The QDE story: ten years of querdenker engineering

From the conviction that one can bring something good into the world

For Florian Seibold one thing was clear from the start: “I want to do something good for the world.” With that conviction he founded an electronics start-up with two partners after finishing his bachelor's degree. It soon became clear that enthusiasm for technology and the pleasure of developing were not enough on their own to create a working environment built on respect. After eighteen months the three parted ways over irreconcilable attitudes.

One illusion poorer and one important experience richer, Florian Seibold continued his master's degree and gained insights into industry as a working student at well-known companies. Nowhere, though, did he find a working environment that matched his values. So in 2014 he decided to take the step into self-employment.

At the time, job advertisements were often looking for “Querdenker” (lateral thinkers). Florian Seibold looked into the term and concluded that lateral thinking is an excellent way to work and a good description for his development office. querdenker engineering was born.

The patent and trademark office took the view that lateral thinking is the basis of any good development work and therefore not distinctive enough to be protected as a trademark. After long discussions, Florian Seibold's arguments prevailed, and the querdenker engineering mark was confirmed officially in 2016.

For personal reasons the electronics freelancer moved from Munich to Freiburg in 2016. There, halstrup-walcher GmbH was quickly won as a first major client, which gave the young company a strong push. A further move to Neuried and the opening of an office on Hauptstraße in the Ichenheim district followed in 2018.

The long-standing work with the EMS provider AXON Electronics brought further clients, among them the medical device manufacturer OPED. To handle that volume of work properly, staff were urgently needed and quickly found in the experienced software developer Nico Klaas. Within only two years the team grew from two to six. That called for more office and laboratory space, which was possible at the existing site.

Florian and Nico agreed from the outset on establishing a professional way of working. In 2018 they started with the first virtual EEPROM implementation, which became the basis for the company's own C++ library semf (smart embedded framework) and made development simpler and faster. Beyond that, all processes were built to ISO 13485 (medical devices) and ISO 9001 (industry), and a Scrum-based project management was introduced for agile development.

The philosophy of querdenker engineering rests on technical expertise and on an open, equal and respectful way of working together. Democratic rules inside the company have been discussed intensively since 2018; in 2021 a works agreement was concluded that records the binding nature of these values and norms. A democratic pay model has been in place since 2022, and a charter of democracy, a constitution of sorts for querdenker engineering, is to be adopted this year.

For Florian, what the first ten years taught him is clear: “Working deliberately according to your own set of values is a load-bearing factor. Paired with open communication, it has always let us come through difficult situations well.” For him it matters to stand up for one another and to help across the whole supply chain. Electronics development is always team work, and enjoying the work, paired with professionalism, is the precondition for bringing something good into the world.

Milestones: ten years of querdenker engineering

• 2016: registration of the word and figurative mark querdenker engineering GmbH
• 2017: move to Neuried, Ichenheim district; an office on Hauptstraße after a six-month search
• 2018: first employee, Nico Klaas, who becomes a shareholder a year later; project and quality management set up to ISO 13485
• 2019: the team grows rapidly to six; office extension, stage one
• 2020: Scrum-based project management introduced for agile development; marketing and sales professionalised
• 2022: the team has grown to ten; office extension, stage two; a democratic pay model introduced
• 2023: project management and quality assurance implemented to ISO 9001
• 2024: the team grows to fifteen; official certification of the quality management system to DIN EN ISO 9001