Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do Testifi?
Testifi: Daniel is the founder and CEO of Testifi. He has been working in software testing since 2004 and has worked on more than 25 different corporate projects across Europe, covering all aspects of software delivery and testing. Dan holds four degrees: an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the Technical University of Munich, and bachelor's degrees in computer science, politics, and law from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Co-founder Henning Luther is the senior software architect of the Testifi framework. Henning is a highly experienced full-stack Java developer with 20 years of experience and a degree in computer science.
The Testifi founders met after both observed firsthand the inadequacies and challenges of the software development process.
Testifi aims to make software testing more efficient, cheaper, and scalable
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Testifi: Software testing in large companies is typically performed very poorly. Although large companies have quality assurance (QA) departments and many test automation experts who work with multiple tools to create automated tests, software testing is still considered highly inefficient, time-consuming, and costly.
The problem is that large companies need an integrated, monitored, and well-structured solution to ensure software testing works properly. Why is this important? If testing isn't done properly, software delivery takes much longer and software quality suffers. As a result, the company incurs higher costs from frustrated customers, plus the costs of software failures, and much more.
Collaboration with industry giants
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Testifi: We offer a systematic solution for software testing across the entire organization that is easily scalable within or between projects. CAST (our 'Complete Automated System Test') enables software development teams to quickly and easily automate their software testing, improving the efficiency and quality of their products. We're already working with industry giants such as BMW, Vodafone, Amazon, and Nokia on this. We're also working on developing AI technologies to optimize the testing process as much as possible.
Existing processes make innovative thinking difficult
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Testifi: Our potential customers already use test automation tools and test automation experts, and they have a QA department. What our solution offers is a completely different way of thinking about how an organization should change its software delivery practices and optimize the process. This makes it difficult to overcome the defensive mindset toward the existing test automation setup and explain the value and immense potential of our tool.
Another layer of this challenge is resistance to change at the user level. Even after our tool is implemented, we still need to convince users to switch to our product for test automation instead of using their own custom solution. While this is a significant challenge for us as a startup, it also motivates us to develop a tool that's quick to learn and easy to use. We also offer support every step of the way to ensure the best possible outcome.
As a startup, we always have challenges with cash flow. But we try to make the most of it, as it keeps us agile and efficient.
Millions in sales for Testifi
Munich Startup: Where do you see your company in one year, and where in five years?
Testifi: In 2021, we aim to break the 5 million revenue mark. This will mean we will reach five times our current revenue and grow our company exponentially.
In five years, we want to dominate the DACH region and have convinced the 20 largest companies to regularly use our tools and services. We want to be the standard for software testing in these companies. We're also considering scaling up to and including an IPO. But that's in the range of five to seven years.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Testifi: Munich is a perfect location for B2B startups that focus on large corporate and enterprise clients. There's a high concentration of major corporations like BMW, IBM, Microsoft, Telefonica, and others, all headquartered in Munich. Most of these companies have their own accelerator programs and collaborate with many startups in the region. We are also a case in point because we focus on enterprise clients, and our first client was and remains BMW.
VCs who stay on board until the IPO
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long breath?
Testifi: A quick exit is what VC funds prefer. That's why we're currently bootstrapped and only looking for VCs who are committed to long-term partnerships and willing to stay with us until the IPO.
Our goal is to become a Munich-based unicorn. We want to reach the billion-dollar mark and become the industry standard in agile software testing.
