Wintersporten.nl

Wieteke and her co-founder saw an opportunity: they acquired Wintersporten.nl (a premium domain in the Dutch winter sports market) with a vision to build a simple affiliate website.

But they faced multiple challenges:

• Commoditized market: Every competitor looked identical (red, blue, white, static layouts)
• No differentiation: Nothing to make them memorable in a crowded space
• Limited resources: Wieteke was juggling two other businesses and two kids
• Zero technical capacity: No way to build the platform themselves

The real problem? They had a valuable domain and market opportunity, but no way to build a platform that could actually compete… Let alone dominate the Dutch winter sports market.

We didn't just build what they asked for: we helped them see what was possible and transformed their vision from a simple affiliate site into a complete marketplace platform.

Strategic Expansion:

• Challenged their initial brief and showed them the bigger opportunity
• Helped them think 3-5 steps ahead at every decision point
• Transformed scope from basic affiliate site to comprehensive platform

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Platform Development:

• Built a visually distinctive brand that breaks category norms (fun, modern, memorable vs. boring industry standard)
• Designed complete user experience for the entire winter sports journey (destination research, trip planning, booking)
• Developed high-converting platform optimized for affiliate partnerships
• Integrated comprehensive SEO and content strategy from day one

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Ongoing Technical Partnership:

• Current phase: Integrating travel provider APIs with extensive search functionality
• Building towards 100+ affiliate partnerships
• Scaling technical infrastructure for marketplace growth

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Market Entry Success:

• ✓ First sale in Week 3: Generated revenue before official launch
• ✓ Organic discovery: Customers finding and converting without paid marketing
• ✓ Team expansion: Grew from 2 founders to 5-person team
• ✓ Category differentiation: Created "the only fun, modern winter sports platform" in Netherlands

Platform Foundation:

• ✓ Built for 100+ affiliates: Architecture designed to scale with affiliate partnerships
• ✓ API integrations in progress: Connecting travel providers for comprehensive booking
• ✓ Complete user journey: From inspiration to booking in one platform
• ✓ SEO-optimized from launch: Built for organic growth and discovery

Strategic Transformation:

• From: Simple affiliate website idea
• To: Comprehensive marketplace platform positioned to dominate Dutch winter sports market
• Partnership model: Ongoing technical partner building features as they scale

Client Impact:"I fall in love every time I see it. It's a masterpiece. Every step we thought of, you guys added three steps more to it."

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