Founding story July 2023: password.link

© Philipp Engels

Philipp Engels came up with his entrepreneurial idea around four years ago, when he was still working in the IT department of a bank. He was astonished to discover that passwords in chats and emails, among other things, had been stored unsecured for years. He began developing his encryption technology, which can even be used to securely send PDF attachments. His company password.link now ranks among the top 3 in Google searches - and companies from all over the world rely on the security software from Hanover.

Philipp - what makes your encryption software so successful on the market?
Sharing information online is tricky. Nobody wants confidential data such as passwords, credit card details or PINs to be shared openly or to remain in ZOOM, Teams or WhatsApp chat logs. Our innovative security concept: instead of sharing the password itself, the password.link platform uses an algorithm to generate an encrypted password that can only be decrypted with the corresponding link. The platform is easy to use and offers a variety of functions, including the ability to share passwords with other users, create password backups and use automatically generated passwords. Currently unhackable, so the data is top secret. Our target group ranges from small marketing agencies to global giants.

Last year, you were named "best founder" in the Startup-Impuls start-up competition organized by hannoverimpuls and Sparkasse Hannover. What has happened since then?
We now have a team of five employees and are based all over Europe. I am particularly proud of the fact that password.link managed to internationalize the business idea almost as soon as it was founded. Around 80 percent of our customers are international - companies of all sizes from Africa, Asia and the USA. And without any marketing effort! We have also grown in the area of local authorities and government offices (Europe-wide) and have implemented password.link in a government district in Sweden.

What future plans do you have for password.link?
Our plans for 2023 include adding mobile functionalities: We will integrate QR codes that can be used to open messages via mobile devices. We will also address the topic of the future: what comes after passwords? PassKey is a keyword here. We are also currently in talks to implement password.link with two other major customers, including the largest electronics retailer in the USA and Europe's largest logistics company. Growth is also on the agenda for 2023.

What tips do you have for other founders?
The product is the most important thing. Put all your energy into the potential customer experience! Your offering must be intuitive to use, offer a high level of security - and ideally the customer should immediately feel the added value that your product creates. Scaling is another challenge. You need door openers with expertise, otherwise it's really difficult to convince larger corporations of a young company's offering, for example. One of our customers, for example, has more than 100,000 employees worldwide - you need advocates before you can gain the necessary trust in a small, young company.

Philippaboutthe cooperation with hannoverimpuls:
The offer from the business development agency is great! Of course, the prize money from the start-up competition helped me a lot - my win enabled me to expand the team and develop additional features in my offering. I also think the support with office space is great, we just haven't used it yet because the team is so spread out and works so far away. I will definitely continue to expand the collaborations that I was able to enter into through hannoverimpuls.

© hannoverimpuls GmbH

password.link
Philipp Engels
Podbielskistrasse 247
30655 Hanover
https://password.link/
hello@password.link

Mario Leupold, Head of Start-ups and Entrepreneurship at hannoverimpuls, on the collaboration with Philipp Engels and password.link:
Data theft, industrial espionage or sabotage: cyber attacks are a real threat - and Philipp Engels' offering provides a real problem solver. Philipp has made excellent use of his success in the Startup Impulse competition to promote his product and his company. I am delighted that the annual competition is always an important catalyst for many founders - regardless of whether they are on the winners' podium or not.