Kickscale
Fabian Riedlsperger, Co-Founder & CTO von Kickscale
Description
Co-Founder & CTO von Kickscale Fabian Riedlsperger gibt im Interview Einblicke wie das Team zusammenarbeitet um die KI Plattform des Unternehmens zu entwickeln und wie das Hiring abläuft.
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Video Summary
In "Fabian Riedlsperger, Co-Founder & CTO von Kickscale," speaker Fabian Riedlsperger explains how a tight four-person dev team builds a sales-focused conversational intelligence platform with a flexible, MVP-first agile approach, flat hierarchies, and direct developer access to the CEO/CMO where every voice counts. Hiring is a short path—initial personal chat with him, a technical interview based on real day-to-day tasks, then a team meet—prioritizing culture fit, a health-minded attitude, curiosity, learning agility, proactivity, and strong communication in a fast-paced environment. Kickscale supports talent with modern tooling and pragmatism: LLMs and speech-to-text at the core, GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT to speed requirements work, leveraging third-party services for impact, and plans to build an in-house specialized LLM to improve cost, privacy, and output quality.
Inside Kickscale Engineering: How Fabian Riedlsperger builds a lean, high-impact Conversational Intelligence platform for Sales
Opening: A focused mission with real-world impact
In our DevJobs.at session “Fabian Riedlsperger, Co-Founder & CTO von Kickscale,” we heard a crisp articulation of a modern startup thesis: Kickscale is building a Conversational Intelligence platform for Sales with one clear goal—automatically extracting information from virtual sales conversations. As Fabian puts it, “Our goal is to automatically extract information from virtual sales conversations.”
Timing matters. With the recent leaps in AI—especially Large Language Models (LLMs) and Speech-to-Text—capabilities that were out of reach a few years ago are now practical and powerful. Kickscale is seizing that momentum—both in its product and in its internal engineering workflows—showing how a small, tight-knit team can ship fast, stay focused, and maintain quality.
This article distills the key takeaways from our conversation: Kickscale’s mission, team structure, engineering practices, culture, hiring process, and, crucially, what makes this environment compelling for ambitious developers.
Product focus: Conversational Intelligence for Sales—practical, fast, precise
Kickscale zeroes in on a demanding problem: uncovering and structuring relevant insights from virtual sales conversations to support sales teams operationally and strategically. The mission is straightforward yet technically deep. It spans transcription, structuring, and interpretation—now made feasible by recent AI advances.
“It’s a very exciting field, especially now with all the development in AI—so much has become possible.”
Kickscale’s stance is not to emulate existing solutions but to implement Conversational Intelligence “better and more efficiently” by leveraging LLMs and Speech-to-Text in a targeted way. It’s a focus that makes room for rapid iteration and concrete customer value.
Team structure: Small, tightly aligned, with clear roles and hands-on leadership
Kickscale has been around for three years and keeps its development team intentionally compact. The current lineup:
- two full-stack developers (one leaning toward frontend, one “truly fullstack”),
- one machine learning engineer,
- and Fabian Riedlsperger as CTO—strategic, but decisively hands-on “wherever it’s burning.”
This setup isn’t a limitation; it’s a design choice. Tight collaboration, short decision paths, and fast execution are the result. Each person has a core area, yet the ethos is inclusive: “every input counts.” If you can contribute, you’re encouraged to do so—regardless of job title.
“The hierarchies are very, very, very flat. Every input counts; every opinion counts.”
Another notable point: direct contact between developers and the CEO/CMO. You speak “with the people you actually want to speak to,” without intermediaries. That proximity to business objectives accelerates prioritization and amplifies the visibility of engineering work.
Ways of working: Iterative, MVP-first, agile without dogma
Kickscale works “agile,” but without the overhead of a rigid framework. The team’s strength lies in flexibility and a relentlessly iterative mindset. The rule of thumb: get to the smallest viable solution fast—and then improve it step by step.
“We always start with an MVP… and once that’s implemented, we can improve it step-by-step.”
That approach fits the product and the market. With fast-moving LLM capabilities, evolving Speech-to-Text models, and a dynamic SalesTech landscape, requirements and opportunities shift frequently. MVP-first and incremental hardening allow the team to deliver quickly while learning in tight cycles.
