
Roland Hofstra
Product Owner and Co-Founder
- Age 31
- I live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- E-mail me@rolandhofstra.nl
- Phone +31 (0)6 4169 3624
- Studies MSc Innovation Sciences | BSc Future Planet Studies
- Languages Dutch (native) and English (advanced)
- Current focus Product Ownership | Startups | Innovation
- Drivers license B (automobile)
Download my resume
Download my resume
My name is Roland Hofstra and I am a Product Owner, Co-Founder, and Digital Creative. Throughout my career, I have had a multitude of different experiences and gained a diverse set of skills. Currently, I am focussing on Product Ownership and Startups. As both an analytical and creative person I tend to be most valuable in complex projects that are either in a starting or growing phase. Because I started as a digital creator at the age of 12, I have obtained a skill set that combines technological aspects (e.g. web/app development and UX/UI design) with business aspects (e.g. Product Ownership/Management and Startup skills).
In my educational career, I obtained a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Innovation Sciences (120 ECTS). Preceding this I have obtained a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Future Planet Studies. Experienced in qualitative and quantitative research with various focus, mainly societal challenges and innovation theories.
In my latest two professional endeavors, I have co-founded a small consultancy business in the building asset management industry and I have co-lead the development of a service-product inside an engineering firm that had an innovative and digitalized approach for advising building owners surrounding making buildings more sustainable.
Experience
- Product Ownership
- Product and Startup Management
- Web- and app development
- UX/UI design
- Requirement analysis
- Salesforce
- Project management
- Web and graphic design
- Creative concepts
Themes
- Complex interdisciplinary problems
- Process automation
- Innovation
- Building energy and renovation
- Climate change and energy
- Care innovation
- Online and offline marketing
- Building asset management
- Societal/Political issues
Personality

Architect | INTJ
Imaginative and strategic thinkers, with a plan for everything.
Read moreWork Experience

Lead Product Owner FastLane
As the former leading Product Owner at FastLane (a corporate platform-based startup within Royal HaskoningDHV), I was responsible for the initiation and execution of products that drive sustainability innovations within the real estate development industry. With my oversight, and the collaboration of the product team (developers, product owners, and (UX) researchers), we have taken FastLane from an abstract idea and turned it into a stand-alone revenue-generating business.
In addition to product development I co-lead the creation of our vision, roadmaps and prioritization of deliverables. Daily I was occupied as the executive of product roadmap deliverables which mostly consist of team and stakeholder management, and guiding research, development and delivery of new features.
Themes of current experience
- energy modeling and conservation measures
- building engineering and management
- PSA (Professional Services Automation)
- Salesforce
- startup theory, Lean and Agile
- user Experience and service design research
- top-level stakeholder management
Solutions we develop
- modular sales and project management system
- tablet inspection application
- energy calculations API
- parametric building definitions and inspection
- customer-facing portal with real-time insights

Co-Founder
In 2019 I engaged in building a new company to accelerate sustainable renovation and innovation in the real estate development industry: Renor BV. Together with a co-founder I have created a small consultancy firm with the aim to standardize and digitalize advice for asset managers to inform on the possibilities and business case of sustainable building projects and guide the decision making processes.
For more information, please visit www.renor.nl

Freelance
Product Owner
&
Digital Creative
Main activities
- Project management of the developments of websites and online campaigns.
- Requirement engineering, web design and user experience design for a multitude of websites.
- Offline design for brochures, flyers, posters, magazines, etc.
- Creative brainstorming for starting SME’s regarding their online strategy.
- Acquisition of new clients and new projects Recruiting and managing outsourcing contracts
Skills
- Web design
- Graphic design
- Branding
- User Experience Design
- Web development
- Project and account management (SME’s)
- Scripting
- Animation

Online Marketing and Communication Specialist
Responsibilities
- Project management of the developments of websites and online campaigns.
- Account management of some clients to see where their digital presence or processes could be improved.
- Helped in laying the foundation for Switch to hire more employees to produce more online related services.
- Web design and User Experience design for several websites.
- Creative brainstorming on online and offline marketing campaigns.
Skills
- Project management
- Creative solutions
- Website development
- Online Marketing

VPRO Tegenlicht | Web editor (Internship)
At VPRO Tegenlicht I was part of the online editorial team. VPRO Tegenlicht is a documentary TV show which aims to grasp the quintessence of prominent trends and developments in the practice of critical journalism, and tries to improve understanding of the intricate inner workings of our modern society.
Responsibilities
- Writing journalistic articles in support of the episodes
- Video interviewing the directors of each episode
- Maintaining and improving social media channels
- Video and audio editing.

