Bluebird

Bluebird - the only search firm in the world that consists of 100% ex-SaaS & AI operators.

Do you want to speak with the person you'll hire within 7 working days for any of your open GTM & Tech roles?

Stop wasting time working with traditional agencies, and get in touch.

Founder & CEO

Golden Egg Check

At Golden Egg Check, we’re on a mission to back the next generation of category-defining founders. Our focus is on early-stage (pre-seed and seed) startups with the potential to scale fast and build meaningful companies. We combine funding with hands-on guidance, a strong community, and direct access to our network of operators, angels, and VCs.

As a Partner, I bring my background as a founder and operator in the SaaS industry. As an IPO'd sales leader, and having built and scaled Bluebird into Europe’s leading SaaS recruitment firm, I know first-hand the challenges founders face when it comes to building high-performance teams and go-to-market structures. My role at Golden Egg Check is to bridge that experience with our portfolio, helping founders navigate talent, culture, and sales execution from day one.

Together with the team, I support:
	•	Deal flow & selection: Sourcing and evaluating high-potential startups.
	•	Portfolio support: Advising founders on hiring, GTM strategy, and scaling teams.
	•	Community building: Connecting entrepreneurs, angels, and VCs across our ecosystem.
	•	Capital raising: Growing our investor base and co-investment opportunities.

Golden Egg Check Capital is a platform. We believe early-stage founders deserve both capital and an operator-led support system that understands the grind of building from scratch. That’s the part I love bringing into the mix.

Partner

FastSpring

Built FastSpring's EMEA team from the ground up, growing it from $0 to $3mio ARR and 3 to 15 FTE.

Head of Sales, EMEA

SolarWinds

"Machiel has an exceptional work ethic and coupled with his outstanding sales ability, he has helped grow our EMEA business at an exponential rate. Machiel has been pivotal in the hiring and grooming of our Dutch sales team and has shown an exceptional capability to train from the ground up."

Director of Sales

#1 AE world wide in 2015:
$1.4mln in ARR
124 New Logo's
165% quota attainment

Account Executive

Customer Success Manager

Inside Sales Representative

Sales Development Representative

Are you an ambitious Founder, looking to reach your company's full potential through hiring exceptional people? You're at the right place.

I am a former SaaS sales leader who is disrupting the executive search and recruitment space.

Bluebird saves SaaS & AI companies time by introducing them to highly qualified Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Product, Engineering & AI people & leaders (up to C-level) surprisingly fast. On average it takes Bluebird only 7 working days to introduce you to the person you will end up hiring.

My professional achievements as a SaaS leader:
- Pivotal role in N-able's/Solarwinds' growth from $6M to $250M ARR, hired 40+ people, and successfully IPO'd
- Built FastSpring's EMEA team from the ground up, hiring 12 people and growing it from $0-$3M ARR within a year

NEW OFFICE! NEW ERA! 🚀🏢

Last Friday, we pulled off a little surprise.

Right before our Christmas dinner…
we revealed our new Bluebird office to the team.

And wow. The reactions said it all.

This space marks a new chapter for Bluebird.

It signifies a few big things 👇

• We are the leading SaaS & AI recruitment company in Europe (and rapidly expanding in APAC), and we finally found a place that truly goes hand in hand with that
• We’re evolving to become one of the best executive search players
• We work with the most renowned SaaS & AI companies in the world (e.g. Mistral AI & Peec AI)
• We partner with the highest performing VCs globally (e.g. Index Ventures)

This office gives us the foundation to expand all of that even further.

But most importantly…

This will be a warm place that feels like home for the 30+ tremendous Bluebirds that make this company what it is ❤️
A place to build, win, laugh, and grow together.

📍 We’re now located in Amsterdam Oud-Zuid,
about a 30-second walk from the Vondelpark.

If you're in the area, come pay us a visit!

Biggest shout-out of all goes to Geke 🙌
Recently promoted to Brand & Culture Manager and the absolute force behind the entire office design.

We couldn’t be luckier to have someone internally who’s this incredibly talented at interior design.
She worked tirelessly to make this happen, and from my perspective, the result is nothing short of unbelievable.

Beyond proud.
Beyond grateful.
And honestly… after 6 years... it still feels like we're just getting started.

Welcome to the new Bluebird era 🐦✨

Machiel Kunst

Founder of the #1 SaaS & AI search firm for GTM & Tech // Partner at GEC Capital

My, my…!!!

Just on my way back from an amazing week in Helsinki at Slush, and I open my phone to see we just crossed 100,000 followers on LinkedIn.

I 💙 this community. Thanks everyone.

PS. This image was obviously not approved by our Brand Experience Manager, Geke... the person behind the scenes driving all of our visibility.

Big news! We just made our first in-territory hire in Germany 🇩🇪

Even though we already have a 6-person team serving the DACH market, bringing someone on the ground is a major milestone for us.
Germany is one of our biggest markets, and this move shows how serious we are about doubling down.

I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Luisa Marr to the team.

From the first conversation, she stood out:
Warm. Sharp. High EQ. Curious. Self-aware.
The kind of person who asks excellent questions.

Born and raised in Berlin. International school upbringing.
Door-to-door sales. Built her own home-fragrance brand from scratch.
Crushed quota in her SaaS roles. And deeply motivated by achieving something together.

She cares about the same things we do:
• Teamwork & culture
• Personal + professional growth
• Shared vision on where we want to go, what we want to achieve, and how we get there

Luisa, welcome to Bluebird.
We’re building something special in Germany, and you’re a huge part of that next chapter.

