Save time and money by doing it yourself
Munich Startup: Outsource or do it yourself?
Sylvia Edmands: Do it yourself! This started with the app programming. For the Fairdoc app, we opted for low-code software. Our co-founder, Marcus Otto, acted as the developer. Without any experience in software development, he was able to acquire all the relevant skills through available tutorials. We managed to launch the entire Fairdoc app with all its features within four months.
For our Talentee platform, we had the app and user interface developed traditionally. Despite employing up to six developers, this took twice as long. The coordination processes were often frustrating, and the platform cost about ten times as much as the current low-code solution. Our experience shows that by doing it ourselves, we achieved a significantly faster time to market, at significantly lower costs, and with much greater flexibility.
