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Episode 43 - Birte Gall, Co-Founder of Erblotse
19 Plays27 days ago
In this episode, Sade is joined by Birte, Co-Founder of Erblotse, where they discussed the following topics:
- Birte's motivations for founding Erblotse.
- Developing your go-to market strategy.
- Her experience being 1/4 founders, including the challenges and advantages.
I hope you enjoy this conversation!
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Welcome
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to a new episode of Women Talk Tech.
Motivation & Strategy Behind Obloxy
00:00:17
Speaker
Today I'm joined by Berta, co-founder of Obloxy, founded to make it easier for survivors to inherit through an efficient and fair process. Berta shared her motivation for founding the company and their go-to market strategy, which for some I know is hard to develop. As one of four founders, Berta also shares her experience being one of four, the challenges, and of course, the main advantages. I hope you love this conversation.
Personal Background & Professional Journey
00:00:40
Speaker
So yeah, tell me a little bit more about yourself.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yes, hi Sade. Yes, about myself. I'm Berthe, Berthe Gahl. I was raised in Germany, Colombia and the US. And I'm an economist by ah training, economist and political scientist. And I started my career in controlling at a yeah automotive company, which is not very fashionable today anymore, I guess.
00:01:08
Speaker
I was then hired to build up a very special startup, a law school, a private law school in Hamburg, but serious law school, which was the first private law school in Germany.
Transition to Entrepreneurship & Founding of App.lots
00:01:20
Speaker
And it was exciting to be able to help build up a whole new educational institution. And I was then hired to um to join a company builder here in Berlin, which is for Germany, the ah digital hub next to, of course, Munich and Hamburg.
Understanding Obloxy's Inheritance Management Solutions
00:01:39
Speaker
and And I was lucky to be able to build up the ah Berlin School of Digital Business, which helped companies understand a bit better on how to identify digital um um business cases and business models and to set them up, basically.
00:01:58
Speaker
And then after having led two companies um without being a founder myself, I then decided to found my own company. found a what first one co-founder and then two other co-founders. And that's basically how we
Diversity and Inclusion at Obloxy
00:02:14
Speaker
ended up setting up app.lots, that's where I am today. And app.lots translates to inheritance guide. So what we do is we help manage, we help heirs manage the inheritance case and test taters to prepare their estate basically.
00:02:33
Speaker
Wow, wow. Of course, we'll get into a bit more about the company etc in more detail. and But yeah, incredible journey. um How cool. And, um you know, how, you know, for
Founding Ablotsi & Market Opportunities
00:02:42
Speaker
you, what does DNI mean? and And why would you say it's particularly important? Diversity and inclusion. yeah um Yes. So, um I mean, um I was brought up in three different cultures. So, and for me, it is normal not to know on what common ground we are operating, basically. So I know that there's different norms, different attitudes, different beliefs, ah but different creeds, which is basically the beauty of it. And um so I was raised, basically, and trying to trying to understand the other person, trying to find out where he comes from, what what he brings to the table.
00:03:26
Speaker
And I think um that's exactly what we get if we look at diversity and inclusion. We get a whole lot of a wealth of perspectives, of beliefs, of different forms ah of addressing and problems and and finding solutions. And um it's so important um right now since with this globalization going on, with us being more mobile, with us addressing more and more people in the digital space, we need to and make sure that and we get as many perspectives into our ah discussion and and also in and that
00:04:09
Speaker
enables us to open the scope of solutions that we are able to draw from. So basically, um that's what it means. And ah in practice, what does it mean at Aplod? So we have ah different cultures, different languages. We have people from different walks of lives and that all bring in their experience and which makes the wealth of of the team, basically.
00:04:34
Speaker
wow yeah I kind of go more and i love the way you were I love the way you use the word wealthy because I do think you know using and kind of having a difference of opinion and you know it's it's more than just you know okay having more men and more women in your team right it's culture it's opinion it's educational background and I think you're right it does kind of just create a wealth of you know viewpoints and a holistic view for so much more than what we actually anticipate.
Customer Feedback & Product Development
00:04:58
Speaker
Exactly, yes. Yeah, wow, wow. And you know, let's kind of dive into Ablotsi, because of course, really keen to kind of find out a bit more about what you guys are doing and and kind of how you got to founding it, you know, this sort of company, because yeah, when we first spoke and enforced a digital space for inheritance, it's, I must admit, it's something I've not heard too much about. um So, I mean, let's start from the beginning. What were your main motivations for founding Ablotsi?