Initiator Startup
Summary
- Initiator and concept developer of a cross-device peer-to-peer sharing app focused on trading of toys and games between kids and their parents.
- I was responsible for the user experience and graphic design, the test phases and writing a business plan.
- Following the Lean approach a Minimal Viable Product was created using mock-ups
- I terminated the startup because not being able to commit enough time beside my Masters and work.
Skills
- Lean approach
- Video animation
- Business Plan
- Graphic design
- User testing
Education

Innovation Sciences, MSc
Utrecht University (UU) - 120 ECTS
The Innovation Sciences program has taught me how to transform new ideas into marketable innovations and to manage and promote innovation processes within companies as well as in society at large. Following this Master’s program developed my qualitative and quantitative research skills, my knowledge about how innovation can and should be approached within firms and society, and created theoretical insights in business processes.
Relevant completed courses
- Societal Challenges & Innovation Theory
- Quantitative and Qualitative Innovation Analytics
- Innovation Systems and Processes
- Knowledge Management
Relevant hands-on projects
Master’s Thesis: Conducting an independent qualitative multi-stakeholder research on the scarce scaling of IT healthcare technologies that enable aging in place.
Consultancy project: Qualitative research on what factors determine the quality of prospective network partners in the creative services industry.
Quantitative Analysis and Innometrics: Experience with data mining, data cleaning, data analysis and data visualization. Familiar with e.g. analyzing patent databases, and social network analysis between scientific authors. Research project on the influence of quantitative measures of knowledge creation on the financial performs of firms.

Future Planet Studies, BSc
University of Amsterdam (UvA) - 180 ECTS
The Future Planet Studies program focusses on creating interdisciplinary solutions on complex, contemporary sustainability challenges such as climate change, energy transitions, and food and water supply. Within the program I followed the Major International Relations, which focused on the international political aspects of global issues such as climate change, war, and the global economy. Following this Bachelor’s program developed my interdisciplinary thinking and reasoning when faced with complex challenges, and allowed for learning various skills in different disciplines.
Relevant completed courses
- Future challenges, Innovative Solutions
- Energy transitions
- Political Economy
- Political Structures and Processes
Relevant skills
Essays: Over the course of the program, a substantial essays have been written over a variety of subjects. E.g. food production systems, energy transitions, and future scenarios.
Skills: E.g. stakeholder analysis, interdisciplinary research, earth surface analyses using Geographical Information Systems, modelling and scenario building.

VWO
Veenlanden College Mijdrecht
Hoofdrichting: Economie en Maatschappij
References
Portfolio

August and July
On of my last finished projects as a freelance creative was the creation of a travel website for a client. August and July consists of a collection of high quality getaways in Europe and a supporting blog for traveling and lifestyle articles. For this project I am responsible for the UX-design, web design, project-management and web development.
#webdesign #ux-design #webdevelopment
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Share Your Toys
Share Your Toys is a startup concept that aims to making trade toys and games in your neighbourhood easy and fun. I am responsible for the full concept, designs and strategy. The startup was terminated but the introductory video can still be seen here.
#startup #concept #UX-design #webdesign
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Falcon Interactive
During the last 12 years I have worked for numerous clients on plentiful projects. Ranging from advertising webbanners to the full development of websites. I also did online and offline graphic design, ranging from flyers to developing a full corporate identity. Due to my studies I was working part-time for the last years. Therefore, only a very small selection of projects are shown here due to obsolescence.
#webdesign #graphic-design #webdevelopment
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VPRO Tegenlicht
At VPRO Tegenlicht I was part of the online editorial team. As part of the Online Editorial team I supported the editors and supported each documentary by writing journalistic articles, creating video interviews, maintaining the website and maintain the social media channels.
#interviewing #writing #video-editing #socialmedia
Article: 'Voetbal is kapot gemaakt' Interview: 'Oprichter van Peerby' All articles