The Journey
From the Swiss Alps to Frisian water. Every chapter shaped what I build today.
ScrollThe Swiss Foundation
Where finishing what you start became muscle memory.
Growing up in Switzerland leaves a mark: precision, reliability, and systematic thinking stop being ideas and become how you work. School in Frick and then Information Technology at FHNW built a technical foundation that still shows up in how I design systems and ship work.
Even then the pull was toward building things, not just studying them. The Swiss chapter was about craft, discipline, and learning how to finish what you start before the bigger leaps began.
- 2006Started IT degree at FHNW
- 2009Co-founded SuitArt at age 19
The First Venture: SuitArt
A custom suit label at 19. Real customers, no training wheels.
At 19 I co-founded SuitArt, a custom suit company where Italian fabric met Swiss quality. It was not a class project. It was real retail, real customers, and real revenue.
The brand grew to three locations across Switzerland and more than EUR 1M in revenue before I was 22. That chapter ended, but the habit stuck: hire, sell, deliver, own the outcome.
- 2009Founded at age 19
- 2011Three Swiss locations (3)
- 2011Revenue milestone (1M+)
A Wider World
New Zealand, then California. Leaving the comfort zone on purpose.
Before California, I spent six months in New Zealand. It was a deliberate reset, not a holiday: new culture, distance from the familiar, and the confidence that comes from figuring things out far from home.
California then brought English immersion and another wider perspective. It was the first time I stepped far outside the Swiss comfort zone on purpose, and that stretch still shows up when I move into unfamiliar markets or start something before I feel fully ready.
- 2012Six months in New Zealand
- 2012Language immersion in California
Two Big Brands, Two Lessons
LEGO taught creativity at scale. Nespresso taught the premium of care.
Back in Switzerland, the path looked different. At The LEGO Group in Zug I saw creativity at scale, community energy, and brand building through imagination rather than slogans alone.
Then Nespresso taught brand premium and customer experience: how a simple product, presented with care, earns loyalty. Those years were employment on paper and masterclasses in practice.
- 2012Joined The LEGO Group
- 2014Moved to Nespresso
The Sea Called
I left the safe Swiss track to skipper 300-ton ships across the North Sea.
The pivot looked crazy from the outside. I left the stable Swiss trajectory and became a commercial skipper on traditional sailing ships: 40-meter, 300-ton vessels across the North Sea and Wadden Sea.
Navigation, weather routing, crew management, safety, and guest experience under real pressure taught more about leadership than any boardroom. Training at the Enkhuizen Nautical College and years on the water also did something quieter: they made Friesland home.
- 2016Started sailing professionally
- 2019Enkhuizen Nautical College
- 2020Commercial skipper certification
Into the Digital Frontier
The pandemic pushed everything online. Communities, Bitcoin, experiments that shipped.
The pandemic pulled work fully digital. Community leadership in crypto, founding Fabulous 21 for 300+ forward-thinking investors, co-founding Bitcoin Friesland, contributing to Noderunners, and launching Beer of Satoshi all lived in the same era. The period also included work in Singapore, adding another international chapter to a very digital few years.
This chapter was about building communities, shipping experiments, and going deep on Bitcoin without losing the builder habit from earlier years.
- 2020Joined Bake as Head of Community
- 2021Founded Fabulous 21 (300+)
- 2022Co-founded Bitcoin Friesland
- 2023Beer of Satoshi launched
Building StudioFab
Every earlier chapter cashes in here.
This is where the earlier chapters cash in. Technical foundations from FHNW, the build-and-sell habit from SuitArt, brand lessons from LEGO and Nespresso, leadership from tall ships, and community-building from crypto converge in StudioFab.
StudioFab is a web design studio helping Dutch entrepreneurs get online with modern, affordable websites: 50+ projects delivered, starting at EUR399, with 2 to 5 day turnaround for kickstarts. This is where the focus is.
- 2024Founded StudioFab
- 2025Projects delivered (50+)
- 2025Launched Wohnzimmer
- 2025Launched Unfiltered Advice
What's Next
Still building. Family, StudioFab, and helping people find direction.
Family in Friesland. StudioFab growing. Wohnzimmer connecting German-speaking investors. Unfiltered Advice and The Clarity Map helping people find direction. The projects keep evolving.
The thread stays constant: build things, help people, stay honest. Still building, and that is the whole plan.
Every chapter led here.
If you're building something and want someone who's run the full cycle, from a first company at 19 to skippering ships to scaling communities, let's talk.
Questions people actually ask
Who I am, where I'm based, and how the pieces fit together.