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About us

Spikesconcept is an initiative of Hetty and Arjen Koonings. Added together, they have more than 30 years' experience in (pre-) sales, marketing and management functions at various national and international software and services organisations. It's this extensive practical know-how and their broad network of associates and business partners which will be pivotal in helping talented entrepreneurs to establish and grow their businesses. Not just by giving advice, but also by actually becoming a part of the project or company. 

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Arjen Koonings
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In addition to his role at SPIKESCONCEPT, Arjen is 1 of the general partners and owners of a Dutch Venture Capital company, The Hatch Firm. An entrepreneurial investment firm that invests in scale-ups with the focus of applying (software) technology in business.

 

  • Arjen holds a master degree in business economics from the VU University in Amsterdam. After graduation in 1985 he worked for a few years as a consultant for financial software companies like McCormack&Dodge,  SAP, and others. In 1990 he took his first step into sales as an account manager with Dun&Bradstreet Software.

  • In 1993 he started pioneering the European market for a then new and small American software supplier called PeopleSoft, and was key in establishing and growing the European business. Growing the PeopleSoft business by continuously overachieving the yearly business and sales targets, and rapidly developing the company into a market leader in its area and one of the biggest software companies in the world. PeopleSoft was later acquired by Oracle.

  • Early 1999 he was asked by American software supplier Ariba to set up a Benelux subsidiary for them and build up the business. As Regional Manager Northern Europe he made a significant contribution, through continuous national and international sales and business successes, to the growth of Ariba into one of the most successful B2B Internet companies. Ariba is now part of SAP. 

  • In 2003 he moved to Business Objects to head up the Dutch subsidiary for this supplier of Business Intelligence software and services, just prior to some crucial take-overs (e.g. Crystal Decisions). Business Objects is now also part of SAP.

  • In 2006, Arjen thought it time to give his career a new direction. In addition to pursuing what has always been a very active sports life, his sphere of activity since 2006 has centered on helping multiple companies, working as interim manager, software business adviser and investor.  Leading up to become part of The Hatch Firm since 2014.

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Hetty Koonings-Braker
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In addition to her role at SPIKESCONCEPT, Hetty owns a marketing & communications company called Spikes Marketing. Through Spikes Marketing she has been crucial in the marketing strategy and execution of one of her major customers, COOLProfs.

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  • Hetty holds a master degree in business economics from the VU University in Amsterdam. After graduation in 1989, Hetty was responsible for Marketing at software supplier McCormack & Dodge. In this time she was confronted with all the perils of company mergers, with the competition (MSA) through to Dun & Bradstreet Software. The challenges arising from this merger laid the foundation for Hetty's very distinctive and forward-thinking approach to marketing. 

  • In the 15 years that she has been working in marketing - for companies such as D&B Software, Texas Instruments Software, Sterling Software and Computer Associates (CA) - what stands out is her capacity to be customer oriented, resolute but above all practical. 

  • In addition to her marketing background, she has worked in (pre-)sales positions giving her a thorough understanding of complex sales processes. This adds an extra dimension to her interpretation of the marketing role. In her view, marketing only becomes truly effective when  marketing activities are deployed as an integral part of the company's management and objectives. 

  • In 2004 she started her own business under the name Spikes Marketing. Since then she has  a long and proven track record of helping organisations such as COOLProfs, Redwood and NOAD with developing and carrying out various marketing programmes.

 

Always keeping an eye out for new developments and concepts, Hetty now also holds a degree in Customer Experience Management. 

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