Who's behind DolmiDesk™? Our story & mission
Hi, my name is Dmitry Dugarev. I'm the developer of DolmiDesk™ and founder of Barrierenlos℠.
My goal with DolmiDesk™ is simple: I want you to handle your invoices in seconds instead of wasting your weekend with Excel and Google Maps.
DolmiDesk™ wasn't dreamed up on an agency's drawing board trying to sell you services. It was born out of pure necessity – in our bedroom.
Why we built DolmiDesk™
The idea actually goes back to 2021. Back then, a friend and I were writing his master's thesis on "Apps in the interpreting market." We even considered applying for the EXIST business start-up grant with an app idea. But as life goes: after his thesis was done, we put the topic on hold for a while.
My wife Janine Dugareva went self-employed around this time. She's a state-certified interpreter for German Sign Language and is active in the Professional Association of Sign Language Interpreters in Hesse.
After two years in the profession, one thing was crystal clear: her single biggest pain point was invoicing.
She loved her job. She was great at managing her calendar and handling assignments – her clients were happy. But picking everything back up on Sunday evening, digging data out of the calendar, checking distances in Google Maps, and entering it all into an Excel spreadsheet... that was simply exhausting and frustrating.
The result: cash-flow problems. Sometimes she forgot to write invoices, or they went out late. The money came in irregularly, and that worried her.
The moment of decision
One day we sat down together. She showed me her workflow, and I saw the chaos of different tabs, lists, and calculators. I visualized the problem:
As a software developer, I said to her:
"Imagine you only ever wrote things in your calendar, and everything got imported automatically. The only thing you'd have to do is check the email and hit send. Would you have managed to write invoices on time then?"
Her answer was unequivocal:
"Can that really work? That would be a dream!"
In that moment it was clear to me: I had to do this now. Not someday – now.
The prototype & the breakthrough
I sat down and started coding. After just one week, the first prototype was ready. We started testing right away.
The result was incredible:
- For invoices where data was still missing (and which she had to check manually), she now needed just a few minutes.
- The other invoices simply ran fully automatically.
Suddenly, 80% of the administrative work was gone. But the most important part wasn't the time saved alone: finally, she no longer had to worry about her cash flow. Invoices went out on time, and the money came in on time.
When we saw how much this made her life easier, we knew: we had to share this invention with the community.
That's how a "husband project" became DolmiDesk™.
What DolmiDesk™ can do today
What started as just the two of us now carries other people's billing – and for that, it had to do a lot more than just "write an invoice faster."
DolmiDesk™ is a complete web application with its own database, its own document vault, and billing logic that understands the entire journey from appointment to payment received:
- Your calendar stays your calendar. DolmiDesk™ reads your Google appointments and turns them into assignments. Google actively reports changes, so new jobs arrive without you having to export anything.
- Your rates, not mine. In the billing models, you set hourly rates, rounding rules, cancellation fees, and travel time and travel cost rates. For each client or cost bearer, you decide which model applies.
- Travel costs, including chain logic. Routes and travel times are calculated and correctly split across back-to-back appointments – the number-crunching that used to eat up Sunday evenings.
- Invoices, e-invoices, and sending. You set the layout and text in the template editor; the output is a PDF and, if you want, ZUGFeRD or XRechnung for public-sector clients – including email dispatch with attachments.
- It doesn't stop there. Three-stage dunning, audit-proof storage in the document vault, GoBD export as a ZIP for your tax advisor, and reports on revenue and outstanding items.
That's the standard we hold ourselves to: not a single step, but the complete cycle – from the appointment in your calendar to the money in your account.
My tech background: why you can trust me
When you use software that writes your invoices and processes sensitive data, trust is what matters most.
DolmiDesk™ is not a hobby project. I built the architecture exactly the way I would build it for a large corporation: secure, scalable, and privacy-compliant.
How do I know how to do that? Here's my path from corporate developer to founder:
Software developer — Bosch Service Solutions (2019 - 2021)
Lesson: scaling & automation
I was responsible for the entire lifecycle of internal applications – from design to training. At the invoice processing center, I learned what "scale" really means: my system there digitized and processed over 5,000 invoices per day.
That experience is built into DolmiDesk™: logic that doesn't buckle even with hundreds of assignments, and that flexibly adapts to your needs and edge cases.
Cyber resilience & IT compliance — Deloitte & BDO (2022 - 2024)
Lesson: security & protecting critical data
After my time as a developer, I moved into consulting at one of the "Big Four." My focus: cyber resilience. I advised companies and critical infrastructure operators on how to protect themselves against outages and data leaks (based on BSI IT-Grundschutz).
That's why DolmiDesk™ runs exclusively on servers within the European Union: the application, database, and document vault never leave the EU. The database is encrypted, with especially sensitive fields additionally encrypted at the account level, and every account is already strictly separated from every other one at the database level. Login happens via passkeys and two-factor protection.
I apply the same security principles here that I recommended to banks and corporations – because your assignment data falls under your duty of confidentiality under § 203 StGB, and that needs to be reflected technically, not just contractually.
Founder & consultant — Barrierenlos℠ (Since 2022)
Lesson: accessibility for everyone
Today I run my own company for digital accessibility. I audit websites and build tools that make the web accessible for people with disabilities.
DolmiDesk™ isn't my first product. I've already built several web apps and automations that also work for people with disabilities.
The academic foundation
Lesson: thoroughness
My knowledge is grounded in a solid degree in Security and Hazard Prevention (M.Sc.) from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, and a bachelor's degree in Technical Security from Moscow Aviation Institute.
You can find more about my qualifications on LinkedIn.
Our philosophy: empowerment instead of dependency
Unlike other providers in the market who sell you "service" and want to handle your tasks manually for you (which makes you dependent), we bet on empowerment through technology.
Your data lives with us – and that's exactly why we hold ourselves accountable:
- Independence instead of lock-in: You have full access to your data at any time – clients, assignments, invoices, receipts. Complete export is included in every plan, even the cheapest one. Data portability is a right under Art. 20 GDPR, not a feature you have to pay extra for.
- Data sovereignty: Your clients' data is nobody's business – not even ours. It's stored encrypted on European servers, with every account strictly separated from the next. Your calendar is only ever read – never written to – and what you record in DolmiDesk™ is never analyzed for marketing or advertising purposes. Wherever we have to share data with third parties, we say so openly: for route calculation, the start and destination addresses go to the routing provider. If you don't want that for a particular assignment, you can enter the distance and travel time yourself.
- Fairness: We don't want to sell you hours – we want to give your hours back to you. That's why the price you start with stays predictable – and what's included in each plan is spelled out openly on the homepage, not buried in the fine print.
That way, you can focus on what you do best: interpreting.
Ready for an update to your working life?
I invite you to give DolmiDesk™ a try. It's the tool I built for the most important person in my life – and now it's available to you too.
DolmiDesk™ is just entering its beta phase: we're deliberately only accepting a small group, so that I can personally respond to and incorporate every piece of feedback. Applying doesn't cost anything yet – the payment link only comes with the invitation.
I'm looking forward to supporting you on your journey!
About the author
