Josef Holm is a technical founder, investor, and writer.
He is Austrian, based in Dubai, and writes here about technology, AI, company building, investing, and operating judgment gathered across three decades of work.
Today, he leads Akii Technologies, a Venture Builder, and is the founder of Marquorum, the affiliate network for creators.
From the early internet to venture investing and AI.
Josef grew up in Austria and built his career across online marketing, e-commerce, crowdfunding, software, and venture investing. Over three decades, he has founded eight companies and grown his first venture to $50 million in sales.
Early internet businesses
His online career began in the late 1990s with affiliate marketing and customer acquisition. He built and operated internet businesses, including an affiliate program with more than 2,000 affiliates. That experience is part of the background to his work at Marquorum today.
Crowdfunding and software
In California, Josef co-founded Tubestart, a crowdfunding platform for video creators and filmmakers, and served as its CEO. He later founded Krowdster in 2014, building marketing and analytics software for crowdfunding campaigns.
His 2014 SEC submission records his work at Tubestart. A 2015 Krowdster announcement describes the software and its origins.
Draper Goren Holm
Josef and Alon Goren founded Goren Holm Ventures in Los Angeles in 2018. Tim Draper joined in 2019, when the firm became Draper Goren Holm, a blockchain venture studio and investment firm.
Their work also included Crypto Invest Summit, later known as LA Blockchain Summit, and Security Token Summit, bringing founders and investors together around the emerging blockchain industry.
Building AI businesses
Josef now builds and operates focused AI products through Akii Technologies. Marquorum connects that work with creators and their audiences, bringing product selection and distribution into the process. He is based in Dubai.
He writes here about those experiences, the decisions behind them, and what he is learning as AI changes how companies are built and operated.
What Josef is building now.
Marquorum
Josef founded Marquorum, the affiliate network for creators and a division of Akii Technologies, Ltd. Active partners can propose and vote on future products. Akii qualifies opportunities for the ballot, then builds, owns, and operates the selected product. Marquorum provides the distribution system.
Revenue Scout is a product operated under Marquorum and the first new focused AI product brought to market through this model. It finds buyer conversations on social media. Rival Spy monitors competitors.
Akii Technologies
As founder and CEO of Akii Technologies, Josef leads his venture-building company and the parent company of Marquorum and its products. Akii repeatedly creates, directly owns, and operates focused AI businesses and products.
Akii centralizes product development and operation, billing, licensing, funding, administration, and governance in one operating company. Marquorum supplies the creator network and distribution. Akii Technologies, Ltd is based at the Dubai International Financial Centre AI Campus.
Entreprehardship
The stories behind the success stories.
Josef hosts Entreprehardship, his video podcast about the personal cost of building a business. Entrepreneurs share the stories they haven’t told publicly and how they found their way through.
Selected advisory work.
Josef selectively advises founders and CEOs on product direction, localisation and go-to-market. A particular focus is helping established businesses grow between DACH and the UAE, combining his founder and investor experience with cultural understanding and relevant relationships. Client names and engagement details remain private.
A working archive of what Josef is learning.
This is Josef's personal blog, where he shares what he learns from building companies, investing, and advising founders. The archive is being organised into a simpler place for essays, notes, and useful thoughts about that work.
Expect writing on AI, founders, product judgment, venture, crypto history, public-stage lessons, and the unglamorous operating details that quietly shape outcomes.
Selected context
- 30 years building technology companies.
- 8 companies founded.
- $50M in sales from his first venture.
- Work across e-commerce, SaaS, crypto, and AI.
- 2021 Investor of the Year at AIBC Dubai.