About

De Chipskast Why “De Chipskast”? Chips, as in computer chips. The little things my software has been keeping busy for twenty years. Chips, as in crisps. Whenever my kids come along to the office, someone hands them a bag. Their conclusion: dad's job is eating chips. Professionally. A chipskast is the cupboard where the chips are kept. Both kinds are welcome here. Psst: wiggle your mouse around for a while. is the independent practice of Jurriaan Persyn, based in Ghent, Belgium. For twenty years I've built web products from both sides of the table: as a developer, as a co-founder and CTO, and as a product leader.

What drives me is building, using and improving interesting applications. I get the most satisfaction from seeing something I helped shape go live and make a difference for the people using it.

What I bring

1. Engineering and product in one person

   I've been a lead developer, a CTO and a senior product manager. I can weigh what is valuable against what is feasible, and translate between both worlds.

2. Every stage of a company, as co-founder

   I co-founded Engagor when we were two people in an attic, and stayed with it through three acquisitions: by a larger US software company, then by a publicly listed one, and finally a take-private by private equity. At Timefold, I've since helped with investment rounds and the due diligence that comes with them. From the first customers to a global enterprise of thousands, I know what each stage needs, and what it doesn't.

3. Quick to the core of a problem

   I get to the heart of a problem fast, by asking the right questions and looking at the code, the data and the customers myself. So my advice is pragmatic and holds up in practice, and I can jump in and get things moving right away, also when things are a bit chaotic.

4. Calm and constructive

   I bring people together around decisions, mentor teams, and care about a pace that is sustainable for the long run.

5. Built for scale

   I've been at the heart of scaling, twice: a social network that grew to 70+ million members, and a platform processing millions of social media messages for enterprise customer care teams. Both times as part of a strong team, and often at the wheel.

Product leadership

1. 2024 - now

   Timefold

   VP of Product

   Timefold makes planning optimization easy. It builds on the open-source Timefold Solver, and offers an API platform on top of it. That platform solves complex scheduling and routing problems, like field service routing, employee shift scheduling, and pickup and delivery routing.

   I lead product across these planning models: strategy and roadmap, the platform itself, explaining why a plan looks the way it does, documentation, and go-to-market together with sales and marketing. I also work on how AI assistants can help planners understand and experiment with their plans.

2. 2022 - 2024

   Qualtrics

   Senior Product Manager, Qualtrics Social Connect (formerly Engagor)

   After an acquisition, I led the team responsible for integrating the product into the Qualtrics suite, for a product line with an ARR of over €13M. I made sure technical considerations were part of every product decision. Some of the services and design choices we made live on in, or shaped, other parts of the Qualtrics platform.

3. 2015 - 2021

   Clarabridge

   CTO, Clarabridge Engage (formerly Engagor)

   After an acquisition, I kept leading the technical team and took ownership of the product roadmap of our digital customer care platform. We built a self-service chatbot and agent experience, managed partnerships with Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter, and grew revenue beyond a $10M annual run rate. As the most senior leader in the Ghent office, I also shaped local people policies, and supported the due diligence for the next acquisition.

Technical leadership

1. 2011 - 2015

   Engagor

   Co-founder & CTO

   Co-founded a platform for enterprise brands to monitor and respond to their customers on social media, with customers in telecom, banking and transportation. In those years, we helped reshape how customers and brands talk to each other through social media. Technically that meant high-volume ingestion of social media messages and a real-time interface for large customer care teams. The company grew to 35 people, about 15 of them in my technical team, and was acquired by Clarabridge.

2. 2006 - 2011

   Netlog

   Lead Developer

   Joined the European social network early and helped grow it to over 70 million members, at a time it ranked among the most visited websites in the world. It gave me a front-row seat to how social media brings people together: finding friends, sharing what they love, and building communities across borders. I built its database sharding layer, the friend feed, a gaming portal and brand pages, worked with Google on their activity protocol, and later led a team of web developers.

Advisory

1. 2026 - now

   ergotherapie.gent

   Advisor

   The practice of Laura Bogaert, occupational therapist in Ghent, specialised in hypermobility, chronic pain and fatigue. I advise on the website: structure and pages per specialisation, findability in search engines and AI assistants, analytics, and a build and release workflow.

2. 2024

   Rookoo.ai

   Advisor

   Advised and helped kickstart Rookoo.ai, an AI-powered platform that automates event inquiries, availability checks and bookings for event venues.

3. 2015 - 2018

   Foodpairing

   Advisory Board Member

   Foodpairing analyses the flavour and aroma of ingredients to predict which combinations work, for chefs and food companies developing new dishes and products. I helped the then early-stage start-up tackle technical hurdles in quarterly brainstorm sessions.

For education and my full background, see my LinkedIn profile.