What drives me: durable solutions, not quick money
Ever since I founded my company, quality has mattered more to me than quick deals. Why that still shapes my decisions today.
If anyone asks what gets me out of bed in the morning, the answer is unspectacular. It isn't the big money. It is the joy of durable solutions. Of things that hold. Of clients who, after five years, still use the same infrastructure we built for them back then — only better, because we have looked after it continuously. That is what drives me, and it has been since the day I founded the company.
What 'sustainable' means to me
For many people, 'sustainable' has come to sound like an environmental label or an ESG rating. I mean something simpler and older by it. Sustainable, to me, means: a solution doesn't only work on the day of handover. It still works in two, five, ten years. It survives updates, it survives staff changes, it survives changing requirements. It is not heroic, it is sensible.
That sounds boring, and I can live with that. In 23 years of software development I have learnt that boredom in technology is almost always a compliment. A boring infrastructure is one that runs without phone calls in the night. A boring deployment is one where nothing goes wrong. Boring support is the kind where the tickets are short because the problems are small. Anyone who has experienced that once never wants to go back to the 'exciting' alternatives.
Why fast money is a trap
I have repeatedly seen, in clients and competitors, where the reflex 'close fast, no matter how' leads. Projects that shine in the first month and are on fire in the eighth. Products that convince in the demo and fail in everyday use. Revenue curves that climb steeply and then tip, because the foundation can't carry the weight.
Fast money isn't necessarily unethical. It is just rarely strategic. Anyone who only ever signs the next project without looking at the structure beneath it builds a company that depends on the next project. That isn't a company, it's a hamster wheel that turns faster than the hamster can run.
I never wanted that. I decided early on that I would rather grow more slowly, with quality intact, than scale quickly and then spend months defending myself to clients who are entirely right to call.
What that means in practice
In very practical terms it means: I also say no. To projects that are obviously born under time pressure, without anyone actually wanting to absorb that pressure. To clients whose requirements sound as if a different company or a different product would actually be the better fit. To offers that pay well but call for a service which won't actually relieve the client of anything.
That is uncomfortable. A 'no' costs briefly, while a 'yes' costs for a long time when it was the wrong yes. I have become more aware of that over the years. A wrong client pulls more energy out of the team than ten right clients can ever put in.
You can see this particularly clearly in agency work. We run systems for the German mid-market. We rarely change clients. Some have been with us since the beginning of my self-employment. That is only possible because we have put quality before speed from day one. And because we have chosen clients ourselves, ones for whom this way of working is welcome.
The effect on your own health
One side effect I underestimated for a long time: sustainability is also a question of your own health. Anyone who is constantly in rescue mode because projects are burning that were already unclean at the point of sale burns out faster themselves. That isn't a metaphor. That is a reality I have seen in many colleagues. And one I never wanted to experience myself.
The decision to do things properly is therefore not only a business decision. It is also a deeply personal one. I have a family. I have health priorities in my surroundings that show me every day how valuable time is. Anyone running a company under those conditions has to decide, every quarter, whether they choose projects that carry their life, or projects that eat their life.
Conclusion
What drives me is the joy of things that hold. Clients who come back because they like it, not because they have to. Systems that produce no phone calls at night. Teams that stay healthy. Sustainable solutions don't sound as exciting as '10x growth in the first year', but they carry for longer. And in the end they turn the entrepreneur into a grown-up human being, not a stressed-out headline.
That will still be my benchmark in 2026. To be honest, I don't know which other one would fit better.