Founder Stories: BUKU’s Mission – Making textbooks accessible worldwide

“It doesn't matter that you already have the subscription model in all other forms of media, except textbooks”, looks Jeff van der Laan, founder of BUKU, back. What started as a personal frustration during his time at university grew into a mission to make textbooks accessible worldwide. The northern Dutch company now operates in countries around the world and works with 250 publishers. In some of those countries, BUKU has become the only revenue model for local educational content.

From student ideal to entrepreneurship

The idea for BUKU came about when Jeff van der Laan was confronted with the high costs of textbooks as a student. “You order everything online and get 12 books at home. Then you find out that you're using 5 of them and you're trying to sell the others again. That doesn't work, because everyone needs the same books and tries to sell the unnecessary ones at the same time.”

Although the idea started back in 2010, it wasn't until 2015 that Jeff really got to work on it. “You're studying, you come up with an idea, and after six beers at a party, you say: “We really have to do this!'And then you don't make a deal with it.” Until he was at a crossroads in his life. “I was doing my HR master's degree and took a pre-master that I didn't find interesting at all. If I'm not passionate about something, it won't work out. I thought: I'm just going to do what I'm passionate about now.”

He found that passion in creating a subscription model for textbooks, similar to Spotify for music. “The logical solution is higher volumes with cheaper subscriptions. That has been the solution in every market.”

From that moment on, Jeff decided to really go for it and joined forces with Alexander Postma from Appademic, an old high school acquaintance. Together, they started the journey to build BUKU.

Strategic seniority

An important strategic moment came in 2016, when Bertus Jan came on board as CEO. “At that time, it was good for us to have a little more seniority in the team”, explains Jeff. “Bertus Jan was a lot older and brought peace, confidence and experience.” This combination proved to be of great value: “When I came alone in the beginning, I was sometimes seen as a rookie. With Bertus Jan included, that changed. We complemented each other well, and that had a lot of impact.”

Headwinds from the established order

The road to success was far from easy. “A number of publishers were the same fans. They said: this is where it just goes. But we met with a lot of resistance from some publishers.”

A crucial moment came when BUKU would start a pilot with a local academy. “We had everything ready. A statement of intent, the golden handshake and all necessities were drawn up. Just not signed yet. Two days before the start of the academic year, we received a call from an important publisher: 'It won't happen. ' The school had designed everything on our model, sent letters and students had purchased subscriptions. And then came the letters from the publisher's lawyers.”

With the support of its first investor, Vincent van Wieren, BUKU survived this phase. “He just made sure that we won that case. Those are the times when you think: what did I get into?”

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In Suriname, we did our proof of concept. On average, people earn much less there, so they always struggle to get books. A lot was copied and ended up in illegality.

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International detour to success

The breakthrough for BUKU did not come in the Netherlands, but via an international detour. “In Suriname, we did our proof of concept. On average, people earn much less there, so they always struggle to get books. A lot was copied and ended up in illegality. At the FHR School of Business, we introduced a subscription that is adapted to the purchasing power there. This turned out to be a win-win-win situation.”

“We created a nice triangle where publishers earn money from a market where very little came out and students could legally access everything. From that success, we went to Aruba and Curaçao and continued to refine the model.”

International expansion accelerated when major publishers such as Pearson and Cambridge University Press decided in 2020 to open more countries to approach. “Based on the success in Curaçao and Aruba, we were also allowed to go to Namibia, Kenya and Malawi. Now, the major publishers give us around 80 markets where we can do something.”

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At BUKU, we do everything with the interests of publishers, students and educational institutions in mind, always in an honest and transparent way, so that everyone benefits.

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Building a sustainable model

Unlike many tech companies, BUKU opted for a sustainable approach. “We've been profitable for three years in a row now. When you look at the entire edtech scene in the world, that's quite unique.” Jeff sees value in this approach: “We continue to invest our own profits in growth. It is not the case that as your market expands, those costs also increase exponentially. That is important. At BUKU, we do everything with the interests of publishers, students and educational institutions in mind, always in an honest and transparent way, so that everyone benefits.”

This approach contributes to their mission to create global impact. “In countries like Namibia, there were no Namibian nursing books. That couldn't matter in terms of creation and distribution. But now they have been uploaded by the publishers there and they are now earning income, when before the money only went to Europe.”

The BUKU team has now grown to 16 employees, spread across different countries. “We also have entities abroad. We have now hired our Pan-African sales lead who operates in multiple countries for the first time. In most countries, we have dedicated people.”

The entrepreneur behind BUKU

For Jeff, entrepreneurship was a quest. “It's been like a mega-MBA for me. I wasn't necessarily a very good student because I get distracted very easily. When I'm not interested in something, I'm just worse at it.” He describes his personal development: “It's just an enormous professional development and also a bit of a search for what you really are and what you stand for in the end.”

Yet he is never completely satisfied: “I'm always very critical of myself. When we sign a government in Rwanda, I immediately switch: 'All right, what now?” This has to happen and that has to happen.” I don't know if that's very healthy, but that's how I work.”

The Northern Dutch Perspective

Jeff 'just' conquers the world from Groningen and he appreciates the Northern Dutch directness in entrepreneurship: “Here you can be quite straight with each other. Having that flat and reasonable staccato about things can be really nice. If you really want to do business, you should do it with Rotterdammers or Northerners. Then you know exactly what it's about.” Although he also comments on the alleged sobriety: “Of course, we're also sentimental in the North, it's not always as sober as we say.”

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If you really want to do business, you should do it with Rotterdammers or Northerners. Then you know exactly what it's about.

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The future of BUKU

Buku's mission is clear: to create global impact by making textbooks accessible. “This year, we want to visit at least four new countries and close major strategic deals. Our customer churn is almost zero, so usually when we come in somewhere, we're in the right place right away.”

For 2028, the goal is clear: “I think that BUKU will then be the standard for educational content in emerging markets. In addition to providing access to existing textbooks, we want to be a platform where local publishers can offer their material to monetize them.”

Advice to starting entrepreneurs

“Talk to as many people as you can. As Dutch people and as people from Groningen, we have the advantage that people are very accessible. There are a lot of successful people here, so talk to them. They can inspire and protect you from things in many ways. Take time for that. More is possible than you think.”

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Interview & text by Lars Meijer