Founders Friday – Joeri van Geelen
This Friday, we are excited to feature Joeri van Geelen, Founder of Build Blocks Group.
About Joeri
Joeri is a classic example of someone successfully switching industries. He started off his career in the energy industry, progressing to management positions at Equinor, Siemens Wind Power and Shell, before deciding to embark on another path. He had always wanted to live life to his own standards, be location independent and to be able to choose who he works with.
After some thought, Joeri decided to move into digital technology, an area which he believes will greatly influence the future of mankind. In 2018, Joeri took the plunge and started Build Blocks Group, a digital innovation consultancy that seeks to build tomorrow’s autonomous economy by enabling technical breakthroughs through digital innovation. Currently, Build Blocks Group’s most substantial partnership is with Prysm Group (www.prysmgroup.io), which is an economic consulting firm led by Harvard PhD economists specialized in distributed ledger and blockchain technology. Joeri drives Prysm Group’s business development throughout the Asian Pacific region.
Over the past years, Joeri also became a strategic advisor to various blockchain ventures and mentor to tech startups for Plug & Play Tech Centre, New Energy Nexus and Fin10 Fintech Incubator and Accelerator.
About Build Blocks Group
Build Blocks Group is a digital innovation consultancy with a successful innovation record and global footprint. Since its inception in 2018, the consultancy has built up track record across its core business verticals; namely:
- Enterprise: use case selection, concept design, and turning concepts into reality via product development for Fortune 500 companies, SMEs, government entities and academic institutions.
- Ventures: early-stage VC and start-up builder for talented founders in the digital technology industry. Venture building services include mentoring, hiring, strategy, sales, marketing and fundraising.
- Assets: provide guidance on how organisations can modernise capital raising via tokenization through digital asset platforms.
- Advisory: business development and domain-specific technical integrity consultation.
What has been the most satisfying aspect of entrepreneurship for you and why?
J: Time and location independence as well as the absence of bureaucratic and lengthy management hierarchy. I really enjoy being in the position to choose who I want to work with, what I want to work on and where I want to work from. At the same time, when you’re in the driver’s seat, your actions determine your company’s future – if you don’t push forward, the business won’t either. This is very different in a large company, where one generally can count on a cushion provided by other colleagues who can still push the agenda forward irrespective of one’s own contributions.
Drawing on your personal experiences, what traits do you think are essential for startup founders and why?
J: Passion, perseverance and a relentless focus on self-reflection and personal development. Without this combination, one may give up prematurely when faced with challenges. As Elon Musk famously said: “Starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss”. Continuous personal growth is essential to grow stronger and accelerate one’s development.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in scaling your sales and why?
J: Ensuring continuous service delivery improvement as competition catches up. Scaling sales requires a lot of effort, especially in the still relatively underserved and novel market of blockchain technology.
How did you acquire your first customers?
J: Having grown into an industry thought leader with multiple speaking engagements at global blockchain and Fintech conferences has helped tremendously. More specifically, strong social capital is built through networking during the social meet-ups of such industry-wide events. After consistently delivering service quality, clients then are comfortable with referring you onwards. One can then build on such reference networks and scale up more easily from there.
What aspects were most important when you were first building your team and why?
J: Communication. Being both an efficient and effective communicator allows for customizing non-verbal messages based on the personalities of team members’. Similarly, understanding team members’ individual strengths and weaknesses. A continuous open feedback loop allows team members to share their wishes and frustrations before anything escalates into an insurmountable problem.
On hindsight, if you to build your team again, is there anything you would do differently?
J: I would have a personal growth plan for each individual in my team. This would be especially important for engaging the younger generation of employees, as they tend to switch companies and jobs fairly quickly, and would require a more personalised approach.
What are some tips you have for investor pitching?
1)Test your pitch with your trusted network of friends and advisers.
2)Ask experienced entrepreneurs for tips and warm introductions.
What sets you apart from other startups?
J: Our mission of building tomorrow’s autonomous economy by enabling technical breakthroughs across our fields of combined expertise: Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain/Distributed Ledger Technology and Digital Identity.
Any other words of wisdom that you would like to share?
Stay tuned for next week's episode of Founders Friday
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