Right on time. So let's start the session. Um Welcome uh to our session. My name is Carl. Uh I'm the moderator of this panel today and I will start by introducing uh salon. So our mission is to help companies reveal and fix inefficiencies.And we started Salon in 2011 with the goal of enabling companies to really see and understand their actual business processes. And that we pioneered a new software category called process mining. And now we even extended this by turning process insights into real time actions, unlocking breakthrough performance for our customers. Over the years, we did over 3000 deployments with some of the largest enterprises in the world. And by now, we are one of the fastest growing enterprise software companies with more than 3000 employees across 20 offices globally. I am now super excited to chat with all of you today and share about our work in the hyper growth environment. And today I am joined by my colleagues of the product and engineering department, SIA Melanie and Magdalena. So let's get started um and get to know our panelists. Uh Maybe I want to start with uh Svenja So please uh introduce yourself and share a bit about your background. Sure,

thank you, Carl. Um So yeah, I'm a product lead at salon. I'm working in the data part or data tripa we call it. That means I'm basically responsible for the extract transform and load part. So we're extracting data from our customers and load it into our cloud and we transform it into the correct format and um then we load it basically to make analysis on top of it. And uh my background, I um study industrial engineering. It's a bit a bit different than usual in, in my domain. But uh then I had a peek into the consulting world and then I already joined Salon roughly five years ago.

Nice. Uh Thank you so much. Uh Magdalena. What about you?

Yeah, thanks. So uh I'm happy to be here. So my name is Magdalena. I'm a senior software engineer at Salon. Um I'm working there in, in developing our own internal database system uh with our own domain specific query language. So very back Andy and very technical and what I did before was, yeah, I uh started at Sonoma three years ago and before that I did my masters uh in computer science and there also had a bit of a database focus. So yeah, not so, so very straight from university to the engineering role.

Nice. And then moving our uh over to our design colleague uh Melanie, maybe you also want to share a bit about your

background. Sure. Um Also warm welcome from my side. My name is Melanie and I'm a designer by profession, but also by passion and heart. And in the last uh yeah, 10 to 15 years already, um I worked uh in many different setups and consultancies, agency, product world, and the pro uh and corporate, even the Corporates, both in Germany and the US. And I'm very passionate about the intersection of design, engineering and uh business. And I would even say I call myself a feminist and I care about uh diversity, equity and inclusion, especially in the tech industry.

Nice. Thank you so much. Um Melanie with so many different um yeah, positions you had in the past. What brought you to Salon

back then? Um Good question. I actually um a former um team member of mine, a designer in my team went to salon and we stayed in contact and she told me once uh we would need someone like you in our current state of the organization. And then we talked a little bit about it and I um yeah, and then I went into the process and actually convinced me in the end um to join was 33 key things I would say on the one hand, really the product landscape and the mission of the law is there is something I love to be part of and, and growing this mission.

Um The team, I met. All the people were really smart, intelligent and kind and ambitious. And I think this is a really good combination and um also the impact of the role because I love scaling teams, processes products and we're in the right phase. And then last, but not least I would say uh that actually, I see personal growth. I think it's really important to uh when you join a company that you see, OK, how can I grow and evolve over time in this organization? Because um I'm not a person who likes to jump every half year or year or two years in a shop or a new organization.

Nice. That sounds great. So what I heard is you had a connection, you had a former colleague and, and that was also the intro, Trilon uh Magdalena, how was uh how was your story? What brought you to

salons?

Yeah, thanks for asking. I mean, it's kind of a funny story actually. So I was like looking for a job after university and also was like looking for a C++ roles and then I found like an opening on, on linkedin and I just like applied there with, I mean, I knew Salon is already from university to name, but yeah, not so much. And like half an hour later, I got a reply for tenant acquisition and later it turned out that it wasn't a reply actually to my uh to my application, but she found me like in her search. And so we just matched perfectly in time and I thought, like, what a, what a quick response. So that's why I ended up here.

