Computer engineer Daniel Guermeur is the founder and CEO of Metadot, a company that develops software solutions to improve productivity. But he’s far better known for his other, sexier company: Das Keyboard, which upended the keyboard market in 2005.
The company’s debut product, an all-black keyboard with no key labels, put mechanical keyboards on the radar of computer geeks and general consumers alike. Das Keyboard’s latest release—the DeltaForce 65, which we review here—carries on the brand legacy while delivering something distinctly modern. It’s a compact 65% keyboard with hot-swappable key switches, a luxurious typing feel, and a camouflage aesthetic.
I recently chatted with Guermeur about the launch of the DeltaForce 65. The conversation touched on everything from President Trump’s tariff war to freestyle typing competitions. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Zackery Cuevas (PCMag): I want to talk about the origin of Das Keyboard. I’ve heard it’s a fascinating story.
Daniel Guermeur: It all started when I went to university in the [US] as an exchange student. When I went to the computer lab, I realized that typing fast was a thing, and I was coming from France, where we actually don’t learn how to touch type. We use two fingers and we henpeck, and then a lot of those keys we hit need to be corrected by backspacing, so it’s a complete disaster.
If you take two programmers with the same knowledge and ask them to program something, and one of them is very slow at typing, and the other one is fast, the cumulative difference after one day, two days, one week—people get left in the dust. I felt I was left in the dust despite the fact that I was very good at programming.
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I started to use software to learn how to touch type, but everything really changed when I started using a blank keyboard. That was the first keyboard that I made [in 2005]. The concept was that if you look at the [marked] keys, you keep looking at them because you find what you need. But if there is nothing to look at, your brain just does the work for you and memorizes everything. It’s effortless. If you look at the piano, the keys are not labeled with the notes. It’s a blank keyboard as well.
At the time, I had just one keyboard that I asked a factory in China to make. People started coming to my office and looking at my keyboard, and they were very impressed. They would say, “Hey, dude—blank keyboard? You must be good.” I would say, “Yes, I am very good.”
ZC: All it takes is a little praise, right?
DG: One day, after one year of people telling me that I’m really good because I have a blank keyboard, the accountant came to the office and said, “Daniel, I need to buy the same keyboard as you have for my husband because he’s very slow.” I said, “OK, wait four weeks, and you can buy it from my website.” That’s when I created a very simple website with one page and a buy button.
(Credit: Matthew Buzzi)
It went viral because Gizmodo made a post, and it was seen by a lot of geeks and the media. It was posted on Monday, and on Thursday, we had millions of visitors to the website. We got a call from The New York Times: “Daniel, I would like to interview you.” After that, it went everywhere. Even on TV!
ZC: How do you think the mechanical keyboard market has evolved since Das Keyboard was founded?
DG: The mechanical keyboard was revived partially because of me trying to find very good quality keyboards, and I could not find them because the keyboards at the time were super-cheap, membrane keyboards. I had to go back to the ’80s to look at the IBM Model M, and brands that used Cherry [key] switches. I said, “That’s what I need in my keyboard.”
There were kind of two tracks at the time: There was Das Keyboard, aimed toward the more professional programmers and the geeks, and then the gaming keyboards. Gaming really exploded in size. It’s a big market now.
ZC: How does Das Keyboard incorporate user feedback into product development? What are some of the most requested features you hear from customers?
For me, the way I look at AI is it’s a tool that is trying to find a problem to solve.
DG: Consumers let you know loud and clear what they like and what they don’t like. If the feedback is, “We want more features, we want more configurable keys,” that makes the product more complicated. Some users provide very good feedback, though. For example, one of the new keyboards we released, the DeltaForce 65, uses QMK firmware, which is open-source, and that was suggested by many customers.
ZC: So, keeping things open-source is a big deal with Das Keyboard.
DG: Yes, and it’s great because some users are technically amazing. One of them, for example, already implemented a new feature for the DeltaForce, which is called signal RGB. It’s a protocol to control the RGB LEDs of your keyboard based on what’s on your screen. So if your screen is blue, your keyboard is blue. If your screen is yellow, your keyboard is yellow. You can connect all your devices using the same protocol. And when you play a game and have an explosion, all your devices change color instantly.
