
Life after Startup – the Myth of the perfect startup Executive
The perfect startup executive Leadership was probably one of my biggest insecurities when I started my career. In my early years as an entrepreneur I
The perfect startup executive Leadership was probably one of my biggest insecurities when I started my career. In my early years as an entrepreneur I
In the past 15 years I have incorporated more than 8 companies and executed more than 13 business ideas in different countries. Some of these
Early morning work It’s 02.00AM and I am wide awake. Probably it’s the 8 hour time difference between Rotterdam and Mexico City and a jet
If you are like me, and millions of other professionals around the world, you have probably read Simon Sinek’s book “Start with Why”. Or at
A moment of Mancave bliss Last week my wife and son left to go spend some time with grandma and grandpa back in Moldova. And
“By the time I am 40 I only want to focus on being an investor” It’s 2018 when I wrote this down in my goalsetting
A surprising question “So what would be a breakthrough introduction I could make for you?” I ask one of the superconnectors that attended one of
Battling excel sheets It’s 01.00 AM, and there I am, locked in an epic battle with a cashflow forecasting template sheet I stumbled upon online.
For a living? “You do superconnectors for a living?” Said an almost incredulous visitor of one of our events in Berlin, just before the summer
Wisdom from the lemon stand man One of the most charismatic people I met is probably Enzo “la bomba”. Professional lemon juice maker. Enzo and
Setting up an advisory board was one of the first (and best) things I did right after we set up Superconnectors as a company. The
Fat “You got fat” My wife casually blurts out while we are sitting on our home balcony on a Sunday morning. I put my phone
Removing Funk-e from my desktop “Well, there it goes, all my old files of my now ex-company Funk-e are backed up on an external hard
Travel drama “Wait, what days are you going to be in Austin again?” My wife asks me. “Well, between the 10th and the 17th of
Basking in the momentum Its 21.00 o clock on a Saturday, and I look out my office window on the 10th floor that overlooks the
Sick It’s Monday and by now the very annoying flu I have had over the entire weekend should have been over, but guess what, it
Making lists It’s 1 day after our superconnectors event in Barcelona, and I’m sitting with Rebeka (the awesome intern) in a small cafe in Barcelona
Dressed like that? “Are you sure you are going out dressed like that?” I freeze, and look back at my wife puzzled. “What’s wrong with
“I love it” We are nearing the end of the working day when suddenly our normally quiet events management intern Rebeka pauzes, looks at me
Making connections is kinda what I do for a living these days. In a short amount of time I have met an incredible amount of
Now that I sold Funk-e, the number 1 question I got, was: how does it feel? Since I have been busy with this process for
Vocal booth It’s cleanup time. The past months Funk-e had been renting 2 offices as we slowly transitioned away from our old office at the
Superconnectors goes international As I step out of the plane in the late evening into the warm Portugese air in Lisbon, a feeling of excitement
I don’t like sales. There, I have said it. Sales can be an incredibly frustrating experience. You are constantly running after numbers the whole month,
Copy… paste.. copy… paste …copy… paste.. done! I quickly post the list of attendees in the WhatsApp group with the Superconnectors dinner attendees in Amsterdam
My first Superconnector This week I released a podcast about my first 10 years as a founder. In the first episode I took the time to
My podcast lockdown It’s so quiet that I could hear a fly buzzing somewhere upstairs in my tiny house. I am in the middle of
Maximum learning Every time I start a new project this is a question that goes through my mind: how can I learn as much as
Hello? “Hey man, what happened to this weeks Wednesday blogpost?” Says my friend from the co-founder article on the phone (see article here: https://misterawesome.nl/life-after-startup-how-not-to-find-a-co-founder/) “I
Just visiting Last week Friday I attended my first non-Funk-e monthly wrapup meeting at Varias. It felt super weird. I got to introduce myself and
Fear of failure It’s the middle of the night, my eyes are wide open and my mind is racing. Many “What if..” questions linger in
Obsession “This week I have had 56 WhatsApp conversations” I proudly tell my wife. My wife rolls her eyes and says: “You’re obsessed..” I am
A few articles ago I hinted at the fact I have been working on a concrete new project. Today that veil is finally lifted: since
A specialist and a generalist talk A few years ago I was having a conversation with a close friend of mine that works at a
It’s holiday time so for this week I wanted to reflect on identity again, through a holiday story from the past and my Dutch and
Awkward ramen A few weeks ago, a founder I recently met asked to have lunch with me. Come lunch day, it was the kind of
Negotiating for freedom The picture of what the next 1,5 year might look like, is becoming more clear. So recently, like the real adult that
It’s 17.30 on a Friday evening, I am about to call it a day and go home. Just when I am about to leave my
The bondi boyz Last weekend I visited the pre-opening party of a new co-working space in The Hague. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and
It’s 7.25 AM and our flight from Romania back to the Netherlands is about to take off, when my 1,5 year old suddenly starts screaming
Last week I visited a huge tech conference in the Netherlands called The next web. Here hundreds of hungry entrepreneurs presented their businesses, their views
Months have gone by and the dust is now starting to settle. As I said in my previous post, I now have the physical space,
Last week, my company and team moved to the same co-working space where I had gotten an office since late 2021. After 2 years working
I’m scrolling, scrolling and scrolling through random names in my phone’s contact list. And I think to myself: “This one knows a lot about marketing,
In my previous article, I talked about connecting the dots backwards. Pretty much about using past experience as building blocks for the next thing you
It was a sunny day in 2005 in the life of Stanford graduates when Steve Jobs walked on stage to give one of the most
This week and last week I have enjoyed something I haven’t done in a while: taking a holiday with a clear objective. Together with some
Pffffffffffffffff…. A long sigh leaves my lips flapping around for a good 3 seconds as my shoulders slouch and I stare out the window of
Now that my new podcast business was online, I was faced with the following dilemma: Should I immediately look for paying clients (for example sell a
From managing dude to Podcast maker “Hi I’m Alex, from Funk-e.. eh wait no, from Mister Awesome and I founded a company before going solo
Good new habits don’t come automatically Now that my agenda was empty, it was time to get going again. But eh, with what? I had
Getting to an Empty agenda I started Funk-e , my first company, in 2009 in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) with my co-founder Joost Vissers. We were both still in university