Nice. Perfect Matt. Uh Magdalena maybe. Can you explain to our audience? Um When did you join Salon and how did the company change or maybe evolve over time or what, what changed since you

started? Yeah. So I joined a bit more than three years ago, which was like two weeks before the pandemic hit, um, in Germany at least in March 2020. And, um, yeah, it changed abruptly and very much regarding my expectations. So I thought, like, I would be always on site. Never a home office or like very rare home office and then after two weeks home office mandatory. And, yeah, now we have like a hybrid setup and a lot of things change from like, yeah, I think also for all the other people while I was there because it was like all this new with the pandemic. And yeah, now we have like a very regulated day to day life. I would say again.

Got it. Uh, Svenja. Same question for you. I, I, um, realized you joined Salon is more than five years ago. So I bet a lot has changed, uh, in those five years.

Yeah, I

think you can say that. Um, well, when I started, we were around 200 people. So it was like, everyone knew everyone and like, you could easily say like walk by any desk and just say hi, get to know what they're working on, what's going on. The collaboration was so easy. It was just like everyone was aligning to the same goal we all knew, hey, prices, mining is a thing. We want to make it work and we just need to build a product around it. So it was like there was one vision, one vision and it was so easy, right? And now we're roughly over 3000 people. And of course, the collaboration got way more difficult because like, you don't know any, not everyone anymore, right? Like probably know your team and here and there some people so you have your network but you just can't know everyone. It's impossible. So like motivating everyone for the same direction I think got way more difficult. But I think, and it's going back to what Melanie said by the people being so humble and so friendly and kind everyone and we're just just only hiring people who are trying to help everyone, right? So we're still trying to make this work with this environment that we're working in and with the people that we're working with. So I feel like it still works, but it's way more way harder now to do that.

But it's also every day, it's so impressive to see what's going on. Like you always hear like every day about a project going on there or there and you're like, oh, wow, that's so amazing. It's like what we can move together now that we're 3000 people. That's just incredible.

Nice. This actually brings me direct to my next question, which would be what do you enjoy most about working now in a hyper growth uh environment in a hyper growth

company? Yeah, I think that's a very good question because hypergrowth, what does hypergrowth mean? Right. It's a very undefined term. But in general, for me, it means that the environment is changing constantly. It's like you're working in an environment and every day something is different.

Like your workday never looks the same because it's just new people joining new projects, popping up new things happening around you. And for me the most or I think, yeah, the the best around that is that you need to go out of your comfort zone. You need to like learn new things. You're like your learning curve is incredible because you, you just face new challenges every day, new experiences, new people, inspiring people. It's like really so many things changing, like not only in your environment, in the projects and the people that you just adapt so fast and you make so many experiences in such a short time. I think you can't do that anywhere else than in a hypergrowth company.

Nice and Melanie, you've seen many different places. So what's your take on it? What makes it special for you? What do you enjoy most about this hypergrowth uh environment. Now,

I actually love this scaling phase of balancing growth and profitability and, and people happiness because um with every new member also, Asana said, it's like the team dynamics change. And um you really have to think, OK, how do you make uh people feel comfortable? How do you on board the best? How can you uh build an environment that everyone is really able to do their best work and its scales over time um that you don't have to change everything every time. Um a new person joins and especially, I think in design, I joined like seven months ago and half of the people join after me. So we are really going through a, a big growth phase. Um But I think that's also the, the power and the most interesting part for me to really help core this environment with everyone so that people can do their best work and uh not only for the next month or the next year, but in the long term, nice,

I mean, as we all know, they are not only sunny days. So maybe what do you think might also be challenges that come around such a hyper growth

environment? I think one of the topics and also Sven uh I touched up on it is really this alignment and focus. How do you really create, keep this one vision that everyone knows what they're working towards to because it's like 3000 people and there's a level of, of autonomy you wanna keep so that everyone can know that they are walking towards the same direction, but also um ensure that you uh create an environment that's adaptable, that's uh good with uh the constant changing scaling processes and structures and really make the people feel uh welcome and that they can on board easily, especially in a complex um enterprise software world is ours.

