Ben Van der Burg

𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗕𝟮𝗕 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: "Revenue Architecture" by 🐶 Jacco van der Kooij and "T2D3: How some software startups scale, where many fail" by Stijn Hendrikse & Mike Northfield. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: Insightful, practical, grounded in solid models and frameworks. Every founder and revenue leader should read it — and take the course. 𝗧𝟮𝗗𝟯: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹: Invaluable for B2B SaaS CMOs. Focused, actionable, and effective, with a great CMO Masterclass. These two books provide the edge every SaaS leadership team needs. 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲. 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘉2𝘉 𝘚𝘢𝘢𝘚, 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺, 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

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For a long time I have been the only women in the room but the good news is that that is changing. More women in digital who have a leading role. I truly believe a company, a team or a group is more interesting and capable if there is diversity. Not only on gender but on every aspact that makes me me and you you. I see it within WeAreBrain where we try to create diverse and inclusive teams, both on the project an the management side. But this article is about women in tech. Still some work to do. So lets be visible, lets surround us with other like-minded women and men, and lets support each other! #DEI #Womenintech

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SB Commerce – Barbecues, Big Brands, and Building Confidence After a brief stint at Sanoma, which ended due to budget cuts, I found myself at SB Commerce BV, lead by Jorrit Steinz, managing traffic acquisition for some of the Netherlands' fastest-growing brands like vtwonen.nl, alongside gadgethouse.nl and other niche stores. This role came at a pivotal moment in my career, serving as a confidence boost after navigating a turbulent period professionally. On the eCommerce performance side, my mission was clear: optimize paid marketing channels like Google Ads and Meta Ads to drive traffic and revenue. I was determined to maximize online visibility for these brands, ensuring we hit all the right metrics and delivered measurable results. What really added a unique twist to this experience was the team dynamic and culture. SB Commerce had been acquired by Sanoma, a company rooted in publishing, and the eCommerce side was entirely new to them. We had to bridge the gap between editors, marketers, and designers who had built the brand through magazines, TV shows, and an online presence, and the fast-moving eCommerce team, who were all about testing and failing fast. On the team side, I drew from my experience at Springest, introducing tools like Slack and Asana, while embracing GTD methodologies to streamline workflows and improve efficiency. These changes helped the team adapt as SB Commerce transitioned into the Sanoma Home Deco cluster, reducing friction across the board. Balancing performance marketing and team optimization was a two-edged sword — driving results while making internal processes more transparent and functional. One of the biggest lessons learned? Building a marketing calendar isn’t just about offering discounts; it’s about creating themes and product fits that resonate with your audience. We achieved a record-breaking sale of Weber Barbecues, and it wasn’t just luck. It was all about seizing the right moments and positioning products perfectly for the season. (Fun fact: we stocked an insane number of barbecues in the office to be ready for BBQ season. As a Dutchie, we know those BBQ-perfect summer days can be rare! 😅 When the weather cooperated, those BBQ sales were legendary!) These experiences solidified my ability to make an impact, both in driving eCommerce growth and enhancing team collaboration. What’s your secret ingredient for creating a killer team or campaign?

