10 years of Langmeier Backup: Interview with Urs Langmeier

Urs Langmeier, founder and developer of Langmeier Backup

Sebastian Müller: Langmeier Backup is celebrating its tenth birthday this month.Urs, you are both the managing director and co-developer of Langmeier Backup. Who gave you the idea of programming data backup software?

Urs Langmeier: A customer in an electronics store. He asked me to buy him some data backup software and set it up for him. But at the time we only had Norton Ghost and it couldn't back up individual files. So I got to work and programmed this tool, Langmeier Backup.

You named it after yourself. Is there a reason for that?

Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee, they all did the same thing. Because of the name, everyone now knows that it's software from German-speaking countries. That is an advantage.

What was your most impressive moment in programming?

When I switched on a computer, a C64, for the first time. To run a program, there was a command in the manual: Load "PROGRAMMNAME", 8. I entered this command about 50 times but it wouldn't work. Until I noticed that "PROGRAMMNAME" had to be replaced with the actual program name. That was the AHA effect that immediately taught me how to program and from then on it was all about writing efficient programs.

You then started programming LaOS - can you tell us something about it?

LaOS stood for Langmeier Operating System and was a mixture of MS DOS and Windows 3.1. It was not an actual operating system, but it was a graphical user interface for MS DOS with many independent software applications such as graphics, ERP and animation programs, music programs, various games and tools. It was simply standard practice among QBasic developers at the time to make something like this. I programmed many applications for LaOS myself and a small, modest group of programmers joined me and also programmed applications for LaOS. But it was never enough for the breakthrough - we were probably just too late on the market at the time.

Your breakthrough came with Langmeier Backup. Was there a particular moment when you thought "I'm going to turn Langmeier Backup into a major piece of software"?

Yes - and it always amazed me how many people underestimate the software market. But anyone who looks at the IDC statistics knows that the storage market in which we operate is a multi-billion dollar business. Why shouldn't we be able to get a decent slice of the pie? We have the software. What we need now are the right people who are good at cutting the cake: we need exceptionally good sales and channel people with experience in our field. People who think big and holistically. Because to achieve great things, you have to be able to think big. And you have to know where to pull the levers to turn something small into something big.

Do you think there is still a lot of room for improvement at Langmeier Backup? Where could they still be?

Software can never be fully developed. It took me two years at the beginning until I said: now I can stand behind the software. Anyone who has looked at my first software versions may wonder why I sold so many software licenses from day one. In 10 years' time, we'll be saying the same thing about our current version.

What are your plans for the future?

We will invest more in enterprise and high-end solutions. And we will expand our sales and marketing.

You hired your first employee in 2008. Did it become more difficult or easier when you took on more employees and you were no longer doing everything on your own?

It became easier when the employees were willing to get involved and take on responsibility independently. But managing employees is difficult - that's the other side of the coin. Especially in Switzerland, where people are used to a rare luxury. Now that Swiss employees have all the necessary material goods thanks to years of good economic conditions, they are striving for an optimal work-life balance - of course, this striving is being carried out at the expense of the companies and above all at the expense of the smaller companies where every individual's commitment counts.

Urs at the time he founded the company, 2004

Looking back now, would you have done many things differently, or would you like to repeat that time?

I should have invested more time in sales and not waited for our customers to find us. I was also wrong to concentrate on Switzerland for so long. But to be successful in the Swiss market, we would have to offer our software in the three national languages - because many major customers are represented throughout the country.

Urs Langmeier, thank you for the interview and congratulations on the tenth anniversary of Langmeier Backup!