About Me

From Tax Law to Entrepreneurship

Born in the Netherlands, de Vries began working at his family’s supermarket at age 11. While earning a tax law degree at the University of Groningen, he promoted the university clubs’ parties and events. A summer job in Spain selling event tickets on commission proved transformative—it was the first time his income directly reflected his effort. His boss mentored him through business books, planting seeds that would shape his entrepreneurial approach.

After graduating, de Vries co-founded an event supplies company with partners. The business grew from five people to over 200, teaching him early lessons about scaling, delegation, and the challenges of rapid growth. As the company expanded, he noticed inefficiencies in logistics, transportation, and other areas — each gap became an opportunity for a new venture.

Building Through Market Gaps

De Vries’s business philosophy centers on a simple principle: find where supply doesn’t meet demand, either in quantity or quality, and build a solution. This approach has led him across industries—from real estate and transportation to wellness products and artificial intelligence.

When his growing companies faced unreliable logistics partners, he started a transportation company in Poland. When he saw quality gaps in Portugal’s real estate market despite rising tourism, he co-founded Casa Vista Real Estate with Nick Houwen. When businesses struggled to identify and implement AI tools, he built Daitabase.ai as a marketplace and implementation platform.

Unlike many modern entrepreneurs, de Vries rejects the idea of building businesses remotely. He maintains physical presence across his operations. He believes in-person interaction captures nuances that video calls miss—body language, informal conversations, and the kind of trust that only develops face to face.

“I don’t think it’s possible in any business,” he says of remote startups. “I’m not saying you can’t work remotely from time to time, but in a very large part, it’s impossible to do a startup remotely.”

Vision, Strategy & Leadership

Based in Tavira, Portugal, de Vries lives on a mini-farm with his girlfriend, raising livestock and growing vegetables. This connection to the land informs his real estate development strategy through Casa Vista Real Estate, where he and partners Nick Houwen and a third shareholder are developing multiple projects across the Algarve—padel courts in Loulé, residential apartments in Olhão, a multi-functional complex in Silves, and villas in Ferragudo.

The developments aim to serve both international buyers, particularly Americans drawn to Portugal’s golf tourism, and local residents seeking quality, affordable options. This dual focus reflects de Vries’s belief that developments benefiting only tourists or foreigners fail to serve communities properly.

De Vries allocates capital strategically: 20–30% to real estate, 20–30% to startup investments, 20–30% to reinvesting in existing companies, and 10% to personal expenses. His angel investing relies on network connections who share deal flow over informal conversations. He focuses on pre-seed rounds with 10–12 year horizons, looking for founders addressing genuine market needs.

Africa holds particular interest. “The opportunities there are endless,” he observes, noting infrastructure gaps that create openings for patient capital and local partnerships.

As businesses grew from garage operations to companies with hundreds of employees, de Vries’s leadership style evolved. Early on, he micromanaged everything. Growth required hiring C-suite professionals and stepping back to let them lead.

“The leadership part was actually that I needed to go more to the background, to leave my business a little bit more alone where possible so that they can step in,” he reflects. He now focuses on high-level strategy and new opportunities while trusting management teams with daily operations.

He hires for hunger to learn, team fit, and a constructive approach to disagreement. “They must always be a good fit with the team. Of course, there can be arguments, and people don’t always need to align. But they must accept each other’s opinions and look for solutions.”

Angel Investing

De Vries built and exited his first ventures. Now he backs the people doing the same.

Around 30 investments to date. Some he supports with capital alone. Others bring him to the board table, working directly with founders on the decisions that actually move the needle. He has been on that side of the table. He knows what useful capital looks like — and what it doesn’t.

The portfolio runs across sectors he finds genuinely interesting. A drone start-up in Germany building autonomous systems for commercial and industrial use. Underwater data centres using natural cooling to solve the infrastructure problem created by AI compute demand. Red-light therapy for longevity, in partnership with barrelsauna.nl. Private debt deals, most recently financing real estate in Vienna — collateral-backed, asymmetric returns, a deliberate counterweight to the venture risk elsewhere in the portfolio.

More recently, he has been moving into fintech and blockchain, which he views as the rails of the next financial system rather than the noise around it. Health tech, where software is finally catching up with biology. And agentic AI, where he believes the real value will accrue not in the models themselves but in the systems built around them that actually do work.

The remaining bets span frontier hardware, alternative finance, consumer health, and a handful that don’t fit neatly anywhere.

What he looks for is simple: operators building something they couldn’t be talked out of. Capital is a commodity. Conviction isn’t.

Commitment to Animal Welfare

Beyond business, de Vries dedicates significant time and resources to animal welfare in Portugal. After noticing different cultural attitudes toward pet care, he connected with Animal Rescue Algarve near his home. He’s raised funds through Christmas campaigns, fostered seven dogs in recent months (in addition to two permanent family members), and adopted rescue animals, including a duck named Donald and a rabbit named Snowball.

He’s also supported Pangea elephant sanctuary in Portugal’s Alentejo region, which will provide refuge for captive elephants living in suboptimal conditions across Europe. “All animals should be treated in the most humane way,” he explains, noting elephants’ intelligence and social nature warrant special attention.

Looking Forward

De Vries continues expanding his portfolio with ventures in the United States and plans for South America, Africa, and Australia. His focus remains on identifying inefficiencies, building strong teams, and maintaining physical presence in markets where he invests.

After decades of building businesses, he still works 80 hours weekly — but as he notes, “it doesn’t feel like work.”

A Collector’s Mindset

In his spare time, de Vries collects Pokémon cards, particularly Pikachu variants in Japanese art style. He views the collection through an investor’s lens — cards that bring joy but also hold value if needed in the future. The patience, attention to detail, and strategic thinking required in collecting are parallel to his business approach.