Why Partner Day is important to us
Since 2023, the maxcluster Partner Day has been a fixture in our event calendar. Once a year, we invite our agency and service partners to Paderborn for two days of discussion, knowledge sharing, and gathering new ideas for e-commerce.
The Partner Day brings our community together and gives them the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes at maxcluster and exchange ideas with our team. We provide insights into our work, hear about our partners' experiences, and discuss how we can tackle the next challenges in e-commerce together.
This not only generates ideas, but also real connections. Direct feedback from our partners helps us to further develop our platform in a targeted manner and strengthen cooperation.
Structure and atmosphere of Partner Day 2025
At Partner Day, we give both our partners and our own employees a chance to speak, creating a successful mix of external and internal knowledge.
This year, external speakers such as Henning Heesen, Andreas von Studnitz (Hyvä), Jordan Kniest (basecom), Alexander Mathiesen (Squadt), and Benjamin Eberlei (Tideways) provided exciting insights into current e-commerce and agency topics in the large lecture hall. At the same time, the maxcluster room was open, where our employees shared practical experiences from their everyday work – a place specifically designed to promote dialogue between partners and our team.
In addition, a co-working room and a lounge were available. Both areas offered a place to retreat for short breaks or personal conversations and invited participants to continue discussing topics outside of the presentations in small groups.
Another new feature this year was a room for one-on-one consultations. Participants were able to book appointments in advance to discuss individual questions about performance directly with our experts. This format was particularly popular with our agency partners, who received practical tips and specific recommendations for their projects.
At the start of the first day, our team welcomed the participants, who were able to get in the mood for the program with coffee, drinks, and snacks in the restaurant. In this relaxed atmosphere, many quickly struck up conversations with each other—not least because many deliberately use the partner day to see familiar faces again and meet new people. For those who no longer attend conferences as frequently, the opportunity for personal exchange is a special reason to come to Paderborn.
Day 1 – Insights and best practices from our speakers
After a welcome address by our managing director and co-founder Sebastian Ringel, a joint keynote speech by Sebastian, Benno Lippert (CEO), our product owners, and partner managers officially opened this year's Partner Day. The focus was on current developments in the partner network, new products and features, and an outlook for 2026. This gave participants a concise overview of what has been achieved over the past year – and what the next steps are.
Partner network and highlights of the year
The maxcluster partner network continues to grow – the network recorded growth of around 30% compared to the previous year, and more than 70% of new contracts are now generated through partners. In addition to a review of the successful year, there was also an outlook on upcoming developments such as the web app with battle cards and a planned distribution to partners in 2025.
Product roadmap: Security, performance, and flexibility
In the technical part of the keynote, our product owners provided an overview of developments in the maxcluster platform. The focus was on topics related to security, performance, and efficiency.
Among others, the following were presented:
- Valkey as a flexible alternative to Redis, offering greater independence in licensing matters.
- The new Web Application Firewall (WAF), which will provide even better protection for shops against attacks such as SQL injections and will be operated on our own infrastructure in full compliance with the GDPR.
- Immutable offsite backups to protect against ransomware and operator error, as well as for greater compliance security.
- A backup extension with more flexible intervals, longer retention periods, and new self-service options.
- The new Boost Mode (RAMboo), which responds to unexpected load peaks in seconds, ensuring stability and performance even on high-revenue days.
- local mc, a new tool for developers that is currently in beta and replicates the maxcluster production environment locally – realistic, high-performance, and based on DDEV (Docker). This allows changes and deployments to be tested under real conditions, errors to be detected earlier, and costs to be saved by reducing the number of test instances.
This keynote speech, full of insights and product innovations, was followed on the first day by practical presentations from external speakers who addressed current topics such as automation, performance, and data-driven shop management.
Automation with n8n
Tobias Niebergall (e3n) gave the first presentation. He showed how agencies can use the low-code tool n8n to automate recurring tasks directly on a maxcluster setup. Using examples such as automated notifications, time tracking, and onboarding processes, he demonstrated how workflows can be accelerated with little effort and how agencies can significantly increase their efficiency as a result.
Implementing headless architectures efficiently
In the afternoon, Jordan Kniest (basecom) presented practical experiences with headless architectures. Under the title “Efficiently configuring headless including backend – a field report from development,” he explained the requirements for hosting and infrastructure and how performance can be measurably improved. The presentation was supplemented by lessons learned from projects and specific recommendations for tools and processes.
Strategies for successful shops
Alexander Mathiesen (COO Squadt) then spoke about the connection between marketing, data-driven UX, and SEO strategies. In his presentation, “How we as agencies make shops more successful,” he showed that long-term success arises above all where content, structure, and user focus are consistently considered together.
Optimize performance through caching
At the end of the day, Benjamin Eberlei (Tideways) took a closer look at the Shopware HTTP cache. Under the title “MISS or HIT: Mastering the Shopware HTTP Cache,” he explained why many shops are slower than they need to be and showed how efficiency can be measured, which factors slow down the cache, and which strategies can be used to specifically improve performance.
Day 1 – Insights and experiences from everyday life at maxcluster
At the same time, the presentations in the maxcluster room offered insights directly from our everyday work. The focus here was on practical topics closely related to the daily challenges of hosting.
Alfred (maxcluster) and Daniel Wolf (8mylez) kicked things off with their presentation “Mastering complex shops with ease: CWC as a success factor for agency projects.” Using concrete examples, they showed how clear processes help to efficiently manage even extensive shop projects.
Benjamin (maxcluster) then presented Supervisor as a tool for reliably monitoring and controlling services in a presentation entitled “Keep Your Services Running.”