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What Are Your 2024 Must-Have Apps? Here Are My Favorites! Inspired by Koen Stam, I wanted to share a few apps and tools that have been game-changers for me.. These apps don’t just help— they’ve become essential to my daily workflows. Whether you’re an entrepreneur trying to squeeze the most out of your day or looking for tools to boost your productivity, here’s what’s earned a spot in my toolbox this year: 1️⃣ Notion: The backbone of my business. From managing internal SOPs and client onboarding to organizing my personal to-dos, Notion is where everything lives. It makes staying on top of things effortless. I'm even creating an "Enterprise Sales Digital Hub" on Notion to be released late January (watch out for it)! 2️⃣ Rize (rize.io): A productivity powerhouse. It’s my go-to for deep work tracking and keeping projects on target. If you’re someone who juggles multiple priorities, this tool is like having a personal productivity coach.Reminding you when you are distracted. 3️⃣ Readwise: Have you ever noticed how easily we get distracted from our intended research, only to end up mindlessly doomscrolling instead? This app has transformed how I collect and organise reading material from any source. From YouTube to my Kindle. Also I can easily find an article I read last week or that research for a new strategy. 4️⃣Zapier: I have only been using Zapier more in the last few months. Automating tasks between apps has saved me countless hours. Every small business owner should know the magic of “Zapier workflows.” 5️⃣ Perplexity: A new favourite for account profiling and sales intelligence research. When I need to quickly get insights about potential clients or industries, Perplexity delivers. 6️⃣ Jasper: AI-powered content creation at a whole new level. Need blog ideas? Campaign copy? Jasper excels in creating a wide range of content, from product marketing to performance marketing—even comprehensive white papers. 7️⃣ Tella: For video recording and editing, Tella is a dream. I produce videos for my courses without the usual editing headaches, and it’s actually… fun! These tools make it easier for me to stay focused, productive, and creative. They’ve allowed me to spend less time on admin and more time on growing my business and taking on new opportunities. ✨ Now it’s your turn! What are your must-have tools for 2024? Drop your go-to apps in the comments; I’d love to see how you’re working smarter this year. ⚠️ Full disclosure: I utilised Gamma to create the PDF below. In 5 minutes! I didn't spend too much time on it...it was just for fun! 😎

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Loop Earplugs: Born after too many nights out left ears ringing 🎶 Aquablu: Inspired by a sea of plastic bottles while chasing surf waves 💧 Basic-Fit: Started to make fitness accessible for everyone 🏋️ Bynder: Kicked off with a goal to simplify digital asset chaos 📁 Groendus: A bold move to help companies go green efficiently 🌱 Giftify: Started as a way to avoid bad gift choices 🎁 → Starting a business is easy. Scaling it takes grit. Proud to have contributed to the growth of these and other scale-ups in 2024. 🤓 Evolving operating models 💡 Scaling the People function 💰 Implementing reward strategies 🚀 Leading companies through hypergrowth 🔍 Assessing and improving company culture 📈 Hiring VPs of People and Chief People Officers 🤩 Turning underperforming companies into high-performing 🎯 Coaching founders, executives, and People & Culture leaders and much more. We ❤️ doing all of this. A big thank you to everyone we collaborated with.  Here’s to more bold moves and big wins in 2025! Eveliese Luiting Anke Berends Anil Kishoendajal Martine Buis Emilie Van der Lande Sanne Verhagen Michaela Bartlam

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We’re using murf.ai to create some voiceovers for an app demo we are working on this week. So far so good. The quality and options are good. The turnaround time is great ;-). Check it out: https://murf.ai

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Too all Dutch AI founders in my network: Support your ecosystem! Te alle Nederlandse AI Starup in mijn netwerk: Steun je ecosysteem!

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AI Connect 2024: Igniting the Dutch AI Revolution. AI Connect was electric! Last Thursday, we gathered the brightest minds in AI – experts, founders, investors, and policymakers – at AI Connect 2024 to spark the next wave of innovation in the Netherlands. We're talking about a potential €85 billion boost to our economy within a decade!  The energy was palpable, especially during the panel with Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau and AI trailblazers like Cradle, Weaviate, and Gain.pro. Hearing from Google DeepMind's Zoubin Ghahramani share and the groundbreaking, Nobel prize winning work they do, was truly inspiring. But it's not just about the tech – Verity Harding reminded us of the importance of responsible AI development.  Together, we can build an ethical and impactful AI landscape for the Netherlands. Massive thanks to TechLeap and everyone who joined us! Let's keep the momentum going! #AIConnect #Innovation #Netherlands #ResponsibleAI https://lnkd.in/d4uxpP2S

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Great to see the enthusiasm for our joint session with Domo. We are eager to hear Thijs van Wijngaarden speak with them about making insights interactive and actions automated with DOMO app studio & workflows. If you’d like a one-to-one demo of how we can help your business following on from this talk, feel free to reach out to us to hear more, ping us a mail or visit us at Booth 60. #metriqzz #domo #interactiveinsights #dataexpo

