Founder & CEO · KERN-IT · Since 2012
I build the digital core of companies.
The operating system of their business, the layer everything else runs on.
I speak three languages: business, technology and people.
I have supported the growth of several Belgian companies without multiplying their headcount, some for more than fifteen years.
Exploratory · no strings attached
I step in when a company has outgrown its tools.
Too much Excel, too many manual operations, too much critical knowledge locked in a few heads, a business that has become too specific for standard software. Through KERN-IT, I build the custom business system that structures operations, automates what slows you down and supports growth without multiplying headcount. My ground: SMEs and mid-size companies of 10 to 500 people, in Belgium and beyond.
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Who I am
After more than eighteen years in the field, I wear all three hats at KERN-IT: CEO, CTO and CPO. Strategy and business, technical architecture, product. I set the vision, I lay down the architectures and I lead the team. My Architect profile sums up how I work: what I love above all is strategy, building complex systems that last, ecosystems. I think in systems, scenarios and trajectories. But resolutely pragmatic: head in the stars, feet on the ground.
I am fluent in two languages, business and technology: marketing, go-to-market, pricing and finance as much as architecture, code, infrastructure and AI. What truly drives me: imagining and building something that lasts, as much as helping the people around me grow. I deeply enjoy management.
Outside of work
Science fiction is my universe: books, series and films, none escape me. On the gaming side: strategy games and space simulators, no surprise there. My head has always been in the future, and I almost regret being born too early. The rest of the time, I am in the mountains, or in maker mode, building things with my hands.
My five strengths · CliftonStrengths
Four belong to strategic thinking.
01
Ideation
Fascinated by ideas. I see connections others miss.
02
Futuristic
I picture the future clearly and bring others along.
03
Strategic
I spot the paths quickly, I pick the most effective one.
04
Intellection
I like to think in depth, to give thought its time.
05
Arranger
Organized and flexible: I align people and resources.
MBTI profile · INTJ
The Architect: long-term vision, systems thinking, insistence on work done right.
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What I believe
We do not replace your tools, we extend them where they stop: those 20% of processes specific to your business that no standard software covers. That is where your real value lives, and where teams end up juggling ten Excel spreadsheets and tools that do not talk to each other.
AI came on top of that foundation. One rule suffers no exception: no digital brain without a heart underneath. Placed on chaos, AI accelerates the chaos; placed on order, it amplifies it. It is an amplifier, not a shortcut. Most AI projects fail because they tried to build the brain before the heart.
Read the article: "Before AI, build the core. No core, no brain" ↗
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How I work
One compass: pragmatism. The right tool for the right problem, without dogmatism. Everything starts from reality and impact, never from a technology religion. The rest follows.
01 · Value first
Everything starts with real value, which we look for together: business, user, strategic. Without clear value, we do not build. A co-creation, not an order form.
02 · KISS & YAGNI
I do not like over-engineering, or over-designing, or coding for coding's sake. I build nothing useless.
03 · I grow software
I do not deliver big applications, I grow them. Lean, step by step, keeping R&D separate from development.
04 · Code that lasts
I code to last. I only rush when the value truly justifies it. No debt blowing up later.
05 · Against feature creep
Against the feature race: a remote control with 32 buttons when you use 7 of them is a failure. Straight to the point.
06 · High standards
I would rather turn down a project than deliver something I would not be proud of. Work done right, not just done.
Building software is like building a house: sometimes you have to let the concrete cure before moving on, or everything collapses.
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Work with me
The name says it all: kern is the kernel, the core, and also the seed you grow. Three doors, one obsession: a digital core that lasts.
Door 1
KERN-IT, the agency
Custom software development: web, AI, automation. Four poles: KERNCore (digital core), KernWeb, Kern4Good, KERNLAB.
kern-it.be ↗Door 2 · directly with me
Fractional CTO / CPO
I drive your technical and product strategy without you hiring a full-time C-level: framing, architecture, trade-offs, upskilling of the team.
One to two days a week, over 3 to 6 renewable months, for SMEs and mid-size companies. A commitment structured into my calendar, not squeezed into spare corners. We start with an exploratory conversation, then a framing.
Door 3
KERNLAB & products
From idea to SaaS: explore, prototype, launch, or take over a product already built.
See the lab ↓18+
years of experience
100+
projects
50+
clients
10+
industries
A dozen industries digitalized in depth, from telecom to medical. I have supported the growth of several Belgian companies, some for more than fifteen years. My method transposes, it is not tied to a niche.
They have trusted me: Ikoab, Ciaco, Cushman & Wakefield, King Baudouin Foundation, Liberation Route Europe, Venn Telecom, Delsart, Eticwood, and others.
