Hi, I'm Ruben Timmerman

My purpose is: accelerating systemic change through conscious practices in people and organisations

Ruben Timmerman portret foto

⚠️ Contact me? I:Respond slowly to mail
Especially long onesSay no to save time
Especially to coffeesAlways try to help
Especially good causes

passions

  • Raising my 15yr old daughter and 2yr old son, Hunt Gather Parent inspired

  • Preventing populism from gaining power, finding effective interventions to scale

  • Enabling people in self-managing organisations with Holacracy & OKRs

  • Learn to outsource operations management for nonprofits

  • Donating with effective altruism mindset, consciously evaluating my impact

  • Investing in funds / startups that have a systemic impact on sentient suffering

  • Fighting my chronic back problems with swimming, Iyengar yoga, core workouts.

opinions

I've done a lot of writing, presenting and training on running startups, self-management, OKRs, Holacracy, Getting Things Done, Usability / UX and online marketing. Indulge yourself here:

randoms

Some things I like and support:

  • Supermercator: a great vintage shop / coffee place in De Baarsjes in Amsterdam, with regular creative music nights.

  • Trusting people handbook: unfinished Operations management guide of Springest, written with some former colleagues

  • Wildflyer, a really important and cool startup (no investment), preventing and managing forest wildfires through software

past work

Ruben Timmerman

Springest got acquired at the end of 2021 after 14 years of pioneering the biggest learning marketplace in Europe. 55 Springeteers worked in Amsterdam and Berlin. We won several prizes for best employer and best learning culture. We fully adopted Holacracy as one of the first companies in Europe in 2012.

work

Ruben Timmerman

I love building this organisation from the ground up together with the founders. It's a startup to scaleup NGO, launching in 15+ countries in 2025, incl. a local foundation in the US. Our purpose and principles align nearly perfectly with mine.

Ruben Timmerman

Initiated and led the project to build a new website platform for 30 countries and over 200 chapters, which I still support. I was General Secretary for Tech and Way of Working with the ambition to get closer to a self-managing (volunteer based) organisation, still coaching some of my former colleagues.

Ruben Timmerman

IPE is a progressive think tank that publishes economic policy studies to demonstrate how Dutch society could work better. I'm helping out the founder as a coach for growing the organisation, as well as the rest of the team with operational and marketing advice.

Ruben Timmerman

I've decided to invest about €500k in impact startups and funds in the first 2 years after selling my company Springest. I also pledged to give away €500k in the next 10 years to good causes. This totals 20% of my pre-taxation wealth. If you have the privilege of living in a wealthy country like me, I urge you to do the same.

other involvements

I invested in these startups, funds and charities that help solve the climate crisis or structurally improve society:Investments (€25-50K)
🏖 Polar Night Energy: sand based, seasonal, residential / industrial heat storage
📱 Valyuu: reduces waste and emissions through a reusable electronics marketplace
📦 Vaayu: helps online retailers calculate and cut carbon emissions
🔥 Quatt: reduces gas reliance through hybrid / electrical heat pumps
🤝🏻 The Social Handshake: enables tax-friendly charity donations for employees
🛠 BIYU: own less, do more, by renting products like diy tools and expensive devicesCrowdfunding or certificates (€10-25K)
🚙 The Sharing Group: several mobility sharing services, eg. MyWheels, Cargaroo
🐮 YB (Yoghurt Barn): fully plant based consumer brand and coffee place
🚂 European Sleeper: reducing air travel with night trains to major European destinations
👩🏼🌾 Lenteland: convert existing farms into regenerative community owned farms
🛋 Reliving: curated second hand furniture delivered to you
📵 Unpluq: take control of addictive tech
☀️ Several solar parks via Duurzaaminvesteren.nl and Zonnepanelendelen.nlFunds (€200-250K)
🌳 Fair Capital Impact Fund: early stage and scale-up investments in climate, energy, food and circular
🌏 iFund Foundation: investing in social enterprises in energy, food, water, or resources.
🏛 Carbon Equity: decarbonization and energy transition funds that invest in 100+ climate startupsDonations (€10-100K)
💜 Volt Nederland & Europa: the only truly European political Party
⚖️ Instituut voor Publieke Economie: economic think tank publishing progressive policy advice
🏫 The School for Moral Ambition: helping people increase the impact of their careers
🔸 I took the 10% Pledge in Jan. 2022, to give away 10% of my income to charitable causes

© Ruben Timmerman, Amsterdam, The Netherlands🇳🇱 Nederlands: Hoi, ik ben Ruben Timmerman en dit is mijn website. Ik richtte ooit Springest op, en heb dat bedrijf in 2021 verkocht. Sindsdien ben ik actief als impact investeerder, effectief altruïstisch donateur, operationeel "directeur" (zonder managers!), adviseur van startups en stichtingen.Momenteel werk ik voor (en met) Rutger Bregman's The School for Moral Ambition, en ondersteun ik Volt Europa en Volt Nederland, naast kleiner werk voor organisaties waaraan ik doneer of waarin ik investeer.Ik heb geen Nederlandse versie van mijn website meer, dus met deze tekst moet je het doen... 🙃