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🚀 #Now in the Growth Stage: How to accelerate startup development with these 3 key steps, shared by Sharon Klaver , Founder & MD of Builders: 👾Data Gathering: Gather as much data as possible to inform your decisions and strategies. ⭐Validation: Ensure both your product and team are thoroughly validated through testing and feedback loops. ✨Intuition Matters: Trust your instincts and listen to your gut feelings when navigating the startup journey. #EUSS24 #Entrepreneurship #BuildingSuccess

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Don't Be Flakey! AI What's Next? 🤖 🌐😲🌐In this episode of the MoneyBru Show, Daniël-James van den Berg interviews JB Kellogg, the visionary behind Madwire and Marketing 360, to discuss the current AI boom the entire world is experiencing. How to properly use it? How to optimize your business? These are the questions we'll be answering in this episode! Watch on YouTube👉 https://lnkd.in/gkzyk8Yt #business #businessadvice #businesstips #marketing #businessmarketing #onlinebusiness #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur #ai #artificalintelligence

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Dutch startup Neople raised a €6 million investment round led by Newion and Simon Capital. They are joined in this round by their current investors Peak and Curiosity VC. Neople offers a software solution that creates AI co-workers for e-commerce customer support teams. The company will use the investment to enter the German market and launch the first AI-training center for digital co-workers. Neople was founded in 2023 by Hans de Penning, Bas Ploeg, Job Nijenhuis, Menno Zevenbergen. The company is on a mission to solve customer support challenges. Consumers demand high-quality support, but support teams struggle with high workloads. Neople solves this problem by offering a digital co-worker. By now, over 100 leading Dutch and German e-commerce businesses have hired a Neople. AI is not widely used in support roles yet, because it often delivers incomplete, incorrect, or poorly toned responses. This is a big deal in highly competitive markets. Neople's new training center enables senior staff to train AI colleagues so they can eventually provide the best customer service fully autonomously. Hans de Penning, co-founder and CEO of Neople, explains: “We are on the verge of a shift to a new way of working with technology. Soon, AI colleagues with the right soft skills will automate all repetitive and time-consuming tasks exactly as instructed. This future collaboration is what we call 'Collegial AI.' Customer support teams are often the bottleneck of an e-commerce business, dealing with numerous cases, including those from annoyed or even rude customers. Collegial AI makes their jobs more enjoyable and allows them to focus on the edge cases. Thanks to the investment, we're launching an AI training center to train Neople to reply autonomously. We are also receiving positive signals from businesses outside the Netherlands. It's about time we expand Neople's presence globally.” With pan-European investors Newion and Simon Capital on board, Neople has strong partners for its next growth phase and international expansion. The company will be opening a second office in Berlin in September, providing better access to grow their German client base. Dorus Olgers, Principal at Newion, explains: “We are impressed by Neople's humanized approach on AI, driven by deep vertical understanding of the markets they serve. This has resulted in a product their customers love, which has disrupted their traditional approach on customer support” Since its establishment in January 2023, the young company has onboarded over 100 Neople in the Netherlands, making it one of the fastest-growing startups of the Netherlands. Clients like Rituals, The Social Hub, PSV Eindhoven, PON Bikes and Vitaminstore have employed a Neople. INGEN HOUSZ (Quirijn van Veen, Daan Gieben) advised Neople.

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📈 Is your business plan feeling a bit like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces? We've got your back! At BusinessPlanGenerator.nl, we help you fit all those pieces together with ease. 🤝 Thinking ahead: We're integrating AI to ensure those pieces not only fit but make sense! Stay tuned for our AI upgrade going live in February. 🚀 Let's shape your entrepreneurial dreams into reality together! #BusinessPlans #Entrepreneurship #AIIntegration

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🎧 Forgot your headphones today? Fear not... If you didn’t get a chance to catch our latest podcast with Rémon van Riemsdijk, don’t worry we've got you covered, all his best insights packed into one article. You're welcome! Rémon shared incredible insights into how AI is reshaping industries, evolving roles, and transforming decision-making in venture capital. From his expertise in scaling teams to the rise of generative AI, it’s a must-read for anyone curious about the intersection of technology and leadership. #AI #Leadership #GenerativeAI #FutureOfWork #PodcastInsights #ScalingBusinesses #VentureCapital #TechnologyInnovation

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Your (PINK) AI assistant is a lot cooler! Funnel is leveraging generative AI to assist your teams, saving them time, and providing excellent renter experiences. How do they do it: generative AI-powered message suggestions. Watch the video with Carlea Jelley to see it in action. 

