Founder's Story - Intern at 19. $750M in Property Sales by 26 | Lukas Kerrebijn

Episode Date: July 18, 2026

Daniel and Lukas Kerrebijn, co-founder of RD Dubai, RD Vastgoed, and RD Advisory, trace the journey from a teenage intern questioning what real estate agents actually did, to building a platform connecting property sellers with investors, to expanding into Dubai when Dutch regulations made the local market harder for investors. Lukas explains how his first deal in the Netherlands revealed demand from investors, why Dubai became the next major opportunity, and how the RD Dubai brand evolved beyond transactions into community, events, sports sponsorships, and investor networks. The conversation also explores youth, boldness, talent, manifestation, Morocco, Abu Dhabi, and Lukas’s dream of using real estate and sports to create long-term impact. Today's Sponsor: Start with Upwork, the one-stop platform to find, hire, and pay expert freelancers across marketing, editing, branding, development, operations, and more. Visit https://www.Upwork.com today to post your job for free and get matched with top talent ready to help your business grow. Key Discussion Points Lukas shares the story of his first real estate deal at 19 in Vlaardingen, where he found a seller through social media campaigns and brought seven investors to view the property. He admits he told the seller he was 25 because he was nervous about being taken seriously at 19, and the seller replied that he looked very young for his age. That first deal opened his eyes to the possibility of building a real estate platform that connected sellers directly with investors and created faster transaction timelines. Lukas explains that his early frustration came from seeing agents collect commissions in a hot Amsterdam market where properties were selling easily, leading him to question the traditional model. He says starting young was an advantage because he had less responsibility, more time, and fewer fears shaped by previous business trauma. Lukas describes how Dutch government rule changes made buy-to-let investing less attractive, reduced investor confidence, and pushed him to look for new markets. He moved to Dubai initially to look for investment properties for himself and his business partner, but quickly discovered major demand from Dutch investors who also wanted access to the UAE market. RD Dubai’s early advantage came from already having a trusted Dutch investor base, making it easier to guide those clients into Dubai real estate opportunities. Lukas explains that sponsorships with Glory Kickboxing, Dutch football, and Formula One-related activities helped build brand awareness, attract talent, and align the company with ambition and sports culture. He says the sponsorship strategy was not only about sales; it helped attract job applicants who matched the company’s brand DNA and contributed to a strong retention culture. Lukas shares his long-term dream of building sports complexes for underprivileged children in Africa, starting with a project in Marrakech that combines real estate, wellness, sport, and social impact. He believes Abu Dhabi may be one of the biggest real estate opportunities investors are missing right now because of major projects, coastal locations, and more attractive price-to-quality dynamics compared with Dubai. Takeaways Starting young can be a massive advantage because boldness, energy, and fewer obligations can help a founder move before fear takes over. Regulation can completely reshape a market, and Lukas’s move from the Netherlands to Dubai shows how founders must adapt when the rules change. Brand is not only for customers. RD Dubai’s sports sponsorships helped attract talent, build community, and create a company identity people wanted to be part of. Real estate investing is not just about spreadsheets. Lukas argues that community, access, lifestyle, and long-term networks can create lifetime value for investors. Manifestation matters to Lukas because every major move starts with a vision, and he believes the mind shapes what someone is willing to pursue. Closing Thoughts Lukas Kerrebijn’s story is about youth, conviction, and seeing opportunity before the market catches up. At 19, he saw inefficiency in Dutch real estate. At 23, he saw Dubai as the next move. Now, before 30, he is thinking beyond transactions and toward community, sports, wellness, Africa, and legacy. This episode captures a founder who is still early in his journey, but already building with the kind of ambition, boldness, and long-term vision that can turn one deal into an entire ecosystem. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You've had 750 million in sales before the age of 30. So there were definitely people telling me, well, you're too young to do this. It's not going to work. Well, the next Friday, we got there, and I brought seven investors. And on my way back, I got calls from all the investors that came. And they all wanted to buy this specific properties. No investors, no connections, no plan B, just a 19-year-old intern who thought the entire real estate industry was doing it wrong. Seven years later, 8,000 investors, 375 million euros in properties sold across two countries.

