Leading product strategy as Fractional Product Lead, transforming a real estate platform through strategic vision and hands-on development.
Since January 2024, I've been serving as Fractional Product Lead and Strategic Growth Advisor for Mijn Verkoopmakelaar, an innovative real estate platform that's transforming how properties are bought and sold in the Netherlands. This ongoing engagement represents a comprehensive approach to product leadership, where strategic vision meets hands-on execution.
Mijn Verkoopmakelaar is disrupting the traditional real estate market by creating a platform that empowers both buyers and sellers with transparency, efficiency, and control. The platform bridges the gap between traditional real estate services and modern digital expectations, offering users a seamless experience that simplifies one of life's most significant transactions.
My role encompasses the full spectrum of product management, from high-level strategy to detailed execution. The approach has been to build a product organization that can scale while maintaining agility and user focus.
Product Strategy & Roadmap Development: Working closely with the founder, Antoine Steenkamer, I've helped define and refine the product vision, translating business objectives into a clear, actionable roadmap. This involves:
Understanding that real estate transactions are both emotional and complex, I've implemented a rigorous user research and design process:
User Research & Insights: Regular engagement with both buyers and sellers has been crucial to understanding pain points in the real estate journey. Through interviews, surveys, and usage analytics, we've identified key friction points and opportunities for innovation.
Design & Prototyping: Leveraging Figma, I create detailed wireframes and interactive prototypes that bring ideas to life before development begins. This approach has significantly reduced development time and ensures we're building features users actually want.
User Story Development: Every feature is broken down into detailed user stories with clear acceptance criteria, ensuring the development team has everything they need to deliver value efficiently.
Transforming how the development team operates has been a key focus area, implementing processes that increase both efficiency and predictability:
Beyond strategic product management, I've made direct technical contributions to accelerate development:
PHP Laravel Development: When needed, I've jumped into the codebase to implement features, fix bugs, or prototype new functionality. This hands-on approach ensures deep understanding of technical constraints and possibilities.
UX/UI Implementation: Created pixel-perfect designs and implemented front-end components, ensuring the user experience matches our high standards for usability and aesthetics.
Database Optimization: Worked on data structure improvements to enhance platform performance and scalability.
Product success requires more than great features – it needs effective go-to-market strategies:
Leveraging my network and experience, I've contributed to broader business growth:
Network Activation: Introduced key connections that have opened new opportunities for partnerships and growth. My network in the tech and startup ecosystem has proven valuable for finding talent, advisors, and potential investors.
Fundraising Support: Provided guidance on pitch deck development and investor communications, drawing from my experience as a startup founder.
Operational Excellence: Helped implement systems and processes that allow the company to scale efficiently while maintaining startup agility.
The transformation at Mijn Verkoopmakelaar has been significant:
My approach at Mijn Verkoopmakelaar embodies several key principles:
Proactive Problem-Solving: Rather than waiting for issues to arise, I actively identify potential challenges and address them preemptively. This forward-thinking approach has prevented numerous potential roadblocks.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Product management isn't done in isolation. I work closely with development, marketing, sales, and operations to ensure alignment and maximize impact.
Data-Driven Decision Making: While intuition has its place, decisions are backed by data whenever possible. We've implemented analytics that provide clear insights into user behavior and feature performance.
Continuous Learning: The real estate tech space is evolving rapidly. Staying current with industry trends, new technologies, and user expectations is crucial for maintaining competitive advantage.
Antoine Steenkamer, Founder of Mijn Verkoopmakelaar, shared his perspective on our collaboration:
"Sam goes beyond expectations, proactively contributing across product, strategy, and operations. He combines commercial thinking, technical knowledge, and strong design instincts—making him a well-rounded product leader. His proactive approach and fresh ideas make him a valuable asset."
As we continue to build Mijn Verkoopmakelaar, the focus remains on creating a platform that truly serves user needs while building a sustainable, scalable business. The combination of strategic thinking, hands-on execution, and deep user empathy positions the platform for continued growth and success in the competitive real estate technology market.
This ongoing engagement demonstrates the value of fractional product leadership – bringing senior-level expertise and execution capability without the overhead of a full-time executive, perfect for growing startups that need experienced guidance to reach the next level.
