From a good idea to a business, with help from Kasius & Partners
BoekjesAtelier began with a book for Pim. When that idea became a business, Kasius & Partners helped us face the questions we had skimmed over ourselves.
Making a book for Pim felt like a personal project. That changed when we wanted to make the same thing possible for other families.
We could build the technology, and we knew how we wanted the stories to feel. We were much less certain about the price and how to explain BoekjesAtelier in a few ordinary sentences. We decided to ask for help.
It started with one book for Pim
We became Pim’s parents in December 2024. During those first months, we had the idea of making a storybook inspired by his birth announcement card. We wanted Pim to recognize himself in the illustrations, together with his cuddly fox and the hot air balloon from the card.
That first book took months of testing, starting again, and refining. We worked on it during evenings and weekends. There was no business plan behind it. We mainly wanted to make something we had not been able to find anywhere else.
Once the finished book was on our table, we saw that the idea could work for other families too. More than one hundred children now have a BoekjesAtelier book read to them. We tell more about that personal beginning and the first responses at Where It All Began: The Adventures of Pim and More than 100 children are now being read to from a BoekjesAtelier book.
Then came the questions code cannot answer
A working platform is not yet a healthy business. We could talk for hours about illustrations and new features. Yet we struggled to explain in one sentence what we were making and who it was for. Choosing a price was not as simple as putting a number below the order button either.
We had an opinion about nearly every decision. That was part of the problem. Because we had designed every screen and step ourselves, almost everything felt important. Someone looking in from outside asked much sooner: does a parent really need to know this?
Conversations with parents mainly helped us understand the creation process. For the price and business plan, we looked for people who discussed these questions with entrepreneurs more often.
A critical perspective from Kasius & Partners
With Kasius & Partners, we put the concept and our business plan on the table. We started with who the book was actually for. The price and how those families might find us came next. You can read more about their work and team at Kasius & Partners.
During those conversations, we noticed how quickly we started talking about technology. We would enthusiastically explain how something worked, while the real question was much simpler: what will a parent notice? Not every feature that took a lot of work needed a prominent place on the website.
Kasius & Partners did not make the decisions for us. They did not need to. The questions helped most. Some choices felt obvious to us until somebody asked why we were making them in the first place.
What we did with those conversations
After those conversations, we wrote down a few decisions properly. A name on the cover was not enough for us. The main character, the story, and the illustration style had to feel recognizable together. Parents also had to be able to review the complete book before paying.
We also learned not to build every new idea immediately. That remains difficult. An extra option can look attractive on paper but make the process longer or less clear. In that case, leaving it out is the better product decision.
We wanted to remain in charge of decisions about children’s photos and AI providers. We explain those choices at Why We Build With Security From Day One.
Want to create a personalized book yourself?
Our story in the Kasius & Partners newsletter
In August 2026, Kasius & Partners wrote about BoekjesAtelier in their newsletter. The story begins with Pim and follows how his first book eventually became a business. Our decisions around AI and privacy are part of it too.
Reading our story through the eyes of someone who had not spent every evening beside us at the laptop felt special. Three pages suddenly captured a development we had experienced one step at a time. The photo of us at the table, with the first book and the website between us, made that transition tangible.
Kasius & Partners already knew our story from those conversations. That allowed them to describe some of the doubts behind our decisions too. You can read the full newsletter here: the Kasius & Partners newsletter.
Good help starts with difficult questions
We do a great deal ourselves. Other people simply know more about some business decisions, so we ask for help. We do the same for printing and some technical work.
That does not make a decision right automatically. Sometimes an assumption only proves wrong after launch, and we still have to return to the drawing board. It helps when somebody asks a difficult question in time. After that, parents’ responses remain the most honest test.
Would you like to see what a personalized book for your child could look like?
Make a book for your child€34.95 · preview your book before you payAbout the author
Wouter builds the platform and technical foundation behind BoekjesAtelier. As a parent and with his cybersecurity background, he pays extra attention to privacy, safe processing, and clear product choices.
More about usLisa helps make every BoekjesAtelier book warm, recognizable, and enjoyable to read together. She focuses on the story, the experience, and the details that make it personal.
More about usRelated articles
These articles connect well with this topic.
Where It All Began: The Adventures of Pim
The personal story behind BoekjesAtelier: from an early experiment with AI to a platform where everyone can create a personalized children's book.
Read article→
Why We Build With Security From Day One
At BoekjesAtelier, parents upload photos and share personal details. That makes security not a nice-to-have, but a prerequisite. Here is how we approach it.
Read article→
More than 100 children are now being read to from a BoekjesAtelier book
Four months after our official start, more than 100 children are already being read to from a BoekjesAtelier book. Here is what customers told us and how we keep improving.
Read article→