A conversation with Ayman Kalaie, co-founder and CTO of sifamo GmbH, about our beginnings in Kiel, the fear of the first fixed costs, why banks still feel stuck in 2023 when it comes to AI, what the EU AI Act does to risk appetite and why AI governance is the next big thing.
We are sitting in a hotel lobby in Hamburg, after a few important client meetings and discussions about restructuring our holding company. Not far from here is where it all began. I asked Ayman to sit down with me because, as AI consultants to banks and insurers, we currently hear the same question every day: is AI going to take over everything? This is the first episode of our conversation series.
Episode 1 with Ayman Kalaie, CTO of sifamo GmbH. Recorded in Hamburg, August 2026.
To Kiel with a backpack: how SIFAMO began in 2019
At the end of 2018 I called Ayman: do you feel like starting something? His answer came immediately: yes, let’s do it. He then came from Berlin to Kiel with his backpack on a leap of faith, his child was just eight months old, and he brought his family over later. Our first client was a mobile network operator near Rendsburg. I had been freelancing before, and with Ayman we started as sifamo GmbH. That was before Covid, 30 kilometers to the client every day and back in the evening. Our first office was right on the federal highway, one step out the door was life-threatening. At some point we will drive there again and show it to you.
The fear of the first fixed costs
The biggest thing at the beginning was the fear of the sums. For the first time you learn what an employee really costs: 4,000 to 5,000 euros gross, which costs you as a company 7,000 to 8,000 euros. Suddenly you had 14,000 to 15,000 euros in fixed costs a month, plus a small office, and more costs keep coming in from left and right. You need that money every month, no matter what. If a client pays late, things get tight. We are completely self-financed, without loans, and have sustained ourselves this way for seven years. Growth has to be healthy and organic. What has become of those 15,000 euros today is something I show in my post on the numbers of our IT consultancy (German).
From development to architecting the largest systems
We started with pure development. Today we do real consulting and architecture, we design some of the largest systems in Germany, above all for banks and large insurers. We have been very active in the AI space for three years, and I say it openly: in terms of knowledge, we have hardly met a company in Germany that can show us anything new there.
What we see as AI consultants at banks: it still feels like 2023
Ayman is spending a lot of time at banks right now. His impression: AI is arriving, but very slowly. Many feel like they are still where they could have been in 2023. There are good solutions, banks could run their own language models on their own servers. What is missing is the willingness to take a risk and try something new. People stick with what they know. Eight months ago we started onboarding a new client for a large platform, four proposals have gone out, and a few days ago yet another new specification arrived. In this industry you need stamina, in Germany extra stamina. Our events company notices the difference: in another country we are already sitting down with the ministry, and things move much faster there.
The EU AI Act as a brake in people’s heads
How do you take the fear away from German corporations? Ayman’s answer is simple: Germany and the EU are highly regulated, and the EU AI Act has put on the brakes once again. The AI must not have bias, must not make false statements. All correct and good. But what happens? Companies first look for a way to pass the audit before they have even developed anything. So they do not develop at all. It is like with taxes: fear of the audit instead of focus on the work. In other countries this brake does not exist, but there it is completely uncontrolled. A good middle ground is needed. What that middle ground looks like in concrete terms for banks is something I described in my post on Agentic AI governance under BaFin and the EU AI Act (German).
Why German quality wins in the end
One thing must not be forgotten: in Germany we feel like the last ones, but in quality we are right at the front. The international orders that are coming in right now have a common denominator: we want a German company. We see it in our code and in our systems. Ayman has introduced countless quality gates at clients before anything is even allowed to go into production. Without them it does not work. Yes, we lose speed at the beginning. But quality is what makes sure we stay until the end.
The next big thing: AI governance
Everyone is pushing out AI tools right now. What comes next? For Ayman the answer is clear: AI governance. How do you regulate AI, how do you make sure it stays regulated, that systems do not wildly control something or decide for themselves, but remain controlled and do not make false statements. The example of a major search engine whose image search for “gorilla” also returned photos of people of African descent shows how enormous bias can be. Whether it was due to the AI or to manipulated metadata remains open. Either way, you have to be careful.
The coming months: Internal restructuring so that we can even handle the big goals towards the USA, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Growth: This year we passed the 30-employee mark, next year 50 is realistic, but healthy.
Stamina: One client took eight to nine months to understand how good the solution is. Now they are buying. The client has to be brought along and reach their own maturity.
Towards the Middle East it is currently the summer lull, the decision-makers are away for three months, and the political situation is tense. Towards the USA, on the other hand, things are moving at a good pace, we will be there mid to late October, this time with Ayman, the visa has arrived. We will take you along. How do you experience the introduction of AI in your company, brake or accelerator? Let me know on LinkedIn or under the video on my YouTube channel.
Frequently asked questions
Is AI taking over the jobs in banks and insurance companies?
From our practice: banks are more likely too slow than too fast in adopting it. The risk for German companies is not being replaced by AI, but being overtaken by foreign companies that adopt AI faster.
Does the EU AI Act slow down innovation?
It slows things down mainly in people’s heads. Anyone who wants to pass the audit before developing does not develop. Applied correctly, the AI Act is a quality framework for building systems that will also pass an audit.
