November 2025 Summaries

A personal finance marketplace faced significant planning delays with its Apollo Gateway as complex queries took more than 10 seconds to process, leading to traffic congestion and an adverse impact on customer experience. To resolve this, the company transitioned to WunderGraph Cosmo, which resulted in a substantial reduction in planning latency by approximately 90–95%, making operations 12–18 times faster. This migration allowed the team to eliminate fragile prewarm scripts and stabilize performance, enabling safer upgrades and further growth. The phased rollout ensured customer traffic remained protected, while the implementation of Cosmo's Cache Warmer effectively preplanned slow queries, eliminating cold-start issues. As a result, the team achieved stable performance, routine supergraph updates, and predictable horizontal scaling, creating a more robust platform capable of handling increased demand without the need for constant patches or workarounds. This case highlights how addressing gateway inefficiencies can lead to significant operational improvements and supports sustainable growth for large-scale platforms.

In 2025, WunderGraph underwent significant growth, evolving from a small tech startup into a cohesive team with 34 members across 10 countries, emphasizing a culture of fairness, transparency, and empathy. The company's mission to enhance collaboration through high-performance systems is complemented by a deliberate effort to design an intentional culture, prioritizing diversity with a gender ratio exceeding the European tech average. WunderGraph focused on maintaining a human-centric hiring process amidst rapid expansion, achieving a high Employee Net Promoter Score and fostering an environment where feedback, accountability, and psychological safety are paramount. The year was marked by numerous in-person gatherings, strengthening team cohesion and aligning cultural values, and the company remains committed to hiring individuals who share its vision of building a collaborative and empowering workplace.

AI is increasingly being used to automate repetitive tasks, but its limitations in replicating human qualities like empathy, curiosity, and creativity mean it cannot replace human thinking or decision-making entirely. The notion of AI running a company solo is considered unrealistic and potentially harmful, as it may prioritize efficiency over sustainable business practices and customer experience. Human involvement is essential in crafting meaningful customer interactions and building trust, as illustrated by the author's experience with an automated banking system that failed to deliver a promised service. At WunderGraph, the focus remains on maintaining human elements in the loop to foster creativity and collaboration, emphasizing that genuine customer success stems from human insight and care. The author, Viola Marku, highlights the importance of empathy, communication, and understanding customer needs in driving technological and business progress.