What I’m doing now

It might look like a lot but most of the things listed below I am doing together with talented and dedicated people I've met along the way. Without them I could never do this. If anything peaks your interest don’t hesitate to contact me.

Eli5

My business partner and great friend Kishan and I run a software product studio, called Eli5. We design, develop, ship, and grow software products for both client projects and internal ventures. Clients range from promising startups to Fortune 500 companies. This year we have invested heavily in our commercial activities. We hired a CCO, Marc Meyer, to set out for the company's growth.

Noco

Noco is a web studio that builds websites for SaaS and Tech businesses. Noco was founded in 2022 and we started scaling the business in 2023. Currently, it is serving over 20 companies, from starting SaaS businesses with 20 employees to large and incredibly successful SaaS companies worth over $250MM. We solely use tools such like Webflow to significantly reduce lead time and enable the Noco team to put heavy focus on design and performance of the website. The company is led by Jelle Bot. Currently, he is hiring more designers and Webflow developers, if you're interested, check out our job openings.

The Builder Studios

The Builder Studios is the organization above Eli5 and Noco. The plan is to build out The Builder Studios with more service-based companies in the realm of tech and SaaS. For more info, check www.thebuilderstudios.com.

A dedicated commercial team

Over the last year I've been I've been experimenting a lot with a system that supplies the studios with opportunities. Although some things kind of worked, it would never be enough to take the businesses to 10M revenue. I believed it could naturally grow towards something more significant. Slightly foolish of me. In the end, I realized that we needed a CCO to set this up properly. Someone who has done this before so that we could leapfrog many challenges and immediately set direction on predictable growth and revenue. I've run into Marc Meyer, and from the first conversation we've had, we hit things off. Marc has been CCO of The Builder Studios since January 2023, and in the first quarter, he accomplished to set up a powerful team of dedicated business development and marketing for our studios. It was a significant investment on our side, but we won at least 12-18 months in time to target.

Regtech SaaS: Typejust

Over the past five years at Eli5, we've been building a lot of Regtech for global banks. We've met two people along the road who we are very much aligned with and who think, just like us, that there is a huge business opportunity in offering an end-to-end regulatory change product for regulated organizations. In the summer of 2023, we've decided to build just that. Currently, the first product is in production and this has been received with a lot of interest from the market. Right now, we are selling the first licenses to prospects. Check for more info: www.typejust.com.

Selé

In 2019, I started a bedding company called Selé. You might think ‘Why the F would you do that?’. And yes, I have asked myself that question. But let me give you a quick intro. My dad runs a business that crafts custom handmade furniture for yachts and he makes the most comfortable mattresses I (and all of my friends) have ever slept on. Every friend who has stayed over at my place asked about it, and almost all of them bought that mattress. So there you go, I had a validated business idea that was ready to go. I hooked on Aad Bos from Mokko Amsterdam, one of Amsterdam’s most promising furniture designers, to design the mattress and a high-end minimalist bed that supports the mattress. At the beginning of 2022, I found a CEO figure who basically co-founded the company with Aad and me. Unfortunately, he had to give up on the role, and I got sucked into this company more than I initially had anticipated. I quickly learned that the way this business was set up would never result in any predictable revenue, nor would it make any profit this way. So in 2023, I rebuild every single part of this business in my evenings and weekends. From production to logistics, and from marketing to partnerships, everything has been broken down and built from scratch again. Starting in Q4 2023 with my new marketing strategy, Selé finally created a more predictable revenue stream. With products produced by a new production facility, the business is also set out to generate some profit finally. While the quality of the products has increased significantly. The money we've put in so far? €250.000,-. A costly lesson I will never forget. Do things yourself and ensure it's working before hiring anyone to run a business for you.

OneClickLayout

Together with Peecho, a company that runs a global decentralized printing network, we’re building a photo book generator as a joint venture. The application enables social platforms with lots of photo content to quickly generate photo books for their users, which thereafter are printed through Peecho’s service. The application is built by Eli5 and was launched at the end of 2022. Within 2 months, it got its first customers and currently serves over 10 happy customers.

Moved to Portugal and back, and became a father

For years, I've been contemplating on spending winters in the south of Europe. Beginning of 2023 my wife, Megan, and I have made the move. Together with our dog, Toki, we set out to Portugal and found our new home. The setup was incredibly nice, a lovely family home with a garden and within walking distance of the beach. Megan was pregnant at the time, and we thought it would be just fine for Megan to give birth in Portugal. Around May, both of us had a certain gut feeling, both of us felt that Megan had to deliver our first child in The Netherlands. So, in June we moved back to Amsterdam. Although I miss living there, this was the best call of my life. Megan had to give birth five weeks earlier than her due date. On July 13 our daughter Lisa Rosita Botman was born. A little light and a little early, but the biggest gift ever for Megan and I (I know, cliché. But very true!).
Lisa is now 5,5 kilograms and very healthy. While it's nice to be in The Netherlands with family around, we are aiming to move back to Portugal around October 2024.