CEO Monthly Issue 1 2018

6 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 1 2018 , froglogic is a software tool vendor located inHamburg, Germany. The company’s main two products are the Squish GUI Tester and Squish Coco, which are used to automate software tests andmeasure the coverage, and therefore quality of software tests. We spoke to CEO, Reginald Stadlbauer who gives us an insight into the success of froglogic. Test Automation That Works Reginald Stadlbauer is the successful CEO of froglogic, and he is always open to learn and listen to others and their ideas and opinions, before providing an honest view on these ideas. Constantly looking to improve, Reginald has successfully run the company and enabled it to adapt and produce a variety of successful solutions and outcomes for clients. He talks to us about the typical clientele that the firm works with. “Offering a variety of services, our customers are software developers or software testers across many industries such as automotive, medical, financial, IoT, aerospace, visualisation, oil and gas and many more. Pretty much any company which develops software, for internal use or for sale, is a potential customer for us.” Starting out at University, Reginald began working actively as a software developer on the open source project, KDE. At the time, this was very exciting as Linux was transforming into a more professional environment. He explains how this helped him to gain experience and improve as a person and a professional. “Working on KDE allowed me to not only improve my coding skills, but also to learn how to work in larger, distributed teams. The challenges of not seeing the people you work with are often under estimated, and I believe being exposed to such a distributed, international environment very early on has helped me a lot for my future, professional career.” Citing this project as a vital part of his education and subsequent improvement, Reginald went on to further his career at other companies, before successfully founding and launching froglogic. “After university, I joined a company in Norway called Trolltech as a software developer. Trolltech is the company behind Qt, a cross-platform library for developing user interfaces. “In my four years at Trolltech, I took on many responsibilities on the development side leading different development projects. While at Trolltech I also learned what it is like to work for a company which received VC funding with the goal to do an IPO. This certainly influenced my decision to found froglogic. In 2003, I left Trolltech on good terms to found froglogic alongside Harri Porten, who I worked with at Trolltech.” Giving him the inspiration to establish froglogic, Reginald is very complimentary of his time at Trolltech. Telling us about the current state of froglogic and its humble beginnings, Reginald explains that the company is still growing and these are exciting times for the firm. “Having moved on from Trolltech, we decided to bootstrap froglogic which is still growing today. Today, we are a team of just over 30 people and are doing very well. We are happy that we have chosen this path instead of going for investments and being controlled by others. This has provided us with a lot of freedom. “In the early years at froglogic, all of us did pretty much everything. Over the years, I have started to focus more and more on the business side of the company, and this has become an important part of my role as CEO at froglogic.” These aspects have been vital in contributing to Reginald’s subsequent success as CEO. He describes his responsibilities as CEO to us, commenting on his leadership style and what techniques he uses to get the best out of his staff. “As one of the two founders of froglogic, I have split responsibilities with my co- 1801CE01 founder Harri. While we both come from a software engineering background, I am focusing more on the business and sales side of the company, and my main responsibilities are to run the sales and marketing organisation and also to form the product vision for the future. “Integrating all of our staff and ensuring they feel comfortable working here, we are a company with very flat hierarchies and empower our employees to take on responsibilities. I strongly believe that people are most successful when you allow them to take their own decisions and also to make their own mistakes.” Contributing to the success of the company is the working environment at froglogic, and the internal culture is vital to making firm what it is today. Reginald is of the belief that people working well together is the sign of a good company, and he makes sure that there is real cohesion amongst staff members, resulting in the best outcomes often being produced. “Throughout the company, we try to provide a relaxed environment. Given that everyone spends a significant amount of time at work, we want to ensure everyone likes being in the office. This includes