This is Lucas Carbine. Our hiring rate is 100%. We've never had someone leave our company. These are the two factors to scale any business. 750 million in sales before the age of 30. What was your first sale like? Yeah, so the first deal we did was obviously in the Netherlands, in the country. where I'm from. And it was actually I am from Amsterdam. So I'm from the city. The first deal we ever

did was in a village called Flaherdinga. And back then I was 19 years old and I was actually doing social media campaigns with my company in order to gather leads from basically anywhere. And one day I got like this email response from a property owner in the village of Flaarting and saying, hey, I'm interested in selling my property. The website you guys have, it seems interesting to me because we were like online we were advertising with the fact that we can sell without charging any costs to the seller we can do like no financial arrangement class we can sell a property within two weeks and with this particular client it was very important for him that we were able to sell the property quickly so i came there to basically go few the property and he was like how old are you

so back then i was a little scared to say i'm 19 so i told him i'm I'm 25. He was like, wow, you look very young for your age. I was like, ooh, if only he knew. But then actually what I did is I came to an agreement with him in terms of the selling price and everything. And I knew this was an amazing deal. It was like a good ROI potentially if you were to buy the property and rent it out. So I know for sure that I could get an investor to buy this property, one of our investors that we already gathered through also social media campaigns, basically. Well, then after I filled the property, I called some of the investors up, I was like, I think I have an interesting deal for you.

Would you want to come and visit the deal or the property with me in two days? Would you want to come and visit the property with me in two days? Well, the next Friday, we got there and I brought seven investors and on my way back from that specific property, I got calls from all the investors that came and they all wanted to buy this specific property. So I was like the first one to put in an official offer will get it. But that really opened my eyes. It was like the first time I had like a vision of starting a real estate platform in which we sell real estate to investors.

And it was the first time that it actually was working out. And I guess ever since then, things just took off. And it was such a big motivation. It was such a big thing for me to happen that thereby, I guess, everything we do nowadays was fueled in that specific time frame. Because I guess it took us like three, four months to do the first deal. but after doing the first deal it was a matter of weeks until we did the second the third and the fourth so yeah that's really how it started so when you were 19 you're an intern you saw something that other people didn't see you saw a problem that needed to be fixed did people tell you though like

Lucas you're 19 years old you just started in this what do you know about the problems that we need to solve oh yeah of course I guess being stubborn is sometimes quality as well so there were definitely people telling me, well, you're too young to do this and it's not going to work and it's not going to be this, whatever. But I never really paid attention to that, to be really honest. If I have a goal, if I'm focused on doing something, that I'm focused on doing something and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure to get to that specific point. So while I was at the internship, I actually, I was only there on Fridays and I think I came by maybe three, four times so spread out over a period of five weeks max i quickly found out like it was a market in

emcecdham everything was selling didn't really matter what you were trying to sell you will put it on like funda which is the dutch yeah the biggest real estate marketplace basically and you would have 40 people viewing the property me as the intern i would do the fewings the notary would make up all the contracts and the real estate agents they would get one or two percent commission and I was like, what do agents even do? That really doesn't make any sense. You're trying to sell something here which anyone can sell and you're getting paid 2%. But that's easy money.

So that's the moment where I was like, I want to start a real estate platform through which people can sell real estate without having to pay a commission. I was going to do that by solely selling to investors because these investors, they would pay our company a little fee. But on the big advantage of selling to investors is that they can offer like much faster deal processes. So like instead of having to wait eight weeks until the finances are arranged, investors can put on the money on the table within two weeks, sometimes even within a week. So therefore the speed was already guaranteed. Investors could also buy multiple properties.

So the moment I found one investor that really wanted to work on a portfolio, he could be a client of mine for a longer period of time. So therefore there were a lot of advantages. And basically the platform I founded was trying to bring sellers and buyers. Yeah, in confidence, contact through our platform. I have a great, very successful friend that always told me that she has a mentor who's 20 years old. And at first, I'm like, how, what, I don't even understand. This makes no sense.

