On June 2nd, 2016, Nextcloud was born. While the celebrations in our Berlin office are already in full swing, this is my personal retrospective.

Shortly before that, I wrote a somewhat cryptic blog post about leaving ownCloud and that something new was coming, without revealing what it would be: “The Road Ahead”. A few weeks later, I could finally share more details and introduce Nextcloud, including one of our core principles that still defines us today: building a successful company without any proprietary components, developing 100% Free Software: “Freedom for whom?”. Looking back, I’m especially proud that we stayed true to this promise and proved that this model works.

Back then, we were just twelve people with a shared belief: users and organizations should be in control of their data — and that you can build a successful company by developing Free Software only. No hype, no venture capital — just a small, highly motivated team determined to build something better. I was lucky enough to be one of the co-founders, and at the time, I was deep in the code as a Software Engineer, helping shape what Nextcloud would become.

In those early days, we weren’t just building features, we were defining principles. I worked on some of the core building blocks that still shape Nextcloud today: federated sharing, which later evolved into the OCM standard adopted by many other organizations, and the global-scale architecture enabling deployments for millions of users. Beyond that, I contributed to many of the core file capabilities, including server-side and end-to-end encryption, a complete rewrite of the sharing system, versioning, and many more. It was intense, fast-paced, and incredibly collaborative. Decisions happened quickly, and everyone had a voice.

It really did feel like a family. You knew everyone. Not just their role, but their thinking, their quirks, their strengths. Every meeting felt personal.

As Nextcloud grew, so did the scope of what we were building and my own role evolved with it. What started primarily as a file sync and share solution has grown into a full content collaboration platform, with powerful capabilities like Nextcloud Talk, workflows, and fully privacy-respecting, on-premise AI, of course always opt-in, along with many other integrated services that go far beyond files. Our latest addition will be released in just a few days: our very own, deeply integrated office solution.

All of this, and much more, would not be possible without a fast-growing ecosystem of contributors, ranging from traditional Open Source community contributors to a large network of partners building their own solutions on top of Nextcloud.

In 2019, I made the shift from Engineering into Sales Engineering. Instead of writing the code myself, I started working directly with customers to bring Nextcloud into their environments, helping them integrate it into complex workflows and, more importantly, helping them take back control over their data and digital infrastructure.

That transition gave me a completely new perspective. I could see how the things we built translated into real-world impact. One of the standout moments during that time was the MagentaCLOUD project with T-Systems, where we migrated more than 2 million active users to Nextcloud. What makes this especially remarkable to me is that it is fundamentally the same software, scaling from millions of users in large enterprise environments down to a small instance running in my own basement for my family.

In 2020, I took on the role of Team Lead for our PreSales team. What started as a small group quickly grew into a truly international team. Earlier this year, I stepped into the role of Director of Sales Engineering, now leading multiple teams of Sales Engineers distributed across many continents and time zones. It’s a diverse, highly skilled group and a reflection of how global Nextcloud has become. It’s a pleasure to work with all these great people every day.

And the company itself? We’ve grown from those original 12 people to nearly 170 today. That growth is visible everywhere, especially in our gatherings. What used to feel like a close-knit family meetup has transformed into large-scale events with hundreds of participants, from community conferences to enterprise days and company-wide meetings.

And yet, despite all that growth, something essential hasn’t changed.

The company spirit and our mission are still the same: enabling digital sovereignty — giving individuals, companies, and public institutions the tools to control their own data, on their own terms. That idea has only become more relevant over the past ten years.

Looking back, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come, from a small founding team to a global company backed by a growing ecosystem of hobbyists and professionals. And personally, my own journey reflects that same evolution: from building core features as an engineer, to helping customers succeed with Nextcloud, to growing into a leadership role over the past years, first as Team Lead and now as Director of Sales Engineering. Today, my focus is on sharing my experience and enabling a growing team of Sales Engineers to succeed, scale our impact, and bring digital sovereignty to even more organizations around the world. Seeing the team grow and helping others succeed has become just as rewarding as writing the code in those early days.

And while the past ten years have been an amazing journey, what excites me even more is what lies ahead. The need for digital sovereignty is only increasing, and Nextcloud is in a unique position to shape how organizations collaborate, communicate, and stay in control of their data in the years to come. I’m proud to be part of this journey and even more excited about what we will build next.