When you say Drillster, you say Arnoud, and vice versa. The Business Development Manager has been with Drillster for eight years. If he is not visiting customers or potential customers, he is on the phone with them. We got a chance to talk to him in between chats.

You ended up at Drillster in an unusual way. Tell us about it!

It is indeed a crazy story. In 2014, I was working as a Recruitment Consultant at an employment agency. Drillster was my client and was looking for a business developer: an experienced B2B sales person who could drive new business. It was up to me to find the right person. I met with Marco and Thomas several times to find out the ideal profile. I saw many candidates and introduced a number of them to them. However, we just couldn’t find the right match. There was always some doubt about the candidates, and you should not hire anyone until you are sure. This simmered for a number of months. 

However, I myself became increasingly enthusiastic about the product and the organization. Of course I saw a lot of companies at that time, but I knew that Drillster was the future. The click was also good. After a while I thought, I want to do this myself, I want that job! Then I pitched it to Marco and Thomas. Apparently, they had already been thinking the same, so the feeling was mutual. We immediately took the plunge. In good consultation with my then employer, I finally started at Drillster in March 2014. I started in the very first office with Marco, Thomas and Tom. That was almost eight years ago now.

Read more about the origin of the idea for Drillster in this interview with Thomas Goossens.

What do you enjoy most about working at Drillster?

The potential. I think we have a fantastic solution to an increasingly familiar problem. There is still so much impact to be made. The Drillster way of learning needs to become a household name. We’re not where we want to be yet and I want to help us get there. 

And when you get there?

Then I’ll go to a tropical island! No, of course, you are never quite there. You can always improve and we have yet to reach our full potential. Hopefully, there will come a time when we are an established name that nobody can ignore. I am looking forward to that! 

What are the next ten years going to look like?

I foresee growth as we envision it. With new colleagues, new customers, new industries, new countries. We also want to develop more. There are still so many ideas, there is still so much to create. Maybe now, after ten years, we are at the beginning of the “real” growth. The system is more scalable, the employees are into it, and the methodology is getting more and more recognition and appreciation. In short: we are ready for it!

Fun fact: Arnoud’s first solo appointment was with Walibi Holland. He was so nervous before the appointment that he threw up. Fortunately Walibi became a customer and they can still laugh about it together. 

Fun Fact: Did you know that … Arnoud won over one of his first customers while enjoying a beer on King’s Day? He came into contact with the EVP of Flight Operations at KLM through the grapevine and KLM is still a customer today.

Check out our #10YearsDrillster posts and stay tuned to see and read all of our stories!