Marc van Neerven

Independent Software Business Consultant

Neerventure.com

Helping startups & scale-ups with their technical strategy, in terms of (Native) Cloud Solutions Architecture, Digital Transformation, Agile, Team Growth, Governance, Change Management, etc.

Founder & CTO

Mentoring (aspiring) CTOs on leadership, cultural, strategic, psychological, and systemic aspects of the CTO role.

CTO Mentor

World of WOW

Chief Technology Officer (Fractional)

Advising WOW on B2C SaaS development & scaling.

Strategic Board Advisor

Qogni Technologies

Development (PWA, AI, Cloud) and SaaS Strategy

CTO and Partner

Helping Qogni with the next steps of their Health Platform and Movement

Knights Absorb - Learning

Helping with software strategy and product development

Interim CTO (Fractional)

Pure Web Foundation

Doing extraordinary stuff while keeping close to official web standards....

Founder, Lead Architect & CTO

ISV Canvas

Presenting an assessment tool for Software Tech (ISVs, Startups, Scaleups) to validate their technical maturity in 7 key areas and providing guidance for growth.

Microsoft

For Microsoft, I assess startups' technology status using a Tech Canvas I developed, loosely based on Lean Canvas and Business Model Canvas.

Independent Startup/Scaleup advisor

Mentoring scale-up companies in the Microsoft for Startups' Amsterdam Scale Up program.

Scale Up Mentor

MT/Sprout

Writing blogs about the life of a CTO at Startups and Scaleups.

Startup Expert

Get-e

Providing strategic advice on Software Architecture, Cloud Fit, Processes and Team Structure.

Senior Advisor to the CTO

Adapta

Helping to realize Adapta's ambitious plans with their healthcare super app

Interim Chief Technology Officer

Fractional CTO 💡 Top Startups Voice⚡ Helping startups make better SaaS

I'm an experienced SaaS CTO, working on a 'Fractional' basis, meaning that companies can hire me part-time as their Interim CTO, or as an advisor to the board. 

I work for startups, scaleups, ISVs and other software companies, or consultancies turning into SaaS companies.

My work is transformational: when I leave, a company should be better off in terms of their (tech) strategy and/or operational excellence.

Before becoming a CTO, I have been a solutions and cloud architect. I still code, as an open source contributor, and sometimes for 'my' startups, doing Proof-of-Concepts.

I'm a Web Standards evangelist, and a Social Impact Lover. 

I've seen it all, with more than 30 years of experience in Software Development, and I'm now focusing on Native Cloud as a natural fit for startups and scaleups.

I write a lot about the life of a CTO, and about the Modern Web.

Writing blogs about the life of a CTO at Startups and Scaleups. 

Dear Network, we need your help 🙏🏼

Pure Web Foundation is building an open-sourced Pure Design System.
PDS is a layered, standards-based way to kickstart web app projects without vendor lock-in and without runtime dependencies.

The Three Layers of PDS (all optional):

🎨 Styles
- Deterministic global CSS generated from a single JavaScript config (your SSoT)
- Zero-specificity architecture using :where()
- Usable as plain CSS files or via AdoptedStyleSheets
- “Live” mode with automatic injection for rapid testing
- Works with any HTML, any framework
- CLI tooling for static asset generation with zero runtime dependency

🚀 Progressive Enhancements
- Selector-based automatic upgrades to semantic HTML
- Add ultra-light functionality where a full component would be overkill
- Works through both Light DOM and Shadow DOM
- No framework, no black box runtime, no polyfills

🧩 Lazy-loaded Web Components
- Auto-defined on first encounter (or predefined - your choice)
- 100% optional
- Play nicely alongside ANY UI library


ℹ️ We’re currently in closed BETA. If you’re interested in helping, testing, or contributing, let us know.

We're also looking for individuals and organizations who want to help us spread the word.

The PDS initiative was sparked during actual conversations in startups about the perceived benefits of the underlying stacks many AI-based tools like Lovable and UX Pilot use. 

In a world where bloated frameworks and utility-class-driven HTML corruption seems to be the norm, we’re creating a real alternative.

An alternative for those who understand the long-term tech debt behind those choices, and who want sustainable, standards-based solutions instead.

