Source Journal

When My Plans Failed and I Called It Wisdom

Hey there, Next week the year turns. The summer solstice falls on the night of the 20th, and by one of those alignments I've stopped calling coincidence, our bu

11 June 2026 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

The Case for Doing Less as a Founder

Hey there, The first week back is always its own strange thing. You step off the plane carrying the rhythm of where you've been, and for a few days it sits awkw

3 June 2026 · Ben Visser · 6 min read

What China Taught Me About Leading a Team

Hey there, We went to China for a wedding. Two weeks, Chengdu then Beijing, with the deliberate intention of disconnecting from everything Askara. No AI, no pro

27 May 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

The Most Important Infrastructure Is Human

Hey there, Seven months ago I walked into the first day of the Tehnopol Cyber Accelerator with a vision that had only just crystallised, a team still finding it

4 May 2026 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Why I Track Moon Cycles Alongside Product Cycles

Hey there, I'm writing this from a plane on Wednesday morning, somewhere over the Baltic. Tomorrow evening I deliver the pitch that formally closes our seven-mo

16 April 2026 · Ben Visser · 6 min read

Thank God We Didn't Know

Hey there, The meeting with Hanos had already finished by the time the most interesting thought arrived. I was walking the dog, probably half an hour later, tur

9 April 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

The Convergence Window

Hey there, There is a particular quality to the weeks just before something becomes real. Not the frantic energy of a deadline, and not yet the satisfaction of

2 April 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

Spring Equinox Review - When Private Work Becomes Public

Hey there, We're at the spring equinox, which means it's time to do what I always try to do at these seasonal thresholds: step back from the week-to-week rhythm

26 March 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

Breaking the Blockchain Silence

Hey there, There's a topic I've been carrying for nearly a decade that has never properly made it into the Askara Solutions story. Not for lack of trying. Back

18 March 2026 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

The Instrument

Hey there, Some weeks the work itself reminds you of something you already know but haven't had to articulate in a while. This was one of those weeks. After a s

10 March 2026 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

When Flaws Become Features

Hey there, Last week I wrote about the gravitational pull of productive flow, that difficulty of stopping when the feedback loop between building and seeing res

4 March 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

When AI Makes You Work More, Not Less

Hey there, There's a narrative floating around the AI space that these tools will give us all more free time. That we'll work less, automate the tedious bits aw

25 February 2026 · Ben Visser · 5 min read

The OpenClaw Inflection Point

Hey there, We just wrapped up our first build cycle of 2026, and what a cycle it was. We successfully submitted the CIF-NL subsidy proposal. Established our con

17 February 2026 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Building What Can't Be Rushed

Hey there, This week one found me scrolling LinkedIn, watching another entrepreneur in our space gain real traction with his compliance tool. He's been building

11 February 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

The Revival of Building in Public

This week brought an unexpected revival of something I'd set aside two years ago. Not because it failed, but because I couldn't quite make it work in the contex

3 February 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

A Playbook for European Cyber Community

Hey there, Last week took me back to Tallinn, but not for the usual monthly accelerator day. This time it was Connect4Cyber, a consortium matchmaking event that

29 January 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

Tuning the Machine as It Starts to Hum

Hey there, We're slowly but surely getting up to speed in this new year. The different cycle projects are all in motion now, each with their own throughput time

22 January 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

The Week That Set Up the Year

Hey there, Some weeks feel like maintenance. Others feel like building. And then there are weeks like this one, where you suddenly realise the ecosystem around

14 January 2026 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

Askara Solutions Year One: A Full Circle Review

Hey there, As 2025 closes, I find myself looking back at a year that started with a simple idea and ended with something far more substantial than I could have

24 December 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Playing the European Game

Hey there, This week took me back to Tallinn for an accelerator day. Solo travel this time, which turned out to be exactly what I needed. There's something abou

16 December 2025 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

Serve to Lead

Hey there, We finished our last build cycle of the year and are now moving into goal-setting mode until the fifth of January. A good moment to pause and take st

8 December 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Manifestation Through Declaration

Hey there, I'm writing this fresh off the Trade Mission to Toulouse, still processing everything that unfolded there. What started as a networking trip turned i

2 December 2025 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

From Professional Masks to Shared Ownership

Hey there, This past week marked a true milestone for Askara Solutions. Through three days of intensive workshops that pushed us into emotional territory we had

18 November 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Leveling Up Our Vision

Hey there, Last week was one of those glorious periods of deep work and flow states that every creator dreams about. Multiple valuable outcomes emerged from sus

10 November 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Cutting Back to Move Forward

Hey there, This past week brought one of those inflection points where clarity cuts through complexity like a sharp blade. After weeks of juggling multiple poss

3 November 2025 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

You Can't Force the Source

Hey there, This week I want to share something fundamental about building a company that goes against everything the startup world tells you. It's about timing,

20 October 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Seven Months to Unity

Hey there, Last week I wrote about the Risk Wheel insight that emerged from our ISO27001 audit. That breakthrough wasn't just a conceptual win—it's become the c

13 October 2025 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

When the Wheel Started Turning

Hey there, The past few weeks have been intense, and part of that was due to building up to an ISO27001 audit that happened this week. That deadline pushed ever

6 October 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Growing Without Growing

Hey there, Last week I briefly mentioned that we'd have an opportunity to pitch Askara Solutions at Vandebron. I didn't want to make too big a deal out of it si

29 September 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

Stepping Through the Fall Equinox Portal

What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been. I've been so swamped since the week before our wedding that I haven't been able to journal properly. Between ar

25 September 2025 · Ben Visser · 4 min read

A Garden of Compounding Efforts

This past week was a wonderful summer week, and it really felt like living the theme of blossoming. We’re in that season of enjoying the greenery and flowers of

18 August 2025 · Ben Visser · 2 min read

Discovering the Missing Half of Our AI Vision

Hey there, This week marked my return from La Gomera, and with it came one of those breakthrough moments that perfectly illustrates why trusting synchronicity a

11 August 2025 · Ben Visser · 3 min read

The Lovable Shift

I mentioned last week that after three weeks on this paradise island, all the big things I'd planned to achieve were done. I had this feeling of being complete

5 August 2025 · Ben Visser · 5 min read

Time to Speak Out

This past week clearly marked the peak of my La Gomera chapter. The first two weeks were more of a slow build-up, but this one brought the crescendo. It’s incre

1 August 2025 · Ben Visser · 2 min read