Ludwig Sonneck

Fullstack developer, product engineer, and indie founder. Curious, hungry, and hard-working ;)

BerlinM.Sc. degreeFull-stack developmentProduct development

Previously built IoT systems at Mosa Meat, an early stage biotech startup. Currently shipping Tippsie (AI for therapists) and HeyMetrix (marketing analytics SaaS).

What friends say about me:

Structured in work, creative in thinking"Codes like a pianist"Supportive, always willing to help
Ludwig Sonneck

Story

2013

Started aerospace engineering at TU Berlin. Chose it because space was the most fascinating field to me. The goal at that time: to be an engineer on the Airbus-Ariane team and build rockets.

2016

Bachelor project/internship at Airbus. Worked on ISS payload hardware. Impressive projects but I realized the slow-moving corporate world is not for me.

Oct 2019

Joined Mosa Meat

While finishing the master's degree, I decided to work in the startup world. Joined pioneering cultivated meat startup Mosa Meat when it was still a small series A team. By the time I left in 2023, the company had grown to over 150 people.

2020

Finished M.Sc. with a grade of 1.1 after seven years of aerospace and two spontaneous biotechnology courses.

Aug 2023

Left to go indie

Throughout my time at Mosa Meat I realized that building software products is what I actually enjoy. Quit that stable job to go on a pathless path and build my own products.

Feb 2024

Launched Flowtapes, an AI-based video editor that automatically cuts and edits talk-based videos. Spent a year building it but made the classic "build it and they will come" mistake. Started a smaller spin-off project, Videofyles.

Aug 2024

Started building Tippsie & HeyMetrix

Two B2B SaaS products with co-founders who bring domain expertise and existing customer access, still following the bootstrapped indie approach.

May 2025

Started freelance work with an AI consulting business for enterprise clients. Gained valuable experience in how large organizations adopt AI.

Startup projects

Currently building

Tippsie

AI writing environment for therapists

tippsie.ai →
~50 beta users
VueNuxtTypeScriptAppwriteSelf-hosted backendAI/LLM

German psychotherapists have to write detailed reports ("Bericht an den Gutachter") for health insurance approval. It typically takes 4-6 hours per report. Tippsie provides an AI-assisted writing environment that cuts this down to under 2 hours.

  • •Engineering highlights: Zero-knowledge encryption for patient data (client-side only), own server infrastructure with Appwrite for full data control, AI-powered text generation system with deep consistency (not the typical on-the-surface-"it sounds correct" LLM output but medical consistency between symptom description, diagnosis, and treatment plan).
  • •The challenge: Therapists aren't tech-savvy and skeptical of AI. The tool has to feel trustworthy with strong privacy guarantees, simple UX, and high output quality.
  • •Current state: ~50 beta users testing for free. Strong problem-solution fit, but slow adoption due to conservative target market.
  • •My role: Sole developer, product, marketing. Co-founder handles domain expertise (he's a therapist himself).

HeyMetrix

Marketing analytics for agencies

heymetrix.com →
Pre-launch
VueNext/ReactTypeScriptAppwriteSelf-hosted backendGoogle/Meta APIs

Performance marketing agencies spend hours pulling data from Google Ads, Meta, and other platforms to create reports. HeyMetrix centralizes everything: real-time dashboards, automated alerts when KPIs drift, and one-click report generation.

  • •Engineering highlights: Own server infrastructure with Appwrite, real-time data sync from Google/Meta APIs, automated anomaly detection, AI-driven creation of report dashboards.
  • •The opportunity: My two co-founders run a performance marketing agency themselves. Direct access to the problem.
  • •Current state: MVP in private beta testing.
  • •My role: Development lead, product. Co-founders handle domain expertise and sales.

Past projects

Flowtapes

AI-powered video editing

flowtapes.com →
Paused
VueFirebaseFFmpegGCP

Upload a raw video recording (tutorial, explainer, talking head), and Flowtapes automatically edits it: removes silences and bloopers, adds zoom jump cuts, enhances audio quality, generates captions, and applies color grading. The idea was to let non-editors create professional-looking videos fast.

  • •What went wrong: I spent a year building without properly validating the market. Couldn't properly figure out whether to target YouTubers, course creators, SMBs, or another market.
  • •The lesson: Technical excellence doesn't matter if you don't know who you're selling to.
  • •Today: Website still online. Occasionally gets users. Could revisit with clearer positioning, but I've moved on to more promising opportunities.

Videofyles

Desktop app for media processing

videofyles.com →
Soft-launched
ElectronVueFFmpeg

A desktop app where you describe what you want to do with your media files in natural language: "compress this video to under 10MB", "convert to webp", "add watermark". Started as a spin-off from Flowtapes when I realized the file processing layer could be its own product.

  • •The problem: Same issue—who exactly is this for? Video editors already have tools. Casual users don't do this often enough to pay for software.
  • •Today: Soft-launched, some downloads, but not actively developing. Another lesson in finding product-market fit before building.

Experience

AI Consultant

2024 – present

Freelance

Enterprise
  • Work: Implementing AI-powered internal tools for a large financial services enterprise, focusing on automating repetitive workflows and boosting team productivity across departments.
  • Context: Working within enterprise constraints including strict security requirements, regulatory compliance, and multi-stakeholder approval processes.

Indie Founder / Full-Stack & Product Developer

2023 – present

Self-employed

Indie startup
  • What I do: Building AI-powered SaaS products from scratch—product strategy, full-stack development, marketing, and customer development. Sole developer on two B2B products (Tippsie, HeyMetrix).
  • Infrastructure: Developed my own full-stack boilerplate with Appwrite on self-hosted server infrastructure. Full control over data and applications—no vendor lock-in, enables rapid development of new products.

Automation Engineer / Full-Stack Developer

2019 – 2023

Mosa Meat

VC-funded startup
  • Core project: Designed and built an IoT platform to automate and monitor bioreactor farms—Python backend, Vue frontend, deployed on Raspberry Pi hosts. The system is still in daily use by scientists today.
  • Rapid prototyping: Created custom tools and prototypes for lab equipment using a boilerplate framework I developed, enabling quick iteration on R&D needs.
  • Master thesis: Researched electrical stimulation in cultured meat production. Designed the PCB, wrote the firmware, and built the GUI application.

Research Assistant

2018 – 2019

TU Berlin · Chair of Space Technology

University
  • Project: Partner project with LAPAN (Indonesian aerospace institute) on a sounding rocket mission.
  • My work: Developed the GUI application in Java/JavaFX for controlling and monitoring the ground antenna tracking system.

Bachelor Thesis & Internship

2016 – 2017

Airbus Defence & Space

Enterprise
  • Project: Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES)—an ESA payload for the International Space Station providing ultra-precise time signals.
  • My work: Performed functional verification of the GNSS antenna protoflight model and conducted integration and acceptance tests of ground terminal equipment.

Education

M.Sc. Aerospace Engineering

2017 – 2020

TU Berlin · GPA 1.1 · Focus: Astronautics

B.Sc. Aerospace Engineering

2013 – 2017

TU Berlin · GPA 2.1

Tools

JavaScriptTypeScriptPythonJavaVueNuxtNodeJSElectronAppwriteFirebaseGoogle CloudMariaDBLinuxBashNginxDockerDocker ComposeKubernetesCI/CDGitREST APIsAI/LLMIoTRaspberry PiFFmpeg

Contact

Want to work together or just say hi?

ludwig.sonneck@gmx.de · LinkedIn · X / Twitter · Printable CV