It started with a LinkedIn message, and four years later hej.build is a company with its own team. What has happened in between? What has changed? And what is still to come? A conversation with the founders Michael Rahmfeld and Hannes Eberlein about bold decisions. And about the staying power it takes to build a real culture without a head office or a shared workplace.
A pinch of chance and a shared interest in digital CPD
Before founding hej.build, both Hannes and Michael had already set up companies of their own, each with a different group of partners. And even then, both were occupied by the same topic: digital CPD for architects. One with a focus on the technical side, the other on the content.
After they connected on LinkedIn, this led to a first, informal meeting over a croissant at Essen central station. And as chance would have it, an enquiry reached Michael that same evening: a building product manufacturer was looking for someone to take over an existing CPD platform. Michael asked Hannes whether he could imagine doing it, and just like that, their first joint project was in place. One week for the proposal, five weeks for delivery. After that, it was clear: if it works this well under time pressure, it’s a match. And so the first project turned into more. First the idea of a joint company, and shortly afterwards the founding of the GmbH, whose fourth anniversary falls in spring 2025.
»It’s simply more fun together, and our skills complement each other perfectly. Michael brings architectural understanding and sales skills. I contribute tech, tools and processes.«
Hannes
The chemistry was right. And not just professionally. Right at the start of working together, the two deliberately took time to work out whether they would function as a founding duo. Instead of diving straight into action, they worked through a structured list of questions. Openly, honestly, with an eye on their respective life circumstances, values and a shared understanding of roles.
»We deliberately checked whether we really should found a company together. And we found that being different is our greatest strength.«
Michael
The first months were intense. In terms of content and organisation, not always a walk in the park either. Alongside the first larger project, the main task was to build hej.build into a working environment: which tools do we need? How do we work together? What helps us communicate with each other day to day? At the same time, we began asking ourselves fundamental questions: how do we position ourselves in a market environment that is often still traditional and rather conservative? How do we want to become visible as a brand ourselves, in attitude, language and presentation? And above all: in which areas can we support our clients most?
Hannes: »We put a lot of time into choosing our tool stack and the right processes. Everything was supposed to simply work, and at the same time help us organise ourselves well as a team.«
With Google Workspace, Slack, Notion & Co., the setup was precisely defined. But the tools were only the beginning. It took routines and formats to make sure no one lost sight of each other. Lunch & Learns, shared Friday check-outs and clearly structured processes in everyday work made the small but important difference. Added to that were real meetings such as offsites and workations, deliberately planned in from the start. Bit by bit, this created a framework that gave orientation and in which working together feels good and familiar, even without a shared office.
We grow, we learn and we keep developing
A lot has changed over the last four years. hej.build has grown in people, in content and in structure. Today, we come across to the outside world as more clearly positioned, more visible, with a sharper profile. Internally, on the other hand, a lot has stayed the same: the basic attitude, the way we treat each other, the openness to change.
Michael: »Externally, hej.build has developed enormously. Internally, we’ve stayed true to ourselves. We question ourselves regularly, review our decisions at heads level every quarter and learn and develop at a high pace. But the foundation is firm and solid.«
The same goes for the roles of the two founders. The rough split (Home Secretary meets Foreign Secretary) was quickly found. But with every step of growth, your own role changes too. And sometimes you get in your own way.
Michael: »You have to reassess yourself and your role again and again. Otherwise you become the bottleneck, and with that the biggest limiting factor in the company.«
Hannes: »Our roles have sharpened over time. Michael as the sales fox, me as the tech pig*: it works. At the same time, they’ve also become somewhat less important. Fortunately. Because our team now takes responsibility for many areas on its own, so we’re making ourselves redundant.«
*Editor’s note: anyone puzzled by the animal division of roles is warmly invited to an explanatory coffee.
A fair amount has changed in the market as well. Budgets that were readily available at the start can no longer be taken for granted. Clients weigh up more carefully what they bring in outside support for. hej.build reacted early: with a clearer focus on topics and a broader offer. Alongside strategic consulting, hands-on content work and our own formats such as the Academy now play a bigger role. And technological development brings above all opportunities, especially for a remote team.
