In May 2021, home prices in the Netherlands were 12.9% higher than year-earlier, research by the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) shows. This is the largest increase since April 2001 — yes, the largest increase in 20 years. Compared to the lowest point in 2013, home prices were 66.8%…

The covid-19 lockdown of 2020 caused many of the joys of the city to evaporate. Yes, we live in tiny apartments, streets are crowded, air quality is not great, parking is a nightmare, but think about all those joys we normally have in close proximity! Wonderful dining options, clubbing till…

Shortly after I adopted Spotify as my music app of choice in 2015, I started making seasonal playlists to keep track of my favorite songs in a certain year and season. The result from 5 years of listening & selecting: 2015_Autumn 2015_Winter 2016_Spring 2016_Summer 2016_Autumn 2016_Winter 2017_Spring 2017_Summer 2017_Autumn 2017_Winter …

260,421 Trackers & ads blocked 4.69GB Bandwidth saved 3.6 hours Time saved >$50 Dollars earned (in Basic Attention Token or BAT) These stats describe the benefits I got from saying goodbye to my old browser and moving to Brave as my default browser to surf the internet. Brave? Brave was founded…

Nothing in this article should be taken as investment advice. The old new kid on the block There is a new rage on Wall Street: going public with so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs). SPACs are listed shell companies that are meant to merge with a real business, a strategy known as a reverse merger. Due to…

There is an old Dutch saying that intends to remind people that trust takes time to build, but is quickly lost. Vertrouwen komt te voet en gaat te paard. Johan Thorbecke (1798–1872) — Dutch liberal statesman and one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. Thorbecke was…

Last week I gave an ‘introduction to fundraising’ to the team of a startup where I am on the advisory board. I talked about the different stages of venture capital fundraising and decided to map them to the company life cycle. …

On July 21, 2020, the EU-27 reached a deal that covers the €750 billion Coronavirus recovery fund and the EU budget for 2021–2027. The €1.1 trillion EU budget will help define Europe’s relevance as a global power. But the slashing of spending on research and innovation gives reason to worry. As the US and China Compete for Power, Europe is Losing Ground …

Introduction Companies are collecting as much data as they can to make smarter business decisions and provide better products and services to their customers. And they should. But sooner or later ethical questions arise on what data should be collected and how it should be used and for what purpose. …