Alexander van Eerden from Building Blocks

"I am an entrepreneur because I want to provide opportunities to others.”

Alexander van Eerden and his company Building Blocks explore the new field of data science. The company of the Tilburg University alumnus provides 'IT Lego bricks' with which companies can better respond to customer needs or behavior. They are also building a distinctive corporate culture. "Our moral compass has cost us customers.”

Alexander van Eerden may be a real IT entrepreneur, but he is a bit tired of Zoom after all the virtual meetings. He misses depth in online communication, especially the non-verbal aspect. The coronavirus crisis does not make an entrepreneur’s life more fun. But the face shown by Zoom does not look worried. He has no complaints about how his company Building Blocks has weathered the coronavirus crisis so far: "We're just not growing as fast as expected." According to Van Eerden, the planned expansion in Sweden, in particular, has slowed down. The young company now has 46 employees. The plan is to grow to a maximum of 100 employees in five years' time. Recruitment is not a problem. Although data science specialists are scarce and in demand, 700 of them applied for a job at Building Blocks last year. The secret of this appeal to young people is not complicated. According to Van Eerden, the company focuses on the wishes of the new generation. In short, this is meaningful and interesting work in which you are given your own responsibility, enabling you to develop quickly. In fact, that has been the motivation for the entrepreneur to start his own business. "A company of my own gave me the space to organize the work as I wanted it myself.”

Adding something fundamental

The insight that he wanted to control his working life was born gradually, and it was a process that took place during his student days at Tilburg University. As a young business administration student, he did various IT jobs for the Amsterdam wholesaler in animal supplies Van Ree as a side job. And after his Bachelor's degree, he did a long internship at ABN Amro Investment Banking. That was in 2006, when the developments surrounding sales and demerger—as described in De Prooi—reached a climax. There, he discovered that he did not want to focus on money. "I want to add something essential to the world.” That vision grew during an internship at Procter & Gamble in Geneva. "There, I got an early look behind the scenes of data science. I saw what this can mean in terms of getting to know customers better.” He could still be working in Switzerland now, but he turned down offers from internship companies. "I realized that I would have to work on a long career before I could make a difference. With a company of my own, I would immediately be able to take full responsibility and get to work on great, instructive assignments. ” 

Life motto

His decision to start his career with his own company was not immediately understood by his father. "He thought it was strange that I didn't respond to corporations their fantastic financial proposals. In that respect, there was a bit of a generation gap between my father and me. For me,  salary was the least important. I can see that in more people of my generation.” His mother encouraged him to persevere with business. She said, "Alexander, we didn't encourage you to make your own choices for nothing." In 2011, Van Eerden decided to finish his Master's degree so that his seriously ill mother could still attend his graduation ceremony. "She had always stimulated studying. My mother, in spite of her intelligence, had never had the chance." Her death shortly afterwards strengthened Van Eerden in his intention to get as much out of life as possible. "It was a hard lesson in the non-malleability of life. Through that experience, I began to appreciate more what is in my power and control. I wanted to shape my working life myself in a meaningful way. My motto became: pave the way for more. Using opportunities for myself and giving others opportunities.”

Smart full-length mirror

That is what he has been doing with Building Blocks. This company was founded in its current form in 2013. At that time, Van Eerden, together with his new partner and co-alumnus Merwin de Jongh, developed a new business model. "In my assignments, up to that point, I improved stock management, pricing policy, or marketing by using data. Together with Merwin, the idea arose to take customer data as a starting point. We developed solutions that can “predict” customer needs or behavior." These components, which can be connected to each other like Lego bricks and make it possible, for example, to recommend products to customers or predict service. You can use such a building block in many ways, such as in a smart full-length mirror in the Jeans Centre clothing stores. This mirror can make suggestions for matching clothing based on data about general purchasing behavior.

Pluto

Data science has the image of a booming business, in which it seems easy to succeed. But reality is more intractable. Van Eerden's success did not come naturally. For example, it was initially difficult to convince customers of the opportunities that data science offered. "For example, I told them that you could use data to predict what customers were going to buy in a supermarket. And asked the question: why would you send people another leaflet with products they would never buy anyway? Then they would look at me as if I came from Pluto. Customers usually weren't ready yet. For example, they were still struggling with unlocking turnover data. It was hard to find a middle ground.” Financing growth was not easy either. Building Blocks deliberately chose not to use external financiers. As a result, Van Eerden and De Jongh initially had to run a very tight ship in financial terms. "Everything had to be within limits regarding expenditure. It meant that we sometimes didn't pay ourselves a salary for six to nine months.” 

Millennials are not lazy

Although he had to take the necessary hurdles, he has not regretted his choice for entrepreneurship for a moment. Especially because, as he had intended, he can shape the work to his desires. "We want to respond to the wishes of the new generation and show that working can also be fun.” According to Van Eerden, it is a misunderstanding to think that millennials do not want to work hard. "They have the reputation of being lazy, because everything would come naturally to them. But this generation is very impact-driven. They want to make a difference. They want to matter. And that is why they have a mentality: we won’t go to sleep before it works." This last sentence will soon be reflected in the rebranding of Building Blocks to be launched in the fall of 2020. Part of this is a new mission, in which the company will emphasize the moral aspect more. They want to develop IT solutions in which the consumer—not the client paying Building Blocks—comes first, says Van Eerden. "Our 'big hairy audacious goal' will be: to positively impact 1 billion people.” 

Moral compass

According to Van Eerden, this emphasis on positive impact is necessary because data science is not necessarily used for the common good. Algorithms involve major risks, such as prejudice, discrimination, and exclusion. This is a point of concern, certainly in the insurance world: a second sector besides retail where Building Blocks has many customers. According to Van Eerden, it requires a strong moral compass. "You have to be stricter than prescribed by legislation. If you rely on your gut feelings, you know when it's not right. You have to use your brain and say: we don't do that. It's not the algorithm that's responsible, but human beings, including the builder. If we build everything we technically can, the world doesn't necessarily become any more better." How do they guarantee that? "We do this by making it clear to new employees that a moral compass is required from the moment they apply for a job. And by not putting our people on a project on their own. And by saying no if a customer wants something dubious, purely because of the high returns. That moral compass has already cost us customers.”

Alexander van Eerden in a nutshell

Alexander van Eerden finds it important to gain work experience during his years of studying. During his Bachelor's degree in Business Economics, he works at wholesaler in animal supplies Van Ree. He does various IT assignments for that company. After his Bachelor's program, he did internships at ABN Amro (2006-2007) and Procter & Gamble (2008). During this period, he also founded his first company, Hermsen & Van Eerden. With this, he carries out IT assignments. He ran this company for four years from an office in Building S on the Tilburg University campus. After completing his Master's degree in Finance, he established Building Blocks with Merwin de Jongh in 2013. In seven years, this company has developed into a data science company that matters. It has branches in Tilburg and Amsterdam and works for clients such as CZ health insurance, ASR, Corendon, and Samsung.