Samuel Scheit

I was born in November 2003 in Munich, Germany.

My father grew up in Konstanz, Germany, and studied technical computer science, while my grandfather studied electrical engineering.

Since both my father and grandfather worked in computer engineering, they both had an interest in introducing me to technology at an early age.

I enjoyed playing video games, like many children my age. However, I had to share the family computer with my brother and parents.

As a result, I asked my (grand)parents for my own computer, and after negotiating they agreed to purchase one for me if I learned programming first.

I learned the C programming language because it was the only one they could help me with. I used it to program a Sudoku solver and helped my grandfather solve sudokus with it.

As promised, I received my first personal computer, which I of course used for programming playing Minecraft.

Within the game, I liked using "command blocks and redstone", which are similar to logic gates and simple programming constructs.

However, playing alone was not as enjoyable as playing with friends, so I learned how to host servers for them.

I wanted to host multiple Minecraft servers and needed to find a way to keep them running without constantly relying on my personal computer.

I used an old laptop from my parents' work and installed Linux, as it was much more efficient and able to host multiple servers at the same time.
Through this process, I learned a lot about operating systems and hosting servers.

However, I encountered a problem with managing multiple servers, as I did not have an overview of them.

I wanted to create a website that provided an overview of my Minecraft servers, so I had to learn HTML and CSS.

However, a static website just for viewing was not enough, I also wanted to manage those servers.
For this, I learned PHP and SQL to make the site interactive and store the servers in a database.

This project marked the beginning of my journey as a developer and the start of many subsequent projects.

Because I was part of a tablet class, my classmates and I wanted to exchange ideas and collaborate on our tablets.

However, since there was no existing communication platform provided by the school, I developed one myself for my classmates to communicate and work together on projects.

As I continued, I pivoted my project to a mobile app for my school, which allowed students to view the substitution plan, timetable, and appointments in one easy-to-use interface.

Alongside my school platform, I used Discord for private communication and wanted to extend the platform.

I started programming various Discord bots and gained experience doing commissioned work.

To make it easier to oversee my bots, I needed a user-friendly interface and I developed a tool called Discord Bot Client.

But as it made use of Discord's official client, Discord shut it down alongside my account and all of my bots.

I wanted to create an alternative platform to Discord that is free, open-source, and can be self-hosted.

However, I still wanted to be able to communicate with my friends and use the bots I had made prior.

That is why I founded Fosscord, a platform that is backwards compatible with Discord and that enables users to have control over their conversations while still being able to use Discord clients, bots, and libraries.

For Fosscord, I wanted to create an independent client that could be used to connect to both Discord and Fosscord.

However, I realized that I could further extend the project and create a client that is not only limited to Discord/Fosscord.

That is why I founded Respond, a messenger that allows users to reach their friends no matter what platform they use e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord/Fosscord.