{"id":17914,"date":"2026-01-06T08:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/?p=17914"},"modified":"2026-01-06T08:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:22:12","slug":"interview-with-kevin-muller-founder-ceo-of-passbolt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.20i.com\/blog\/interview-with-kevin-muller-founder-ceo-of-passbolt\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Kevin Muller, Founder & CEO of Passbolt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kevin Muller is co-founder and CEO of open source password manager software Passbolt<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Used by over 50,000 organisations worldwide, Passbolt was the winner of the \u201cBest Password Manager\u201d category in the 2025 FOSS awards<\/a>, and Kevin was kind enough to speak with us about how he got started, the future of the industry, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"passbolt<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hi Kevin, congratulations on being named best Password Manager Software in the 2025 FOSS awards. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, can you start by introducing yourself?<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m Kevin Muller, co-founder and CEO of Passbolt. I\u2019ve been a tech entrepreneur since my early twenties, with a background in software development and cybersecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside building companies, I occasionally invest in and advise startups, contributing to the ecosystems in Luxembourg, France, and India.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always been drawn to the human side of technology. How teams work together, where things break, and how trust is built or eroded. For me, it\u2019s people, process, technology, in that exact order.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People always come first. Interestingly, the same hierarchy applies in cybersecurity, where humans are often the primary target.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m also fascinated by human performance in all its forms: cognitive, physical, fitness and health-related, which strongly shapes how I approach leadership, decision-making, and personal development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your journey has taken you all over the world. How has your global perspective influenced your approach to business, technology, and sustainability?<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Living and working in different countries – France, UK, India and Luxembourg – changes how you see technology. It teaches you humility.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What works in one context might completely fail in another. Once again it comes to human understanding first.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned to design systems that adapt to people\u2019s realities: unstable connections, limited infrastructure, different regulations, and different expectations around privacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with NGOs and in the sustainability space also left its mark. You see the consequences of technology that isn\u2019t accountable, and it makes you more deliberate about what you build and why.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, sustainability isn\u2019t just environmental; it\u2019s also social and digital. It\u2019s about creating tools that people can own, inspect, and maintain without depending on a single vendor or country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s probably why I have been drawn to open source since an early age, because it transcends borders, countries and brings people together around a noble cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve built successful companies in very different sectors. What are the key lessons that carry over between industries?<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, you have to accept that you\u2019re going to fail. Since failure is inevitable, the secret is making the journey enjoyable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re having fun learning, you\u2019ll stick with it until you get it right.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The other thing that I think people ignore is durability. Social media sells us this idea of overnight success, but the reality is that business is a marathon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It\u2019s about compounding: doing the work day in and day out for years. That is really hard to do if you don’t love it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why open source companies work so well. The founders are usually scratching their own itch.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They love what they\u2019re building, which gives them the stamina to build a community of users long before they ever launch a commercial product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to create Passbolt?<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It came out of frustration. My team at the time was juggling hundreds of credentials for client projects, and none of the available tools really worked for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Passbolt<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Existing password managers were consumer-grade and built mostly for the needs of individuals, not for the sophisticated needs of tech teams.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enterprise PAM solutions were too rigid and overkill. We needed something flexible, secure, and collaborative.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we built it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t meant to be a company at first, just a tool that made our lives easier.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But other teams started asking for it, and we realized there was a gap between consumer password managers and enterprise PAM systems.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where Passbolt lives today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you choose to make it open source?<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It seemed logical that a solution that stores the most critical data of an organization must provide data ownership and control to its users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security without transparency doesn\u2019t make sense. If you ask people to trust your product with their most sensitive data, they should be able to see how it works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open source makes that possible. It also aligns with the idea of digital sovereignty, giving organizations control over their infrastructure instead of locking them into someone else\u2019s cloud.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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