Buurbak had already gone through one development team before we joined. What they left behind was a half-finished platform with no documentation, no mobile support — the site literally showed "Not available on mobile" on any small screen — and no structure to build on. Together with the owner we made a difficult but clear decision: throw it away and start over.
The first decision was the stack. As a student startup, Buurbak had a limited budget, so we deliberately chose tools that scale free or cheap: Next.js, TypeScript and Tailwind for the frontend, Netlify for hosting. Everything documented from day one — not repeating the previous team's mistake.
As Scrum Master, my biggest challenge was not technical but human. Keeping a team of students motivated, preventing people from getting stuck without giving them all the answers, and making sure everyone felt ownership over their part. I learned when to step in and when to let someone find their own way.
The payment flow was the most critical technical piece. Via Stripe we handle both the rental fee and the deposit — which is automatically returned once the renter proves the trailer has been returned. Safe for both parties, without manual intervention.
The previous team left a React codebase without TypeScript, without Next.js, without documentation. We chose a full rebuild over patching — a bold but necessary decision that saved us time in the end.
The deposit flow was the most complex UI challenge: renter pays, owner receives after return, deposit is automatically released. Stripe Checkout and webhooks handled it safely.
Netlify for hosting, GitHub for version control and collaboration. Free until significant scale — a deliberate choice so the startup doesn't face high server costs at launch.
"Luuk and his team completely revived our platform. Where we started with an unusable foundation, they delivered something we're truly proud of."
— Owner, Buurbak
Rebuilding a website is easier than rebuilding a team.
Documentation is not a nice-to-have. The previous team left nothing behind. We wrote everything down — and that made onboarding, collaboration and debugging much easier.
A good Scrum Master helps before people get stuck, not after. I learned the difference between helping too early (so people learn nothing) and too late (so people give up).
Technical decisions are also business decisions. Stack, hosting, payment provider — every choice had a cost. That awareness stays with me on every project going forward.