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Beyond Big Tech: A Founder's Journey to Digital Sovereignty

Tom & Wojtek

Can you build a business on European open-source tech without sacrificing quality or reliability? Join Tom Breza, transitioning his cybersecurity firm away from US Big Tech, and Wojtek Kołodziejczak, building a new, sovereign-by-design AI company, as they test the alternatives in real-time.

No sponsored reviews or ideology—just two founders stress-testing hardware, software, and cloud against three questions: Is it as good? Is it worth the money? Can I rely on it?

If you’re fighting vendor lock-in, this is your guide. New episodes weekly.

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  • 4 episodes
  • Updated Monday

Episodes4

Newest first
  • Monday · 25 min

    She Left Big Tech — and Cut €145 From Her Monthly Bill! Meet Tracy Stewart

    Beyond Big Tech asks one question: can you really build a business on European and open-source tech without sacrificing quality, cost, or reliability? Hosts Tom and Wojtek — two founders testing it in real time — talk to entrepreneur Tracy Stewart, who switched to sovereign tools and ended up protecting her clients' privacy and cutting her monthly bill in half. She's written up the full move on LinkedIn — linked below. 📄 Tracy's article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-moved-my-entire-business-off-big-tech-heres-exactly-tracy-stewart-kj4oe/ _______ Can you actually build — or rebuild — a business on European and open-source tech, without giving up quality, cost, or reliability? That's the question at the heart of Beyond Big Tech. Each episode, hosts Tom Breza and Wojtek Kołodziejczak put it to the test from opposite directions. Tom has spent 30 years in tech and is migrating his IT and cybersecurity business off US Big Tech, one layer at a time. Wojtek is an AI governance expert building a new company designed to be sovereign from day one. One rebuilding, one starting fresh — same question, same stakes. This week, they sit down with entrepreneur Tracy Stewart, a France-based book coach and ghostwriter. Tracy was trusting mainstream tools with sensitive client work — until she realised how exposed that data really was. So she made the switch to sovereign alternatives. The payoff was bigger than she expected: her clients' privacy properly protected, and about €145 off her bill every month — roughly half. Every tool on this show gets held to three questions: is it as good, is it worth the money, can you actually rely on it? No free passes for being European, no penalty for being American. Tracy's answers might just change how you look at your own stack.

  • July 21 · 22 min

    How Big Tech tracks you and why it matters?

    How Big Tech Tracks You (And Why It Matters More Than You Think) Every time you open an app, browse a website, or even leave your phone in a drawer, someone's watching — and building a profile of you. In this episode, Wojtek and Tom pull back the curtain on how big tech tracks your every move, from device fingerprinting to browser tracking, and explain why "anonymous" data almost never stays anonymous. They break down: How apps track you passively — without ever asking permission Why cookie pop-ups are designed to push you toward "accept all" How browser fingerprinting identifies you even without logging in Why the EU just quietly weakened privacy protections via the Digital Omnibus The hidden risk of "shadow AI" in business — and a real case of a £14 million fine for a data breach What you can actually do to take back some control Whether you're a curious individual or a business owner navigating AI and compliance, this episode will change how you think about every "accept" button you click. 🎙️ Beyond Big Tech: A Founder's Journey to Digital Sovereignty

  • July 12 · 33 min

    Should Your Business Migrate to Linux?

    Should your business ditch Windows for Linux? Governments across Europe already are — 2.5 million workstations in France alone. But is it actually the right move for a small or medium business, or just another Munich-style migration disaster waiting to happen? Wojtek puts the question straight to Tom, an IT and cybersecurity expert who's made the switch himself more than once in 30 years. What follows is an honest, no-BS answer — including one very unglamorous feature that's kept him from ever going back. 🎧 New episode of Beyond Big Tech is out now.

  • July 4 · 28 min

    Transitioning from Big Tech to Sovereign Solutions

    Welcome to Beyond Big Tech: A Founder's Journey to Digital Sovereignty — a new monthly podcast from Tom Breza and Wojtek Kołodziejczak asking one question: can you actually build or rebuild a business on European and open-source tech, without sacrificing quality, cost, or reliability? Tom brings 30 years in tech and is currently moving his IT and cybersecurity business, Operum.tech, away from US Big Tech infrastructure, one layer at a time. Wojtek — a former lawyer and business developer turned AI governance expert — is on the opposite path, learning the technical side as he goes while building a brand-new company designed to be sovereign from day one. Two founders, two starting points, the same stakes. In this first episode, Tom opens up his journey: how he's going through every corner of his personal and business life to identify exactly where Big Tech is embedded, then testing replacements from European providers and other non–Big Tech options — starting with a more sovereign phone. Every tool gets held to the same three questions the whole show is built on: Is it as good? Is it worth the money? Can I actually rely on it? Nothing gets a pass just because it's European, and nothing gets ruled out just because it's American — if it doesn't measure up, they'll say so. Tom sets the stakes for the next 12 months: how far can he actually get from Big Tech before it costs him quality, time, or money — and is real independence even possible? __________________ Next episode: Tom shares his early findings and a full list of the Big Tech touchpoints he's uncovered — the map for everything that follows. New episodes weekly. For CTOs, CIOs, and founders thinking about vendor lock-in, data sovereignty, and what Europe's tech alternatives actually look like in practice.