Hypoport Sofia is part of the Hypoport Group – a network of technology companies for the credit, real estate and insurance industries. Hypoport Sofia performs the role of a strategic and management holding company with corresponding central functions. The company enjoys flexibility and independence of a mid-size startup with the benefits and opportunities provided by German SDAX corporate
Read below how the freedom and flexibility in the company help in creating high-quality products that customers love. Here you can dive deep into the past of Hypoport Sofia and soon you will learn more about the company’s plans for the future.
Lesson 1: When it comes to product development – always follow your heart
The reason the Hypoport network set foot in Bulgaria is FIO Systems. This German FinTech was founded in Leipzig in 1999 by Nicolas Schulmann. The idea to locate a subsidiary in Bulgaria was born during a ski vacation in Bansko. During this time, in the early 2000s, FIO Systems lacked developers in Germany and was discussing how to expand their capacities. Due to its banking business FIO needed reliable developers who would devote themselves to the company.
So, instead of cooperating with an outsourcing company Nicolas came up with the idea to ask his hotel hosts whether they knew some IT guys he could speak to. Imagine the surprise when he found out that their son was a skilled young developer. The rest is history – as motivating and challenging as you can think of. For Nicolas product development and skiing have a lot in common – you should pay close attention to the environment and how it changes, you should be flexible/agile and adapt to current conditions as they evolve and to be able to adapt and secure your current safety, life and future. Or as Lindsay Vonn said “You are not limited to what you push yourself to. You can always do better.”
Oh, and the developer from Bansko? He is still a part of the team and plays a leading role as senior software architect in FIO’s activities in Sofia.
Lesson 2: Freedom, commitment and flexibility enable success
The goal of Hypoport Sofia (as a part of Hypoport Group) is to develop outstanding software products. With all the freedom of having an agile start-up culture and the strength of a large corporate network, the group creates more financial freedom in the credit, real estate and insurance industries through digital innovations.
Hypoport Sofia helps German Hypoport companies in setting up international software development teams that work remotely both in Germany and in Bulgaria. The main goal is to support them by finding the right talents for their teams on the Bulgarian IT market and to provide everything needed so that both local and international employees enjoy an inspiring working environment. In addition, German companies could focus on their core business while at the same time they could be assured that their best interests are well kept – from an administrative support to the day-to-day running of the business by assisting with clerical and administrative processes.
To receive more information about the teams visit: www.hypoport.bg
Lesson 3: Keep customers happy – employees even happier
High quality products that customers love are only created by happy employees. To achieve this, the Hypoport group relies on 19 years of experiences in remote product development between Sofia and different cities within Germany. “Our biggest goal is to create an environment where everybody can contribute for developing successful products”, said Danny Hanke, Managing Director at Hypoport Sofia. Implementing a team setup for long-term products needs special efforts in the beginning and Hypoport Sofia is well aware of that. According to the team, “speaking the same language” and trusting each other are two cornerstones that are deemed equally important for achieving success at a group level. Every member needs to be well integrated to make a cross-functional remote teamwork. “If I have to describe our journey so far using a movie as metaphor I would choose “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. And here I’d like to emphasize on the “fellowship” and building a community around shared goals. Skills, attitude and commitment are what matters, not origin, experience, size or something else – that’s diversity at its’ best and we are very much not only open to this, but also encouraging it. And then I’d paraphrase from “One ring to rule them all” to better and much more applicable in our case “One team spirit to rule us all, having many teams to work under the Hypoport network umbrella🙂”
by Danny Hanke
Danny is a software developer and has worked at FIO in Leipzig since 2014. In 2016 he took the opportunity to stay with the FIO teams in Sofia for six months. He liked it so much that he stayed ever since. As a team leader, his work increasingly focused on cultural and structural issues. He is now continuing this by supporting other Hypoport companies as Managing Director of Hypoport Sofia, by building teams and taking care of a nourishing culture that will enable their growth. Seeing a team working and building something together as well as overcoming challenges in a professional and friendly manner is very satisfying to him. In his career he has been lucky enough to be part of such teams and he hopes he can help to create such teams in the future. Before the pandemic he was traveling quite often between Sofia, Leipzig and Berlin. Although working remotely has not slowed them down, he has to admit that the personal exchange during visits cannot be replaced and he is looking forward to his next trip to Berlin.
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