Product, marketing, sales. I've stood on every side of the table — and that changes everything.

Koen doesn't fit the typical sales profile — and that's by design. He built his way through the full arc — from software development through product, marketing, and commercial leadership. Today, as a founding partner at Sweetspot, he combines the full arc of that journey to help B2B companies build businesses that actually work — across product, go-to-market, and operations. We sat down with him to talk about what drives him, how he thinks about clients, and why the best deals start with a lot more listening than talking.

How would you describe your role at Sweetspot?

Honestly, it's hard to describe, and I think that's part of what makes it interesting. Everyone at Sweetspot does client work and business development, but I tend to carry more of the operational and commercial side. Contracts, tooling, time tracking, invoicing, finance… that's me. So in practice, I'm the de facto COO, CFO, and CCO rolled into one. On the client side, that translates into go-to-market strategy, positioning, and helping companies build a commercial model that actually works — and that's where having lived the product and marketing side becomes essential.

But I want to be clear: it's not a job in the traditional sense. There's no job description, no single chair to sit in. It's co-leading a company, wearing multiple hats, and having your own fate and that of your team in your hands. That's what makes it genuinely interesting.

What does your career path look like?

I started out as a programmer. The first five or six years were spent writing code. From there I moved into product management, then product marketing, then broader marketing leadership — Director of Marketing, Director of Product Marketing. Eventually I moved into business development and then into sales, where I ended up responsible for a global sales and services team of 130+ people. But what I carry from that journey isn't primarily a sales instinct — it's the ability to see how product decisions, positioning, and commercial execution all connect. That's what I bring to clients now.

So I didn't spend twenty years in sales before becoming a sales leader. I came to it from the other direction — through product and marketing — and I think that fundamentally shapes how I approach a commercial conversation. I understand what's under the hood. I can hold a real discussion about the product, the market, the business model. And that makes for a very different kind of conversation with a client.

That background shapes everything about how I show up commercially. The best sales conversations I've had are the ones where I've spoken for three minutes and listened for fifty-seven. The classic extrovert who walks in loud and talks the room into submission… that style doesn't work anymore, and frankly, it often misses what the client actually needs.

What made you want to co-found Sweetspot rather than take another leadership role?

After years inside companies, I wanted to work across companies. I'd seen the same pattern repeat: strong products stuck because the product, commercial, and operational sides weren't talking to each other. No one was holding the full picture. Sweetspot was an opportunity to fix that — not from inside one company, but across many. And frankly, co-leading something with people you trust is a different kind of energy than a corporate role. You feel the stakes differently.

What do you notice in a client situation that most people miss?

I've done the full arc. I've written the code, defined the product, taken it to market, and then sold it. Most people have depth in one or two of those areas. Very few have done all of them, at real seniority, across multiple companies, markets, and geographies.

What that gives you is a kind of system view. When a client's product isn't gaining traction, I can tell whether it's a product problem, a positioning problem, or a sales execution problem — because I've lived all three. And I know how a decision in one area creates a ripple in another. It's a perspective that only comes from having stood on all three sides of the table — and knowing what each one feels like from the inside.

What genuinely excites you about the work?

The variety. Every client is a different product, a different market, different customers, and different people to get to know. That constant newness keeps it interesting. And then when you actually see the impact, when a client's positioning clicks, when their go-to-market starts working, that's genuinely satisfying. With some of our customers, we've been working for over two years now, and seeing how their whole positioning and go-to-market has evolved is something I'm proud of.

How does Sweetspot approach working with clients?

There are two things that define how we work. First, we take time to fully understand the situation before we start offering solutions. End-to-end, not just the surface. We want to understand the solution, the business model, the market context, the internal dynamics, because that's where the real issues usually live.

Second, we embed ourselves as part of the team. We're not the consultants who parachute in, deliver a report, and disappear. We're in it with the client. And we look for long-term relationships. Every client we've worked with, we still have an active relationship with.

What do you think makes Sweetspot genuinely different?

It's the combination of product, business, operational, and marketing expertise under one roof, and the depth we bring to each. A marketing agency might go very broad within marketing. A product consultancy might cover strategy and roadmaps. A business consultant might help you with your financial model. But no one does all of them together, at real depth.

And that matters, because these things aren't separate in practice. If you change something on the product side, it has ripple effects on your marketing and positioning. If your business model shifts, your product priorities change. We understand that system, and we can move across it. That's the combination that's genuinely hard to find elsewhere, from the highest strategic level all the way to someone who can actually assess your architecture.

What do people not expect about you?

Probably that I recharge differently than people assume. I can work a room, run a sales conversation, lead a workshop — and genuinely enjoy it. But that mode costs energy. Give me a vacation with a good book and no agenda, and I'm equally happy. Maybe more.

I'm an avid science fiction fan — movies, TV series, books. If there's a new series on screen or another stack of novels to get through, I'm probably already mid-way through it. And I hike. That's where I actually stop thinking about work, which is harder than it sounds.

Want to explore what Koen and the Sweetspot team could do for your product? Book a quick intro call with him.