First business
Selling decorative pumpkins door to door.
The person behind the work
Curious by nature.
A maker at heart.
I’m Gijs Heerkens (1983). An internet entrepreneur from the Netherlands, with a head full of ideas and the world as my workspace.
Stay curious. Keep making things.1983Born in the Netherlands
NL · EN · ESTrilingual
1997First business
BarcelonaFavourite city
1997 → 2026
It started with decorative pumpkins.
At fourteen, I went door to door selling decorative pumpkins. My first little business. The joy of coming up with something and making it my own has never left.
The internet became my place to experiment. Some ideas stayed, others were sold or stopped. I’ve been building Rostrio since 2009. Personal User Guide, Birthday Kings, NextPrompt, Morphy and Iconic Wall Prints followed.
Today, I combine building my own startups with vibe coding for other entrepreneurs. I help shape the product and build the software that makes it possible.
I speak Dutch, English and Spanish. I still work independently of location, but I don’t need a digital-nomad label for that. To me, freedom means choosing where I work and what I build.
Explore the startups01From doorsteps to domains
Nearly thirty years of making.
Rostrio
From online passport photos to international identity tech.
Two new worlds
Personal User Guide and Birthday Kings move from idea to product.
NextPrompt
Making AI practical for professionals and organisations.
New experiments
Morphy and Iconic Wall Prints bring together imagery, AI and creativity.
02How I approach work
A few things that stay.
Curiosity comes first.
I want to understand how things work. And whether they could be simpler, smarter or more enjoyable. It usually starts with a good question.
Making is understanding.
An idea gets interesting when you try it. I build, learn from what happens and adjust.
Freedom brings perspective.
New cities, people and habits help me see things differently. I bring that fresh perspective into my work.
03Right now
A page that moves with me.
A few live signals from my everyday life, rather than a static list.
SpotifyLast listened
La vie en roseGrace Jones
Favourite songA Certain RomanceArctic Monkeys
IMDbLast watched
The Return of the KingPeter Jackson
Favourite filmDriveNicolas Winding Refn
GoodreadsLast read
Last of the GiantsMick Wall
Favourite bookAntifragileNassim Nicholas Taleb
Nomads.comLast visited
BarcelonaNomads.com
Favourite cityBarcelonaSpain
Away from the screen
There’s more than work.
I love exploring cities, reading, watching films and listening to music pretty much all day. From New York, Stockholm and Berlin to Lisbon, Budapest, Istanbul, Bangkok and Bali, a different environment helps me step outside familiar patterns. Barcelona remains my favourite city.
It starts with a conversation
Got a good idea?
Let’s make it real.
A new product, a smarter process, or just a question. I’d love to think it through with you.
Discuss your idea