00:05:22
Speaker
Yes, basically, I mean, we were four founders with a background in tech, m law and taxes. And we were looking at all the developments that were out there and asking ourselves what are the topics that have not been tackled, and topics that would make an impact on society.
00:05:46
Speaker
um which could be digitized and basically we we figured out that something in the intersection between digitization and law ah would be interesting to look into because usually people and in the tech space would not touch any of those topics because they would say oh there's law in there let's just not touch this, and ah people from the legal space would usually think that what they're doing cannot be digitized. yeah So basically that's that was the starting point. We then looked, we then did some research, and actually it was by coincidence that we stumbled upon the inheritances.
00:06:32
Speaker
And it was a bank that came up to us and said, we have a um massive amount of accounts that need to be transferred from one generation to the other, from and the testators to the heirs, and we don't have a good solution to that. So we either will need to um employ more people or we need to find a good digital solution.
00:06:56
Speaker
And so that's basically when we started to look into that. And we learned that in Germany, there's 1 million of death cases a year. So 2,700 people each day die. Funny numbers, I know. But and yes, that's what we were looking at. And we found out that there is 400 billion being transferred each year due to inheritances. So this was a large market around three ah million years are impacted by by um or need to manage an inheritance case. And that's when we started to look at it as an interesting case, basically. And what we ah found is that in Germany, it's still very common um that people either turn to a lawyer, a text advisor, a notary, maybe um in in search for help. But if you look at an inheritance case,
Go-to-Market Strategies
00:07:53
Speaker
it's ah It has a number of things that you need to take care of, and it's more of a project than of a mere legal or tax case. And that's when we started to assess what are the steps that every heir needs to run through in order to manage and to finalize the inheritance case. And we found out that there is a number of things that you can digitize and standardize, basically.
00:08:20
Speaker
And so we started doing that and and basically that's that's that was the start. so So we picked out the things that can be um digitized like an application for an inheritance certificate, um i and an inheritance quota calculator, and a state directory that all can be done and online basically. And we added ah personal services. So we have our own state ah experts that can help you maybe um get documents that you still need or talk to the authorities or whatever you need to do. And then we also have partners and like lawyers, tax advisors and real estate agents and that can help you with the things that we're not allowed to help you with basically. And so we built a hybrid platform in a way, but we wanted to build something that people could refer to from their couch, basically, um that was um easy to access and and and would give them and a wealth of information based on their inheritance case. That's basically and how we started to go into that. And it's working so well that we are now also turning to helping
00:09:41
Speaker
test taters prepare their legacy. this This is estate planning. So a you know this is the step before basically managing the inheritance case, and making sure that um the things that you have that you own and that you want to pass on to the next generation are passed on to those that you really want
Co-founder Dynamics & Company Culture
00:10:02
Speaker
and to be passed on to.
00:10:04
Speaker
Wow. Wow. That's incredible. Because I think, you know, when I think to cases I've, you know, been experienced to or just know about, there's a lot that goes into it, right? It's not like a very simple process. There's so much that goes into it. And it's a lot of conversations, right? It's a lot of like family conversations. And, you know, less i'm you know when my family were going through it, like,
00:10:22
Speaker
many people don't even know where to even begin, um let alone then to to kind of implement tech into that, it's crazy. Yeah, it is. And I mean, it's ah mostly the the people that we address are is the second generation. So the second parent has died and usually that's the the situation when things have to be be taken care of. You need to make up your mind what will happen to the real estate, how you get access to the bank accounts and all of that. And those are the people that have not been in touch with that usually. And you yeah you you it's once in a lifetime that you have to manage an inheritance case. There are some people that have it more often, but on in general, it's it's only a once in a lifetime.
00:11:07
Speaker
situation and you have not been able to train for that before or to to be able to to learn how to do it basically and that's where we want to give advice, we want to guide the people with information and and also with the tools that we have and and of course the services and that our advisors are going are able to give.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah I like you said right you know I think it's it's the tools that people need because unfortunately when you are going through this there's a lot of emotion there's a lot of sadness there's a lot of grief and then on top of that you have to think about all of these aspects with like quite a logical head about what you're going to do with say the real estate you know having that advice that is less emotional say than make than you may be and quite factual quite you know advisory like I said it it can only be quite helpful.
