empuxa: The Final Chapter

In 2007, I co-founded my first company with a friend, Till Carlos. We started small — just two nerds doing web design and coding jobs. But in 2009, we landed a pitch with the Wacken Festival and got to build a custom platform to manage staff, artists, and press during the event.

Till and I decided we needed to professionalize. This led to the founding of empuxa, a name we chose because it means "to push" in Galician. It was a perfect fit — that's exactly what we wanted: to push. To pick up speed.

And it worked: we grew fast — Ruby on Rails was in high demand back then. Beyond the Festival Manager, we also built Facebook apps and later moved into iOS and Android development.

But momentum doesn't always mean longevity.

In 2013, after a few intense years with plenty of ups and downs, my co-founder and I couldn't find common ground to move forward. Our visions had become too different. It became obvious: the end of empuxa was inevitable. We closed the company and all assets moved into my holding, Marco Raddatz GmbH. From then on, I continued working solo — as a one-man company. I enjoyed finally having time again for what I actually loved doing, rather than dealing with HR topics and project management every day.

I kept this up until 2019: since 2018, my projects had been growing steadily and client requests kept getting bigger. On my own, I found myself at a crossroads (hello burnout!) and decided to build a team again.

In late 2019, first Nils and then Björn joined, but something didn't feel right. Operating under Marco Raddatz GmbH felt odd. It wasn't a one-man operation anymore, so we decided we needed to rebrand. But none of the names the team came up with felt right. And the ones that could have worked — the domains were taken. Only one name was ever-present: empuxa.

After some deliberation, in 2021 the time had come. empuxa came back — as a brand and as a company. And we wanted to operate as an agency, not just another dev shop. But that turned out to be harder than expected.

What I had to learn the hard way

It took me too long to accept something simple: I love planning and managing. Developing strategies. Building prototypes and pushing projects forward. But I'm not a salesman. I don't enjoy it, and I can't sell things I don't believe in — not to clients, not to my team, not to myself.

When I saw ideas that wouldn’t work, I spoke up. I challenged assumptions. I argued against features if I felt they would harm the product — even if it meant losing a deal. Some clients appreciated that. Others didn’t. It depended on their personality.

Taking that risk for myself is one thing. But when my employees depend on it, that's something else. Every "no" to a client meant risk. Do I accept uncomfortable or even risky projects to cover salaries — or turn them down and risk jobs?

With the team, I tried to balance both. For a while, it worked. But deep down I knew: this isn't right. I'm not a managing director at heart. If empuxa were a public company, I wouldn't want to be the CEO — I'd rather be the CTO or the CPO. Someone who shapes products.

When history repeats

In 2022, empuxa lost a major client. The economy was booming and a competitor was even considering acquiring us. We entered talks, made plans — but in 2023, it all fell apart and I lost a significant amount of money. It felt like history repeating itself — exactly ten years after a similar experience with FORVM, who also wanted to acquire empuxa after their Series A but failed to secure the funding. It wasn't just disappointing — it was exhausting.

That was the moment I knew: I can no longer lead a company where I carry the full weight. It drains the energy I need to do great work. It pulls me away from what I'm actually good at.

So I pulled the plug. Again.

Where I stand today

Shutting down empuxa for the second time felt final — and freeing. I've co-founded a few companies and held shares in others, but empuxa was always something personal. Will I revive it a third time? Highly unlikely. Does empuxa live on? Yes. I love the name and I've gotten so used to it that I'm still reachable via the empuxa domain... :)

So here I am. Not as "the agency," not with a sales pitch — but as someone who's spent 15+ years building, shutting down, and rebuilding software and teams. Happy to be a product lead. An interim CTO. A sparring partner who's not afraid to say the uncomfortable thing when it helps the product. But not a salesman.

My door is always open for new projects.