Tell us about yourself?
I’m from a tiny country in Europe: the Netherlands. I love learning new things, using data and my creativity to find solutions to challenges, and love traveling. Together with my girlfriend, I’m currently on a 1-year sabbatical to travel the world. Therefore, I am not your typical start-up guy. I find it really important to enjoy life and be happy, much more so than to be successful.
What do you think is the single biggest misconception people have when it comes to startups?
That failing makes you a failure. As much as I love to read about success stories, people underestimate the amount of failure that happens in building something new. If I’d had given up after failing once, twice, or even a hundred times, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Don’t let a single setback erase your growth.
If you could go back in time to any moment from your journey, and give yourself one tip, what would it be?
Ha, that’s a good question.
I don’t really regret anything from my journey. I’m not the most ambitious entrepreneur, so I don’t feel bad for making mistakes. As long as I learned from an experience, I would happily do it all over again.
But if there’s something I’d like to say to myself:
Be more proud of what you accomplish. Be happier with the small victories.
What makes you stand out as an entrepreneur?
Nothing at all. I’m super happy with my mediocracy.
Come to think of it, maybe that’s what makes me stand out? I’m seeing modest growth, and am not super ambitious or growth-oriented, yet I’m super happy. So I’ve got that going for me, I guess!
What are some of the best working habits you’ve gained over the past couple of years?
Discipline.
Even though I hate some parts of the job, I think what sets me apart from the 99% is that I just do it. Don’t overthink it, just start doing it one step at a time.
Give us a bit of an insight into the influences behind the company?
Tracking Happiness aims to inspire people around the world that happiness can be 100% understood. And by doing so, we want to show people the positive correlations that exist between self-awareness, journaling, self-reflection, and happiness.
Where do you see your business in five years?
We’re aiming to become a major brand in the happiness and mental health niche. To be a trusted source of information for people that want to develop, and be more mindful about their happiness.
What do you think the biggest challenge will be for you in getting there?
As a media company, the biggest threats are almost always:
– Competition
– Google algorithm shifts
Even though these are things that are not within our control, we try to get ahead of the curve by focusing on quality and building a brand around our name.
When we come across a knowledge gap within the subject of happiness, we publish studies about these topics to answer some interesting questions. For example, how does your diet impact your happiness? We published a study in 2021 that discussed how people with a herbivorous diet are happier than those who eat meat.
Talk to us about your biggest success story so far?
Our study on the impact of our diet on our happiness has been covered by major publications, placing our brand in front of hundreds of thousand readers!
How do clients and customers find you? Are you much of a salesperson for yourself?
I don’t do anything, except for focusing on publishing quality content that answers questions that people around the world are asking.
What one tip would you give to fellow startup founders?
Perfect is the enemy of good. Or in other words, perfect is the enemy of progress.
It’s better to start working on something without having all the answers than it is to wait until your ideas are perfect.
Spoiler alert: they will never be perfect.
And finally, what do you hope the future brings both you personally, and your business?
I hope that we can have a positive influence on the life of as many people around the world as possible!
