When Drillster saw the light of day in 2011, Robert Weaver was the first to invest in the company. Marco, Thomas and Robert had a shared history at Bibit, a payment services provider. When Bibit was acquired by The Royal Bank of Scotland, the Drillster story as we know it today began. 

What was your role as the first investor?

I remember at the time Thomas was in the process of learning Japanese, but ran into the fact that there were no good tools to help him do so. The idea for Drillster had come up before, but this was the trigger to start working it out properly. When someone like Thomas comes knocking with a story like this, you can assume he’s done some good research. I didn’t have any in-depth knowledge of the industry myself, but mostly had a lot of faith in Thomas and Marco. I saw with my own eyes how good they were in their field: strategic, empathetic and with a lot of perseverance. That’s why I invested.

Which developments have you seen Drillster go through?

The steady growth of the company is impressive. When strategic issues come up, I get informed about them and try to coach here and there. I enjoy doing that, but they themselves are well versed in the material and have a lot of knowledge of the market. I dare say I can tell when something is quality and when it’s bullshit. In this case, definitely the former.

How do you see the future of Drillster?

It’s going really well with what they’re doing now. It’s important for Marco and Thomas that it remains challenging. They need new challenges and are looking for ways to take Drillster to the next level. Exactly what that looks like, they’ll figure out. I have every confidence in that.

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