Mylan Zijlstra

Why this persona fits the audience

Runs product-event and billing syncs for a 7-person company; the team depends on Segment, Make, and Postgres jobs, with occasional hand-edited CSVs when partner feeds or webhooks misalign.

• Age: 32
• Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Occupation: Cofounder/CTO, e-commerce SaaS
• Income: €120k + equity
• Education: BSc Computer Science
• Company size: 7
• Years in role: 4

“The real magic isn't just connecting systems; it's ensuring the data flows reliably and accurately, so we can actually *use* it to build something valuable.”

Mylan Zijlstra, 32, is a co-founder and CTO of a burgeoning e-commerce SaaS company based in Amsterdam. Holding a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Amsterdam, he co-founded the company four years ago with a vision to streamline online sales operations for small businesses. His current role is intensely hands-on, reflecting the company's lean, 7-person structure. Mylan is the architect and custodian of their data infrastructure, a critical function for an e-commerce platform. His daily reality involves managing event streams from customer interactions, ensuring seamless synchronization with their billing system, and maintaining the integrity of their Postgres database. He relies heavily on Segment for event collection and Make for automating workflows, but these tools aren't always sufficient. A significant portion of his time is consumed by troubleshooting data pipeline issues, particularly when dealing with external partner feeds or unreliable webhooks, which frequently requires him to manually intervene by editing CSV files. This meticulous, often tedious work is driven by his core value of efficiency and a deep-seated desire for ownership over his company's technical destiny. He sees these data 'glitches' not just as annoyances, but as direct impediments to productivity and scalability, fueling his constant search for more robust solutions. Mylan's income of €120k plus equity reflects his significant contribution and the high stakes of his role. He lives with his partner and prioritizes a balanced lifestyle, often escaping into long road cycling routes or strategic board games to decompress from the pressures of startup life. His approach to technology is pragmatic and forward-thinking; he's always evaluating new tools and methodologies that promise greater automation and reliability, aiming to free up his time for more strategic architectural challenges rather than reactive firefighting. He is deeply invested in the company's success, viewing its growth and technical stability as a direct extension of his own efforts and expertise.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Mylan's typical weekday begins around 7:30 AM with coffee and a quick review of Hacker News and company dashboards. By 9:00 AM, he's at his standing desk, often in a video call with his co-founder to align on priorities. The morning is usually dedicated to deep work: debugging a recent data sync issue between their CRM and billing system, or architecting a new feature's data flow. Lunch is a quick, healthy meal, often eaten at his desk while reviewing code from a junior developer. Afternoons involve more meetings – perhaps a sync with the marketing team about event tracking, or a technical deep-dive with the rest of the engineering team. He dedicates time to reviewing logs and monitoring system performance, often finding himself needing to manually adjust a Make scenario or write a quick Postgres query to fix an edge case before logging off around 6:30 PM.

Lifestyle

Mylan shares a modern apartment in Amsterdam with his partner, a graphic designer. His days are structured, starting with a strong coffee and a quick scan of tech news before diving into work. Evenings often involve a shared meal, followed by either a board game session with friends or solo time optimizing his road bike setup. He prioritizes efficiency in his personal life too, meal-prepping on Sundays and automating bill payments. While not extravagant, he invests in quality gear for his hobbies and appreciates well-designed products. He cycles to work most days, weather permitting, seeing it as both exercise and a way to clear his head.

Work life

As CTO of a lean e-commerce SaaS, Mylan is deeply hands-on. He's responsible for the entire data infrastructure, ensuring seamless event tracking from customer interactions to billing. His core stack involves Segment for event collection, Make (formerly Integromat) for workflow automation, and a robust Postgres database. He spends a significant portion of his week troubleshooting data sync issues, particularly with third-party partner feeds or webhook inconsistencies, which often necessitates manual CSV edits. The pressure is constant to maintain data integrity and system uptime for their 7-person team, all while keeping operational costs low.

Relationships

Mylan is in a stable, long-term relationship with his partner, who provides a grounding influence and a creative counterpoint to his technical world. His close circle of friends, many met during university or through cycling clubs, are often involved in intense board game nights. Within the company, he has a collaborative but direct relationship with his co-founder, the CEO, and trusts his small engineering team implicitly.

How they decide

Mylan is a methodical researcher. He weighs options carefully, often prototyping or running small-scale tests before committing. He values evidence and performance metrics, preferring solutions that demonstrate clear efficiency gains or solve a specific, recurring problem. Peer recommendations from trusted technical contacts carry weight, but he ultimately relies on his own analysis and understanding of the system's needs.

How they sound

Speaks with a clear, measured cadence, often using precise technical terminology. Avoids excessive slang or overly casual language in professional settings. His tone is generally calm and analytical, even when discussing complex problems. He tends to explain the 'why' behind technical decisions. When excited about a new concept, his pace might quicken slightly, but he remains articulate.