Jakob Fuchs in
Product & Communications
Strategist and communicator. Researched organisational decision-making academically and knows the gap between theory and practice from first-hand experience.
About us
Hey! We're
Clemens, Jakob
and Tobi.
#firstNameBasis
Three founders from Leipzig who found themselves in too many endless meetings — and built Rhizome so others wouldn't have to.
Early Access
trade fair appearance.
at the MACHN.
from a trade fair.
market research in Dublin.
we were already old hands.
With Rhizome we are building software for teams that want to ☝️ make better decisions ✌️ together in less time 🖖. We want to strengthen the sense of "we" in teams, make individuals more self-empowered, and increase the capacity for action and resilience of organisations in a complex world.
How it all began
Rhizome is the English word for the underground root network that plants like ginger or bamboo form. It grows horizontally rather than vertically, has no centre, forms countless cross-connections — and is therefore resilient against damage or division. This name already embodies much of our vision.
In 2019/20, Clemens and Jakob investigated how organisations really make decisions for their joint master's thesis "Decision-making in Organisations". We visited organisations, accompanied decision-makers, and read a great deal of Luhmann, Baecker, Kühl, and Porter.
Our conclusion: while almost everything has been digitalised, decision-making processes have not. The energy needed for good decisions dissipates between emails, chat messages, and meeting marathons. Decisions take weeks — or happen on the side, without involving the right people.
After stints at agencies, consultancies, NGOs, and scale-ups, we quit our jobs. At the start of 2025, the three of us set off. Our answer is Rhizome — software that simplifies co-creative decision-making. Structured, transparent, and asynchronous.
Clemens Kommerell in
Backend & Finance
Builds the solid technical foundation that Rhizome runs on. Also keeps the books in order and ensures we remain operational as a company.
Unsere Prinzipien
We want to be part of the solution
- Our servers are GDPR-compliant, located in Germany, and powered by 100% renewable energy from hydropower.
- Your data belongs to you. You can export it and leave at any time. We are not building a prison.
- With Rhizome we want to democratise the economy — for its own benefit and for the people within it.
- Rhizome does not show online status. We respect your attention.
"Trust the social fabric"
Rhizome is "situated software" — developed for a specific social situation in a specific context. We have decided to trust: people who use Rhizome have skin in the game, usually know each other, and share common goals. We are building infrastructure for people who can deal with one another as adults.
We are not tech-solutionists
Decisions are communication processes. Rhizome structures that communication and makes voices heard. But software cannot replace a culture of trust, willingness to talk, or honesty. This applies especially to AI: artificial intelligence is artificial; communication is human.
"A computer can never be held accountable; therefore, a computer must never make a management decision." — IBM, 1970s
We stand on the shoulders of giants
Rhizome is built on our academic engagement with decision-making. Every day we make product decisions grounded in the work of countless people who are more experienced and wiser than we are. In software development we benefit from countless open-source libraries.
We strive for transparency
We learn from your feedback and share what is coming next — and what is not. We communicate openly about mistakes, setbacks, and successes. You trust us with your decision-making processes, and we take that responsibility seriously.
If you feel we are deviating from our principles: tell us.