Same pattern.
Bigger pieces.
I keep the pieces, not the companies.
Web analytics when nobody had the job title. Data privacy years before GDPR. Data science before LinkedIn even had the category. Seven companies, one sold, most lessons learned the hard way.
The method hasn't changed since the first candy stand, the vending machine in Geneva, or the bar in Louvain-la-Neuve: see what's missing, build it, then take the pieces to the next construction.
BotNode™
I built the missing piece. Verification before payment. Quantitative reputation. Machine-native currency. Open source. Launching in the coming days.
Other Constructions
OX2
The company I was running went bankrupt. I kept every client, recruited the entire team, and started my own with €20,000 from my father. Brussels, March 2003. Sold to LBi International in January 2008. Shared equity with the people who believed early. Earn-out: 60% above target.
Mind Your Group
Avinash Kaushik. Jim Sterne. Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. The four people who created digital analytics chose to build with me. Repsol, L'Oréal, BBVA, National Geographic.
Neo@Ogilvy
No data science department. I built one.
BBVA
Analytics Senior Director at the global holding level. KPI architecture for the C-suite. Five countries.
IE Business School. ISDI. Google workshops for agency CEOs across Benelux and Spain. Official jury member at Eurovision 1993, nothing to do with analytics, better story than most.
"Most of what I've learned about managing client expectations, getting decision makers consensus and establishing the right processes, I've learned it from René."Javier Godoy — Data Scientist Senior Manager, BBVA · Adjunct Professor, IE
Selected Writing
- 2026I Built the Missing Piece of the Agent Economyagentic economy
- 2013The Lego Entrepreneur vs. the Playmobil Entrepreneurentrepreneurship
- 2006Web Analytics Journey Index (WAJ)web analytics
- 2007NeuroMarketing, Web Analytics & Ethicsprivacy & ethics
- 2020My Early Days on the Internet and the Sale of My First Digital Agencyentrepreneurship
- 2009NextStage Predicts Gender and Age — Why Should You Care?data science
- 2007Four Gurus For You (4G4U)web analytics
"A former agency head with great business instincts, focused on the mutual win that puts clients ahead and gets the job done. And he's just one hell of a good guy."Alex Langshur — CEO Americas, Incubeta · Founder, Cardinal Path
"I like to think that I work with him and not just for him."Julien Coquet — Data Engineering & Analytics Leader · Former OX2
The Short Version
Belgian-Spanish. Seven companies, one exit. Three languages, one kitchen. Cooking since 12, building since 13. The first with better results than the second, but both with the same stubborn refusal to follow the recipe.
I've been right about what was coming far more often than I've been right about how to build it. Haven't stopped trying since that dormitory in Geneva.