FORMATION started out from the observation that while consumers are being served well with nice apps on their phones, many workers in factories, hospitals, or in the field are not using any apps for their work. This struck us as odd because there are billions of workers in the world and their working life could be so much better with the right app.

Very early on we identified the map as a natural place to use to organize information and aggregate information on. But what should that map look like? What should be on it? And how do workers get value out of such an app?

It’s questions like this that drive us. FORMATION has come a long way and we have done many iterations on the product and concept until we converged on a formula that worked.

If this sounds exciting to you, we are always looking for a variety of skills.

Ian Hannigan, CEO

Ian leads the company’s long-term vision and product management.

Prior to founding FORMATION he created Fluidui.com in 2010, which continues to serve millions of designers worldwide.

He also has 20+ years of experience as a product designer and manager for digital tools. As a consultant he has helped many DAX 30 companies and startups in his role as a Mentor for Techstars to build better solutions.

Ian is originally from Ireland and moved to Germany in 2010. His educational background is in Industrial and Product Design.

Jan Lachenmayer, COO

Jan leads the company’s development in new business sectors.

Jan co-founded FORMATION in 2020 as his second startup. Previously he started Mesh:ine, a Berlin based company working on location based technologies.

Jan also consulted DAX-listed companies, led EU- and Government-funded research projects, advised high-level political decision-makers and organised major cultural events around the world.
Jan holds his masters degree in Political Science from the University in Stuttgart.

Philipp Stelzer, CSO

Philipp Stelzer leads the company’s sales and marketing efforts.

Philipp co-founded FORMATION in 2020 as his fourth startup. Previously he grew companies in the Netherlands, Australia and Germany.
Philipp also gained experience as Head of Sales and Marketing at the Berlin based startup 3YOURMIND and helped to scale the team from 4 to 70+ people within 3 years. He learned entrepreneurship at MIT and participated in various accelerator programs.

Philipp holds a masters degree in International Business from Maastricht University.

Dr. Jilles van Gurp, CTPO

Dr. Jilles van Gurp is responsible for the development of our solution.

He has a track record of about 25 years working with location technology – starting at NOKIA research where he worked on early day indoor positioning. Before FORMATION, Jilles founded a location & search related startup and exited. Then he worked as the CTO for Inbot, and consulted companies such as SoundCloud, BCG, and many others and mentors startup entrepreneurs at Techstars Berlin.

Jilles is originally from the Netherlands and moved to Germany via Sweden and Finland. He has a Ph. D. in Computer Science from the University of Groningen.