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Find, build, grow
I am first and foremost an entrepreneur. I do not just serve clients: what drives me is finding ideas, planning them, building them, growing them, and assembling the teams that carry them. The KERNLAB is my playground: that is where I turn ideas into products. We move forward on proof, not assumptions.
My products
KERNEL
The internal operating system that runs KERN-IT.
A.M.A
Internal AI agent, born in 2018, relaunched with LLMs.
PeppolOutbox
Compliant Peppol e-invoicing SaaS.
BarnAI
AI-powered job matching platform.
In development & explorations
Past projects
Some made it, others were stopped. Each one taught me something.
KernFusion, my startup studio
I validate more ideas than I can industrialize alone. When a product has proven itself, I look for an operator to turn it into a real company: the tech already exists, you take the controls. That too is growing: building teams and leaders around what we have built.
Talk about taking one over ↗K·06
What I write
I write about the craft: AI placed on order rather than chaos, development that starts before the code, the ERP put back in its rightful place. A few pieces.
AI · Digital core
Before AI, build the core. No core, no brain
Read ↗
Method
Why software development starts long before the code
Read ↗
Digital core
Turning Excel into a platform: digitalization step by step
Read ↗
ERP · Positioning
Odoo: a powerful ERP, as long as it stays in its rightful place
Read ↗
Web · CMS
Has your WordPress site gone full 'Gremlin' mode?
Read ↗
AI · Agentic
Meet A.M.A: when an AI agent turns into a true team member
Read ↗
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From strategy to code
It all started on an old Commodore 64. I have been coding since I was eight, and I was selling my first software at sixteen. That depth is not my product: it is what makes my strategy credible. I know whether a vision holds before writing a line of code. I have digitalized a dozen industries in depth, from telecom to medical, and personally led integrations, from a simple API to Starlink constellations. My real value is a method that transposes, not a niche.
Strategy · product · business
Industries digitalized
Tech & infrastructure
This is only a glimpse. I do not collect technologies: I pick the right one for the problem, and I learn fast whatever is missing. I favor open source, mastered and durable: no proprietary dependency, no lock-in.
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Career & education
I am first and foremost an entrepreneur. My path combines engineering, management and design, and I never left the material: I still code. Three strands of learning that answer each other, from designing systems to leading teams.
Experience
KERN-IT
Founder & CEO / CTPO (Chief Technical & Product Officer)
Brussels-based software company. Digital core, AI and custom automation. 100+ projects, 50+ clients.
Elium (ex-Knowledge Plaza)
Software Engineer
Knowledge sharing platform, Belgian Startup of the Year 2011. Ten years on a real SaaS product.
Hyperweek · Geneva
Senior Fullstack Developer · freelance
HW 4.0 with Whatever SA (Elium), deployed for notrehistoire.ch. AWS infrastructure, Python / Flask.
Team Challenge
Co-founder & CTO
Sports events and team building. Board, strategy, event management back office.
Bookmysport
Co-founder & CTO
Sports activity booking platform. First product venture.
Education
Solvay Brussels School
Executive Master in Management · Leadership, Finance, Strategy, Digital Transformation
UX Design Institute
Certificate in UX Design Fundamentals
Process Communication Model · PCM
Communication and management (profile psychology), with Sensink · Anne Burniaux
École polytechnique de Bruxelles · ULB
Master, Computer Science Engineering · Magna Cum Laude
Thesis: genetic algorithms applied to logic circuit design
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Frequently asked questions
What is a digital core?
A digital core is a company's custom business system: the software layer that structures its specific operations, the ones no standard software covers. It complements the ERP and existing tools without replacing them, and serves as the foundation for automation and AI.
What is a fractional CTO or CPO?
A fractional CTO/CPO is an experienced technology or product executive who joins a company one to two days a week, without a full-time hire. They carry the technology strategy, the architecture and the product trade-offs, for a fraction of the cost of a permanent C-level.
What companies do you work with?
SMEs and mid-size companies of 10 to 500 people, mainly in Belgium, that have outgrown their tools. A dozen industries digitalized in depth, from telecom to medical: the method transposes, it is not tied to a niche.
How does a collaboration start?
With a twenty-minute exploratory conversation, no strings attached, bookable directly in my calendar. We qualify the problem: a tool, a method, or a real digital core to build. Next comes a short framing stage, before any proposal.
What is the difference between working with you and with an agency?
KERN-IT is my agency: when the need is a complete project, the agency carries it, with its team. The fractional CTO/CPO is me, directly inside your company, over time, on strategy and trade-offs. The two often combine.
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If your tools hold back your growth more than they carry it, you know where to find me.
Book twenty minutes in my calendar, or write to me. An exploratory conversation, no strings attached: we will see whether your problem calls for a tool, a method, or a real digital core to build.