00:11:54
Speaker
Yeah, it is. Basically what we've learned is that um with the platform, we can take out the emotions that you you just spoke about yeah and we are referred or we are perceived as a third party that is neutral. And so people, you know, they they rely on us because we don't have stakes in the whole case. We're just yeah advising what what's what's and it least clever to do and um so that takes a lot of pressure out of these inheritance group constellations and it helps people to somehow calm down on ah ah on it and and find good solutions.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And most people haven't prepared for that, like you said, right? And nor do they even want to prepare for it because the thought of having to prepare for it means that they're going to lose the family member, right? So it's kind of like a catch-22. You don't want to be too prepared because that means you've thought about it already. um But then being less prepared, you know, yeah, totally.
00:12:51
Speaker
And, you know, how did you know what product to build? Because the idea is there and I see it, but how did you know, like, okay, this is the product and this is what we're going to build to be able to help with this problem? Yes, um that's that's a very good question. And and the journey journey has not ended yet. We're still, you know, for some parts figuring out what is it, what people need out there. um Basically,
00:13:15
Speaker
First, things you you have an idea, you have a vision, what you you want to achieve, and you start somehow cutting um the process into slices, into little packages, and you try to find out what would be the first best service to offer, which ah which would help people the most.
00:13:33
Speaker
And so what we did was we built an estate directory where you can put in all the assets that you inherited and you can evaluate them. So you have an overview of how much did I inherit.
00:13:48
Speaker
basically. And I don't know if it was the best thing to do. It was very easy or it was a a natural thing to do because that can be digitized. But we then found out that people would be using other parts of the platform more often. And we also found out that people would get stuck in a specific process. They would get stuck in applying for the inheritance certificate.
00:14:14
Speaker
So they would call us and say, I can't get along, get push this inheritance case forward because I'm not getting um the inheritance certificate. Well, we cannot give that inheritance certificate, but we what we did is we built a process where and the application for the certificate, for the inheritance of ah so certificate would be completed.
00:14:40
Speaker
completely with all documents, with all data that the authorities need. And so yeah by doing that, um the people that run through those that process, they would be able to and expedite the process basically. And so that was, we learned that by talking to our customers and finding out where they would get stuck. And so basically we built an application, which we think the state should have built.
00:15:06
Speaker
because it's it's their process just to help our customers. And that's what attracts and a number of people to our platform. And and so that's basically how you you you find out what to build.
00:15:21
Speaker
yeah so and And with that came the inheritance calculator, because people would come up to us and say, I don't know who inherits what. What are the quotas? So we set up an inheritance calculator, which is a very, very strict process, which is, again, very easy to digitize. And so that's basically how we build all the tools, we how we set up this tool set.
00:15:45
Speaker
um and What we then wanted to do is to ah take the inheritance and or the inheritance directory, the state directory, and ah enable it to distribute the inheritance among the heirs. But we spoke to the heirs before that, and what they told us is that's not the problem. They are able they're ah able to distribute that, perfectly able to distribute that,
00:16:15
Speaker
among themselves. So we stopped doing that just because we spoke to our customers, but we it was on our roadmap and we took it um off and because we we spoke to the customers. So we are in constant um um interaction with our customers, basically, let it be, we can see what they're doing ah out of our data, we speak to them. And so that's how it um evolves, basically. Wow, wow, wow. Iterate and iterate and iterate.
00:16:46
Speaker
And, you know, now we've got a product. um What was your go-to market trustee after that? um How did you get to where you are now, let's say? Yeah. and Basically what we said is we wanted to have direct ah access to the customer because I mean, that's whom we wanted to sell the product to and we needed direct access. So what we did is we went um online, basically, we used Google ads and um um send traffic onto our our websites and that's how how people come to us and so right now we have between one and two percent of
Challenges in Business Model & Co-founder Conflicts
00:17:24
Speaker
the um and inheritance cases are registered on our platform and then we found out that it was also very good to talk to the undertakers because usually the heirs
00:17:38
Speaker
are the first thing that they do is of course to bury their relatives and they're with um the undertakers and so now we are partnering with the undertakers and they pass on our um our offer to to the heirs because usually the second thing that the heirs say after they've buried their loved ones is what we do next. yeah Not allowed to give any information and so basically now we're getting and a good ah ah number a good deal of our customers through the undertakers and now we're talking to banks and finance financial advisors and we are talking to NGOs and and also to insurance companies because
00:18:25
Speaker
um All of them, they have um customers that need to manage inheritance cases, the banks, of course, once someone has died, and the insurances the legal insurance insurances, they usually have a process for managing the inheritance case too, and they're interested in getting in in adding digital services to their offers.