You have 50 years old, multiple exits, and you have a 20 year old who mentors you. And it got me thinking that when you're young, though, and you're just getting started, you're also not blinded by all the issues and all the damage and trauma that comes along later in business, right? Do you think that's helped you along the way that having this young vision and you don't have all these fears and traumas and things that may come along later in life? Yeah, 1,000% when people ask me, what is your number one piece of advice for young entrepreneurs? It would also be to start early. Like you don't have that much responsibility.

You don't have a family yet to take care of. Like your finances are not as important yet. You have all the time in the world. And obviously you have so much to experience. in life but also in business so to say so i guess that boldness that i had that like maybe over overly confident that i was really helped me in pursuing all of this that's for sure and i guess also what makes it interesting especially in real estate because i would say it's a very traditional market right it's definitely not a market where you think of young people or maybe you would think of young

real estate agents that work for an agency but not necessarily of young people doing real estate developments and construction. So I guess the fresh look that I had on this market by actually making real set sales more transparent as well, but also by just optimizing and making the whole process more efficient. And there was just a market fit for that specific clientele. And therefore, I guess definitely things worked out properly. Yeah. So talk about being bold. Something that I found myself is platforms change, rules change, laws change, which, can completely disrupt your business. I know that happened to you. The Dutch market, the government changed some of the rules, which changed everything in your business. You then went out to a whole

new country, to a whole new market. I built Founder's Story from a $50 microphone, and the most important thing is I didn't do it alone. For years, I've been using Upwork to hire marketing, editing, branding, you name it. In fact, the editor who cut this very episode and the team behind all of Founder's Story branding, found them on Upwork. The quality of people is top-notch and paying people is simple. Upwork is a one-stop platform to find, hire, and pay expert freelancers across development, data, marketing, operations, and more. With Business Plus, you can access the top 1% of talent on Upwork,

and with AI-powered shortlisting, you'll get matched to the right freelancer in under six hours. No endless searching required. It's free to sign up and posting a job is easy. Visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That is upwork.com to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's upw-o-k.com. Upwork.com. How was that experience for you? And then what was the change that needed to happen? Yeah, well, so it was like two sided, I would say, like in the Netherlands, the government was basically making real estate investors. They were making it impossible for real estate investors to buy properties and then rent them out with like good returns because everything was kept. So for example, I would rent out

a property for 2,000 euros a month. Now because of the new point system, I was only allowed to rent it out for 1,100 euros a month. Thereby my ROI would almost go down by 45 to 50%, making it impossible for that property to be even profitable. So a lot of investors had to sell their real estate. There were other rules in regards to investors not even being allowed to buy specific properties. There were tons of things going on. And I guess the worst part of it all was how, yeah, not relying people can be of the Dutch government. And that really caused problems.

Like the investor trust within the Dutch market, yeah, really shifted. So investors were looking for other markets, but so was I. And I also had like this feeling I was 23 years old back then when I moved to Dubai. I wanted something new. Like I lived in Netherlands my entire life. I was ready for a new challenge. So that was the moment we went to Dubai initially to look for properties for me and my business partner for ourselves to invest in. But the moment we started doing that, we saw that there was a huge demand from Netherlands of investors that also wanted to purchase properties in Dubai.

So that's the moment we were like besides of having our Dutch company, let's also start. start our venture here in Dubai and help people with buying and selling and renting out, managing properties in the UAE. And up until this day, like right now, obviously because of the whole war situation, the UAE is a bit more tricky in regards to investments. I cannot deny that, but the market has been very strong. It's a great place to be. I love being there, love living my life there. I love having a center in the UAE. And it's actually one of the best things. I've done something I'm proud of that I made the decision to actually go and do it because it's obviously a completely different country than the country where I'm originally from.