What does an AI consultant do differently from a software developer?
They bring architecture, quality criteria and governance to the table before the first line of code is written. For us that means quality gates before every production release and an AI that stays under control.
A conversation with Ayman Kalaie, co-founder and CTO of sifamo GmbH, about our beginnings in Kiel, the fear of the first fixed costs, why banks still feel stuck in 2023 when it comes to AI, what the EU AI Act does to risk appetite and why AI governance is the next big thing.
We are sitting in a hotel lobby in Hamburg, after a few important client meetings and discussions about restructuring our holding company. Not far from here is where it all began. I asked Ayman to sit down with me because, as AI consultants to banks and insurers, we currently hear the same question every day: is AI going to take over everything? This is the first episode of our conversation series.
To Kiel with a backpack: how SIFAMO began in 2019
At the end of 2018 I called Ayman: do you feel like starting something? His answer came immediately: yes, let’s do it. He then came from Berlin to Kiel with his backpack on a leap of faith, his child was just eight months old, and he brought his family over later. Our first client was a mobile network operator near Rendsburg. I had been freelancing before, and with Ayman we started as sifamo GmbH. That was before Covid, 30 kilometers to the client every day and back in the evening. Our first office was right on the federal highway, one step out the door was life-threatening. At some point we will drive there again and show it to you.
The fear of the first fixed costs
The biggest thing at the beginning was the fear of the sums. For the first time you learn what an employee really costs: 4,000 to 5,000 euros gross, which costs you as a company 7,000 to 8,000 euros. Suddenly you had 14,000 to 15,000 euros in fixed costs a month, plus a small office, and more costs keep coming in from left and right. You need that money every month, no matter what. If a client pays late, things get tight. We are completely self-financed, without loans, and have sustained ourselves this way for seven years. Growth has to be healthy and organic. What has become of those 15,000 euros today is something I show in my post on the numbers of our IT consultancy (German).
From development to architecting the largest systems
We started with pure development. Today we do real consulting and architecture, we design some of the largest systems in Germany, above all for banks and large insurers. We have been very active in the AI space for three years, and I say it openly: in terms of knowledge, we have hardly met a company in Germany that can show us anything new there.
What we see as AI consultants at banks: it still feels like 2023
Ayman is spending a lot of time at banks right now. His impression: AI is arriving, but very slowly. Many feel like they are still where they could have been in 2023. There are good solutions, banks could run their own language models on their own servers. What is missing is the willingness to take a risk and try something new. People stick with what they know. Eight months ago we started onboarding a new client for a large platform, four proposals have gone out, and a few days ago yet another new specification arrived. In this industry you need stamina, in Germany extra stamina. Our events company notices the difference: in another country we are already sitting down with the ministry, and things move much faster there.
The EU AI Act as a brake in people’s heads
How do you take the fear away from German corporations? Ayman’s answer is simple: Germany and the EU are highly regulated, and the EU AI Act has put on the brakes once again. The AI must not have bias, must not make false statements. All correct and good. But what happens? Companies first look for a way to pass the audit before they have even developed anything. So they do not develop at all. It is like with taxes: fear of the audit instead of focus on the work. In other countries this brake does not exist, but there it is completely uncontrolled. A good middle ground is needed. What that middle ground looks like in concrete terms for banks is something I described in my post on Agentic AI governance under BaFin and the EU AI Act (German).
Why German quality wins in the end
One thing must not be forgotten: in Germany we feel like the last ones, but in quality we are right at the front. The international orders that are coming in right now have a common denominator: we want a German company. We see it in our code and in our systems. Ayman has introduced countless quality gates at clients before anything is even allowed to go into production. Without them it does not work. Yes, we lose speed at the beginning. But quality is what makes sure we stay until the end.
The next big thing: AI governance
Everyone is pushing out AI tools right now. What comes next? For Ayman the answer is clear: AI governance. How do you regulate AI, how do you make sure it stays regulated, that systems do not wildly control something or decide for themselves, but remain controlled and do not make false statements. The example of a major search engine whose image search for “gorilla” also returned photos of people of African descent shows how enormous bias can be. Whether it was due to the AI or to manipulated metadata remains open. Either way, you have to be careful.
Towards the Middle East it is currently the summer lull, the decision-makers are away for three months, and the political situation is tense. Towards the USA, on the other hand, things are moving at a good pace, we will be there mid to late October, this time with Ayman, the visa has arrived. We will take you along. How do you experience the introduction of AI in your company, brake or accelerator? Let me know on LinkedIn or under the video on my YouTube channel.
Frequently asked questions
Is AI taking over the jobs in banks and insurance companies?
From our practice: banks are more likely too slow than too fast in adopting it. The risk for German companies is not being replaced by AI, but being overtaken by foreign companies that adopt AI faster.
Does the EU AI Act slow down innovation?
It slows things down mainly in people’s heads. Anyone who wants to pass the audit before developing does not develop. Applied correctly, the AI Act is a quality framework for building systems that will also pass an audit.
What does an AI consultant do differently from a software developer?
They bring architecture, quality criteria and governance to the table before the first line of code is written. For us that means quality gates before every production release and an AI that stays under control.
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