Dutch Magazine Sprout Awards Martijn Arets “Best Entrepreneur 2011.”

A Dutch magazine called Sprout nominated 20 entrepreneurs as the best entrepreneurs of 2011. Readers were then asked to vote for their favorite entry. Martijn Arets, whose project became first successfully completed crowdfunding project on Sybmid, mobilized the readership and won Sprout's title of “Best Entrepreneur of 2011.”

Arets's life took an unexpected turn when he quit his job and traveled around Europe in a VW camper for 5 months, interviewing the entrepreneurs and CEO’s of 20 famous brands including LEGO, Adidas, and Skype. He posted his experiences on his own site, and published weekly articles in De Pers, a Dutch national newspaper. He targeted authentic European brands and discussed with the industry leaders philosophies, strategies and what was in store for the future.

He wrote a book that chronicled his journey through the European brand countryside. Arets decided to have his book translated into English, and using the Symbid crowdfunding platform persuaded 171 national and international investors to acquire €20,000. Symbid is an equity-based crowdfunding platform, meaning Arets's investors are equity shareholders and will share the profits generated by the book.

Since his journey, Arets has become an advisor in the field of brand strategy. He has the knack for engaging large groups of people through social media and tends to challenge conventions. These abilities helped Martijn win Sprout's “Best entrepreneur of 2011.”