Imagine it’s the year 2020. The company you work for needs a new ERP, and they have chosen ERPNext. Unfortunately, the implementation fails. What would you do?

The obvious expectation from any user is to walk away, probably to another system. But this wasn’t the case with Philip Weisshaar. Despite a frustrating experience, he was determined to return to ERPNext. Not as a customer, but as a consultant. The best part, it wasn’t about giving ERPNext a second chance. It was about knowing that the problem was with the process and not the system.

Sounds like an unusual customer-to-partner story, doesn’t it? It did to me too. Let’s walk through Philipp Weisshaar’s journey together.

Today, Philipp is on the executive board at K&K Software, one of Frappe’s Silver partners in Germany. Just over a year ago, he was on the other side of the table, a customer trying to make ERPNext work. This hands-on failure gave him a sharp sense of what could have been done differently. With over 15 years of experience in digitalisation, he was drawn to solve this problem. He made a confident pitch to K&K Software’s team and joined them as a consultant in January 2024.

Not many people have the courage and confidence to take a career risk because they spot a gap. This piqued my interest in Philipp’s personal journey and affinity towards all things software. Philipp studied software development right out of school. He’d also been developing websites for local companies since he was 12 years old. It was clear that software was a second nature to him.

“I grew up outdoors, but I also grew up with a Gameboy. I had an opportunity to connect with modern software early. In my teens, I was building software tools. So it was an obvious choice to study for university. I like it very much, it keeps me content.”

After university, Philipp began working as a process consultant in the food industry. He spent over a decade doing this work and gained an invaluable sense of process optimisation. It shaped a gap-identifying mindset in him that changed everything. This mindset was also why K&K Software took to his work so quickly.

K&K Software itself is no newcomer, having been around since 2000. The company started with custom software development and ventured into hosting and implementations. With customers in global industries, K&K Software has over two decades of success. They implemented ERPNext internally in 2018 and since then, have added it to their portfolio of products. With Philipp’s leadership, K&K became an official Frappe partner in January 2025.

ERPNext user meeting in Winterthur

Further into our conversation, we spoke about K&K Software’s biggest crisis. One of Philipp’s first ERPNext projects failed. A requirement was shared for a highly customised system that could be further resold. Philipp encouraged the team to take the risk. The project went through multiple iterations before it was cancelled. The team lost $40000 and was almost shut down. At that moment, Philipp decided to shift his focus completely.

“A mindset can’t shield us from mistakes. This was the kind of project I never wanted to do again. Our team went down a different path after this.”

A couple of months later, Philipp’s team had a new system in place. They chose to focus only on core implementations and avoid customisation altogether. This felt like a radical change in a company that was known for custom software development. Yet Philipp stood by his method. He enabled his team to launch an MVP ERPNext instance within 72 hours for any project. No overengineering, no planning for issues if they haven’t come up yet. This process landed them a 6-figure automotive cable manufacturing client.

“Customers want something to use. With a quick turnaround time, feedback gives way to more focused configuration of the system. I believe in a hands-on approach, always. My team is also really good at what they do.”

K&K Software's ERPNext team

Although K&K Software’s team has over 40 members. The ERP team is a strong and mighty team of 9. In Philipp’s view, the best part of the team is their varied backgrounds. Some have a master’s in AI, others in development and finance. They’re not just coders, they’re system thinkers who understand operations and data both. What brings them together is that they don’t chase big projects. They focus on the impact they create.

“Our whole team is competitive, and our synergies match effortlessly. We are open source rebels. We solve problems quickly and share values that, at the end of the day, keep customers happy.”

Philipp was kind enough to walk me through all of K&K Software’s values and translate them for me. The ones that stood out to me were curiosity and efficiency. I could see just from our conversation that the team preferred an economical and sustainable approach to their work. They want to use resources efficiently, for both themselves and their clients. I also shared with Philipp that I had gathered that he had always been a curious soul. He agreed.

“For me, spotting gaps is a simple approach without overcomplicating things. It comes naturally to me, so I am confident in my insights. I believe that I’m doing relatively well after all these years of experience.”

Dietmar & Bernhard from K&K Software

Later in our conversation, we shifted focus to the geographical challenges in Germany. I was not surprised to hear that the expectation of free services for “open source software” is a worldwide issue. On a more unique note, Frappe is not popular in Europe. Even Germany’s compliance system makes ERPNext an imperfect fit. Partners in Germany have developed a compliance integration to fill this gap.

“We’re investing in awareness. ERPNext deserves to be seen through marketing and educational initiatives. We are even discussing lectures in German universities. The open source initiative is powerful, and we think it can bring about a real movement if more people know of it.”

K&K’s Software's company trip to Bamberg

Towards the end of our chat, I asked Philipp about the things he wouldn’t compromise on. The first thing he mentioned was that he wouldn’t work with any customer who treated them as a service vendor. With a team that goes all-in, he expects equal respect back from his clients.

“We take risks for our customers. I took a risk to join K&K Software. Now I’m on the executive board and have a chance to create meaningful and large change. This growth doesn’t come from being flexible with your values.”

My engaging talk with Philipp gave me many logical and philosophical insights. This story implied the benefits of choosing clarity over complexity. He decided to fix the perspective of ERPNext through structure and speed.

We concluded with our usual quick questions.

What makes Frappe products worth it?
True open source systems, backed by a company driven by an open source and community-first mindset.

Why should customers choose K&K Software?
K&K Software exists to solve real-world problems with a clear focus on using open source wherever possible. We believe open source and community collaboration are the future in a world increasingly dominated by big tech.

One lesson you'd want to share with the world.
Don’t be afraid. Open source is the alternative.