Who builds the systems

Marc and Lydia run DARIA US Tech, the holding company’s digital workshop. He has been building software for 25 years, and she managed IT projects within the group for 14 years. Neither of them had planned to move abroad—today they live in Cape Coral. 

Marc and Lydia are building DARIA’s digital infrastructure: systems connecting the subsidiaries, apps for members, and processes for the holding company. What they bring to the table: 25 years of coding experience and 14 years of expertise in top-level project management.

Lydia has been a member for over two years, and Marc has been a member since December 2024. Neither of them had planned to move abroad. Now they live in Florida.

Two paths to the same company

Marc has a background in media business administration. He taught himself to program: web applications, browser-based software—anything that ends up on a screen. „I see it as a craft,“ he says. „I really enjoy seeing the end result of what I’m doing.“ He’s been developing on the side for 25 years. He was the product owner for the Car2Go app, a co-owner of a digital agency in Hamburg, and the head of IT at a dpa subsidiary. .

Lydia studied business informatics and wrote her bachelor’s thesis at an automotive company. The company hired her: 14 years of application management and IT project management. The other half of the tech business—the part that isn’t about code, but about requirements, plans, and responsibility.

Anyone who listens to both of them will quickly realize why they're a perfect match. Marc builds. Lydia steers.

Florida was out of the question until it became possible

When asked if they had always wanted to go to America, Marc is the first to answer. „I’ve always wanted to live outside of Germany,“ he says. „But I have a young family—three sons. That makes the decision not so easy.“ During the pandemic, he had considered Florida because things were handled more freely there. Still, he ruled it out. „How am I supposed to do that?“

The breakthrough came through the Invest in Codes of Empire program, a popular DARIA initiative. Suddenly, he had a foot in the door. „It was phenomenal that it happened so quickly.“

Lydia says the same thing in different words. „I never thought about moving abroad.“ Someday, maybe. It was never more than a passing thought. Then came the DARIA trip to Cape Coral last year, which every member takes at least once. „I really liked it here. Not just the area, but the community, too.“

Both have crossed the same line. Both have the same reason.

AI takes away the stomachache

Building a tech company from scratch within a holding company: That would have looked very different two years ago. „In the age of AI, we don’t have any qualms about the technology itself or finding solutions,“ says Marc. „As a programmer, so much has happened in the past six months—it’s been a complete turnaround.“ More efficient, faster, and less stress when faced with certain challenges.

The real hurdle lies elsewhere. „We still need staff,“ says Marc. „IT isn’t just about programming. Procuring hardware, purchasing software, identifying requirements, and implementing all of that so that the subsidiaries and the holding company are satisfied. That will be the biggest challenge: finding the right staff.“ Lydia nods. „Prioritizing the issues, the staff. But we’re confident we’ll find someone who can actively support us.“

Developer meets Project Manager

If you want to define roles within the team, you can use the resumes as a guide. „We approach this like a project,“ says Lydia. „Everyone has clearly defined tasks and responsibilities. Marc is the developer. I handle project management, requirements management, and process development.“

This is the kind of structure that would be standard in a corporate group. Here, it’s new. Here, there’s no one above them who has already laid out the processes.

What corporations don't have

That’s exactly what makes the difference for both of them. The companies they worked for before dictated everything: structure, hierarchy, processes. „This is our company now,“ says Lydia. „We set up our own processes and can chart our own course. That’s what makes it so exciting.“

Marc sums it up with a word he uses often: community. „That personality, that humanity. The fact that we all pitch in and build something together. That’s a huge difference from other companies I’ve worked with.“ He comes from a small-to-medium-sized business, not a large corporation. „Things are human there, too. But at DARIA, it’s really something special.“

That’s why he moved to Florida with his family. „I don’t think any other company would have made me feel this confident about taking this step.“

Lydia feels the same way. „In a community like this, you know that your customer is the community itself. Every single person relies on us. That’s a different kind of motivation, because you know you’re doing your best for the community.“

From School English to Professional Level

At the end of the conversation, the topic turns to English. Marc laughs. „At first, I had to make do with the English I learned in school. But I’m picking it up very quickly now that I’m using it every day.“ Lydia is long past that stage. She’s been working on projects in English for years. „You definitely get better with practice.“

They knew what was coming: requests from subsidiaries, process optimization, systems that no one had ever built before. They also knew what they were leaving behind: established structures, secure roles, and their familiar surroundings. And yet they did it anyway.

Today, they both live in Cape Coral. They have made a major decision. Ahead of them lies an exciting vision that they are now bringing to life. They are already right in the thick of it.