Experience
From first foundations to global scale — start-up, scale-up, hypergrowth, IPO and public-company growth.
Different stages bring different problems. Experience helps you recognise which ones matter now — and which ones can wait.
Enough structure for where you are. Enough foresight for where you're going.
The experience behind the advice
Martijn has spent more than 30 years inside international technology businesses — from established global software companies to some of the industry's fastest-growing names.
He has built and led legal functions, worked alongside executive teams, operated through IPOs and years of public-company growth, and experienced first-hand how the needs of a business change as it scales.
Working inside one of the major global software companies of its time — gaining first-hand experience of how a large international organisation structures governance, policies, processes and legal support at scale.
Legal leadership in a fast-growing international software company — taking responsibility for Legal in Europe, working as part of the European Management Team and closely with the business as the company scaled internationally as a public company.
Legal leadership within an established international software business — working within mature corporate structures and established processes across international operations.
International legal leadership through IPO and years of sustained double-digit growth — scaling Legal from a small European operation into a global function supporting the business across every region outside North America.
Built and led the European legal function during hypergrowth — from pre-IPO through IPO and continued rapid growth as a public company — working as part of the European Management Team and alongside regional executive leadership.
Senior legal leadership across EMEA and APAC — professionalising and developing the international legal function, supporting the Nasdaq listing through SPAC and strengthening governance and compliance across international operations.
Experience in practice
Dandelion works with businesses at different stages of growth and change — from start-ups putting the right foundations in place and scale-ups dealing with increasing complexity to established businesses that need experienced legal leadership or a senior perspective.
The answer is not to introduce everything a larger company may eventually need. It is to understand what matters at this stage, put the right things in place and anticipate what is likely to come next.
Senior legal and strategic involvement as part of the leadership team as the business, product and foundations for growth continue to develop.
Board-level and legal involvement in an early-stage technology company as it builds its business, commercial model and foundations for growth.
Senior business and legal advice on governance, structure and complex issues, together with mentoring and support for the company's in-house legal counsel.
A start-up does not need the legal infrastructure of a global public company. But some early decisions, structures and standards matter precisely because of what may come later.
Experience helps tell the difference.
And the perspective has never been Legal alone.
Co-founding and running an advisory business added another perspective — working with entrepreneurs, investors and portfolio companies on the business itself, not simply the legal questions around it.
Experience should make things simpler, not more complicated.
Thirty years of experience should not result in thirty years' worth of process being imposed on every company.
It should help recognise patterns sooner, ask better questions and know where the real risks tend to hide. It should also help distinguish between what a business genuinely needs now, what it should prepare for next — and what can safely wait.
The right answer for a five-person start-up is rarely the right answer for a global public company. The value lies in knowing the difference.