Hannes: »AI is changing a lot of business models right now. Ours too. But we’ve always had a tech focus. For us, AI is more of a booster than a threat. Because we work remotely, almost everything runs digitally anyway. And that’s exactly what creates a wealth of data that we now put to productive use.«
And what about wrong decisions? The answer is as honest as it is pragmatic.
Michael: »Looking back, I’d make quite a few decisions differently. But nothing fundamental. And that’s worth a lot.«
Hannes: »Of course there were ideas that turned out to be detours in hindsight. Maybe we should have let go of one or two internal projects sooner. But at the time, the decisions made sense. And that’s what it’s all about.«
One topic carries particular weight here: decisions about people.
Michael: »In a small team like ours, they count double, financially and personally. We care a lot about how we get on together. That sometimes makes it hard to take decisions that are right professionally but difficult on a human level.«
Not an off-the-peg team
Because along with hej.build, the team has grown over the last few years too. New skills, new perspectives, new characters: over time, the small founding core has become a versatile, well-coordinated team. Distributed remotely, but with a clear, shared understanding of how we want to work together.
What makes hej.build what it is today isn’t just what two founders dreamed up, but what the team has made of it. Shared processes have emerged, people have brought in their own topics and backed decisions. Much of what seems a matter of course today grew out of real need.
Hannes: »Over the years, we’ve gained a lot of perspectives and skills, professionally but also personally. That makes a noticeable, positive difference to every one of our projects.«
Michael: »And at the same time, much of what mattered to us from the start has remained. Openness, appreciation, a sense of community: that still shapes us today.«
How would they describe working together in the team if they had to boil it down to three words?
Hannes: »Open, innovative, supportive.«
Michael: »Transparent, appreciative, community-minded.«
Fun facts, fails and a lot of respect
And what sticks when you look back on four years of hej.build? Alongside projects, roadmaps and decisions, it’s above all the small and big moments shared together that stay in your mind.
Hannes: »Our remote Christmas parties are always worth their weight in gold, especially the Kahoot quizzes where all team members reveal secret facts about themselves. Some unbelievable things have come to light. Michael’s wife Martina once said she had never seen anyone celebrate so loudly in front of a computer. No words needed, I’d say. 😀«
Michael: »And of course our offsites and workations. They’re a highlight every time. The last creative session even gave us certainty that Hannes can do a lot, but acrylic on canvas isn’t really one of those things.«
Mutual appreciation gets its due as well. Without any pathos, but with an honest look at what makes the other person who they are.
Hannes: »In short: Michael is one of the most pleasant people I know. On top of that comes his rare combination of architectural understanding, top sales skills and a built-in consultant mindset. And even if he doesn’t see it that way himself: with what feels like a thousand ideas per second, he’s our very own H100*.«
*Editor’s note: H100? At the time of the interview, one of Nvidia’s most powerful chips. And yes, coming from a techie, that’s meant as a compliment.
Michael: »Hannes brings an analytical, rational way of thinking and loves everything I tend to avoid: building processes, programming interfaces, sorting out technical details. At the same time, he has a remarkable intellectual range: from coding to creative conceptual work. Only when it comes to painting on canvas is there the aforementioned room for improvement.«
And perhaps that’s exactly the greatest strength: building a company that doesn’t have to be perfect down to the last detail but simply fits in its constellation. A constellation that works so well that, looking back, Hannes says one of the best decisions was to stick with it together with Michael.
And what comes next?
hej.build has four years behind it, but in their minds Hannes and Michael are already a few steps further on: with a hej.house with a sea view that becomes a retreat and a space for thinking for the whole team. With tools, data and strategies that help clients bring AI into marketing and sales in a meaningful way. And with a new project by architects for architects that is only just taking shape.
hej.build was never meant to be a finished construct. And perhaps »not finished« is exactly the state in which the best ideas emerge?
