For people starting a company
I build the first version.
You have a problem worth solving and a clear idea of who has it, and the product does not exist yet. This page is for you. It is not a CV and I am not after a job — I run Alder Digital and I am choosing what to build next.
What I bring
Eight years of shipping web products people actually use, for DPG Media, Achmea, DHL, Forvis Mazars, Orderchamp and Adfinis. The whole front end, end to end: Vue and Nuxt, React and Next.js, TypeScript, design systems, the speed and accessibility work that decides whether a product feels finished.
Front-end work sits between design, backend and product, and I am comfortable owning the product decisions, not just the tickets. I ask the questions early that save months of code later, and I would rather put a rough version in front of a real customer this week than a polished one next quarter.
Based in the Netherlands, used to working across time zones, and happy in a room with designers, sales people and customers as much as with engineers.
What fits
- Stage
- From an idea with a few real conversations behind it, up to first paying customers. Before there is a product, or just after the first one.
- Domain
- Not fixed. A real customer with a real problem matters more to me than the sector. Products for people who use them every day interest me most.
- Role
- Technical cofounder, or founding engineer when there already is one. I build the first version and I stay to grow it.
- Commitment
- Part-time alongside my freelance work to begin with, full-time once the company can carry it. I would rather say when that is in the first conversation than guess here.
- Place
- Netherlands; remote is fine.
How I'd partner
Three shapes, depending on stage and what money there is: sweat equity with vesting; a reduced rate plus equity; or a first version built by Alder Digital B.V. with an option to join once it works. I do not have one answer for every company, and I would rather talk about it openly in the first conversation than pretend I do.
What I look at first is whether you have talked to the people who have the problem. Everything else can be worked out.
Pitch me
Five prompts. Short answers are fine; honest ones are better. I read every pitch and reply within a week.
Send me the five answers on LinkedIn: the problem, who has it, what exists today, what you've built so far, and what you'd want from me.
Rather talk first? Book thirty minutes on your technical plan — free, no deck needed.