Suddenly Employed

Before I founded my first company in 2008, I was already working as a freelancer. Ever since, I've been an entrepreneur. There were plenty of reasons for that: I could plan my own days, pick who I work with, and turn down projects I didn't believe in. So a permanent job was never really on the table. Why would it be?

Over the past few years, though, it became increasingly clear to me that I couldn't keep going as a pure service provider forever. In Germany, the market for service providers is pretty much dead, and even companies with their own product are in for a rough few years. So I started asking around. Among others, I asked a shareholder I'd worked with at ENIQO whether he knew of any long-term projects. He mentioned a company where he sits on the advisory board and put me in touch: Peuka was looking for someone to lead their development.

The Pitch

A few days later, I met the management for an interview, and Peuka won me over right away. I told them openly how I'd set up development: We turn everything towards AI and make the existing system obsolete, piece by piece. And I won't write a single line of code by hand.

Sounds bold? Maybe it was. But the idea landed, and we clicked so well that the employment contract was signed less than 24 hours later. That was on a Friday. On Monday, I started.

Six Months Later

And that's exactly how it went: Since March, I've been leading a team of four to five developers and at least as many AI agents. The agents handle most of the development. Six months later, the platform is barely recognizable: The old software is still at its core, but around it we've reworked payment processes and interfaces, above all security, and integrated a whole bunch of new microservices. The commit history on GitHub shows pretty well how much happened in that time:

I know how that can sound: That much code in such a short time smells like AI slop at first. What counts in the end is the result, though, and that's something to be proud of. Bookings through Peuka have multiplied and we have far fewer exceptions. Above all, working on the software just feels a lot better overall.

What's Different Now

In my empuxa story, I wrote that I'm not a managing director at heart. That turned out to be true. Even my personality test agrees by now: The ENTJ from back then has turned into an INTP-A. After almost 20 years, I'm simply done with sales calls and selling things. I want to work on the product.

And that's exactly what I get to do now: In the morning, I sit down, open GitHub, steer the agents, and take care of whatever moves the product forward. That way, I can go all in on what I enjoy most.

I also deal with a lot less bureaucracy. I'm not completely rid of it yet, since the GmbH's annual financial statements still need to be handled. But bureaucracy in Germany is an absolute disaster, and I'm glad there are people at Peuka who deal with it in more depth.

And the GmbH?

Marco Raddatz GmbH still exists. At some point, I want to wind it down, and honestly, that would be a relief. Nostalgia? Not really. The GmbH was always a means to an end for me. Would I ever start a company in Germany again? Highly unlikely. Once all of that is done, I'll be glad to see the back of it. :)

What working with the agents looks like day to day is in Not a Single Line of Code by Hand.