Let’s go 🚀

$0 → $4M ARR in 10 months.
This is what hypergrowth really looks like.

Peec AI just announced their $21M Series A by Singular, and it’s one of the most impressive stories in European AI right now.

Why?

Because they have real traction, customers, and market pull.

📈 $0 → $4M ARR in 10 months.
🌊 Flooded with inbound.
🏆 Top global brands already relying on their technology.

At Bluebird, we’re incredibly proud to partner with Peec AI and help build out their entire GTM, Product, and Engineering organisation.
This is one of those rare moments where you get to shape the trajectory of a category-defining company.

And yes… they’re hiring. A lot.
If you’ve ever wanted to join a rocketship while it’s still on the launchpad, this is that moment.

Open roles:
- (Senior) Account Executive (×6)
- Growth Marketer (×3)
- Customer Success Associate
- GTM Engineer
- Product Manager
- Product Manager SEO
- Backend Engineer (×5)
- Fullstack Engineer (×5)
- Data Scientist (×3)
- Software Development Manager (×2)
- Site Reliability Engineer
- Revenue Operations Lead
- Customer Support Associate

💡 Link to all vacancies is in the comments.

If you’re an A-player who wants impact, speed, and a front-row seat to one of Europe’s most exciting AI scale-ups... this is your shot.

#AI #SaaS #Hiring #GTM #Engineering #Product #ScaleUp #Careers #BluebirdRecruitment

FIRST and FOREMOST: a big THANK YOU to all the volunteers at Slush. All of you were the stars of the show. I was deeply impressed by your organization, professionalism, and positive vibes.

I loved being on stage to talk about how to transition from Founder led sales to building a sales organization, and hiring a VP sales eventually. Huge interaction afterwards with lots of questions. So much fun!

All in all, fantastic to see so many familiar and new faces. Spending time with the Golden Egg Check team has been absolutely fantastic 💜

STOP hiring strategists at a startup! 😒 
I've said it again and again.

And the funny thing?
I’ve made this mistake myself, while preaching the opposite for years.

If you’re a founder and you’re talking to someone who:
• impresses you with their strategic thinking
• teaches you something new every time
• makes you think “damn… they might even take my job one day” 
(please note you're putting them on a pedestal)
…there’s a good chance you’re talking to a strategist, not an executor.

And that’s exactly who you DON'T need full-time at an early-stage startup.

Meet with them once or twice a month.
Let them challenge your thinking.
Get the ideas and clarity.

But DO NOT bring them in as a full-time hire.
It’s a waste of money at this stage, and it slows you down.

Progress doesn’t come from talking. It comes from doing.

👇 I break it down in this video.

A few months ago, Mathijs from Newion introduced us to Lasse & Marco from koppla, after their €6M funding round. 

We kicked off a clear exec search process for their VP Sales.
Shortlist ready… and within ~2 days we introduced Fabian, who ended up being the perfect match.

Today I’m sharing the video testimonial Lasse recorded. Grateful for:

Mathijs, for the intro
Lasse & Marco, for the trust and great cooperation
And the Koppla team, for moving fast and playing at a top level

The best part?
We’re now helping Koppla further scale their GTM and tech teams.

Onwards 🚀

If you have a Co-Founder, Rocket Fuel might be the most important book you read this year.

Most leadership duos fail because the roles are blurry.

Two people doing “everything.”
Two people owning “strategy.”
Two people stepping on each other’s toes without meaning to.

The magic happens when you split the force in two:

👉 The Visionary: ideas, direction, instinct, momentum.
👉 The Integrator: clarity, execution, accountability, stability.

When those two roles are understood, respected and protected, a 2-person leadership team becomes a weapon.

The visionary stops drowning in ops.
The integrator stops firefighting someone else’s ideas.
And the business finally has both speed and control.

Complementarity is the cheat code. Jelle van Jaarsveld 🤝 

If you want your leadership duo to kick ass:
- Get brutally honest about who’s the Visionary and who’s the Integrator.
- Design your weeks, decisions, and responsibilities around that.

Rocket Fuel nails this concept, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Your whole company feels the difference.

Quintin Schevernels - did you recommend this book to me?

Bits & Pretzels is landing in Amsterdam for the first time, and I’m excited that Bluebird is supporting the launch. If you’re a founder or investor, this one is worth your time. 

Expect honest discussions, good people and AMAs with operators who’ve successfully built things. As an investor and ecosystem player, I’ll share a few thoughts to open the evening before we get into the sessions. 

There will be food, drinks and plenty of room for proper connection.

AMA sessions with:
- Lex Hoefsloot (Building in hardware)
- Martine Rooth (Raising successful rounds)
- Sophie Heijenberg (Inside the mind of an early stage VC)

If you want to join, the link is in the comments!

Hiring a VP or C-level exec isn’t the finish line. It’s the starting gun.

The leaders who thrive versus the ones who quietly exit within 12 months?
It usually comes down to one thing:

➡️ How well they’re onboarded, supported, and aligned from Day 1.

Most companies underestimate this.
They celebrate the hire… and then hope the exec “figures it out.”

That’s not how you build a high-performance leadership team.

At Bluebird, we’ve been pushing ourselves to go the extra mile on this, not just finding exceptional executives, but helping founders set them up to actually succeed:

- Clear expectations on both sides
- A structured 90-day plan
- External coaching and perspective
- Honest conversations about expectations, pace, and support

We’re putting all of this knowledge on paper right now.
A practical guide for founders on onboarding, supporting, and developing senior leaders so they have the highest chances of success.

If you want early access to what we’re building, drop a comment or DM me.

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