PointCab’s beloved CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Richard Steffen has passed away
we will miss him dearly
After battling with cancer for almost 6 years, our CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Richard Steffen, has passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones, on July 22nd. In this Obituary, we would like to reflect on the person he was and the impact he has made on the lives of those surrounding him.
Death always comes as a shock. Although in Richard’s case, there was some time to prepare, one is never truly prepared for losing someone close to one’s heart. And Richard was just that, close to all our hearts. He was more than the CEO of PointCab. He was a son, a brother, a husband, a father, and one of the most loyal and caring friends one could have.
Richard's life before PointCab
When Richard was born in 1976 in Schwerin, he was born into a divided Germany, in a country that no longer exists. Nevertheless, he enjoyed a happy childhood, surrounded by two loving parents and a loving sister. In 1984, the family moved away from the city to his grandparents’ farm in Dietrichshagen – a wonderful place for a child to grow up. There, he spent his formative years and graduated from high school with a degree that enabled him to pursue a higher education. In between all of that, the Berlin Wall fell, and Richard was suddenly living in a different country, without even changing his address.
Now free to move anywhere, he decided to study Geodesy in Hannover, but not before he did his mandatory military training in the Bundeswehr. Degree in hand, Richard immediately founded his first company with a partner from Magdeburg. It only lasted one and a half years, but it goes to show what kind of person Richard was: Full of ideas and confidence, bestowed by a unique drive to change things. Parallel to this, he also took a course in Computer Science, deepening his coding skills. Undeterred, with a mind that simply can not tolerate standing still, the next logical step for Richard was to take on a new challenge head-on. Consequently, he decided to obtain his Ph.D at the University in Bonn. He spent 6 years there, becoming an expert in Geodesy, Geoinformation, Photogrammetry, Computer Vision, and Adjustment Calculations. It was also there that he formed a close relationship with his PhD advisor and mentor, Prof. Dr. Förstner, whom he would always hold in high regard.
Ready to switch things up again, and with a deepened passion for coding, he decided to take on a job at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the Department of Computer Science. While he was there, some old friends reached out to him with an idea for a point cloud processing software. They needed a capable developer with a deep understanding of Geodesy, and Richard was just the right fit. For a while, he worked on the software and as a researcher at the same time. However, in 2011, he decided to go all in and become self-employed. This was also the year the first version of the PointCab software was released, as a product of Laserscanning Europe. In 2013, the software was successful enough to warrant the founding of an independent company, and Richard became a co-founder of PointCab GmbH. After his partner left the company in 2014, Richard assumed the role of CEO.
Richard's Impact at PointCab
Those early years were marked by struggle, but also a lot of fun. With PointCab, Richard found a project he could pour all his heart and his creative energy into. He would often code and research for hours on end, living off frozen pizza and little sleep. His mind would thrive on solving the next puzzle, the next challenge, and he just could not stand occupying it with “mundane” things like cooking, shopping, or dealing with the bureaucracy that comes with being a CEO. Acutely aware of this, he started hiring the first employees for administration and support as soon as the company’s turnover would allow for it. He fortunately could also lean on Dr. Ulrich Franz, his business angel and shareholder, to help with strategy, marketing & sales in those early days.
Over the years, Richard was able to hire more people and build the fantastic team that is PointCab today. He rarely interfered with the decisions his team made in their respective areas of expertise, and not for a lack of understanding. On the contrary, Richard was able to delve into virtually every topic and come out on top. However, he would always trust in his team and their skills, and as a bonus, this enabled him to spend more time on the topics that innately fascinated him. With a steadily growing team, he made his dream come true and bought a houseboat in the port of Hamburg in 2015. He also started to take prolonged trips to Vietnam, a country he was always intrigued by, and where he met his wife.
With his team in Wernau near Stuttgart and him spending most of his time in Hamburg or Vietnam, it might sound like he wasn’t contributing much anymore to the company, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. He regularly visited the office and rarely missed a team meeting. He would always work on the hardest problems and spend hours (preferably) with his Dev-Team to solve them together. He was an avid mentor, especially to Martin, now our CTO, and encouraged him to pursue his Ph.D. as he encouraged all of us to keep learning and to grow.