So much. I love the energy in Dubai. The energy people, everyone is doing deals, everyone's looking to scale, grow. They're building casinos I just heard outside of Dubai and UAE. Like there's so much going on. What is some strategies used to market and expand to ensure that people knew who you were and you do. I guess our biggest advantage was the fact that we already had a huge client base in the Netherlands of Dutch investors. So obviously there were other Dutch parties in Dubai trying to sell real estate to Dutch investors. But we already had the context. We already knew the investors and we were already a trustworthy partner of theirs. So a lot of them were like, you guys have helped me out in Netherlands. I trust you guys. You can also help me out in the UAE. So that's one thing. Another thing I think Dubai

sales itself right i mean if you go there i'm sure you've been several times like you're describing the safety the level of surface to comfort it has like it's really something you want to be a part of and then i guess the market also really yeah played it played this part in it i guess a lot of people had this like fear of missing out over the past couple of years because so many people were like oh i made so much returns on my properties in dubai in my opinion a lot of the times you're over-execurated a lot but that that's on a side note. So I guess the combination of us having the investors combined with Dubai being Dubai, yeah, really made it a huge opportunity.

And then we did sponsorsings with several fighters with glory kickboxing. We sponsored the Dutch football team, some Formula One activities that were sponsored by our company, Artee Dubai, which all led to, I guess, more brand awareness and more sales. for more growth of our business. How is this sponsoring Formula One? I mean, we didn't sponsor a Formula One driver. We sponsored drivers that drive the Porsche Cup, which is actually the race prior to the Formula One,

but they're like, they're all combined in the same event. And I guess for us, and that goes for every sponsorship, because I always get that question, especially from Dutch people, like why do you decide to sponsor this football team or why do you decide to sponsor Glory? Does it really confer? Do you get so much sales? out of it. And I would say our main purpose of our sponsorships is not necessarily sales.

Like obviously you have a bit of brand awareness. Then second, and I find this the most important thing like from a business perspective, is that through our sponsorships, we attract so many like young people that want to identify with our brand. And therefore our hiring is just extreme. Like I guess five, six weeks ago, I shared on my LinkedIn a post in which I stated that we're looking for four new acquisition agents. And we got over 350 applications for that job, which is like that that's extreme. So that obviously helped out a lot.

Then third, it's nice to sponsor people that have a dream. Just like we have a dream. We help out people with building and pursuing their own dreams. And we found that important. And then of course sales do play a little role in it, but it's not the main, I guess, purpose of doing these sponsorships. So it's a combination of, of a lot of factors and sponsoring these drivers, helping them pursue their dream in combination

with us, obviously, having certain benefits for our brands. I guess it's just a win-win, and that's something we always pursue anything we do. A lot of times younger people, money from what I'm finding is not the number one reason why they work somewhere. It's fulfilling their dream, being a part of something cool, being a part of something that aligns with them. So what a genius way to hire top talent. You talked about their biggest dream. What is your biggest dream? Yeah. If I may go back one second, like to add to that, like what I have found through that is that the moment we started doing these things, we really also started to get job application from people that actually sued our brand DNA.

And therefore our, I guess our hiring rate is 100%. We've never had someone leave our company. And that's just like for every business owner, the amount of time. and money you invest into people that join your company, but then leave in one or two years. It's extremely costly and therefore it was extremely valuable, or it is extremely valuable for us, that people do not leave the company.

And our whole business is built around the people we have, as well as the IT systems and the AI nowadays. I would say these are the two factors to scale any business. Coming back to your question, my biggest dream. And it's actually funny, I was telling you before, we call on this like call that we just acquired a big land in Morocco in Marrakesh. So next to the Ritz-Kalton with a beautiful few of the Atlas Mountains. But my biggest dream is to build sport complexes for unfortunate children that do not have

the finances to do sports. And I want to do that in Africa. So our first sport complex will actually be built in Marrakesh. And basically to really share the fishing of this all is that young, children will have the opportunity to do sports which otherwise they would not have through this they can become professional athletes they can hopefully join the ufc they can become professional soccer players they can make a lot of money and therefore reinvest in the villages they're from and thereby creating a better africa creating a better world through sports because our old company everyone in

our business and everyone in our company has a sports background which is also very nice i guess so we really share these values with each other. But that's really my dream. And I guess that's what we're working on right now. Why do you love Marrakesh so much? Out of all the places in Africa, why do you choose there? My business partner is from Morocco. So therefore, we do have a great network in Morocco and his uncle who will also be part of this whole business. We have a shared passion for sports. He used to own gyms in the past. And he's also from Morocco. So therefore, there's alignment with Morocco. But I also see Morocco. I think right now it's actually the wealthiest country in Africa. And I think there's going to be a lot of growth in this company. Geographically

