Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Edjufy: We are Marcel Walberer (26), co-founder and responsible for product management and sales, and Laurenz Glück (25), co-founder and responsible for the development of the Edjufy platform.
Marcel now has several years of experience in implementing and supporting complex software solutions, focusing on ERP interfaces, CRM systems, and cloud architecture. As a technical project manager, he has supported many well-known clients, coordinated development teams, and created technical concepts for the implementation of complex systems. His professional experience ranges from agencies to DAX-listed corporations, and therefore, with his experience and process-oriented approach, he is responsible for product management and collaboration with schools.
Laurenz started out as a software developer at a Munich internet agency. There, he was able to take on responsibility for implementing large software projects across a wide range of industries early on and gain extensive experience in software development. With his transition to the startup world, Laurenz gained valuable experience in developing a highly scalable online platform at a Munich startup. With many years of experience in software development, Laurenz is now responsible for the development and infrastructure of the Edjufy platform.
Laurenz and Marcel have known each other since school and founded a small web design and media technology agency as a side job in 2013. The idea for developing Edjufy was born in 2018/19 as part of a school website project. Since 2020, Laurenz and Marcel have been working full-time on the further development of the Edjufy platform.
Edjufy: “We want to give our schools more time for what is essential: the education of our children.”
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Edjufy: We have our product Edjufy committed to the challenges of digital support in school administration and communication. Many schools have not yet entered the digital age. Parent letters are still distributed manually and in paper form, which robs teachers of valuable teaching time. Children are still reported sick by phone, and absent and excused students are still manually reconciled in the school office. Class registers are searched for, forms are printed, and hanging files are maintained for the same, recurring tasks.
This is where Edjufy comes in. With Edjufy, we provide our schools with a high-performance, automatically scaling online platform that fulfills precisely these tasks. We offer our customers a wide range of modules that securely digitize the administrative and communication challenges of a modern school, thus actively supporting users in their daily school life. With Edjufy, we want to overcome communication barriers and give our schools more time for what matters most: our children's education.
“Digitize processes instead of simply transferring them 1:1 from paper to computer.”
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Edjufy: While there are indeed isolated solutions for various administrative tasks in schools, we at Edjufy see our product as a holistic solution that is unique on the market in terms of its comprehensiveness and modern technological approach.
In addition to its flexible application possibilities, the unique feature of our platform is the connectivity between the modules. The Edjufy modules exchange information with each other to provide a continuous process and the highest possible added value.
The approach to planning and developing our product is also unique. To ensure Edjufy is as closely aligned as possible with the administrative challenges of our schools, we rely on close, collaborative development with teachers, secretaries, principals, and parents.
With a lot of know-how and input from our partner schools, we are able to digitalise and simplify the processes instead of simply transferring them 1:1 from paper to computer.
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Edjufy: Our product is a holistic platform solution for schools and therefore needs to be easily and modularly expandable. Therefore, the biggest challenge came right at the beginning, long before the first module: a solid foundation that is applicable to all schools and, at the same time, easily expandable.
The second challenge, which we also addressed very early in the design process, was the application's performance and availability. It was clear to us from the start: schools, teachers, and guardians expect a fast and well-functioning application at all times. Large servers alone are no longer the only way to achieve this. For this reason, the Edjufy system landscape consists of individual, automatically scaling components, with which we implemented independent parallelization of various services.
This allows us to respond completely automatically to both increasing user volumes and peak loads, for example, between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. In such a case, an additional backend instance is spun up to distribute the load and automatically shut down again once the load subsides. With the help of this technology, we guarantee our users a high-performance application at all times, while maintaining the lowest infrastructure costs and CO2 emissions.
This brings us to the final challenge: data protection and the choice of data center. At Edjufy, we have the highest standards for our data center operator, both in terms of technology and data protection.
First, the data center must have a C5 certificate from the BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) to even be permitted for government use. Furthermore, the provider must support cutting-edge technologies such as Managed Kubernetes, operate CO2-neutrally, and, following recent political data protection developments such as "Schrems II" and the "CLOUD Act," have its corporate headquarters in Germany. The list of requirements was even longer in detail, and in the end, only two providers were considered, of which T-Systems, the German company, won the race.
“Every school authority and every funding agency in Germany will know us”
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Edjufy: Despite the wake-up call of the coronavirus pandemic, many schools still don't see the need for digital support in their administrative processes. Our goal for next year is therefore, in addition to reaching as many digitally savvy schools as possible, to also convince schools that are still skeptical of digitalization. And regardless of which provider and system these schools choose, a rethinking is necessary, and we are determined to promote this.
Looking a little further into the future, one can say that the signs are clearly pointing toward growth. We definitely want to become the industry standard for school software in Germany within the next five years and be included at least in the selection process for basic equipment for every newly established school. Every school authority and every funding agency in Germany will know us, and by that time, our system will also be in use in schools in other European countries.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Edjufy: As Munich natives, choosing our location during the founding phase was naturally easy. However, Munich plays a crucial role for startups. On the one hand, Munich attracts people from many different cities and countries like a magnet – especially when it comes to IT personnel. On the other hand, there are the many Munich-based training companies and universities that supply the local labor market with many young people with the best basic qualifications.
Munich Startup: Quick exit or long breath?
Edjufy: The interplay between our customers, our product, and our industry is probably something special when compared to B2B startup solutions. And since we personally care deeply about our mission of supporting schools to create more time for education, a quick exit would rather contradict this core idea. Therefore, it's clear: patience.