So I think that's uh super challenging but also super rewarding if you uh get it right? Nice.

Um Yeah, maybe Magdalena, what's your take on it? I bet that there are also challenges from an entry in perspective, if not only the company is growing, but also the code base is growing. Uh What, what's your take?

Yeah, maybe like so, first of all, from a technical point of view, uh we also have sorry, we also have to like focus a lot on scalability also regarding our software because we get a lot of more customers, the data from the customer grows. And um yeah, and also like robustness of the software um because more and more customers rely on it but also like collaborating with like different team members all around the globe is very hard because if you're in different time zones and you like have to review kind of code or like you have to work together on the same part of the code base, it's challenging to like get this communication going without having delays, especially if it's like urgent things that need to be done.

And yeah, and I would also say maybe for me, it's also like also the growing and uh team and the change of teams. Like you always have to work with new people. I mean, it's very nice but also you have to like get to know the people, like you have to know who to contact, who is like responsible for the topics and that's very challenging.

Nice, Svenja, I fly remember that you had a lot of uh changes in roles here at salon. Uh Maybe that fits perfectly to the next question and you want to comment on that.

Yeah, sure. Um Yeah, I started it alone as, as I said, like roughly five years ago and um I started as an analyst. So I was like analyzing data and then switched more into the data engineering part because I wanted to know what's behind the, like the dashboard basically. So I got more into data engineering, like how do you write performance code, scripting, et cetera in the sense of sequel, et cetera. And um from there, I then wanted to know what's behind that, like what's behind that interface. So I switched it to a software engineering and like developed some code on like how do you put real time data into our software? And from there, I then went into product management. So I had five years with like four different roles I think. But I love that. I, for me that's like amazing because like salon gives me the opportunity right to, to change roles as, as I like because I'm curious, I wanna see that and Salon gives me the opportunity. They were always putting their trust in me and we were like, yeah, all right, if you wanna do something else, then look what you wanna do and do it because it's like if you're eager to do it and it's your intrinsic motivation, right?

They trust you that you're gonna prosper and succeed. And for me

that always worked out. Amazing, amazing

Madalena. What what were some opportunities that you got here at salon or what do you find most rewarding here?

Yeah, I really like that I can work on like new technology. So I mean, as when you mentioned before, we're working a lot like we're focusing on process mining, which is a very kind of new field and especially in database regarding database technology, there is not so much uh on the market yet that justice. So I mean, that's really nice to like be on the wave and like inventing new stuff. Um Yeah, maybe it's also nice that like this allows us to yeah help with the environment. So like our software can yeah, make performance optimization for processes and I mean processes are everywhere and especially when we talk about like supply chain or resources, it's very nice that things that I develop can help the environment.

Nice. Great. Uh Melanie. Do you want to add on that?

Yeah, I, I would actually second uh what Magdalena said. Um one thing is that the salon is, has defined and it still is leading a new category in the um in the process, mining space and the ems the execution management system in the market. So it's like we create the new and there's no uh blueprint for. So it's not that you take best practices left and right. So I think that's really interesting to think how you can uh do things new and different because no one has ever done it in this way. Um And uh there is uh a certain creativity and, and problem solving uh uh capabilities you can apply every day. And I think that's super interesting for me. And um then also I think what's wonderful that the process mining technology is not only applied to improve um processes for um financial savings, but also to reduce carbon and emission and improve the uh yeah, different companies, carbon footprint, which is so important nowadays.

And I uh see this growing more and more in the future because uh companies need to look at. Um yeah, from a sustainability perspective, not only on financial sustainability, but also environmental and social one

agree. Thank you so much for highlighting the sustainability aspects of it. Um I think we still have to acknowledge that tech is a very male dominated uh like area as of still as of today. And I would like to um get, get your opinion or your experience. How do you experience this in your day to day? Um at salon maybe then? Yeah, you wanna start?

