Robert Gaal

All-round webdeveloper & blogger

Rotterdam Area, Netherlands

Current
  • Founder/Contributing Editor at The Next Web
  • Co-founder/Advisor at Alchemyst
  • Co-founder/CEO at Wakoopa
  • Owner at 53MILES
  • Co-founder at The Roomware Project
Past
  • Founder/Chief Editor at BlueAce
  • Jury Board Member at The Next Web Awards
  • Senior developer at Stillpoint Media
  • All-round developer at De Internet Programmeurs
Education
  • Self-taught
Connections
294 connections
Industry
Internet
Websites

Robert Gaal’s Summary

All-round web developer, designer and writer. Managed and build multiple (social) applications. Currently co-founder at Wakoopa, a social network about software usage, while organizing multiple meetings and (open-source) initiatives like The Roomware Project.

Robert Gaal’s Specialties:

programming, ruby, php, design, interface, social networks, startups, web 2.0, openid, widgets, blogs, api


Robert Gaal’s Experience

  • Founder/Contributing Editor

    The Next Web

    (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Media Production industry)

    January 2008Present (5 months)

    The Next Web is a weblog that came out of a conference in 2006, and is focused around giving international startups and the entrepreneurs behind them the limelight. I joined them in 2008 when it merged with BlueAce.

  • Co-founder/Advisor

    Alchemyst

    (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

    January 2008Present (5 months)

    Alchemyst (alchemyst.org) is a roomware experience design firm in Amsterdam. We use the technology of The Roomware Project and bring it into venues and events. For that we won a Spinaward for Best Mobile Concept in 2008 together with Hyves.

  • Co-founder/CEO

    Wakoopa

    (Public Company; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

    January 2007Present (1 year 5 months)

    Wakoopa is a social network site for software users. It allows you to track what you've been using on your desktop, share that with others, and discover new cool applications and games.

  • Owner

    53MILES

    (Privately Held; Myself Only; Internet industry)

    October 2006Present (1 year 8 months)

    53MILES (previously named M80) is my own personal holding company.

  • Co-founder

    The Roomware Project

    (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

    September 2006Present (1 year 9 months)

    The Roomware Project (http://roomwareproject.org) is a open-source framework for interactive spaces. It's aimed at providing developers with a general open-source server platform to deploy their room based applications on, without inventing the wheel all over again. For instance: a SMS music voting system, a RFID dating service or a bluetooth communication app. Download the server software, install your own applications, arrange the hardware, and go!

  • Founder/Chief Editor

    BlueAce

    (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

    March 2005January 2008 (2 years 11 months)

    BlueAce was the leading Dutch weblog on Web 2.0 business and technology. We also organized the Dutch Web 2.0 Awards every year, where over 150 business and 50.000 voters have already participated in. It was acquired by The Next Web in January 2008.

  • Jury Board Member

    The Next Web Awards

    (Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

    February 2007June 2007 (5 months)

    The public awards for upcoming services, that will change the web as we know it. Hosted by The Next Web Conference, June 1st in Amsterdam.

  • Senior developer

    Stillpoint Media

    (Public Company; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

    February 2006September 2006 (8 months)

    Developed and managed numerous projects like Beeplet, eKudos and OriginalSignal.

  • All-round developer

    De Internet Programmeurs

    (Public Company; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

    September 2003February 2005 (1 year 6 months)

    Worked with clients such as Osram and Lips on their back- and frontend presentation.


Robert Gaal’s Education

  • Self-taught

    Autodidacticism, Information Sciences, Economics

    After finishing high-school I took some time off to find out what I wanted to do when I "grew up" and started on web development immediately. I never looked back.


Additional Information

Robert Gaal’s Websites:

Robert Gaal’s Interests:

entrepreneurship, technology, webapplications, digital culture, mobile software, web 2.0, social software, rubyonrails, design, interface

Robert Gaal’s Groups:

Geek Dinner, Lunch 2.0, OpenCoffee, Roomware

  •    Kings of Code | A Gathering for Web Developers member
  •    The Next Web Conference & Blog member
  •    Dutch Media Professionals member
  •    The Roomware Project member

Robert Gaal’s Honors:

Businessweeks Europe's Top Young Entrepreneur, 2007
The Next Web Awards Onstage Startup, 2008
Spinaward Best Mobile Concept, 2008


Robert Gaal’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

  • new ventures
  • expertise requests
  • business deals
  • reference requests
  • getting back in touch

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