ZC: What is your biggest regret since founding Das Keyboard? Is there a trend you wish you’d jumped on?
DG: There was one big question when we saw gaming taking off: Do we do gaming or not? And for me, gaming was never something I really understood. I’m not sure if I’m going to make the best products because I don’t really get those gamers. They spend all day, weekends, in it, and I was not doing that. I said, “I’m not going to do that.” I go for the long game, not just the flashy [short-term] success.
(Credit: Nathaniel Mott)
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There’s a fork in the road for the keyboard market, and the fork in the road is called Trump. It’s a huge fork! A [145%] tariff on a keyboard coming from China means we cannot import them because they are so expensive. To make any kind of money, we need to sell a keyboard for $400. And no one in the world wants to buy a keyboard at $400.
One of the things we are doing right now is working with a manufacturer in China to set up a factory in Malaysia. And to tell you the amazing skills of the Chinese, their mastery of manufacturing, they can create a factory from scratch in four months. Not bad.
ZC: Not bad at all.
DG: The other way is Trump’s idea: “Hey, you guys should set up a factory in the US.” I’ve been trying to manufacture in the US, but the US manufacturing ecosystem is very poor compared with China. But now with the tariffs and the uncertainty, maybe it’s time to revisit this idea.
There’s a fork in the road for the keyboard market, and the fork in the road is called Trump.
ZC: I have a question about emerging technologies. In 2018, Das Keyboard launched the world’s first smart cloud-enabled open API RGB mechanical keyboard. Do you see a space for other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence in your keyboards? I know certain keyboards utilize AI in—how should I say it?—very superficial ways.
DG: We have some people working on some concepts. The way I look at AI is it’s a tool that is trying to find a problem to solve, and therefore it becomes a gadget. We can see cool things. You can automate [keyboard shortcuts] with AI. Right now we are just exploring, but the thing is, I don’t think people have a problem with keyboards that they are trying to solve [with AI]. Right now I want to keep it very simple.
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ZC: Das Keyboard just released the DeltaForce 65, and the first thing that struck me about the keyboard was the military aesthetic. That’s different than the typical, all-black Das Keyboard. What was driving that design choice? And can we expect Das Keyboard to continue experimenting with its keyboard aesthetic?
(Credit: Zackery Cuevas)
DG: We started with the Cyber Kamo, which is more futuristic. And it doesn’t really look like camouflage, but if you put it close to the military camo, it kind of works together. Some people complain it’s military, it’s about war. It’s not just that. I think it’s gorgeous. The camo pattern is really about nature.
ZC: I know we’re facing some scary realities, but what future trends do you see in the mechanical keyboard industry?
DG: People are realizing that it’s important to have a good keyboard. The way they realize this is when looking at other people’s keyboards. They say, “Wow, that’s cool,” and then they try it and say, “Wow, it’s actually very comfortable.” The keyboard is the object we touch the most in our lives. We are on it eight hours a day, even more for some people.
If you have a good keyboard that makes your fingers feel good, you go, “Wow, that makes a huge difference.” It makes you want to type.
ZC: Speaking of the touch and feel of the keyboard, I want to bring you back a few years, to the Ultimate Typing Championship [competition sponsored by Das Keyboard]. I know that its been postponed for a while, but can we expect the Ultimate Typing Championship to make a return anytime soon?
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
DG: Yes, but we want to make it a little different because what we noticed is typing is like the 100-meter dash. The fast guy will always win. We are thinking about a typing championship where it’s not about typing speed but also about skills. I don’t know, typing with a keyboard on your back or things like that.
ZC: A freestyle keyboard competition.
DG: Yes, we want to do that because I think it’s very cool. We want to change the Olympic Games.
ZC: What advice do you have for someone who wants to improve their typing speed and accuracy? Do you recommend buying a big blank keyboard? Or has that philosophy changed?
DG: At my company, we hire interns from France. I tell them, “Hey guys, welcome to Metadot. You are going to learn how to type.” They go, “Hey, what are you talking about?” I say, “Don’t worry, let me show you.” I show them a blank keyboard and a website where you learn typing, and say, “You have about 500 lessons to go.” They are touch typing slowly after three weeks, but after five, they are fast. They always thank me.
About Zackery Cuevas
Analyst, Hardware
