You’re a self-described computer kid. Where does your fascination with computers come from? 
In the late 80s when I grew up, we owned a home computer and that’s where I learned writing programs in BASIC. It was captivating to go through the creative process of coming up with an idea, writing a program and see something on the screen. And all that often just in an instant. That triggered an urge to learn more and see what’s possible. My highlight probably from that time is when I was working on a NeXT computer.

What captures your imagination today?
Today it’s more about the possibilities that digitalization offers to improve people’s lives. I realize how challenging it sometimes is for companies and people to adopt new technologies, and I want to help them. That’s why I also drifted over the years more into product management and strategic planning. But I have to admit, when I recently did a bit of coding again, that the old fascination is still there.

How difficult was it as a woman in IT?
Sometimes IT overall still feels like an “exclusive boys club” and it required a good portion of passion and self-confidence to find my way. It’s getting better, but only slowly. A company can make a difference by seeking in an honest way an open and diverse company culture and by mentoring young women to excel and take leadership roles. They can then become role models for others. Having worked in the US, my gut feeling is that the US is a bit ahead, but not much.

You have more than two decades of leadership experience in e-commerce software. How has the field developed over this time?
The first phase in the late 1990s and early 2000s was when companies timidly said “We have to do something with the internet”. They had to figure out how to structure the basic processes and what the user interface should look like. In the second half of the noughties, when e-commerce began to be established, the main questions revolved around the optimization of customer contact, user flow, and internal processes. But it was the third wave, the advent of mobile computing, that brought a profound change.

Why is that?
In 1996, I worked with a small group of pioneering people from a mail-order company – the company was a household name at that time. They wanted to give customers the possibility to order via the internet. I clearly remember what someone from the team said: “If we could just replicate the situation of sitting on your sofa and browsing through a catalog, that would be decisive.” Much later, in 2010, with the advent of the iPad, reaching customers in such a life situation and many others became a reality. That’s what mobile is about and that’s what also brought the profound change for e-Commerce.

“I think everybody has experienced what good e-commerce feels like, but not every company has gotten there yet.”

What is the next frontier for e-commerce?
I think everybody has experienced what good e-commerce feels like, but not every company has gotten there yet. There is still a long way to go, and the complexity of some software suites doesn’t really make it easier. And unsolved problems around payment, identification and privacy still linger. For example, there are better solutions than logging in with an email and a password, but the rate of consumer adoption is still very low.

You’ve co-founded Demandware, a company that went public on the New York Stock Exchange and was later bought by Salesforce. What is the most important thing you remember from that time? 
It was a fascinating journey. In hindsight, it felt like 10 years of an adventure – even so back then it sometimes might have felt like working in a mine (laughs). What truly felt great is that a core team of co-founders and early employees took the plunge and did something that many people said will never happen. At the time, people were skeptical about cloud services, they said that a company’s mission-critical functions will never move to the cloud. We postulated the exact opposite. The skepticism we had to battle against forged a lasting bond within the team. The IPO was just the confirmation that our initial idea was right.

How did you get to know about the startup Frontastic?
In 2019, I gave a speech at the Code.Talks Commerce conference about the three big technological paradigms that shaped e-commerce. First, there was on-premise, then came cloud technology, and now there is headless software. The founder Thomas talked to me after the speech, and as I got to know the company, this led to an angel investment on my part and then a board role.

How would you explain headless commerce to a layperson?
In the past, “the internet” meant a website displayed on a desktop computer. But now we have a plethora of devices, phones, tablets or even the dashboard in a car, all running different operating systems. This has led to what I call a “Cambrian explosion” of front-end technologies and front-end frameworks. They have also become much more complex with apps and embedded systems and other things. For a software vendor, it has become basically impossible to productize the whole end-to-end stack. It has become an economic necessity to ask: “What is the common denominator of all these different solution stacks?” And the answer to this question is the underlying data models and processes. They can be standardized and offered as a product that serves all clients, no matter what front-end for which devices they use. This is the essence of headless commerce. The one thing headless doesn’t standardize is the user experience and that’s also exactly where a retailer and merchant can differentiate and set a unique mark.

So modern e-commerce companies use headless commerce software and just have to program the look and feel of their shop? 
Yes, they have the responsibility for their front-end, and that’s a benefit and a curse. They can offer customers a unique experience, but also have full responsibility for the whole life cycle. Compared to early websites written in HTML, modern front-ends have become increasingly complex, for example just take the effort to achieve a really good fast and snappy user experience. It’s not trivial to be on top of all these things. Many companies that precipitated their move to a headless architecture woke up with major headaches because they underestimated the effort and responsibility for the front-end. Also, it doesn’t make economic sense that every company starts to code their front end from scratch. At least there are some open-source tools that are helpful, but there is a massive opportunity for a complete product like Frontastic that alleviates the pain that companies have with their front-end development.

But if a company has a good team of frontend developers, I’m sure they cherish the opportunity to build exactly what is needed instead of relying on a product.
Of course, it’s great to build. But in the end, cost plays a role too. And it’s not just about the initial cost of building, it’s also about maintaining your e-commerce store. These stores have a life cycle too, just take retailers with seasonal products, like fashion. They regularly require updates and relaunches. There are also all the technological advancements that need to be dealt with. “Do we really again have to spend 6 weeks moving a damn banner”, was a comment from an e-commerce veteran in the US when I asked him about headless. It drives people crazy if they have to start a project and plan two sprints just to make a minor visual adjustment. And also for developers, it gets disappointing spending time on and on with trivial updates. They want to build something.

Frontastic makes such changes easier?
When Thomas showed me the product for the first time the one thing that immediately convinced me was that they included an editor for the business people in a company. The editor isn’t meant to be a web page editor, it’s meant as a bridge between developers and business users. This reduces cost, but more importantly, it increases the speed for a change. The possibility to use Frontastic as a business tool, combined with analytics that show what works well, turn it into an instrument to keep your shop up to date and increase sales. When I saw that, I decided to invest in Frontastic.

Speaking of which, in what kind of startups do you invest in?
I’m currently looking at another investment opportunity and I’d say that I want to understand the business model and team very well before I invest. I only look at fields where I have expertise and can actually help the startup. If I turn the question around and look at the investment from a startup’s viewpoint, it’s clear that you should get not just money, but smart money. Your investors should be able to help you with their expertise, with domain knowledge or access to potential clients or more visibility in the market.

How would you characterize the startup scene in Berlin?
I’ve only been here for 4 years, of which one was tainted by the pandemic, so I don’t really want to judge. I see a lot of startups in the areas of content, food delivery, fintech and mobility. Fintech has a solid ecosystem with potential stars such as N26, SumUp and Trade Republic. In mobility, Berlin is a very good test lab because the population likes to try out new offerings. I don’t see many startups in the field of enterprise software. But I think the main difference to Boston, or other US tech hubs, is that Berlin lacks a large enough group of senior talent, people that can lead teams and make a bigger impact, and also coaches and mentors for founders. There are a lot of young people trying things out, but until this senior layer of experienced people grows substantially, it might take another decade.