Sure. Um I honestly have to say I'm not a big fan of such question. Um The reason behind it is just for me, it's like I'm working with people and that's how I also wanna be seen, you know, and everyone I'm working with is great. I have a great team. I have great people around me and it's, it's about people and I don't mind if they're like female, male or any other gender, right? It's like for me, I don't do this in the categories and that's also how I don't feel it at salon as I know it might be different in other companies and maybe there, it's important that it's been talked about, but I don't feel like that in my job in my day to day. I don't feel I'm different. I just feel like everyone is treated with respect, everyone is treated the same. So for me, it doesn't make any difference if it's female or male. It's just we're all great people, we're working towards the same goal. And that's the important factor from my point of view.

Nice, super happy to hear that. Uh Who wants to add on that?

I can uh So, I mean, I think it's still like important to talk about it although I don't have or like I have this similar opinion as when. Yeah, so I don't feel that here. So I also have great colleagues and I don't feel like treated differently because I'm a woman or like that. I have, I don't know, advantages or disadvantages because I'm a woman. But like, I'm just one of the colleagues and they are my colleagues and I don't like, it doesn't matter which gender and I think that's really great. But I also heard like from friends and like people, I know that which are also women in, in tech and in engineering that they experience different things and situations. And I think um especially in, in those companies, maybe I don't know, might be worth to investigate why this is an issue. But actually as a alone, I also have the feeling that it or at least in my position, it's not really, it's not an issue at all because like everyone's super nice and helpful, independent on gender.

Nice Melanie.

Yes. Um I really believe in diverse things and that they create better solutions. So not only gender diversity but all uh types of diversity. I have to say in my past uh work experience, I've been in very dominated environment, especially within consulting. I've been to a lot of uh rooms with the senior leaders where I was the only woman and I also experienced some um challenges uh within that, um especially within design and also within salon, I feel like there's often a 5050 split in the product design world um also on the leadership level.

And um we also have that within salons no matter if it's like, you're an individual contributor or uh uh more on a junior uh manager level or top manager level there. I see a big diversity and what I also found very um inspiring because I think that's important is like having role models within the organization. And we have really great role models like our chief engineering officer. We is a, is a woman or a um SVP of uh product um Ardan as a woman. And I think these are people I, I look up to, I can learn from and I think that's uh really important to see also um reflections of uh powerful leaders that happen to be female um in such roles,

agree could not agree more like being at the beginning of my career. I also feel it's a great sign that my manager is a woman. My skip level manager is a woman and I have the feeling, oh, wow, that's something that, that could be me at some point in time. That's something I can develop into. Nice um Amazing. Uh What I also would like to touch upon a bit. Is is there any support or are there any specific opportunities uh here at Salon is that? Uh yeah, you, you, you like, you notice you feel supported um maybe Magdalena, you want to start with this question?

Yeah, sure. Um I mean, we have a lot of um yeah, first we have a lot of communities for interests which I think is especially nice because if you're like new to a company, then you can easily find connections apart from your direct site, I would say or for your di direct team, then you can like connect with other people.

That's really nice. We also have a lot of support for health. So like we have some products that like um employee benefits um for going to the gym and also for um yeah, I think like uh where you can go to and talk with them about your problems with like counseling like, yeah, consulting. Um and yeah, that's just basically for free. And I mean, I think especially the, the sport thing is very, very nice because um yeah, it allows me to go to uh swim for free basically, which is kind of

cool.

I kind of like, sorry for chiming in here, but I, I have a fun story to share about this gym pass thing. I'm not sure like it's probably not really appropriate but it's its head story and I kind of like talking it. So um I mean, you all know, but our audience isn't. So I've been living out of my van the past summer. Um and my van is amazing by the way I build it myself. So it needs to be amazing. Um But the only thing it doesn't have is a shower. So I was really happy about that benefit of this gym pass because like this, you could just go to any gym around you and shower. So for me, like a lifesaver. Thank you for

that.