Do you have ideas around publicity/promotion/featured articles/support: contact me, Marc van Neerven.

Using mentions because of the abominable reach LinkedIn has been giving creators who can't even get to 1% of their followers lately - thanks to 'the algo' 😔...

Christian Martin Nies, Adrian Stanek, Marcel Hageman, Kevin Bonett, Jérôme B., Tom Valk, Artem Maiorov, Danny Moerkerke, Stefan Judis, Westbrook Johnson, Ariel Salminen, Hajime Y., Kyle Simpson, Alex Russell, Bruce Lawson, Ilia Mikhailov, Itzchak Sabo, Rob Eisenberg, Scott Jehl, Tammy Everts, Patrick Brosset, Open Web Advocacy, Andy Bell, Justin Willis, Burton Smith, Karlijn Löwik, Erwin Hofman

#puredesignsystem

Fractional CTO | AI Mindset, Human Heart, SaaS Soul

Just a couple of recent updates in Pure Design System (PDS):

✅ Figma Token Export
✅ Markdown support in Rich Text Editor
✅ Added more Storybook stories
✅ Cleaned up unneeded Storybook styling

PDS is an open-source initiative for standards lovers, that helps you work WITH the standards instead of around them.

By the way, we're getting great feedback & support from a growing list of experts, including Scott Criswell, Hajime Y. and Kevin Bonett. Let me know if I can add you to the list and in what way you could contribute!

#puredesignsystem #webstandards

Come on, give it a go. 

This is how easy it is to get going with #puredesignsystem.

ℹ️ Note: the 'live' option in PDS is what's being used in the Storybook instance (link in comment) as well, to showcase preset/theme/config changing. In a production environment, you'll use 'static' and the CLI to generate assets. 

😃 Optionally, if all you want is (SSoT) config-based styles generation, you can go zero runtime dependencies with PDS. 

See the repo readmes (link in comment).

https://lnkd.in/ez-vYW2W

Got a great reaction about Pure Design System today 😍:

... "I'm enjoying diving into PDS; Web components are on my hit list for next year, both personally to explore more, and with my team to see where we can proactively fend off the frameworks."

... “proactively fend off the frameworks.”

That line stuck with me.

Over the last 2–3 years, as a Fractional CTO, I’ve seen multiple teams do exactly that. 

Not as an ideological choice, but as a pragmatic one.

They chose Web Components, native browser capabilities, and a standards-first approach. 

Not to be edgy. Simply to reduce complexity.

What surprised many of them was how quickly things clicked.

I keep hearing the same reflections back:
“This fits my mental model much better.”
“There’s less cognitive load than with React.”
“I finally understand what’s actually happening in the browser.”

No virtual DOM abstractions to reason about. No framework-specific lifecycle gymnastics. 

Just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript behaving predictably.

Once teams internalize that the browser is the platform, not something to work around, they rarely want to go back.

It’s interesting how often the real win turns out to be subtraction, not addition.

Curious to see how many teams in 2025 will make this shift deliberately, instead of accidentally discovering it after burnout.

#webcomponents #webstandards #puredesignsystem
Pure Web Foundation


Image credit: arselectronica on Flickr.

Just a reminder for great Laravel developers in the Thessaloniki area: Qogni is still looking for you!

https://lnkd.in/ehJaQ7gv

Yet another example of Apple being Apple - subtly trying to keep its part of the native app duopoly as profitable as it has been for the last 15 years - and if the web app experience has to suffer for that, so be it 😡.

#openweb Open Web Advocacy

Regulator-Botherer, Thought-bleeder, and Open Web bore at Vivaldi browser. Co-founder of Open Web Advocacy (now Emeritus). Previously Barnardos, Babylon, Wix, Opera, Solicitors Regulation Authority.

It's almost as if Apple want to hobble PWAs just enough to make them unviable, but functional enough to hoodwink regulators that there is a distribution channel outside the App Store and the Apple Tax! Picture in Picture does not work in Home Screen Web Apps (PWA) on iOS/iPadOS. "Multiple developers have independently reported this issue over the past four years … This significantly degrades the value proposition of Home Screen web apps compared to:
 - The same experience in Safari on the same device
 - PWAs on other platforms where PiP works in standalone mode".

https://lnkd.in/ePH7nKyz

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