Culture: Ownership, health-consciousness, curiosity, and clear communication
Culture at Kickscale is tangible: proactive, health-aware, learning-driven, and pragmatic. Fabian puts heavy emphasis on culture fit—especially because early team members set the tone for the company’s long-term DNA.
“The first few employees at a company define the company culture.”
What stands out as non-negotiables:
- Health-consciousness: “Health is Welfare.” The premise is simple—being physically and mentally fit enables great work.
- Ambition and curiosity: A willingness to learn and avoid getting stuck in fixed toolsets or mental models.
- Proactivity and independence: Tasks aren’t dispatched top-down; problems are identified, discussed as a team, and solutions are proposed and driven by the people closest to the work.
- Communication: Strong, direct exchanges—within engineering and with stakeholders like the CEO and CMO—are essential.
- Comfort with pace: It’s a “fast-paced environment” with “very quickly changing requirements.” If you thrive here, you enjoy shipping fast and turning ambiguity into working software.
The resulting learning curve is steep. New requirements, new features, new tools—often on a weekly cadence. It’s demanding, but that’s part of the draw: you’re not just building a product; you’re leveling up as an engineer.
Hiring: Personal, practical, deliberately short
The hiring process at Kickscale has three clear stages—and is intentionally kept short:
1) Initial conversation with the CTO: a personal chat focused on experience, motivation, and mutual fit. The company and mission are introduced to ensure interest on both sides.
2) Technical interview: centered on a concrete example from everyday development. The bar is practicality—real-world alignment over abstract puzzles.
3) Team meeting: to get a feel for collaboration. The overall process aims to be “as short as possible.”
Beyond technical ability, culture fit matters: health awareness, ambition, curiosity, learning mindset, proactivity, and communication.
Tech stack: Modern web technologies plus LLMs and Speech-to-Text
Kickscale’s stack is set up for speed, scalability, and experimentation:
- Firebase
- React
- TypeScript
- Material UI
- Google Cloud Platform
The defining element is the AI focus. LLMs and transcription services (Speech-to-Text) power the core platform. Kickscale applies AI with a dual lens:
- Product: Use LLMs and STT to implement Conversational Intelligence “better and more efficiently.”
- Internal: Use tools like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT to streamline engineering activities—Fabian cites requirements engineering as a specific example. With AI assistance, a specification that might take three hours can drop to “30 minutes.”
This underscores a broader principle: technology is a lever for value, not an end in itself. If a third-party service can deliver the same customer impact faster, Kickscale leans into integration over reinvention.
Pragmatism as a principle: Build vs. buy, measured by customer impact
Fabian’s example on CRM integrations frames this well. You could spend four weeks building things from scratch. Often it’s better to integrate a specialized service in “two or three days,” reaching customers faster with the same impact.
“What is the minimum requirement I want to implement—and how can I implement it as quickly, as simply, and as efficiently as possible?”
That’s the essence of productive startup engineering: limited resources, speed as a competitive advantage, and quality through focus and iteration.
Research direction: Specialized LLMs for quality, IP, cost, and data protection
Kickscale is looking beyond off-the-shelf models. There’s a plan to develop a “specialized Large Language Model” internally. The objectives are clear:
- cost reduction,
- IP creation,
- data privacy,
- improved output quality.
This direction aligns with the product mission. For domain-specific excellence, control and tunability of core model components matter. It also underscores that AI is not a bolt-on at Kickscale—it’s strategic.
Day-to-day collaboration: Team-first problem solving, solution-driven execution
How does this translate into daily work? Problems are discussed as a team, with everyone contributing solution approaches. Responsibility emerges from contribution rather than top-down task assignment. That requires strong communication—and ensures knowledge is shared across the team.
“Most of the time, the problem is discussed internally by the whole team, and then everyone comes up with their solutions for how to approach it.”
This mode fosters ownership and accelerates decision-making. It also requires balance: enough alignment to keep direction clear, paired with enough autonomy to execute quickly. In a small team, that balance is achievable—and a palpable advantage.
What talent will find here: Impact, pace, learning, and proximity to decision-makers
From Fabian’s comments, there are strong reasons why engineers should consider Kickscale:
- Direct product impact: What you build reaches customers quickly and delivers visible value.
