Who this is
Gero Decker founded Signavio out of a university project at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam. Starting in 2006 he and fellow students built a browser-based drawing tool that lets teams design process diagrams together. In 2009 it became a company because AOK Brandenburg, a German health insurer, wanted to pay 100,000 euros as its first customer. When Signavio was sold to SAP it had around 450 employees and 54 to 55 million in ARR, at a purchase price of 957 million euros. Gero has written a book about Signavio's story and today invests as an LP through funds rather than as a business angel.
Episodes
Numbers from the episode
FAQ
What is Signavio?
Signavio grew out of a university project at the Hasso Plattner Institute: a browser-based tool that lets many people design process diagrams and process models together. Gero Decker founded the company in 2009 so it could sign its first contract with AOK Brandenburg. In 2021 Signavio was sold to SAP. To the episode →
How much did SAP pay for Signavio?
In the episode Gero names a purchase price of 957 million euros. At the time of the sale Signavio had 54 to 55 million in ARR and around 450 employees, almost 150 of them in engineering. To the episode →
Who was Signavio's first customer?
AOK Brandenburg, a health insurer that was facing a big merger at the time and needed to involve hundreds to thousands of employees in redesigning its processes. It paid 100,000 euros without negotiating. To the episode →
What does Signavio have to do with TikTok?
One of Signavio's first employees quit and founded Dubsmash, an app for short lip-sync videos. According to Gero, Dubsmash reached number 1 in the app charts in 30 countries and later served as the blueprint for Musical.ly and thus for TikTok. To the episode →
How did Signavio win customers outside Germany?
At first it didn't: signups came from India, the US and Brazil, but almost only German companies became customers. The fix was to hire salespeople in the target countries. Gero himself went to the US through the German Silicon Valley Accelerator. To the episode →
How does Gero Decker invest his money?
After a handful of business angel investments in 2015 that brought him more frustration than joy, he now invests as an LP through funds. One example from the episode is the fund of his former co-founder Torben, in which he came in as an anchor investor. To the episode →
Quotes
„… meine einzige Intuition, die ich hatte, war ich rufe lieber einen zu großen Betrag auf als ein zu klein.““My only instinct was: I'd rather name an amount that's too big than one that's too small.”
„so billig haben wir noch nie unsere Probleme gelöst bekommen.““We've never had our problems solved this cheaply.”
„Gero, ganz einfach, … wir werden dort Kunden haben, wo wir Vertriebler haben.““Gero, it's simple: we'll have customers wherever we have salespeople.”
„Mich fasziniert ja immer … die Frage, welche Fragen muss ich eigentlich stellen, um nach vorne zu kommen?““What always fascinates me is the question of which questions I actually need to ask to move forward.”
„… wollten wir verkaufen? Nein. Und das hat uns auch sehr gut getan in den Verhandlung.““Did we want to sell? No. And that served us really well in the negotiations.”