Kentico Marks 20 Years of CMS Innovation and Leadership

Turning 20 is a milestone for everyone. 

It’s your second decade, a rite of passage into adulthood. You’re not exactly a “kid” anymore, but you’re still at the beginning of your story – and ready to write the biggest chapters of your life with (hopefully) a little experience under your belt.

The same is true for businesses. Reaching 20 years means you’ve navigated a multitude of challenges on the ride up – from an evolving competitive landscape to shifting economic conditions – and persevered. It’s even more of a monumental achievement in the tech sector, where everything moves at warp speed and change is a persistent reality. 

That’s what makes this an extra-celebratory moment for Kentico, a market-leading content management system and digital experience platform. The company just marked its 20th year in the market, growing from humble beginnings to become a respected, well-established global player in the CMS ecosystem.

At these moments, it’s cathartic to consult the rearview mirror to gauge what’s ahead. The road to success for the Brno, Czech-based “hometown hero” has been long and hard-fought, but clearly worth the effort. Now, Kentico's future looks more promising than ever as it focuses on its innovative product and a unique set of capabilities for managing multichannel content.

A 20-year journey to build a market-leading CMS   

Like most technology businesses, Kentico started with an idea. In this case, it was founder Petr Palas’ bachelor thesis project, which featured a simple CMS framework. Just six years later, it went from a university drawing board to a well-recognized company with offices around the world.

In that timespan, it also scaled by an impressive 1,781%, placing it fourth on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50. 

The years that followed saw numerous milestones for the company, including the launch of Xperience by Kentico – its new flagship product with a committed roadmap. Kentico revealed the news at its Connection 2023 event, showcasing its unique and innovative hybrid headless DXP. 

Last year, the company was also recognized on the Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXPs for the seventh time. And already in 2024, Kentico has continued its streak of groundbreaking accomplishments, powering over 90,000 websites and counting – with continued growth on the horizon. 

Here’s a great video timeline that covers many of its accomplishments:

Celebrating success and dedication across a global community  

A big part of Kentico’s success has been its people – a global team that’s now more than 250 strong. To celebrate its 20-year milestone, CEO Dominik Pinter gathered with employees to reflect on the company's journey amidst global and tech industry transformations.  

When it comes to its team and the broader community, Kentico’s secret sauce has been a tacit team spirit – one of its core company values. By focusing on personal and career development, the company has cultivated a diverse, committed, and tenacious culture. As a result, many employees have stuck around since the very beginning – a testament to Kentico’s progressive posture as a people-first company. 

Kentico’s success also reflects its blossoming community of fierce creators and advocates. With 500 digital agencies in its network and eleven MVPs – a collection of marketers and developers passionate about Kentico – the company is expanding guidance to partners and customers while continuously leveraging feedback to improve its products and services. 

Leading Kentico’s future with a bold vision

Before rising to the illustrious rank of CEO, Dominik Pinter was a long-standing employee at Kentico. His journey began in 2007 as a part-time QA tester while still a student, and over the years, transitioned through different roles – from technical leader to product manager. 

After a four-year hiatus, Pinter returned to Kentico as Vice President of Product Management. He officially took over as CEO in 2022 after founder Petr Palas stepped away to become chairman. During his tenure, he has seen the company transform from a niche vendor to a product-focused market leader. 

“As a human grows up, it’s very similar to Kentico,” he said. “At the beginning, we were really just a small kid doing some little websites and stuff like that. Then we grew and grew into a digital experience platform solution.”

As a deeply experienced member of the Kentico team, Pinter gained tremendous insight into the company's customer, product, and operational functions. This equipped him with an ideal mix of long-term perspectives and resources to guide the next successful chapter in the company’s story. 

Why it matters

At CMS Critic, we’ve spent years watching growth take root at Kentico. Reaching the 20-year threshold is reason enough for any company to pop the champagne cork and cheer the accolades. But seeing further opportunity and prosperity ahead – especially after such humble beginnings in the growing tech hub of Brno – is even more rewarding. It’s clear that they are deeply committed to their hometown in a way that other companies could learn from.

Kentico has been a consistent voice in the CMS chorus, helping to shape its trajectory. The company has long been a fixture on the landscape, representing a deep trust and reliability that customers need – particularly at a time when security and compliance have become dubious expectations with unproven technologies. 

Many of today’s headless CMS platforms have only been in the market for a few years. While several have been successful and achieved sizeable funding, there’s something to be said about amassing the business and market wisdom that comes with legacy platforms. This is where brands like Kentico can provide greater value through their well-established user communities, certifications, regulatory benchmarks, and other intangible assets. 

Of course, experience can be a double-edged sword in tech, where hot new technologies can disrupt the status quo and steal market share. Herein lies the challenge for any “older” CMS or DXP player: battling the perception of no longer being a “startup” culture, and overcoming the challenge of relevance – particularly in a more composable-minded world. 

However, Kentico has been maintaining its market poise by focusing on innovation across its products. In this way, it's been acting like a startup within a proven and profitable business. By earning preference and loyalty with creative agencies and enriching its channels, Kentico is also continuing to mine value and create differentiation in an increasingly competitive and confusing market.

Finally, Kentico’s fearless leader, Dominik Pinter, is as much a CEO as he is a bridge – connecting a heritage of strong CMS principles with a future of innovative potential. He’s not a financial outsider solely focused on spreadsheets, but a practitioner of the Kentico product – bringing a perspective that is more aligned with customer experience and expectations. 

Pinter is also a relatively young leader (still under 40). He’s hungry, energized, and passionate, but also brings the right mix of learning and decisive action to the table. A great combination of traits for a chief executive.  

Congratulations on your 20th, Kentico. Blow out every candle and wish for big possibilities. We can’t wait to see what you have in store for the next two decades – and how you will continue to impact the world of CMS.

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