speaking, it's like very central part of the world actually. It's close to Europe. It's not too far from Asia. And it's, I would say, the closest country to the US in Africa. And the World Cup is going to come to Morocco. They have a great kingdom. So there's amazing leadership. It's like politically speaking. It's very stable. So there's a lot of growth and potential in Morocco. And, and there's a lot of growth and potential in Morocco. And, yeah, obviously also because of the connection my business partner has with the country. Wow. I want to go to World Cup Morocco.

That sounds epic. Who do you think is going to win the World Cup now? Well, that's actually a funny one tonight at 3 a.m. local time. We have the Netherlands versus Morocco. So there's a little bit of tension between me and my business partner, Del. But I think Netherlands will win. I think Netherlands will win by 2-1. I think the ultimate favorites for the World Cup would be France, maybe Argentina,

but I think Netherlands do have a solid opportunity as well. So let me just be as bold as I was when I was 19 pursuing my business. I think the Netherlands will win the World Cup. Where you're at right now, when you think back to the boldness that you had at 19, have you gone through any of the dirt mud that happens in business that may have changed your perspectives around not just the. the boldness, but how you do things, how you see things. Has anything changed from when you were 19 or are you just completely the same? Now, of course, I've changed a lot.

I guess I've throughout the seven years, I've experienced so much both in Netherlands and in the UAE. I think also being in two of these different worlds gains you so much experience and knowledge and therefore I've matured a lot. I've become not as boldly invested in like ideas that I have it's far more controlled obviously i've a team of more than 30 people right now therefore i have responsibility of more than 30 people as well so it would be foolish of me to have the same boldness that i had seven years ago i was doing and doing everything by myself to do the to do it on the same same way right now but anyways the motivation is not less um the aspirations and the the goals have not became smaller. And yeah, the confidence that we will crush these goals and it will make everything

that we try to do happen has also not become smaller. Only, I guess, the way in the way, how we go about it and go do the things we have to do. I love that you still are motivated, even more so, it seems. And the fact that you now have 30 plus people that rely on you gives you a totally different motivation and perspective then when you're 19 years old, nothing to lose, by yourself, go all in. When you look at Dubai in 2035, because there's a lot of stuff that's been happening, there was a lot of excitement. I hear things are ramping back up again. But if you think about from now to 2035, what will investors miss that they wish they had seen?

Well, I think if we're looking at it right now, I think the biggest opportunity is Abu Dhabi. I think Dubai, like when we speak of the UAE, everyone's. speaks about Dubai. I think the current trend is also like within the UAE is that Abu Dhabi has become far more interesting at this current moment. That's because of all the mega projects being launched there. I think price quality wise, what you get in Abu Dhabi is far more interesting in Dubai. So if you look at square feet prices for projects in Abu Dhabi located next to sea, they're a far better, farly better price than in Dubai. So I guess that's something people should not want to miss out on. I guess in general,

just investing in the UAE, making sure you buy properties in premium locations from premium developers, that will always do well. Like in the end, there's so many people coming to the UAE because of its business climate because of its taxes, like can't deny that. So people with money will come to the UAE and therefore people with money also want quality properties. So my personal suggestion or advice would be to invest in quality real estate, both in Abu Dhabi as well as in Dubai. And then in 10 years, you will look back and I'm sure you've done a great investment. When you think about your business in 20 years from now, where do you want to take this thing? What do you hope that you had done during that time? What accomplishments or success do you hope

you have had from now to 40? Well, first and foremost, I hope to have four healthy and loving children. That will be my number one priority. Second of all, and I think that's already what we're currently building in Morocco. We, like I said, we purchased a nice plow of land that we're going to build apartments there. We'll be like roughly 400 apartments, 80 villas, and we're going to build a wellness resort with a gym, like a wellness retreat. And then also the, yeah, the sport complex, like the charity we're doing for the unfortunate children, so to say it. And that's just something I want to roll out more in the world. I want to do and build nice things with great people that really contribute to the wellness of, yeah, the people on the planet, basically.

