I've always been skeptical of technology. Yet somehow I ended up building AI systems.
I'm Jonas Braadbaart—philosopher turned AI architect. For over a decade I've been building AI products for companies like Nike, Goldman Sachs, and H&M. Now I help services firms across Europe use AI to scale what makes them great.
The question that started it all
The question that has been driving me since I was fourteen: how can we make sure technology is deployed to our benefit, rather than us becoming slaves of technological progress?
Maybe my dad's fascination with the industrial revolution played a part in this. But all I could see amidst the machinery was the misery of the factory worker. It seemed like such a steep and unnecessarily high price to pay for progress.
So I went looking for answers—first in philosophy, studying the philosophy of language, logic, and cognitive science for almost a decade. Practicing systems thinking as I worked across scientific disciplines and 20+ languages. Then in marketing science at the University of Groningen, to learn machine learning and data science in order to expand the cognitive limits I had run into working with 6 different writing systems, 20 languages, and all scientific disciplines.
The long way round to AI
The path from there was anything but linear. I learnt software engineering at Accenture. Built recommender systems at wehkamp. Was the first AI hire at Relay42, where I built their AutoML platform from scratch and led a team of four. Then content recommendation pipelines at RTL. NLP chatbots at Tele2. Each role taught me something different about what it takes to ship AI that actually works in production.
Then came the work that changed how I think about AI. At Goldman Sachs, I designed the NLP data platform for their investment innovation team — models supporting decisions across EUR 300B in assets under management. At Nike, I shaped the ML platform strategy for EMEA and built deep learning systems that optimized their EUR 10B+ supply chain. At Bregal Milestone, I built a deal sourcing engine for their private equity team. And then H&M Group, where I delivered architectural blueprints for their agentic AI platform strategy and led workshops to drive enterprise-wide AI adoption.
The pattern I kept seeing across all of these: the organizations that got the most from AI weren't the ones with the fanciest technology. They were the ones that used AI to empower their best people — not to replace them.
I've been engineer, data scientist, ML lead, product manager, and architect. I know what it takes at every level. That matters when you're investing in AI — because the person advising you should understand the full picture, not just one layer.
Why I started Lodestone Digital
I founded Lodestone Digital because I saw a paradigm shift happening. The same AI capabilities that used to require 5-10 person teams can now be delivered by a single individual — if they know what they're doing.
Most AI consultancies sell these firms a slide deck. I'd rather build the thing. Because I'm both the strategist and the engineer, clients get architecture they can trust and systems that actually ship. No handoff. No twelve-month discovery phase.
Staying lean allows me to help firms that would have been priced out of traditional AI projects. Using AI let's me ship faster and better than most origanisations. And every line of code, every system, every piece of IP stays with you. No vendor lock-in, no dependency on me to keep it running.
AI is at risk of becoming—like the machinery of the industrial revolution—a tool that serves organizations at the expense of the people in them. I don't think that's inevitable. The AI systems I build are designed to make your best people better at what they already do. That's a fundamentally different starting point.
The short version
- TOGAF 9 certified enterprise architect
- MSc Marketing Intelligence (Groningen), BA Philosophy (Leiden)
- Speaker at Digital Marketing Live, Emerce B2B Digital, AIgrunn
- 5,000+ subscribers across The Circuit newsletter and YouTube
- Based in Gorinchem, Netherlands — working across Europe
- Native Dutch and English, professional French, working Spanish
Want to see if AI fits your firm?
30 minutes on your situation. I'll tell you honestly whether I can help — and if I can't, I'll tell you that too.
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