8 Sept 2026
S2 Ep 13: Machiel Kunst, From Sales Leader to CEO of Europe's Largest AI & SaaS Recruitment Org
Machiel Kunst built one of Europe's most successful B2B SaaS and AI sales recruiting firms on a premise almost no one else was willing to act on: hire ex-sellers to recruit sellers. He went from number-one AE out of 65, to building teams of 40+, to co-founding Bluebird — now 35 people, offices in Amsterdam and Sydney, on track to be the largest recruitment firm in its niche in Europe by revenue this year.
This episode covers the playbook behind Bluebird's growth — including a nine-month nurture campaign to Sequoia that landed a 16-AE placement mandate — and the decade-refined framework Machiel uses to qualify sales talent.
Key Quotes
On why deep market knowledge beats raw sales talent:
"I knew exactly what was going on with all of these organizations, the dynamics in the market. And then I stepped into an account executive role — and I think that really gave me a massive advantage."
On booking his own cold meetings as CEO:
"Literally today I booked two meetings with VCs cold. I booked three meetings with companies cold. It's a skill set you should never let go if you possess it."
On the most underrated career mistake in B2B sales:
"I sometimes wonder whether people are aware of how important it is to be able to assess whether a company is possible of going sky high — because simply the vast majority of companies don't."
On AI creating genuine personal connection:
"I got a meeting prep from Claude and it said they have this one-liner at the bottom of every email. It was an Enzo Ferrari quote — it probably means this person is a bit of a petrol head, so you could start the conversation with that. And I did, and it actually opened up the conversation really nicely."
The Tactical Breakdown
Score candidates on characteristics, not just competencies — Machiel adapted Mark Roberge's framework from The Sales Acceleration Formula, scoring candidates on coachability, curiosity, work ethic, and intelligence. He tracked each hire's actual performance against their score for years and continuously refined it.
Separate three evaluation lenses — Characteristics (the scoring model), competencies (deal size, stakeholder level, industry), and cultural fit. Cultural fit is an art, competencies are a checklist — characteristics are where you differentiate.
Run a nine-month nurture before asking for business — Machiel emailed Sequoia's head of talent monthly with company milestones for nine months before getting a referral. That referral turned into 16 AE placements in Germany.
Engineer premium events to make BD easy — Bluebird runs dinners for 20 founders with Ottolenghi catering and Dermot Duggan (CEO coach of Klaviyo, Databricks, Grammarly) speaking. The event does the work; the team closes in the room.
The Sales Acceleration Formula — Mark Roberge — data-driven hiring framework with scoreable candidate characteristics; the foundation of Bluebird's qualification model
Fireflies — AI meeting recorder; transcripts feed automatically into Bluebird's CRM — fireflies.ai (http://fireflies.ai)
Claude — meeting prep, post-call follow-up, presentation building, cold outreach via Claude Cowork — claude.ai (http://claude.ai)
Glassdoor — recommended for vetting company culture before accepting a role — glassdoor.com (http://glassdoor.com)
Ruben Hassid — LinkedIn creator focused on AI automation workflows
Dermot Duggan — Founder of 10XCEO USA; CEO coach to Klaviyo, Databricks, Grammarly
Zoe Jervier Hewitt — Former Head of Talent Acquisition, Sequoia Capital
Universal Cultural End Index — Bluebird's internal framework defining the characteristics that make someone a fit for a specific company, built before any hiring begins
Giving an A — Annual team exercise: write a letter to yourself from year-end explaining why you earned a 10/10 — not based on hitting number, but on who you became
Connect with Machiel
LinkedIn — Machiel Kunst, Co-Founder & CEO, Bluebird (https://www.linkedin.com/in/machielkunst/)
