Robin Roschlau

When did you start working at Echometer?

Robin: I was there almost from the start. Jean came back from the Founders Academy (now Startup School) in 2016 and said: “So… we kind of developed a pretty cool startup idea. You in?” We worked on Echometer in our spare time until we went full-time in 2019.

What is your previous work experience?

Robin: I did a dual study program in Business Informatics at Bertelsmann and continued working in the Bertelsmann group as a Software Engineer for a few years, until we started with Echometer full-time.

At Echometer

With a bit more detail: what do you do at Echometer?

Robin: I’m one of the founders, so I do a bit of everything. My main focus is our software — I lead the development team, work on product design, and manage our infrastructure and tech stack.

What do you like about working at Echometer?

Robin: 1. The team and its growth. We’ve found incredible people over the last year — full-time hires and interns alike. Interns come and go quickly, but they always contribute something unique.

2. The constant learning. I wither if I’m not learning new things. Two years ago, I didn’t know how to facilitate Holacracy meetings, build a strong software development team, or actively shape the inclusive work culture I want. I still mostly don’t — but that’s part of the fun! And what we’re doing seems to be working so far.

What was your first week at Echometer like?

Robin: Surreal. My day job was suddenly gone, I was in a new city, and the feeling of “Damn, we’re really doing this?” was everywhere. So much freedom, so much uncertainty, but also so much great stuff ahead.

What was your biggest or funniest fuckup at Echometer?

Robin: Not having a server backup ready when our hosting provider failed in the very early days and our server died with no way to restore it. Those were stressful hours of frantically rebuilding everything. Luckily, we already had daily backups of all customer data, and we didn’t have many customers yet — so no lasting harm. We’ve learned our lesson: we now back up the full server setup regularly and switched to a more reliable hosting provider. For now, at least. 😉

Personal

What are your hobbies?

Robin:

I’ve sung in choirs since I was 6 — sadly not possible right now.
I’m learning to play guitar at the moment.
I love the creative, puzzle-like mix of building with LEGO bricks — it’s a great break from the very different problem solving at Echometer.

Your top 3 favorite podcasts or books