DrakkenTech was born on 28 April 2021.
Shortly after our recent 3rd birthday, Lisa sat down with Pieka, the team’s fearless leader and founder and reminisced a bit about DrakkenTech. Here’s what went down.
1. What inspired you to start DrakkenTech?
I started DrakkenTech because I wanted a good reason to get out of bed in the morning. For me, to really fire me up, I need to find either meaning or challenge in my work. In DrakkenTech I find both:
Starting a business from nothing and keeping it alive is super challenging! We find meaning in creating work opportunities for young South Africans and mentoring them in both hard and soft skills.
2. What role do you see technology, for example AI, playing in the success and future of DrakkenTech?
To be honest, I’m a bit terrified of AI: not of how it’s not going to change our work, but how it’s going to change everybody’s work. For example, I believe if you’re a qualified copywriter, you’re in trouble because now people can get unlimited copywriting for free from ChatGPT.
Who’s job is the robot coming for next?
But one thing I celebrate is that with AI you can get a lot more out of one developer than you could before. Good, experienced developers are in high demand and can therefore name their price and need to be enticed to your team with all kinds of perks and pandering. As AI enables fewer developers to do more, maybe senior developers will again be more like experts in other industries: respected, sought after and expensive, but not necessarily expecting such special treatment.
Sometimes I worry that AI is an existential threat to a tech company like ours, but for now, I think we’re probably about as safe as anyone else. It’s exciting times: Who knows what will happen in the next 10 or 20 years!
3. How has your vision for DrakkenTech evolved over the past three years?
Originally, I wanted to start a company that does project-based software work and that I want to manage on a relational level rather than systematically. This means the company can’t grow much more than 80 people because that’s what I read the upper limit is for human community sizes.
This vision still stands as it was at the start.
But the nature of our work has not been quite as I imagined it at first: three of our biggest recent projects were mobile apps, which I never really thought was going to be our big thing. But we go where the work takes us and if that’s what the universe throws our way, we give it our all.
I’ve also learned how important personal networking is. It’s something that’s had a profound impact on my day-to-day life because there’s a lot of things I just wouldn’t go to before because I’m a well-disguised introvert. But for the sake of networking, I now often go to events or gatherings that I’d have taken a pass on before… and I often find more enjoyment in it than I expected to.
4. What are some of DrakkenTech’s major accomplishments over the past 3 years, and how has this shaped its future?
In my eyes, every new person that joins the team is an achievement on its own. I’m happy when someone joins, but what makes me super excited is seeing someone fitting into the team and them sticking around. That is a joy that drives me.
I’m proud to say we’ve had a couple of successes by now. We have about six people who’ve been here for 6 months or more. I also feel great about moving into a bonafide office. It might seem like a small step, but it’s a little bit like coming of age to a business owner.
Some of our project achievements I’m still particularly proud of was when our recent mobile app hit the stores and hundreds of people started using it. We built a system that is running in China and is being used on a day-to-day basis by a big team and has been giving zero issues for a year now.
I also absolutely love the feeling of signing a new project. My wife will attest to me running around tables for joy when I get the news the client accepted our proposal.
5. What are some of the challenges you have had to navigate and adapt to over the past 3 years?
One of the most challenging parts of starting a company like DrakkenTech is getting new projects. Clients are usually looking for someone they can trust and someone that others have trusted before. In other words: work begets work. But you start with an empty portfolio so it’s a bit of a chicken-egg dilemma.
In DrakkenTech’s case, we have become more successful with each project we take on. Not all of our projects have been great, but the more projects we get, the better we get at what we do. For me the main thing is that with each success, we become eligible for more work and therefore we become more sustainable as a company.
Of course one of the biggest challenges is always people. We’ve taken on some employees that abused our trust and goodwill, and this has let to rather heavy emotional burdens that one has to carry around for weeks or months. Not to mention the fiscal impact.
Any other challenges we had to face, I enjoyed. Figure out how to make a database work? I loved it. Figure out how to work around some API limitations? I loved it. Design a practical and beautiful UI? I loved it. With every challenge defeated, we become more competent and prepared for the future.
6. If DrakkenTech was a superhero, what would its superpower be?
Well, what certainly jumps to mind is something like Iron Man: nothing supernatural, just high technical competence, presented in a smooth and sexy way. But I actually also think of Mantis in the Guardians: I really am interested in connecting with my team and sharing their journey on a deep level, like Mantis who is able to feel the feelings of others. So maybe some hybrid between Iron Man and Mantis. Yeah, that would be it.
7. To end us off, as director, how do you feel about your team?
Hah! That’s like asking a parent how they feel about their children. A storm of feelings and emotions come to mind.
On a surface level, there is of course the daily challenges, frustrations and failings one has to deal with.
But then I am also deeply proud of my team. It’s quite amazing to be the one to provide the platform on which people start with almost no experience and to then see how they grow and become confident and very competent over time.
I also feel like I won the lotto: our team members are honest, hard working and friendly, which I hear is a status quo many other organizations struggle or fail to achieve.
So, in summary, I value my team members like priceless treasures and hope their tenures will be a whole career long.
– DrakkenTech