In between all of that, he also managed to form deep personal relationships with all of us. He’d ask how things are going, and you could be sure he’d catch up on it the next time you talked. If you were up for it, he’d get into the wildest debates with you about any topic. You could hold a vastly different opinion on the matter, and at the end of it, the two of you either managed to broaden your horizons or agreed to disagree. However, debating with Richard never negatively affected your relationship – on the contrary, most of the time, it deepened it. A quality rarely seen in our modern times. All of this made him more than just our boss. It made him our friend and one of the fiercest and loyal friends one could have. He would celebrate our private milestones with us, like a wedding or buying a house, but he would also help us through the tough times. When someone had a health problem, he fought for them to get all the coverage and benefits available, and he made sure to let them take all the time they needed. Their job still waiting for them when they returned. Therefore, disregarding all his flaws when it came to the “mundane”, Richard managed to become a true leader. This incredibly wonderful guy you could trust.
The last Chapter
Consequently, it came as a great shock for all of us when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2019. At the time, the doctors gave him about one more year to live. However, being the way he was, he also confronted his cancer head-on. He managed to find great doctors, working out a treatment plan with them and keeping the cancer at bay. No matter how hard things got, he would do it all with incredible grace, ploughing on. All the while living his life to the fullest, still traveling between Vietnam and Germany and keeping up with everything else.
In 2021, facing the pandemic and travel restrictions, he finally decided to settle down and marry his beloved girlfriend. She had been an incredible source of support for him throughout this time and was always right by his side. With her and his step-daughter, he moved permanently to Germany and bought a house in Rostock, close to his grandparents’ farm in Dietrichshagen, where he grew up and his parents still live. He started to prioritize his health and treatments even more, as well as spending more quality time with his loved ones.
After trying to juggle these priorities with work for a while, he realized he had to step back more at PointCab. Even he couldn’t do it all. Talking to his right-hand man since 2016, Chris (COO), they formed a plan in 2022. Martin, his protege, would become the CTO and take over Richard’s responsibilities for the development of the software. Nicole, with a knack for strategic thinking and organisation, would become the CMO. Richard was confident that, together with Chris, the three of them would be able to lead the company – and so they did.
Slowly but steadily, Richard handed over most of his responsibilities. This allowed him to spend more time with his family, only working on the things he actually enjoyed. Furthermore, his health seemed to pick up again, particularly in 2024. The cancer was still there, but it seemed manageable. It was something he had learned to live with by now, and he never wanted to be seen as his illness but as the person he was. It was an exciting and happy time for all of us. Richard seemed invincible. There he was, roughly 4 ½ years after his diagnosis, defying the odds and living his best life.
But cancer is a *****. It does not debate. It does not agree to disagree, and it has a habit of returning when you least expect it, even uglier than before. Unfortunately, this was the case for Richard in spring 2025. The doctors found that the cancer had spread once again and aggressively. Once again, the diagnosis was dire. This time, they were talking weeks or months. However, who could blame us for not wanting to believe this and cling to hope? At this point, Richard seemed like Superman. Defying all odds, he’s made it this far, so why not once more? But this time was different, and looking back, it seems like he knew it too.
While he put most of his affairs in order a long time ago, he never put too much pressure on finding a new CEO for PointCab. However, this time was different. He almost immediately reached out to his old friend and business partner, Eric Bergholz. As the CEO of Laserscanning Europe, PointCabs’ sister company, he was involved in the creation of the PointCab software. He was there when the company was founded, he knows the team, and he saw it grow. Since Richard was also a shareholder of Laserscanning Europe, they spent plenty of time discussing strategies for both companies. Last but not least, Richard and Eric were very close friends. There was hardly anyone else he would trust as much as Eric to continue his legacy. Assured by Richard that his leadership team was in place and had successfully managed the company for the last few years, Eric gracefully agreed to take on the role as the new CEO of PointCab.
The team was informed of this decision, although, as per Richard’s wish, his health was not cited as the main reason. While the clogs were working in the background to ensure a smooth transition, his health rapidly declined. Just a few days before his passing, he had been writing to Martin about a new research project. Then it all happened really fast. His palliative care team came to his house and ensured he was as comfortable as possible. Luckily, there was enough time for most of his friends and family to say goodbye. He passed away in his sleep, in his own house, surrounded by his loved ones. Until the very end, that uniquely sharp mind of his was still working, solving puzzles. In our grief, that’s something we are thankful for and take comfort in.
If you have read this far, thank you. In the face of tragedy, one can feel incredibly powerless and helpless. So telling Richard’s story is important to us. Not only to remember him and his legacy, but to inspire. His example taught us how to lead with compassion, to burn for our passions, to fight uneven odds, and so much more. It will stay with us forever. Maybe you can learn from it, too.
Thank you Richie.