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alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

#118 - Radical Engineering Culture and High Bar Hiring feat. Stefan Richter // Founder & CTO @ freiheit.com technologies

Mar 20, 2025
In this episode, Stefan Richter, Founder and CTO of freiheit.com technologies, discusses his journey in building high-performance engineering organizations. He emphasizes the importance of a radical engineering culture and maintaining a high bar for recruitment by focusing on 'tested in life' candidates. Stefan reveals how successful project delivery relies on simplicity, disciplined processes, and full stack engineers. He also shares insights on reducing friction in workflow and creating a collaborative environment that drives innovation and continuous feedback.
01:02:51

Episode guests

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Quick takeaways

  • Freiheit.com Technologies prioritizes simplicity and robustness in software, successfully maintaining a 'Never Late, Never Failed' mission for 25 years.
  • The recruitment strategy emphasizes attracting diverse, highly skilled individuals with real-world experiences, particularly those demonstrating problem-solving abilities through life challenges.

Deep dives

Radical Engineering Culture at Freiheit

Freiheit.com Technologies emphasizes a radical engineering culture centered around producing great software. The founder, Stefan, identifies that the company was built on the premise of shipping high-quality software with a focus on simplicity and robustness, rather than complexity. This approach stems from historical challenges in the software industry when building systems capable of handling high loads was not common. Today, the mission of the company is to maintain a high bar for both product quality and recruiting processes, ensuring that every team member is aligned with these core principles.

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