Nice. That's amazing. Um But Dale, you swim, are you part of the swimming group at salons yet?

Uh I mean, I, I joined this lecture but I think they didn't, I I think there was a kick up but I didn't have time and they um didn't go for swimming yet, I think, but I will try to join.

Nice. Amazing. Um Maybe me and me, I also would like to get your perspective. I know you are a mother uh which is amazing and the best job I I would say so uh how, how is that selon is, how do you uh get supported in this

role too? Yeah. Um I think that's uh super interesting because um I was not aware when I joined Salon about uh all the parental benefits which are great. Um So on the one hand, it's like local support groups and exchange uh which can be really useful, especially for people who are first time parents. Um But I think there are two things that I find uh rather unique because support groups you find um also in other setups. The one is uh the family leave. So it's basically that you, um, if you're the main parent, it's up to six months, otherwise three months. Uh if you're employed at salon and uh you or your partner become uh pregnant, uh then you can actually um take family leave and salon tops up your salary. So it's um um a good incentive actually to uh stay connected to the company and um to, to come back um and values uh the important shops parents do for their family, but also for society. And uh another uh interesting one is like um called education Kickstarter. I'm not sure about the internal uh terms. Um but it's basically if um you have a kid born or adopted or so they get um some RSU so stric to share units. So basically simplified shares of the companies to have a good start into their life.

And I think this is something no company has to do and it's uh on top and uh I think it's really appreciated by the parental community because it shares that uh they care about employees in different life stages and the challenges that come along with it.

Nice, amazing. Um We only have a few minutes left. So this is the last question. Um I would like to know from each of you. What advice would you give someone who's interested? Joining Salon in their product or engineering department? Maybe me and you wanna

start. Um I think the first and simple one is be yourself. I think we are really a diverse bunch of people and bringing your own self uh to the table is uh super important. Um But, but more maybe to the topic, it's like, I think it's uh being interest and passionate about like the process mining and enterprise software. It's a very complex topic and that takes time to get into it. Uh But it's also hugely impactful as such. So some people identify easier with me f because they, they see it in their daily life. But I think bringing this passion for complexity um and uh really understanding it um helps to drill deeper into our product landscape and be successful.

Nice. I think that's a great advice. I would like to directly hand over to Magdalena. What would be your advice?

Yeah, thanks. I think it's uh it's important that you're ambitious that you wanna learn, that you continuously wanna grow and learn because we are also developing. I mean, we're like a hyper growth company. So we are still evolving. We're like changing, maybe what, what we wanna do or like it, I mean, we have the, the goals but like still it's, you always have to adapt and like be able to learn new things to make it work. So I think that's the most

important thing.

Nice. And then last but not least Spaniard, what about

you?

Well, it's hard to see thing.

I'm sorry. Uh It's hard to be the last one. No,

I think for me it's mainly also based on my journey. Right. With switching roads. It's for me it's about be curious. It's like, just don't be afraid to do whatever you want to do and that will bring success anyways because you have joy with it. Everyone will see it and we will prosper. So be curious, do what you want to do. I think that would be my advice.

Nice. Uh That's a great advice. Um Thank you so much for joining our session today. Um Let me quickly bring this back. Um These are our names. Please feel free to reach out to us on linkedin or any other platform. We'd be super happy to connect if you have more questions, if you would like to chat. Um That was a lot of fun. I'm super energized for the day ahead actually. And yeah, uh have a great rest of the day. Enjoy the women in tech conference. And um yeah, please also um join our virtual booth um here at the conference. Uh Our recruiters are super excited to meet you and answer also more questions from uh uh your recruiting perspective and then uh yeah, see you guys. Bye

bye. Hi, everyone. Have a good day. Mhm.