Three commercetoolers share their Decade of Dedication — reflecting on commercetools' growth, unique culture and commitment to innovation. Here’s to the next 10 years!
Think back to the fall of 2014 — what were you up to? For three commercetoolers, Michel Reichmann, Head of Expert Services, Camilo Jimenez, Design Director and Nikolaus Kühn, VP Product Enablement, it was the beginning of a journey that would span a decade with commercetools. Around here, we like to call 10 years of dedication a "Decade of Dedication" (because, let’s face it, that kind of commitment deserves a title).
We caught up with the incredibly dedicated Michel (aka Mitsch), Camilo and Nikolaus to reminisce about those early days and hear about everything they’ve experienced along the way.
Spoiler alert: A lot has changed since 2014!
What was commercetools like back in 2014?
Mitsch: Small. Very small. I think when I started it was around 35 employees. You talked to everybody on a daily basis, which compared to today sounds insane.
Camilo: It was quite small and felt like a really tight-knit team, which was nice.
Nikolaus: You couldn’t afford to be too specialized in your role, like we are today, which was cool.
What is the same and what is different from 2014?
Mitsch: A few people are the same. And the product, in a sense, is still the same. But a lot has changed — definitely the size. We only had offices in Munich and Berlin, so for the first Christmas party after I joined we met halfway, in the middle of Germany. Now there are a lot of different cultures, a lot of geographical spread.
Camilo: If I look back, the culture was special then and it still is now. When we come together, we have fun! Obviously, after COVID-19 every company changed. And that’s been the biggest change overall — becoming bigger and more global. I still enjoy coming into the office because I get to meet people that I don’t on a daily basis when working from home.
Nikolaus: There was no idea of a department. It was one person per role, then that developed into teams, then sub-teams. It was a lesson in keeping up cultural values while also accepting that with growth, some things don’t work anymore. But, the core value proposition of the open integration commerce platform stays the same — the number of zeros on traffic has grown in orders of magnitude, but it’s astonishing that we have been able to keep the product stable and competitive after all these years.
Over the past 10 years, there’s been a lot of boom and bust in the tech industry. I’m thinking specifically of 2021: The Great Resignation, when everyone was leaving for the next best thing. What made you stay at commercetools?
Nikolaus: Things were going too well. 2021 was one of our hypergrowth years. We doubled in size. Seeing your own company grow — why leave? I have the best environment to grow, learn more and be successful. It was an easy choice in that phase. commercetools was a winner in that phase. For me, it was an easy choice.
Mitsch: Multiple things. On the social side, I raised my family here, I met my wife at commercetools and we had our first two children as employees of commercetools. I joined commercetools because it was innovative and the culture was so unique, and we’ve maintained that for a very long time. Where would I go? I’m having fun talking to customers and with great colleagues. It’s the mixture of those things that makes it so attractive.
Camilo: From day one, commercetools has been supportive in many ways. We have a lot of flexibility. Everything you need is made possible, which is unique for any company — they always try to accommodate the people, which is special. In the beginning, the founders would have lunch with us, crank up their barbecue and cook for all of us. I’ve worked at many companies and you never see that. That mentality has been kept throughout the years, and it’s still like that. This is quite unique.
Nikolaus: There’s a huge amount of mutual trust involved. If something is going really badly on my side, I have a high trust that it won’t affect the working relationship, which you can’t get for free.
Do you have a highlight of your past decade at commercetools?
Camilo: I can think of many, specifically the summer party two years ago, when everybody from around the globe came together; it was quite unique and very special. Even recently, we’ve had our in-person onboarding in Munich a couple of weeks ago. It’s amazing — who gets a chance to do that at other companies?!
Nikolaus: Definitely the summer party. We grew a lot after COVID-19, and it was amazing seeing all of the employees in one place; the last time I saw them together it was 50 employees, then at the party, we had 500. Also, when we won the first really big enterprise customers. We worked so hard, and it was really cool to see the vision of the product become a reality.
Mitsch: I remember feeling like we made an impact and could play with the “big guys,” delivering commercetools to the marketplace and seeing it go live. In general, I’ve supported many customers and seen them launch all over the world; I’ve seen them be successful and stay with us over the years.
In 2034, 10 years from now, what do you hope commercetools will be like?
Mitsch: Hopefully not much different from today — just much bigger.
Nikolaus: When I meet new hires during onboarding, my final wish is, “I wish you can look back in 10 years and also think this was a good choice.”
Camilo: It would be great if we are all still here. That would be wonderful. As the Design Director, my dream is that when people hear the word “commercetools,” they will immediately know what I’m talking about. Since I started, people have recognized the name much more, and in 10 years, I know it’ll keep getting bigger. And hopefully, the culture will remain — no matter who you are or your hierarchy, you can approach people — that would be great.
Mitsch: We will have lots of successful clients, and I hope we can keep the culture through the storms that might come and that we will be successful.
As we celebrate a Decade of Dedication with Mitsch, Camilo and Nikolaus, it’s clear that commercetools is much more than just a workplace — it’s a place where careers grow, lifelong connections are made and innovation is a mainstay.
Their reflections remind us that while much has changed since 2014, the heart of commercetools — our culture, our commitment to customers and our vision for the future — remains as strong as ever.
Here’s to the next 10 years of growth, success, and staying true to what makes commercetools special. And who knows? Maybe in 2034, we’ll be sharing stories from even more commercetoolers who’ve hit their own Decade of Dedication.
Are you interested in joining the commercetools movement? Then check out what open positions we have on our Careers page.
After spending the last decade in tech recruitment, Nicole is now the Employee Experience and Employer Branding Lead at commercetools. Her mission is to maintain a positive, supportive and fun atmosphere for commercetoolers, and attract top talent to join the company.