Introducing OpenTech: Kees & Paul

In this first blog article we would like to introduce the OpenTech founders: Kees and Paul. And more important: why we started this. To really understand this, we quickly take you through our personal journeys.

Kees Veldhuizen

After graduating at Twente University, Kees started working at the online department at Heineken. There Kees learned all the ins and outs of realizing digital projects within a corporate environment. After 5 years Kees came across a unique opportunity: be part of Kroodle, the innovation lab of Aegon. This was a steep learning curve for many skills like applying Lean Startup methods, building and managing an agile development team, mobile app development and stakeholder management. After 5 years Kees was ready to move beyond the corporate world and started his own companies.

Kees lives in Scheveningen with his wife and kid. Obviously he likes spending time on the beach and loves riding his bike through the dunes.

Paul Wijhenke

Paul started selling software when he was about 19. He always loved the art of software development as it was a game with an infinite number of pieces that could always be improved. Paul started software development on MS-Dos with Turbo-C / Clipper (anyone remembers this?), switched to Windows and added Server Operations to the mix.

Around the year 2000 Paul became very tired of the endless license loopholes and not being able to investigate your own problems so he switched to Linux and the OpenSource community. He learned all this when working for a Dutch ISP where he worked for 10 years as a Perl developer / System Architect. There he learned what it takes to build and maintain a system over a long period of time.

Paul lives in The Hague with his wife and dog. He likes travelling, running and being outdoors.

How we met

Paul and Kees met years ago when Kees was working for Aegon and was building a pay-as-you-drive car insurance system under the Kroodle label. He needed a DevOps person to take care of backend software development and server operations. We really enjoyed working together as we continued to build this proof of concept application. When the project was done we had a feeling that we are a good team and would like to work together some more. We have many ideas in common about how digital development should be done and decided that it was time to join our forces!

Why we started OpenTech

It took some iterations on ideas but OpenTech really came together when we looked at the current market from a customer AND independent contractor perspective.

From a customer perspective, Kees knows the challenges from his experience at Heineken and Aegon. If you want to take control of development, you need to start your own inhouse development team. But where to start?

• How can I find digital professionals? Do I need recruiters? What skills do I need in the team? How do I know if a person is any good?
• Hiring employees would be nice, but what can I offer them when the project stops? And do I have time to build up this team?
• Hiring contractors is a faster option, but how do I make a team of them? And what to do if they suddenly leave?

From a independent software contractor perspective Paul also faced some challenges

• I can choose my own interesting projects. However, I often can't choose my own teammates. The team is an important factor for the quality and joy of work done.
• The current recruitment market structure does often not lead to a good job fit while taking up a lot of the money involved….

So, OpenTech is doing it differently

Paul and Kees bundled all their experiences and learnings in OpenTech. With OpenTech we want to help people build great digital products and provide an alternative to the current recruiter/agency methods for getting smooth operating teams.

Instead of doing the same as other agencies we decided we wanted to have good people and bind them to us with a clear focus. We are a cooperation, so every member can decide on the company direction, leading to maximum engagement.

We don't hire sales people or recruiters. We believe in the power of the network. We attract professionals through our own network, because we believe that only professionals can recognize professionals. And we believe that we gain the trust of clients by our quality of work, not by smooth sales talks.

"We make sure that you're not stuck with us forever, by working and documenting in a standard way, everyone can take over our work"

-- OpenTech

Our clients will experience a smooth operating digital team, ready to roll from the start. Capacity can be scaled up and down.

And maybe the best thing: we believe in the OpenSource mentality. We make sure that you're not stuck with us forever, by working and documenting in a standard way, everyone can take over our work: our other OpenTech members or even your own development team.

Let us know if you want to have a chat, we are happy to help!