Interview with Kevin Valk about entrepreneurship

Kevin Valk is founder of Codian, a SaaS solution that can be easily integrated in your Continuous Integration pipeline. Every change made in the design, source code and infrastructure are analysed for security issues by humans and an ever improving AI. Both the security issues and possible mitigations are delivered to you directly in your issue tracker.

Kevin has graduated StartupLeap, and now he is part of UtrechtInc Tech Validation program. Founding his company was a big step in his career as he had to quit his job and start his company full time.

Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur?

I chose to become an entrepreneur because at all places I worked before, it just wasn’t “complete” enough for me. The work I did was unsatisfactory and I always wanted more. If that was how I felt, I decided I should try to build what I want.

What’s the coolest thing about being an entrepreneur?

You have the power to decide on each little thing!

How do you keep up your motivation?

Collect others around me that are “part” of my startup. That way I am not doing it only for me, but also for others.

Tell us an interesting moment in your entrepreneur experience

I called an investor/mentor from UtrechtInc before the mentor matching because I really did not know what to do anymore. We had a great talk, super in depth, very educational. The person did not know me, I did not know him, but we “clicked” on a certain level and that was fascinating to me.

How did you solve a problem/crisis as a founder?

One step at a time.

Describe your typical work week

Trying to build a prototype, handle my pilot customer, meetup with my potential co-founder to work on the future. Work on the company wiki. Try to meet with potential other co-founders.