What shaped me
This isn't a CV. These are the phases that shaped how I look at companies. Twenty years of technology up close, and before that a childhood behind a computer.
- ±1999Twelve years old
It started with building
I was about twelve when I delivered my first websites. For a neighbour, a club and anyone who dared. Nobody called it business. I could make something other people needed, and they came back.
- 2007gracious
From freelancer to agency
In The Hague I started gracious with little more than a laptop and the idea that brands had to go digital and nobody was explaining how. For sixteen years we worked for brands like Nike, bol, MediaMarkt, ANWB and Hunkemöller. That's where I learned what works online for a brand, and more often what doesn't.
- 2016eCurring, Mollie
Fintech from the inside
With eCurring we built a payments company for subscriptions from nothing. In 2020 we sold it to Mollie. For the first time I went all the way, from idea to sale.
- 2017Rabobank
The other side of the table
For nine years I was a member of the Supervisory Board of Rabobank. That's where you learn how big decisions come about. And how to keep a management team sharp without taking their seat.
- 2022Happy Horizon
Selling, and then buying
I sold gracious to Happy Horizon and became partner and M&A director there. Suddenly I was on the buyer's side: assessing companies, guiding founders through their own goodbyes, integrations that are simple on paper and not in practice. In 2024 I founded AInablers there, an AI agency that merged into the group the same year.
- NowInvesting, speaking, writing
The same question, a bigger wave
I've been through a lot of technology waves, from the first websites to crypto. AI is the biggest so far. It moves faster and it reaches work we always kept for ourselves. Most of what I do now revolves around that.
Track record
CEO & Co-foundergraciousDec 2007 – Dec 2023 · 16 yearsSold to Happy Horizon · 2022
Member of the Supervisory BoardRabobankJun 2017 – Jul 2026 · 9 years
Director & Co-founder eCurringMollieJun 2016 – May 2020 · 4 yearseCurring sold to Mollie · 2020
Director & Co-founderARE InvestmentsNov 2020 – present
Board MemberDutch Digital AgenciesNov 2018 – Jun 2023 · 4 years 8 months
Co-founderAInablersJan 2024 – Dec 2024 · 1 yearSold to Happy Horizon · 2024
M&A Director & PartnerHappy HorizonJan 2022 – Dec 2024 · 3 years
Programme Council MemberCLICKNLJan 2021 – present
