TL;DR
Stefan and Jens debated benchmarks, sales, and the endless REST vs GraphQL chatter. Their key point: federation is not just about APIs—it’s about solving organizational problems, and sometimes the smartest move is to build with boring tech.
The trap of benchmarks
Jens warned against marketing benchmarks. They can always be tweaked to show the result you want, and they rarely reflect reality in scaled systems. He said real performance comes from understanding architecture, not micro-optimizations .
You can benchmark your way to good performance, but you really need to understand the architecture.
Value in clear terms
The hosts then shifted to sales. Jens broke down enterprise indecision simply: if someone hesitates, the value isn’t clear enough. His formula: if you spend $1 and get $5 back, you don’t think twice .
If you can pay $1 and you get five, how long will you think about it?
Stefan added that buyers tie their personal reputation to these choices—bringing Cosmo into an organization means staking your name on it .
REST vs GraphQL is missing the point
The familiar online fight—REST vs GraphQL—is, in Jens’s words, “super boring” and outdated. REST works well for back-end to back-end B2B integrations, but as organizations scale across many teams and clients, point-to-point REST integrations break down .
Jens argued the real value of GraphQL Federation is not about data fetching—it’s about preventing brittle dependencies and enabling teams to move faster together .
Federation is not really solving a technical problem… it solves an organizational problem.
Boring tech wins
Ironically, while Cosmo sells federation, the team doesn’t federate internally. Jens explained why: their mono-repo is owned by one team, so federation isn’t needed. Instead, they chose gRPC for services and “boring” tools like Postgres, Next.js, and Keycloak. It may not be glamorous, but it’s stable and practical .
Build cool tech with boring tech.
The bigger picture
Stefan closed by reflecting on founder-led content and distribution. Just like APIs, distribution matters more than flashy features. Companies that build trust through authenticity—by sharing their vision rather than selling—will resonate more with developers .
This episode was directed by Jacob Javor. Transcript lightly edited for clarity and flow.
