amaiko.ai: How Two Brothers from Bavaria Compete with Microsoft Copilot
"Happy Bootstrapping" Volume #61
Christian and Stefan Kirsch are brothers – and since May 2025, joint founders of amaiko GmbH. Christian continues to run PASSION4IT with 16 employees, 4.5 million euros in revenue, and over 100 Mittelstand clients out of Viechtach in Lower Bavaria. Stefan comes from the Berlin startup scene and was previously a managing director at Kialo. The decision happened at OMR 2025, the company was founded in May – 50/50, self-funded, no investors. They have 200 users today, and the goal is 3,000 seats by the end of the year.
In Episode 173 of Happy Bootstrapping, Christian and Stefan share how an idea that started in 2022 around preserving knowledge in mid-sized companies turned into an agentic AI buddy for Microsoft Teams – and why, after two trips to Silicon Valley, they consciously decided to stay in the Bavarian Forest.
This is a summary of Episode 173 of the “Happy Bootstrapping” Podcast (German).
The Idea: Securing Knowledge Before It Walks Out
The original idea for amaiko goes back to 2022. Back then, Christian brought his father out of retirement because a PASSION4IT ERP project needed production know-how that wasn’t available in the team. What started as a question of how to preserve knowledge before experienced employees retire grew into a larger thesis: demographic change and the job-hopping habits of Gen Z make valuable company knowledge disappear every day. When ChatGPT had its moment in late 2022, it became clear to Christian that AI had to be the obvious answer.
Two Silicon Valley trips followed – the first to check whether the problem had already been solved. The second, with Stefan on board and a concrete product called amaiko. Both times, the same response came back: “Move here. Build here.” Both times, they flew home.
Founding the GmbH Over an After-Work Beer
The decision was made at OMR 2025. Christian and Stefan pitched a product they hadn’t even built yet, the response was enthusiastic – and over the last after-work beer, the two looked each other deeply in the eye and decided: We’re really doing this now. amaiko GmbH was founded in May 2025. 50/50, no investors, not a subsidiary of PASSION4IT.
“I don’t care whether it’s a zebra or a unicorn or a Lower Bavarian Wolpertinger – this will simply become a cool, successful story.” – Christian Kirsch
Christian continues to run PASSION4IT in parallel. The growth ceiling of “no more than ten people” that he explained to me back in Episode 77 fell in February 2025. Stefan quit his job in Berlin and now works full-time on amaiko – no safety net, just savings.
The Product: An AI Buddy Inside Microsoft Teams
amaiko is a personal AI buddy for knowledge workers in the Mittelstand, deeply integrated into Microsoft 365 and Teams. Instead of separate threads, there’s a continuous chat that retains context, learns over time, and works proactively. Emails get sorted, tasks created, meetings prepped – it even adopts the tone from the last 100 emails. Pricing: around 30 euros per user per month, tokens included, with a personal Customer Success Manager in the Plus tier.
Behind the scenes runs an agent network with GPT models on Azure Frankfurt as the default. Anyone who wants can switch to Claude or use the fully European Mistral variant. The team deliberately avoided relying on Microsoft Copilot SDKs – the entire Teams integration is built in-house. This makes it straightforward to now add Google Workspace, Dropbox, Slack, and Zoom.
Three Senior Engineers with Claude Code
The way the team produces is interesting. amaiko currently has five employees, three of them senior engineers on the tech side. Stefan puts it like this:
“We’re three senior people on the tech side, and when you turn people like that loose on Claude Code, the output is unbelievable. I would have needed 20 to 30 people for the same output before.” – Stefan Kirsch
No vibe coding – experienced engineers with a clear architectural vision who use AI tooling as leverage. Speed is also a deliberate asset against their competitor Microsoft – Google Workspace integration in a few weeks instead of quarters.
OMR 2025: 140 Leads for 25,000 Euros
On the sales side, amaiko runs on multiple tracks. The PASSION4IT customer base delivered the first pilots. SEO and GEO are running via an agency. Webinars happen monthly. And most importantly: events. At OMR 2025, the team brought home 140 new contacts. Christian estimates the total cost for the booth – including travel, accommodation, and lost revenue – at around 25,000 to 30,000 euros.
“Microsoft has been proving for a while now that they can’t do this. Half the world is complaining about Copilot, nobody wants to use the thing. Microsoft is an oil tanker, they move at iceberg speed.” – Stefan Kirsch
A first US customer in Silicon Valley is also on board – won through a single Reddit comment in a Copilot frustration thread.
Bavarian Forest Instead of Silicon Valley
Christian and Stefan could have taken investor money. On their Silicon Valley trips, there were concrete offers – tied to the demand that they relocate everything there. For Christian, that was never an option. He sees it as “not fair from a social-ethical standpoint” to take advantage of the education and infrastructure here and then leave – and he’s convinced that a solution for the European Mittelstand has to be built in Europe. The target for the end of 2025 is 3,000 seats. When it’ll be 10,000, they leave open. There’s no exit pressure.
The full episode is now also on YouTube (German only):
Key Takeaways
AI tooling as a bootstrapping lever: Three senior engineers with Claude Code produce more than 20 to 30 without AI – that changes the math on whether investor money is actually needed.
50/50 between brothers can work: When skills, life backgrounds, and responsibilities are clearly separated, the shareholder split matters less than the shared goal.
Speed as an asset against Big Tech: Whoever integrates faster than Microsoft wins in the Mittelstand – regardless of how big the competitor’s marketing budget is.
Learnings for Founders
A reliable core business (like PASSION4IT) can carry a second startup – without having to become a subsidiary.
Events are worth it when real domain expertise is on the booth instead of greeters – and when the team actively approaches people.
Reddit comments can generate leads – if they’re genuinely helpful and not crude promotion.
Investor feedback isn’t always useful: “Come back at 30,000 euros MRR” is essentially an invitation to do it yourself.
Local roots aren’t a disadvantage. A solution for the European Mittelstand has to be built in Europe.
Happy Bootstrapping is a German podcast where I interview bootstrapped founders, indie hackers, and solopreneurs about their startup journeys.
Over the years, I’ve connected with many successful entrepreneurs who have built e-commerce shops, SaaS platforms, mobile apps, content businesses, or hybrid models.
Furthermore I am a bootstrapper myself and growing my DevOps-as-a-Sercice and Web Operations Company “We Manage”.