Later in the afternoon, Jonas (maxcluster) analyzed typical causes of performance problems in his presentation “Performance Analysis for Slow Shops” and presented methods for systematically resolving them.
At the end of the day, Benno (maxcluster) gave an overview of how we are integrating artificial intelligence into our products and processes step by step in his session “Our Path to AI Leader.” He not only presented the long-term vision, but also concrete use cases and next steps that are already being implemented.
Evening program
The evening was all about networking – the perfect balance after an intense first day. Before the main evening event, participants could choose between two side events – active and sporty or enjoyable and relaxed.
Bouldering at BlocBuster
One group made their way to the BlocBuster hall in Paderborn. During the beginner's course, newcomers gained their first experiences on the climbing wall, while more experienced climbers were able to improve their technique. Under the guidance of a trainer, an open and motivating atmosphere quickly developed, with mutual encouragement and joint experimentation creating a great team spirit.
Gin tasting with THE SPIRITISTS
At the same time, an exclusive gin tasting took place on our roof terrace. With a view over Paderborn, Ronny and Arne from THE SPIRITISTS presented three special varieties—including non-alcoholic options—accompanied by some lesser-known tonics and small snacks. In a relaxed atmosphere, guests took the opportunity to chat and get to know each other outside of the day's program.
Evening get-together
At the end of the day, all participants gathered again for our evening event at the maxcluster restaurant. Over a barbecue buffet with a wide range of options, discussions continued, contacts were deepened, and new conversations were started. In a relaxed atmosphere, many topics from the sessions were continued—and new connections were made that will ensure the Partner Day will have a lasting impact.
Day 2 – Inspiration and knowledge from our speakers
After a joint welcome by Sebastian and Benno, the second day kicked off with a special highlight: Henning Heesen (Henning Heesen & Company) joined online and spoke about “Selling successfully without selling: security as a sales booster.” In his presentation, he made it clear that modern sales work does not rely on aggressive sales strategies, but is based on trust, reliability, and security. Using concrete examples, he showed how agencies can use precisely these factors to retain customers in the long term and successfully win projects.
This was followed by a presentation in interview format with York Karsten (HubSpot) and Gero Ostendorf (8mylez). The discussion focused on how structures, AI, and the right tools can improve sales in the long term. York asked the questions, while Gero reported on practical experience and provided insights into the tried-and-tested methods used at 8mylez.
In the next item on the agenda, Andreas von Studnitz (Hyvä) presented his talk “Competing with Shopify – Updates from the Magento world.” He analyzed Magento's current market position in comparison to SaaS platforms such as Shopify, showed that Magento will be in a much stronger position in 2025 than it was a few years ago, and emphasized the opportunities for the open source community through new developments and a growing ecosystem.
At the end of the morning, Sonja Franz (integer_net) spoke about “Embarking on the New AI World.” She introduced guests to the current state of AI in B2B e-commerce and explained which solutions are already practical. In addition, she provided tips for getting started as a team, highlighted legal aspects, and showed how humans and AI can work together effectively. Her presentation thus offered both concrete guidance and inspiration for future projects.
In the afternoon, Sebastian and Jonas from maxcluster invited participants to an open Q&A session under the motto “Ask us Anything.” Here, participants had the opportunity to ask specific questions about performance, infrastructure, and best practices—and received direct answers and new food for thought.
Day 2 – Practical insights in the maxcluster room
Parallel to the sessions mentioned above, the maxcluster room once again offered valuable insights on the second day – directly from our everyday work and in close cooperation with partners.
Aleksandra Perko-Klomfaß kicked things off together with our Customer Advisory Board (CAB). Under the title “Future-proof hosting: How the CAB is helping to develop our platform of tomorrow,” it became clear how important direct dialogue with partners is in order to continuously align our platform with the requirements of the industry.
This was followed by a technical deep dive by Jonas (maxcluster) on the topic of “Varnish in use.” Using concrete examples, he explained how cache mechanisms can be analyzed and how the so-called Saint Mode ensures stable load balancers during high traffic. Participants gained practical knowledge that can be immediately applied in everyday life.
Stephan (maxcluster) built on this with his session “Stress-free migration – Successful shop migrations with maxcluster.” He highlighted typical pitfalls when moving shops and presented strategies for ensuring smooth migrations through good preparation and proven processes.
At the end of the day, Stephan and Julian (maxcluster) gave a practical outlook on the busiest days in e-commerce with their session “Seasons '25 – Hosting Excellence for Black Friday & Peak Traffic.” The focus was on concrete measures for reliably preparing shops for peak loads – so that performance and stability remain guaranteed even on critical days.
After two days full of inspiration, discussions, and new ideas, what remains above all are memories – and we have captured them again this year in the form of a special guest book.
Our photo wall invited all participants to attach a Polaroid photo of themselves, leaving a visible sign of their participation. Over the course of the Partner Day, this resulted in a colorful collage that impressively reflected the diversity and energy of our community – and has since become an integral part of every Partner Day.
Conclusion
Two days full of practical presentations, lively discussions, and valuable exchanges are now behind us. Our speakers contributed a variety of perspectives—from automation and shop performance to AI and hosting strategies. Equally important were the conversations during the breaks or the evening event, at the side events, and in the sessions in the maxcluster room, which enabled direct dialogue with our partners.
We would like to thank all participants, speakers, and our team for two intensive days in Paderborn—and we are already looking forward to Partner Day 2026.
You can read about how Partner Day went in previous years in our blog reviews for 2023 and 2024. And if you weren't there live this time, we will be posting the video recordings on our recap page shortly.
