Cap3 turns five - time for a few questions and answers

We look back on exciting years and very solid development. Cap3 was founded by Sören Fenner, Nicolas Günther, Felix Magedanz and Bettual Richter. The four knew each other from their studies and accompanied each other from learning phase to learning phase. They chose the name Cap3 because they made the university building at Christian-Albrechts-Platz 3 their first unofficial office. Cap3 has now been based in the media house at Ringstraße 19 in Kiel for over four years. The rented area has increased from initially 30m² to now around 200m². No wonder, in addition to the four founders, there are now 10 more permanent employees working at Cap3, plus at least one intern and freelancer — and the trend is rising. To mark five years of existence, I am taking the opportunity today to ask the team, the founders and one of our first customers.

The interviews

Ole, first employee: Ole, you are the first employee to be hired after the four managing directors. In your opinion, what has changed the most about Cap3 from your first day to today? What is left?

It doesn't feel like much has changed at all. But this is certainly also due to the fact that development was a gradual process. The size of the office and the number of employees alone are, of course, clearly measurable variables that have changed significantly. When I started at Cap3, there were five of us sitting in our former work room. But the way we work has also changed. Over the years, tools such as TeamCity, Octopus Deploy, Basecamp and Healthchecks have become indispensable. The level of automation has increased. Code reviews have become standard in new projects.

But everything that makes up Cap3 for me personally has remained: the human atmosphere, the positive atmosphere and the interest and ambition to develop good software and to regularly think outside the box - both in technical matters and at the content level of the wide range of project topics.

A tradition has also remained that will hopefully last a long time: The daily joint lunch, which always offers time for private conversations. I fondly remember my first weeks at Cap3, during which I spent an afternoon with Sören on Holstenstraße in Kiel interviewing passers-by about the designs for our first logo. I could still imagine an action in this style today.

Master student Narendra: Narendra, you have been an intern at Cap3 since the beginning of 2016. Now you're writing your master's thesis with us. What is your impression of the company? What do you advise Cap3 for the future?

Basically, my impression, which I had already gained during my search for internships from Cap3 and which had finally prompted me to apply, was completely confirmed. As part of my search, I had kept my eyes peeled in particular for dynamic, innovative and young companies. Looking back on the time I've spent here since the beginning of the year, I can say without a doubt that I was absolutely right to seek an internship at Cap3 in view of these criteria. Whether it's the latest frameworks and languages or completely new technologies - Cap3 always creates enough space to be able to face innovations and the Cap3 team uses this to demonstrate their willingness to learn and innovate.

In such a dynamic industry, in my opinion, it is primarily these characteristics that lead to long-term success. That is why I can only advise you to continue on the path you have chosen and to keep up to date when it comes to innovations. Because it is precisely when innovations reach a certain level of market maturity that the development of know-how started at an early stage can pay off and be a criterion for setting yourself apart from other companies in the sector.

Founder Nicolas, Technical Director: Nicolas, where do you see the greatest development opportunities for the next five years? What's already going great?

Cap3 stands for high-quality software development. We employ very well-trained, studied developers and are very late to stay up-to-date. This means that every developer, for example, has the opportunity to attend conferences to learn more. We also encourage our employees to do so within projects, provided that the project exists, that they try out new languages and frameworks. The developers also support each other very well and one learns from the other.

We are really not afraid to invest money and time in order to reach a high level and develop sustainable software. In this way, we also support employees who want to organize hackathons or meetups, and in our four-day CodeCamp, the team decides what to work on in small groups.

I'm looking forward to the next five years! I am of the opinion that the proportion of larger projects acquired by Cap3 continues to rise. In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges will be adapting the organization to the growing number of employees. This will probably also require new structures and processes. I think we'll do it well and make sure that the freedom of employees and all the little things that promote knowledge transfer don't fall by the wayside.

Founder Sören, Project Management & Staff: Sören, the well-being of each individual is particularly important to you. You are always committed to joint activities such as our CodeCamp or the summer party. How would you describe team spirit? What is special about Cap3 for you?

First of all, on the particular issue (the objectivity of my point of view as founder and managing director is certainly vulnerable here, but natural points come to mind that I would like to highlight when asking this question): At Cap3, every colleague, but also all customers, partners and suppliers, receives the same high level of respect. Every CAP3ler can ask questions, requests and comments at any time and will always be met with open ears and genuine interest. Everyone is happy to help everyone here. Regular team meetings with all employees strengthen cohesion and transparency. We do lots of activities as a whole team or smaller groups, which breaks the classic “nine-to-five” pattern. Joint lunches, soccer games, business runs, soccer games, CodeCamp, trade fairs, conferences, summer parties, Christmas parties and much more.

I think all of this is special and makes up the team spirit. This fact means that Cap3 likes to go “to work” and that, in addition to being professional, we have a good time here!

Congratulations Cap3, thank you dear team! I'm looking forward to the next 5 years.

Dieter Brauer, systems engineer at Insel Sylt Tourismus-Service GmbH: Mr. Brauer, together with IPN, you were our first customer at Cap3. Do you find it brave to place so much trust in such a young company?

Courageous is not the right adjective here, in my opinion. Our beach chair booking system had to be completely modernized, and the online booking of beach chairs should be added. I already trusted Cap3 to do that back then and over the last five years, further projects have been added. All our employees who work with the system had no problems with the changeover. The system was immediately very intuitive to use. That's a great achievement. — No, it wasn't brave. Rather, call it many years of experience and good knowledge of human nature.

What do you appreciate about Cap3 and the collaboration?

With Mr. Magedanz in particular, but also with Mr. Günther on a technical level, I have two constant and very qualified contacts who are very familiar with the system and are very easy to reach. If an error occurs, they react very quickly. When it comes to new developments, I appreciate the exchange. Congratulations on five years of Cap3. I am looking forward to further cooperation!

team celebration

By the way, we as a team already celebrated our birthday on July 22 during a trip to Falckensteiner Beach. On site, we aimed high — in the HighSpirits high ropes course, we balanced from tree to tree at dizzying heights. Great fun!