00:18:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, in in the space where you're in, you know, and an inheritance, I don't think it's been done too often, right? And I think if we can digitise a lot of it, you know, it would make so many aspects of the puzzle when someone passes away easier, like the undertakers, the banks, you know, the NGOs, there's so much that goes into it. If we're all on the same platform, surely our lives are made us so much easier when doing so.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yes, of course. that's I mean, it's it's an aspect of transparency for the heirs. If um a family manages to openly speak about how they want things to be distributed, how the legacy should be passed on, and we always advise to do this way before the situation is somewhere near. So once someone has had a um a diagnosis or an accident, of course, or someone is very old, then it becomes harder and harder to speak about these things, whereas if you are in in your 50s and everything see seems so far away, it's much easier to to talk about these things. and So this this is one thing, transparency among the families and of course, transparency
Advice for Female Founders
00:20:05
Speaker
ah among the
00:20:07
Speaker
the institutions that help manage the inheritance case. And that's what we want to achieve with the platform. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course, you're not doing this alone. um I know you have um three more co-founders. And you know, we're really keen to learn a bit more about how this has been, because I must admit, I've seen lots of ah kind of co-founders, just two of them. um Some were three.
00:20:33
Speaker
at most, very few with four. I think to be fair, and you're the first company I've seen with four co-founders. So very keen to know how, I can imagine, this is my idea, you know co two co-founders, like mum and dad, um three co-founders, one step mum or step dad, and mum and dad, four co-founders, mum and dad, and step mum and dad. That's exactly the thing. But of course, how does that work? And how has your experience been as four co-founders?
00:21:00
Speaker
Yeah, it is. Actually, it is unusual. and For me, i've I've been a solo managing director basically twice before and I had to take care of everything and was basically responsible for everything.
00:21:16
Speaker
and And so for me, I was very, very happy to to start with more co-founders to distribute you know responsibility and all of that. And basically, and it has ah worked out very, very well since we have a firm basis of friendship. yeah So that's basically that makes it all a lot easier. So there is no no question about how if we like each other or respect each other. So that's that's the foundation of it all.
00:21:47
Speaker
But then, of course, um you have um advantages. You can distribute um the topics. So someone like Jesper is in in charge of of tech. I have no clue about tech, so I'm very happy he takes care of it. We have Jochen who is in charge of sales and and Thomas who is in charge of legal and taxes. And so we can distribute all of that.
00:22:12
Speaker
And also again here, bring in all the perspectives that each of them has from their professional background and their professional experience. So that makes it for me a lot easier um than before. And of course, um probably next thing you're going to ask is about the challenges.
00:22:31
Speaker
yeah subscribe Some, like it can't just be all roses and like hunky-dory. then like I could only imagine what it's like with two, let alone four. What's the biggest challenge then with four co-founders, would you say? I mean, we are in a situation there where yeah we we are building a company, and but there is a an extra challenge to it because we are going into an area where there are no other companies that we can basically come from. So yeah the business model has to be designed, the platform and the services have to be designed. So what we do is every
00:23:14
Speaker
Today, basically we run in front of walls and we have to decide, do we go left or do you go right? ohs um There is no no one we can basically you know turn to and say, okay, how did you solve the problem? We have to solve it by ourselves. And so um basically what we do with what we try to do is, um if we have data, we look at the data because our gut feeling is something very, very different.
00:23:44
Speaker
And you think, well, it has to be this way. And the data says, no, it has to be the other way. So we try to follow the data because that's the data basically that our um customers yeah give us.
00:23:56
Speaker
and And so that rules out some disagreements from the very beginning. And um the other thing that you have to carefully put an eye on is m you you distribute a lot of things among the others. And then there are some topics that um tend to fall between between the chairs.
00:24:21
Speaker
um Let it be, um you're not closely looking enough about hiring and building a a company with the people that you want to, because everyone is hiring and it doesn't match. That's one thing, or culture in general. What kind of culture do we have, do we want to have yeah in the company and how do we design it? That's something that you really have to discuss and to take action up upon.
