Around 6,000 inhabitants, two small lakes, one elementary school – that is Eppertshausen near Darmstadt. A municipality like many others in Hessen and the place of efcom’s first head office. How did this come about? Martin Hug, one of the founders, lived there at the time. When the four of them founded the company, they did not want to rent any premises yet and thus, opted for a business address without a physical office. For discussions and meetings, they met on site or nearby at Arnulf Romann’s apartment or at the Italian restaurant around the corner. At all of those places, they brainstormed, planned and decided on a regular basis. Later on, the headquarters were moved to Egelsbach and finally to Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main.

 

Nonetheless, it is obvious that their beginnings in Eppertshausen had been a very defining time. The first plans for the future were made there and the forerunners of our later core software ef3 were shaped in thought (and also in reality). “The comparison may be a bit flawed but for us, Eppertshausen was a small Silicon Valley. At least, that’s how we thought of it,” emphasises Martin Hug. “We were in a spirit of optimism and could hardly wait to put our ideas into practice.” No sooner said than done: Within a very short time period, they developed a practical software solution and won over their first prospects who later would become their clients. It’s the beginning of a 20-year success story.