Melvin Hamer

I liked the first founder story. I was talking with Thijs about it recently. When you read through the founder stories you see how much everyone has already done. You also put into perspective how many positions you have been in. It’s nice to reflect on that from time to time. You tend to always look ahead and sometimes forget about all the business and daily activities that you have done.

Lately, I have been very busy with the question “which direction should we take with SKEPP?”. Luckily, I’m not in this alone, Thijs and I are working on this together! It’s good to always be sharp and to keep asking yourself where you should focus on. With SKEPP we focus on Officeplanner (office fit-out) and Officelisting (office rental). We noticed that many clients do not know that we do this, neither do they see us as experts in any of these disciplines. We think this needs to change, and we are currently in the process of doing so. A while ago, Robin de Jong has joined to take Officemanager to the next level. Officemanager deserves full focus and is making progress every day now!

Besides programming, Thijs and I are also busy every day in managing SKEPP. Therefore, there is quite a bit on the horizon in the coming period: some great projects like the multi-year plan for Officelisting. In the current multi-year plan, we never set ambitious goals for this, but that will soon change! And on top of that, we are still working on getting Officemanager completely separated from SKEPP. I have a double feeling about this! Strategically, it’s a good move to separate Officemanager from SKEPP. However, because I put a lot of time into the product and because I find it technically a very interesting business to work on, it is a pity. In the end, I know this is the best way forward for Officemanager! 

”A game of FIFA, table football, or Padel during or after work makes the office a lot more attractive!”

– Melvin Hamer

For our team building activities, we Padel every month and have an Xbox and table football in the office. We also believe that after such games you can get back to work with renewed focus. We noticed after Covid-19 that people had become a bit spoiled with working from home, and didn’t want to go back to the office at first. Working from home is being experienced as quite nice. You can tell people to come to the office because those are the rules. Then people don’t come to the office very motivated. It’s important to make the office a fun and nice place to be and that is what we try to do for our company culture. The Padel games came about mainly from the team. We wanted to do this for a long time, and then someone from the team took the initiative, and now we do it once a month.

A lesson for me is that sometimes I let my preferences take over a little too much in decisions for SKEPP. Usually, I am quite rational but sometimes that escapes me. From this, I can conclude that I should think more often about what is best for SKEPP. Furthermore, over the past six months, I have attended several fairs. During a trade fair, you have to be social and approach people you don’t know. I mentioned this in the previous founder’s story as well. Nevertheless, I have done this in the past six months, and I find that I enjoy it too!

Thijs and I divided who focus and guides which teams. I do notice that we sometimes know too little about the other teams that we do not support. In the coming period, I would therefore like to focus on the other teams too. It is good to know what is going on everywhere. In short, I have already stepped slightly outside my comfort zone at the fairs, but I will have to keep doing this! I am curious to see how Officemanager will unfold in the coming time and look forward to the developments around Officelisting and Officeplanner.