Samuel Dirksz
Applied AI & Automation Designer
Startup & SME advisor · digital product strategist · 25+ years building products, companies, and communities.
sammydirksz@gmail.com·+47 966 45 001·linkedin.com/in/samueldirksz
I must understand how things actually work, and I don't stop at the first answer. For 25 years that's driven me to build: founder of four companies, product manager in two startups, and six years as senior advisor at Innovation Norway, where I learned to find out where the shoe actually pinches for the people I worked with. Today I design and ship data-driven AI systems and automations by directing AI tooling, without a traditional coding background, though I've always liked to speak "nerd". I'm at my best at the interface between business and technology, translating both ways.
None of it happens alone. My wife Rena and I left the Dutch rat race eight years ago for a small farm of our own here in Norway: land, quiet, and food we grow ourselves. Still glad we did.
Competence
AI & automation
- Default is not to reinvent the wheel: look for existing building blocks first, from single prompts to complete platforms, and build on top where the license allows.
- Designed and shipped 100+ working builds, among them 30+ custom AI agent workflows combining live data APIs, web crawling, and persistent storage, productized into repeatable client services.
- Built and sold AI-driven SEO and digital-visibility products end to end (analysis, automation, delivery).
- Built agentic pipelines with real engineering decisions baked in: secure credential handling, cost control, validation gates before spend, audit trails.
- Runs MCP server integrations, scheduled automations, and a persistent personal knowledge system.
- Bridge between non-technical teams and AI tooling. Has trained colleagues, clients and founders hands-on.
Claude Code, Codex, Dyad, MCP servers, PyRunner, ActivePieces, n8n, Azure OpenAI (EU) · self-hosted on Coolify / Hetzner
Experience
Where I've worked
Innovation Norway
Senior Advisor
January 2020 – May 2026 · Førde, Norway
Advisor and mentor to early-phase startups and companies, from small local producers to national tech firms. Based at Vekst- og Gründersenteret, the first-line filter for the whole organization.
- Personally assessed around 700 startup grant applications over five years, evaluating business plans, budgets, teams and market potential.
- Four years on Gründertelefonen, the national startup helpline: more than 2,000 conversations, triaging callers and giving direct guidance.
- Built the online course "From Idea to Market" single-handedly when COVID demand outgrew a regional live webinar. Still running nationally today.
- Elected safety representative (verneombud): working environment, Miljøfyrtårn (Eco-Lighthouse) reporting, HMS checklists. Inherited a multi-year reporting backlog, caught it up, and built a routine so it stayed current.
- Digital Business Developer, MinSide product team (2024): recruited and ran a 20-user beta community feeding a six-person dev team; beta launched within six months.
Web design, SEO and AI-visibility consultancy for Norwegian SMEs. Flagship product: the AI Visibility Tracker, tracking how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity describe a client's brand over time. The platform is built on an open source foundation, with my own feature and automation layer on top.
Digital Revisor AS
Product & Project Manager
February 2018 – January 2020 · Førde, Norway
Translated a founder's vision into buildable software. Made the build-versus-buy call to adopt Nextcloud as a foundation rather than building from scratch. The product still runs on it today, as Jointly Office.
Meesterknecht BV
Founder & CEO
2014 – 2017 · Amsterdam
Founded Amsterdam's first road-cycling specialist store, clubhouse and coffee bar. Named one of the "25 favorite bicycle spots in the world" by Soigneur Magazine.
Pristine Fixed Gear
Founder & Owner
2009 – 2014 · Amsterdam
Founded the Netherlands' first fixed-gear specialist shop and Mission Workshop's first EU retailer. Built it into an international destination.
Earlier: Tweakheat, founded at 18, doing custom PC building, repair and game console sales (1996–2007). The Audio Hunt, product manager (2017). Rapha Racing, freelance translator (2014–2018).
Education
Hogeschool Rotterdam
Bachelor, Social Pedagogy
2003–2007
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Psychology
2008–2009
MTS Zuid, Rotterdam
Micro-electronics, Telematics
1991–1995
LTS De Eilanden, Spijkenisse
Electrician, Electrical and Electronics
1987–1990
Languages
Dutch (native) · Norwegian (fluent) · English (fluent) · Swedish, Danish and German (basic)