00:24:46
Speaker
and those are the things or maybe strategy you know you you you you said we want to go in this direction and then everyone you know heads off and and works on that and once in a while you have to take the step back and say ah okay are we still is it you know are we running into the right direction or do we need to adapt and and so someone needs to take care of that and you have to figure out who is that person who who will wear that hat and people give this person um the the right to do so. So that's one thing that you really need to carefully um discuss within the team of co-founders.
00:25:27
Speaker
Yeah. And how do you best manage conflicts in these situations? Because like I said, I can imagine at least it's easy with four because there's two against two or not. But you know, sometimes my parents always said three was a crowd because you always have two and then the one person who either agrees or doesn't disagree. But in your situation, why if two of you agree on one and two of you agree on the other, there's still no decision. How do you then manage the conflicts or the decision makings in these situations?
00:25:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think and there's two um two things here. um First is that we are all we have our experience, our professional experiences. So ah we have run through different situations. And so when whenever we run into conflict and and we you know we we we tend to, or there is a situation where we we get into conflict then,
00:26:22
Speaker
What we do is to step one, take one step back again and look at the situation from above or from outside, um just to make sure that your emotions are not getting you in anywhere, you know, where you don't want to. um That's one thing. And then we we know we want a solution that's good for the company. And that's when and individual preferences have to step back yeah It is not easy, if I have to admit, but basically if you have that clear, you want the company to thrive, then it becomes clear where your emotions come in too much and you have to step back. And then basically we have um one thing that we agree on is we agree to disagree. So, you know, if if um we decide or the others decide on going left and I want to go right,
00:27:19
Speaker
um I can live with it. i I will still say I want to go right but the others say no we are going left and what we do basically is we look at the data again so if we decide to go left if the data says it's okay and if everything you know picks up and goes as we expected um then it's okay and if not we have to take ah measures quickly to iterate there too so That's basically how we try to solve those um those conflicts and not to block anything, but to to yeah basicly food to develop the company further. Yeah. And I guess, like you said, right everyone in your case has their own hat they wear and has their own kind of
00:28:04
Speaker
channel or path they're in charge of so I'm guessing if there was a tech problem or a tech disagreement you know you maybe wouldn't be the first person to shout hey let's do this not having a ah tech background and vice sub versa right there'll be other aspects where your hat would come in where your mind would come in handy etc so yeah I mean that's the blessing it is at least everyone knows what they're doing and everyone has a good understanding about what their role is.
00:28:27
Speaker
Yes, and basically, I mean, we we now we have a team with each um ah a founder, basically. And so, I mean, we hire people so that they tell us what to do, not that we tell them what to do. And if they tell us you should go this way, and they agree on what one of the founders says, that's a good indication that they might be right. They're the experts. It helps, you know, but to listen to them. Yeah, yeah no, really interesting. and you know But for any listeners you know listening to this now, what would be that one-piece advice you would give any you know female founders out there or founders in general? If you could maybe look back and wish someone would have told you this, what would this be for someone else listening?
00:29:10
Speaker
I should have found it far earlier. I mean, it's but probably and maybe a little bit women specific. I had to be a managing director two times before I decided to do it myself, to you know do the step myself. And um I know that um i I did have all the competencies that I needed far before that. And ah and I think it's it's worthwhile doing that. it's It's a lot more you know, work um than you expect. and But it's basically, if you find one thing that you really want to bring forward, um you don't look at at the watch, basically. So really being taking step earlier than you think, if you if you start to think about
00:30:00
Speaker
could i found Could I be a founder? Then you really should talk to the people around you. and What do they think? Do they think you can do it and basically build a foundation on on on feedback that you can then make a decision upon. Don't don't take this decision and only by yourself because as a woman, you usually would probably say, no, I'm not ready yet. All the others around you would say, yes, go ahead. You're well prepared. um try Try it out.
00:30:35
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely think I agree because I think the art of overthinking is is so much more prevalent I think in in women than there is in men. I think women over, well, I i will speak for myself because I don't speak at all women, but I tend to overthink so me just assist so many decisions, so many aspects, and then I speak to a friend who happens to be a male and they've not even thought about anything and have just gone with it. So I think that that definitely is is such a good piece of advice.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yes, definitely. And it's worthwhile. It's wonderful to see a company grow, to bring in people that you like to work with, to work on something that helps other people. It's just just wonderful. So take the step.