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🎙 Clip from my conversation with Wesley Haar, ter (Co-Founder of Monks) on the CreativeOps Podcast! We dive deep into AI and the choice we all face: extinction or evolution. What does this mean for roles, team structures, and the creative process? The full episode drops next week—probably Tuesday—just before I hit the stage at the Henry Stewart Creative Operations conference in LA. What’s on the agenda there? AI, of course! But more importantly, how the biggest perceived threat might actually be the greatest opportunity. #CreativeOperations #AI #PromptingHumans

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We made it to WIRED’s Top 10 Hottest Startups in Amsterdam! Being featured in #WiredMagazine isn’t just a milestone. It’s a moment that reminds me why we started this journey with 10x.Team in the first place. Enabling fractional talent to build their portfolio careers and connecting them with companies that are struggling to find the right people for their transformation and growth journey has been our mission from day one. Why? Because finding the perfect talent isn’t just hard—it’s often the difference between scaling up and staying stuck. And in a world where agility and adaptability are the new currency, fractional talent brings the fresh, on-demand expertise companies need to thrive. Timing is everything in the life of a founder, and this recognition shows we’re on the right path—at the right time. Check the Wired article here: https://lnkd.in/dNbn6DWc So, to all the talented professionals and companies who’ve believed in our vision, this is for you. Thank you Mobility Concept B.V., ParkBee, Talk360, Bijles Aan Huis, Van Lanschot Kempen and all our other customers who are walking the fractional life with us. And thank you Megan Carnegie for including my team and I for the second time in this list. Let’s keep pushing boundaries and proving that the future of work is flexible, dynamic, and limitless. I couldn't be more proud to be featured along other awesome & sustainable companies like Overstory, Coolgradient, Monumental, Weaviate, Cradle, Carbon Equity, Bloom & Wolf, Solvimon, and Haaven. 🚀 Onwards and upwards! ⚡ #WiredTop10 #StartupLife #FractionalTalent #AmsterdamTech #10x #wired #startup #scaleup

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Today at the SaaS Summit Benelux in Amsterdam, I realized something: LinkedIn posts and event stands work in much the same way. So here is a Linkedin post about an event stand ;) I've always been driven by the energy of massive crowds. That's why I started my career in events in 2009 (Cape Town International Convention Centre). As Linkedin was basically also a massive crowd, I created my profile here the same year. Equal active time, so this comparison starts fair. Now, let's see what similarities both share: 1. Purpose - LinkedIn posts share insights and stories, building a brand presence. - Event stands showcase expertise, building a brand presence. 2. Audience engagement - LinkedIn posts reach broad audiences through shares and comments, building digital connections. Event stands facilitate live conversations and interactions, building live connections. 3. Visual appeal - LinkedIn posts with strong visuals draw attention and make the first impression. Event stand design is the “visual content,” attracting attendees and making that first impression. There are probably more similarities than differences. It's funny how both help grow awareness, build relationships, and generate leads—just in different ways. So what happens when you apply both? Compliments for the Saas Summit team (Johan de Wit, Wolter Rebergen) for organizing this awesome event! Team WebinarGeek represent: Astrid Pires, Romy Langius, Anne-Fleur Bruins, Stefan Treuren, Taru Sirkiä #EventMarketing #LinkedIn #SaaSSummit

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Reducing noisy and polluting motorcycles, mopeds and delivery trucks in a 1 km radius from Sitges center has been on my agenda for some time but needs solutions causing least disruption. Interested in joining this effort to bring the green city vision to fruition? Only 100 cities from the 27 EU Member States will be supported and despite not being a city, Sitges is well-positioned to lead this transformation. Clúster de l'Energia Eficient de Catalunya Generalitat de Catalunya

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