Why Mind over Machine
Narrated by Lars Kruse, co-founder
The problem
Section titled “The problem”For twenty years I have worked to build companies around a simple question:
“How can software development be different?”
Software developers who are really passionate about their work typically apply to Open Source projects alongside their job. Why? Because their daily work is not ambitious or fulfilling enough.
Tech companies — especially consulting firms — have traditionally been driven by one primary purpose: making money for the owners. The employees receive a salary, but no share in the profits. Companies lack an agenda other than profit.
This means that the culture in the tech industry consistently prioritizes short-term earnings over long-term systems thinking. And when priorities change, culture changes quickly.
Purpose before profit
Section titled “Purpose before profit”We built Praqma around one vision: to make the software development world a better place. Without investors. Without a business plan. Only with people who believed in it.
For 11 years, we did not take out a dividend. All profits went back into the business and into the community we built. We organized over 150 conferences and meetings. We wrote Open Source. We taught 400+ students for free. We had intern programs. We built trust.
The result: We grew to 50 employees. The best talents sought us out. The customers believed in us. The culture was what we sold.
The lesson: When purpose and profit become goal conflicts, profit always wins — if the company has owners who need to earn money in addition to regular wages, there is someone who must be exploited - it is inevitable.
In 2019, Praqma was sold. The same day it changed its name. Within months, all programs — conferences, Open Source, mentoring — were put on hold. Culture died.
Structure - or lack thereof - is destiny
Section titled “Structure - or lack thereof - is destiny”Prolike, inc inc, Kvalifik, Phable, The Tech Collective (2019–2026)
After Praqma, I spent five years on new attempts: Prolike (a community-oriented startup company for young talents), inc inc (a start-up company), Kvalifik (a design agency based on - often self-taught - young people), Phable (a communication and branding agency in London), The Tech Collective (an attempt to rebuild something reminiscent of Praqma inside the belly of Denmark’s largest management consulting agency).
Every trial — with the exception of Prolike, which collapsed during COVID — showed the same pattern:
- When purpose and profit collide, profit wins
- Private ownership means: today’s vision can be thrown out tomorrow
- If the culture is not locked into structure, it disappears when the attention disappears
The critical insight: What I built just couldn’t hold up to the pressure of reality. Because it all depended on people who believed in it.
People seek new adventures. People get tired. People are persuaded. People die.
The structure must ensure the purpose. Not people.
Non-profit non-profit foundation
Section titled “Non-profit non-profit foundation”Early in 2026 it was time to start planning this year’s DevOpsDays conference in Copenhagen again.
But we discovered something we couldn’t immediately explain: our annual DevOps conference could hardly sell tickets (8 tickets sold in 3 months). At the same time, other DevOps conferences collapsed around the world (Amsterdam, Washington DC).
Why? DevOps had gone mainstream. But it means that its original societal role — to debunk the socio-technological agenda, to set the framework for the discussion about people, culture, silos, burnout and transformation — had been replaced by technical Platform Engineering discussions.
We had built something with a purpose. And the world had emptied it of meaning.
In that realization the ambitions were born: We don’t want to be an association. We must be a think tank. And we must be a NON-PROFIT.
Why? Because:
- The articles of incorporation lock in the purpose — No future manager can say “we’re just doing something else…”
- Profits go to the mission — Not to investors, venture funds, owners or a buyer
- The initiative circle represents the ecosystem — Not just the interests of management
- Community of practice from the start — Not later as an afterthought
What Mind over Machine is
Section titled “What Mind over Machine is”Mind over Machine is:
- A think tank that explores and documents regenerative software development that keeps alive the socio-technological agenda
- A laboratory that develops and demonstrates it in practice
- A community that facilitates knowledge sharing and practice, an internship that everyone can participate in on their own terms
- A non-profit fund that cannot be sold, or “runs short of what we have agreed”
- Self-financed through membership, consultancy and project collaboration — not dependent on investors or donors
The structure is fixed. The aim is cooperation between people - not profit.
Why now?
Section titled “Why now?”The world needs institutions that stick to long-term systems thinking.
The tech industry especially needs places where it’s about people again — not just delivery speed and platform operation.
And I believe that if we build this as a non-profit think tank, it can stay the course for 50 years. Regardless of who leads it next year.
That’s what Mind over Machine is for.