Workspot

LOX:

A FASTGROWING TECH START-UP IN A TRADITIONAL MARKET

A unique and open working culture, that’s central at Lox. “We like to give our people freedom from day one”, says co-founder Dylan Hirsch. He started the company with Anna Rouleau and Melvil Donnart on the 1st of April 2020 and Lox has been growing ever since. Lox provides an AI solution that helps E-commerce companies to save time and cost on their logistics. Today the company is serving several e-commerce players in Europe and has the ambition to continue its international development. In eighteen months, the team has grown from three to fifteen members, all from different nationalities and backgrounds. Besides attractive salaries and nice perks, team personal development and well-being are core values at Lox.

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“We provide software to e-commerce companies that ship large amounts of packages”, Dylan explains. “We analyze and spot errors on their carrier invoices. In case anything goes wrong, we help them to get the money back.” Thanks to Lox, e-commerce companies do not have to worry about their claiming process with carriers and can focus on their core business.

EVER-GROWING MARKET

“Logistics is a very traditional market and Lox is using technology to automate manual processes”, Dylan points out. “To innovate in this traditional market, we need very ambitious people that are not scared to challenge the status quo. In the end, the problem is a global problem without a good solution. Therefore, we have been building an international team that is continuously focusing on the ever-growing market.” Consequently, Lox’s team has been growing exponentially to keep pace and expects the team to triple within the coming year.

OPEN CULTURE

“Maybe it’s a coincidence”, laughs Vincent Tjon Appian, Business Development Executive at Lox, “but I started here about a month ago and have already had the best experience in my career. These last weeks have been quite exciting. Not only because of all the great things we’re doing as a young and dynamic team but also because of the amount of responsibility we’re all given – even new hires. It really is an open culture where everyone has a say in the decision-making”. Isis Fordant, Customer Onboarding Developer at Lox, agrees: “Everyone is really involved, also in the business side of things. There’s not really a hierarchy and we get challenged a lot, which makes it much more fun.”

FREEDOM AND GROWTH

Personal freedom and responsibility are reflected in other ways as well, according to Anna. “Our team is free to work from anywhere, anytime in the world. Furthermore, unlimited holidays are provided, as we trust that our team is aware of their responsibilities.”

Additionally, there are great opportunities to grow and evolve within the company, Isis stresses. “I joined Lox as a business developer, but when I realized that I liked working on improving our product more, I was given the chance to switch and explore that.” Dylan wholeheartedly agrees: “We offer many opportunities for our people, and we want to support them as much as we can in their ambitions.”

ROODKAPJE RESURRECTED

In a small corner of RCD known as District East is a unique meeting space for art, culture and terrific burgers: Roodkapje (the name means Little Red Riding Hood in Dutch). In April, after two turbulent years, it was finally time to kick-start this hotspot with a two-day reopening party. Director Marloes de Vries has been at the helm of Roodkapje for a year. With a degree in teaching, she started her career at VPRO Dorst, progressed from there to MAMA and teaching computer science, and recently returned to the central thread of her life: coaching and showcasing talented young makers.

Roodkapje is – in its own words – a local laboratory for art, live performances, food and everything in between. A meeting space where all are welcome, Roodkapje’s zero tolerance policy assures its diversity of employees and visitors feel safe and comfortable. It’s also a dynamic space; a catalyst for interdisciplinary productions. Marloes: “Roodkapje sits in the cultural substrate where new things germinate. Our activities are based on three pillars, but we also try to blend a lot of things, like artistic burgers on our menu or performances by visual musicians.” All that makes Roodkapje a place where young artists and people who want to experiment can explore and discover.

HAMBURGER COMMUNITY The focus is on developing interdisciplinary art, and in the Hamburger Community, Marloes says, the possibilities are endless. “We’re actively investing in coaching and development through residencies. At the moment, we’ve got four artists and two event managers who are part of the Hamburger Community. They do the cultural programming for a whole year, with the artists given their own studios to create work for seven scheduled exhibitions, whilst the event managers do our events. This lets us put on an interdisciplinary programme and, we hope, bring a variety of different audiences together.” Her vision might be summed up as “chaos on stage, calm in the house”. Marloes is excited about what promises to be a busy year, with a wide-ranging programme created by a fun and dynamic group of people.

RESURRECTION During the lockdown, the team pushed ahead with a major development project to remodel the premises, using only reusable materials. The idea is to lower the threshold overall. “In April we put on a big party for Roodkapje Resurrected, with performances, bands, DJs and an exhibition. I urge everyone to get up off the couch, try something crazy and make the most of the unexpected.”

Marloes de Vries © Ralf Emmerich

Eduard Voorn is a freelance journalist with a focus on economics, and first and foremost a Rotterdammer. He lives in the villagey outskirts of Rotterdam Central District, eats his pizza at Bird, raises a pint at Biergarten or Weena, gets his caffeine fix at Lebkov, catches the latest flicks in Pathé Schouwburgplein and sees Scapino at Theater Rotterdam. His kids were born in the nowfamous Mecanoo architectural firm’s first project on Kruisplein.

ALI AND VINCENT:

TACKLE THAT 38.9 PER CENT!

“Mark can call me any time.” These were bunq founder and CEO Ali Niknam’s parting words to me recently during his brief visit to the Netherlands from New York City. Though he runs the trailblazing digital bank from The Big Apple these days, he used to live behind Rotterdam’s Central Station. By Mark, he means Rutte – as in the Dutch prime minister. I met with Ali to talk about the People for People Foundation, a charity organization he speed-launched with two business friends – Robert Vis (of MessageBird) and Joris Beckers (of Picnic) – to help Ukrainian refugees. By rallying his vast professional and personal networks, he has been able to set up jobs, bank accounts and so much more. Whilst Mark Rutte huddled up in his tower, these three entrepreneurs threw themselves into the aid effort.

A little earlier I’d met with Vincent Karremans. This was two weeks before the municipal council elections, for which the voter turnout – at a dramatically low 38.9 per cent – was nothing less than tragic. Angry young man Karremans has worked his way from entrepreneur – founding Magnet.Me – to Rotterdam VVD party Vice Mayor for Enforcement, Public Space, Integration and Community. Our conversation was about why it’s okay for public officials to go into business. Right now, fear of failure is debilitating government’s capacity to learn. Vincent concluded our conversation with: “Celebrate your mistakes. Heck, put up a failure board.”

Ali’s and Vincent’s words have been bouncing around in my head. Their sentiments map onto my previous column, about more actively engaging RCD’s international community in our local politics. But how do we get from where we are to Ali’s and Vincent’s world? I’m pretty sure that beyond the façades of all those shiny skyscrapers in RCD are some brilliant companies that could do something about, say, low voter turnouts. If Pieter (Coolblue), Ellen (OMA), Matthijs (Fabrique) and Julian (Somnox) send their most original minds to Biergarten, maybe Vincent could drum up his most enterprising officials. With a little trial and error, they’re sure to come up with useful ideas for when the next election rolls around. Because let’s be clear: tackling that shamefully low turnout is a job for the public (Vincent) and private (Ali) sectors working together.