- Tight collaboration: Flat hierarchy, “every input counts,” and a direct line to the CEO and CMO.
- Steep learning curve: LLMs, Speech-to-Text, and a modern web stack—plus frequently evolving feature work.
- Ownership and proactivity: Problems aren’t handed down; you’re expected to think, propose, and drive.
- Efficiency through tools: GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT in requirements work, and smart use of third-party services.
- Clear culture: “Health is Welfare,” ambition, curiosity, communication.
If you thrive in a “fast-paced environment” with quickly changing requirements and enjoy turning ideas into working software, this setting plays to your strengths.
What it takes to thrive at Kickscale
A success profile at Kickscale reads more like a mindset than a checklist:
- Learning orientation: In a startup, needed skills evolve “over time.” Stay open to new tools and new lines of thinking.
- Pragmatism: Aim for the smallest viable solution that delivers value quickly.
- Independence: Identify problems, craft proposals, drive implementation.
- Communication: Be clear in discussions, constructive in teamwork, and open with stakeholders.
- Comfort with movement: Enjoy short planning horizons and frequent releases.
Technically, experience with modern web stacks (React, TypeScript, Firebase, Material UI, GCP) and interest in AI (LLMs, Speech-to-Text) are naturally relevant—these are the tools Kickscale uses today. The defining factor, though, is not tool loyalty; it’s using technology as a lever for product outcomes.
How the interview process reflects the culture
Kickscale’s hiring mirrors how the team operates: practical, compact, and centered on mutual fit.
- The personal intro checks motivation, experience, and expectations on both sides.
- The technical interview focuses on an everyday problem to gauge real-world capability.
- The team meetup ensures collaboration styles and values line up.
Together, these steps surface both technical fundamentals and cultural compatibility. Time is precious—for candidates and for the team—so a short, clear process is part of the respect.
Efficiency as an edge: Small teams, big levers
A recurring theme in Fabian’s comments: an “efficient, small, tight-knit team” can now deliver what once required much larger headcounts. The reasons are clear:
- mature cloud platforms and web frameworks,
- specialized third-party services,
- AI tools for specification, coding, and research,
- and a focused product mission that simplifies decision-making.
Kickscale leans into these levers. It’s not speed for speed’s sake; it’s the result of scarce resources and a commitment to ship value rapidly. That’s how you get fast without being frantic—and quality through disciplined focus.
AI as both product core and engineering accelerator
Kickscale’s platform is AI-based; LLMs and Speech-to-Text are central. Simultaneously, the team treats AI as a productivity multiplier in the engineering process. The outcome: more output per unit of time without compromising on quality control.
“How can we leverage [AI] internally to become more efficient?”
From Copilot in coding to ChatGPT in requirements engineering, plus the smart build-vs-buy stance, Kickscale achieves a velocity that you can’t explain by team size alone. That dual perspective on AI—as product and as tool—is defining.
An environment for builders
What stood out in “Fabian Riedlsperger, Co-Founder & CTO von Kickscale” is the consistency: a clear mission, flat structures, fast MVPs, a research-minded ambition (specialized LLM), and a culture that centers on health, proactivity, and learning.
If you join, you’ll work on a platform with tangible customer impact, see the direct effects of your decisions, and develop rapidly. The bar is high—independence, communication, and pragmatism are the baseline—but that’s precisely what makes it rewarding.
Conclusion: Why Kickscale is compelling for ambitious engineers
Kickscale brings together the ingredients of modern product excellence:
- a precise mission (Conversational Intelligence for Sales),
- a pragmatic, productive tech stack (Firebase, React, TypeScript, Material UI, GCP),
- a strategy that puts AI at the core (LLMs, Speech-to-Text, Copilot, ChatGPT),
- an iterative execution model (MVP-first, incremental improvement),
- a culture of ownership (flat, proactive, health-conscious),
- and a hiring approach that values practicality and mutual fit.
“Every input counts… You can talk to the people you actually want to talk to.”
For engineers who value impact over headcount, ownership over rigid process, and learning over comfort zones, this setup is hard to beat. Kickscale shows how far a small team can go when technology, product focus, and culture align—and why now is the right moment to rethink Conversational Intelligence.