So if I look into the future in 14 years, I hope we can build more of these sport complexes. I hope we can build more of these wellness resorts. Because for me, I guess with that everything that I like or love doing comes into play, which is entrepreneurship, which is sports, which is doing good for other people, which is children, because I just love children and then also real estate. Because in the end, we're building stuff. And I do have a passion for real estate. And doing that with the people that I love,

I have really amazing business partners. I'm most proud of the team that we have in our company that are all good friends of mine as well. I'm just doing amazing things with amazing people. That's what I hope to do for now and for the rest of my life. and I'm sure that with the people I'm surrounded by, we'll be able to do that. What advice would you give to somebody who's in their 40s now

who feels like they're in a rut? They want to make a change. They want to be an entrepreneur. What advice would you give to that person? Yeah. I mean, you can always look at why you cannot do something, but I guess you have to put things into perspective, right? I'm sure there's people that have done the same thing that you want to do

who were in far worse conditions. So you can always come up with an excuse on why not to do something, but in the end it comes down to what Nike always says, and it's just do it. And I guess that's very cliche, but on the other hand, I guess there's so much truth to it because I could also, in my case when I was 19,

I could have come up with 1,000 excuses to not go do what I did. Like, oh, you're young, so maybe I should party more. Oh, yeah, I'm young, so I'm not experienced enough. Oh, yeah, I should go work for a corporate first to go. gain some experience. Like, there's always going to be excuses on why not to do something. But it's about, I guess, the other thing. Why should you do it?

And also, for me, like, there was no alternative. The fuel inside of me was just saying, I have to do it. So might as well just go do it. And then I guess nowadays, also with AI, there's so many tools that can help you out to be more successful and therefore, yeah, to make the probability of you being successful. more likely. What do you think about the word manifestation? Is that mean anything to you or is it laughable when people talk about manifesting? No, for me it's everything. It starts with a vision. I actually had a, I was in Munich last weekend and I had a conversation with one of my closest

childhood friends about this. We were speaking about whether or not life starts from a fission. You go from fission to reality or you go from basically reality to a fission. Well, for me, it always has started with a fission. It starts here. And the fission obviously is based on like real-time experiences. But it starts with a fission. And yeah, that's how it's always been for me. I believe very much in manifesting.

I think all the, at least the good people that I'm inspired by, which are mainly professional athletes, they all had this thing with manifesting. From Cristiano Ronaldo to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, whoever. I've read all their books and manifesting as benefiting for all of them, and it's been a thing for me, myself, as well. So I'm a true believer of that.

It starts with the mind. If you can meet one of those superstars, one of the athletes that you look up to, who would it be? You can meet only one. You could have dinner with that person. I would want to say Cristiano Ronaldo, but the issue with saying Ronaldo is that I find Messi a better football player. but like from a mentality standpoint, I'm more inspired by Christiana Ronaldo.

So I guess I would call Christiana Ronaldo for the dinner, but I would ask him to take messy with him. I like that. See? That's out of the box thinking that's manifesting right there. We'll see. One day, right? One day you're going to have the jersey up. That's for sure.

In terms of manifesting, what I am manifesting is that people like children that come to our foundation, at the age of six years old, in 15 years time, we'll fight for the UFC. And it's me and my business partner going to that UFC event, seeing a child that has become an athlete through our foundation, seeing a football player that used to play in our foundation that made it into Barcelona, Real Madrid, whatever team. Like, that's what I have envisioned in my mind. And I'm, yeah, I'm sure in 10, 15, 20, 25 years, whatever, we'll look back on this podcast and be like, oh, there you go. I feel like it's great when you have your own success,

but there's nothing like the feeling of seeing someone that you helped then get to their dreams, which I think you totally agree on. Lucas, founder of R.D. Dubai, you better get Forbes 30 under 30 at some point. Before you're 27, I hope they give it to you. But this has been great, and I appreciate you being here. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for having me, and it was an honor and a pleasure to be on the show.