Meet Thom

The Facts

Name: Thom Eijken
Age: 37 years
Born in: Hoorn, currently living in Amsterdam
Zodiac Sign: Aries (you can send him a birthday card on April 4)
Education: Business Mathematics and Computer Science
Position: Director and CTO
Favorite Film: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Pets: Formerly a cat and dog, now a 4-year-old son and a 3-week-old daughter

About Thom

Tall, big, director, CTO, former high-level basketball player, and fond of toasted bread with spinach and cheese: that's Thom in a nutshell. Also, or maybe because of that, Thom possesses two essential qualities that support his work at Harmonizer very well, which are listening and problem-solving. By listening well and asking questions, Thom knows how to get to the core of the client's request. And thanks to his problem-solving ability, he offers the client the right solution to their problem. If Thom succeeds and the client is satisfied, he sure is a very happy guy!

Thom worked as a developer at PLAN8 for a long time. Coincidence (or not?) had it that he met Guido there. However, their collaboration would only follow many years later. Thom comes from a real entrepreneurial family. His grandfather owned an ironmongery in the city center of Hoorn, and his son ( Thom's father) expanded it into a real hardware store. And with success!

However, when Thom graduated, he didn't want to become an entrepreneur himself. "Just put me in a nice suit in an office where I can do my thing," Thom said. So it happened. For eleven years, he worked at KPMG, where he learned the true ins and outs of the trade. How to deal with clients? How to present yourself as a professional? How do companies work? Etcetera. Thom rightly calls his time at KPMG the 'university after university', because here he could really gain the necessary practical experience. At KPMG, he learned how it's done, and also how it isn’t done. That experience and knowledge came in handy later when founding OrangeMason and Harmonizer three years ago. Thanks to Guido and Thom's experience, they got off to a good start with OrangeMason and didn't have to make the same mistakes three times.

You might wonder: why did Thom decide to become an entrepreneur after all and follow in his (fore)father's footsteps? Well, something in him itched to pour his acquired knowledge and experience into his own company. And he felt eager to give his own interpretation to a workplace culture and way of working. Exactly at the right moment, Thom and Guido came back into contact, and the rest is history.

Thom doesn't lack preparation. He starts an average workday with a zen hour for himself between 06:00-07:00, during which he exercises (Crossfit) or works on things that make him feel like he's starting the day with a 1-0 lead. Smart! Between 07:00-09:00, he has breakfast with his kids (don't worry, it's not always toasted bread with spinach and cheese) and then he’s off to the office. At the office, the whole team starts with a stand-up for the day, and Thom has a one-on-one chat with Guido about both personal and business challenges. It often happens that Guido, a.k.a. The Idea Machine, fires at least ten new ideas at Thom in one minute, but fortunately, Thom functions as a sort of validation system for these ideas. He checks if the ideas are commercially interesting and if they are even feasible. Where would we be without Thom?

Lunch wouldn't be lunch without Mario Kart. Thom doesn’t mind losing, so he lets Guido and Martynas battle it out. Besides, Thom has much more important things on his mind. For the rest of the day, he systematically works through his lists - he's a real list man - and focuses on improving internal processes. At the end of the day, Guido and he evaluate what could be done better, because according to them, there's always room for improvement.

Transparency, honesty, and openness are central within Harmonizer. Both towards customers and within the team itself. Also, fun and a relaxed atmosphere should not be missing, according to Thom. Wherever Harmonizer may stand in 1, 5, or 10 years: according to Thom, it's essential that fun and a pleasant culture in the workplace are present every workday for both employees and customers. Because from the core of that culture, Harmonizer can continue to grow sustainably and continue to deliver real value to customers. That should always be the priority, regardless of the number of employees working at Harmonizer.