Why I built it
My parents once closed their shop for a few days to go on vacation. They had announced it on social media, but confused customers still kept coming by. There was no single place where a local business could reach its customers, and I noticed that lots of small businesses had the same problem. That’s where the idea for Langeum came from.
What I built
I started Langeum at 16 and had to ask a family court for permission to register the business, since I was still a minor. People could follow the local businesses in their town, read their news and collect points to trade for discounts, and businesses paid a monthly subscription. The idea, the name and the design came from me, and I wrote most of the Flutter app myself. In 2023 and 2024 two other students joined, Dominik Götz on the backend and Leon-Alexander Martin as CTO.
The hard part
Getting people to install yet another app was harder than building it. Google and Apple sign-in helped, and raffles worked best. Finding businesses meant reaching out personally.
What I learned
The one thing Langeum needed from businesses was regular posts, and that’s exactly what they found hard. An app for small businesses has to fit into a day that’s already full.
Results
Langeum launched in the App Store and Play Store in 2023 and got to about 15 businesses and 250 users, and the first businesses started paying. It made the StartupTeens final three years in a row, finishing 3rd in 2022 and 2nd in 2023 and 2024, and came 4th in Germany at Jugend gründet. Langeum isn’t running anymore.
