Martijn Buurman is the Chief Customer Officer and co-owner at Upper Spire. Martijn brings a wealth of experience in the Salesforce ecosystem, having worked as a consultant before joining Upper Spire. He’s passionate about customer success and innovative solutions, and is known for his energetic, people-centric approach. Outside of work, Martijn is an avid goalkeeper enthusiast, reflecting his belief in teamwork and unsung heroes.
We sat down with Upper Spire’s CCO to discuss his personal journey, the vision behind Cartularius, and how passion drives the product forward.
Interviewer: Martijn, you joined Upper Spire fairly recently. Can you tell us about your background and how you found your way to the team?
Martijn: Sure! Before joining Upper Spire, I spent the past several years working at a consultancy firm called IV experts, which I founded in 2010. That was a fantastic experience – I got to advise and implement Salesforce solutions for a variety of organizations, which gave me a really broad perspective on the ecosystem. During that time, I became what you might call a Salesforce generalist; I worked on everything from Sales Cloud to Service Cloud. Now, my path to Upper Spire is a bit of serendipity. One of our IV experts clients was a company called Annexum, and I was involved in a Salesforce project for them. It was there that I was introduced to Cartularius. Annexum was using Cartularius to manage their documents, and the app immediately made a strong impression on me. I remember thinking, “Wow, this is exactly the kind of solution so many of my other clients have been missing.” It elevated document management within Salesforce to a whole new level. The integration was seamless – Cartularius plugged right into standard Salesforce objects and even custom ones, so users didn’t have to jump around systems. And as I dug in, I found you could edit Office 365 documents directly within Salesforce, which to me was a game-changer in terms of user convenience. Long story short, I was geeking out over the product (laughs). I reached out to Joris and Marco to learn more, which turned into several conversations about the vision for Cartularius. Those chats made it clear that the Upper Spire team wasn’t just building a tool; they were on a mission to solve a big problem in the Salesforce world. I joined Upper Spire as Chief Customer Officer earlier this year, and it’s been an exciting ride from day one. It’s not every day you get to take something you admired as an outsider and then help drive it forward from the inside!
Interviewer: You mentioned you were impressed by Cartularius as a user before you joined. What features or aspects stood out to you the most?
Martijn: Definitely the seamlessness and the native feel of it. As a Salesforce consultant, I’ve seen a lot of third-party integrations that feel clunky. Cartularius felt like a natural extension of Salesforce. I was struck by a few things in particular: First, the way it integrates with both standard and custom objects – you can attach and organize documents on any record, whether it’s an Opportunity, a Property listing, a case, you name it. That’s crucial because every business has unique records, not just the standard ones, and Cartularius works wherever you need it. Second, the user-friendliness – the interface is intuitive, and users can do powerful things without leaving Salesforce. For example, the fact that you can open an Office 365 document right inside Salesforce, edit it, and save it back seamlessly was huge for Annexum’s use case. No more downloading, editing, and re-uploading files – it’s all in one flow. Third, the underlying approach of using Amazon S3 for storage behind the scenes is brilliant from a scalability standpoint. It means companies aren’t constrained by Salesforce’s file storage limits and costs; they can leverage their own secure cloud storage while still managing everything through the Salesforce interface. As a consultant, I appreciated that design because it’s forward-thinking – it can accommodate a company as their document repository grows into the millions of files. All these things together made me realize Cartularius was built by people who really understood the Salesforce platform and its gaps. That’s what excited me and ultimately what led me here.
Interviewer: Now that you’re the CCO, what drives you personally and professionally in this role?
Martijn: My driving force has always been a passion for helping people succeed – I know that sounds a bit cliché, but it’s true. In every job I’ve had, I’ve gravitated towards the customer-facing, relationship-building side of things. Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction out of solving problems with people rather than just for people. Professionally, that translates to a focus on customer success and enablement. As Chief Customer Officer, my mission is to ensure that our customers not only get value from Cartularius, but that they feel supported and empowered along the way. I often say, “Supporting our customers isn’t just about answering questions — it’s about empowering them to succeed with Salesforce-native document management.”
That philosophy is what drives me day to day. I’m not content with a customer just installing our app; I want them to truly integrate it into their processes and see the efficiency gains, the compliance improvements, all of it. Another thing that drives me is my passion for innovation. I might not be writing code, but I love coming up with creative solutions to meet a customer’s needs. When a client says, “We wish it could do X,” I thrive on working with the team to figure out how we can make X (or something like it) happen. On a personal note, I’m also driven by a sense of camaraderie. I genuinely enjoy building relationships – with customers, with colleagues, with partners. That’s probably why I ended up in a role that’s all about people. For me, it’s incredibly motivating to be part of a product journey where I can connect with users, gather their stories, and champion their needs inside our company. Knowing that our work makes other people’s work easier is a great feeling that keeps me energized.
Interviewer: You came in just as Cartularius was evolving rapidly. What have been some key milestones or insights for you since joining, and what lessons have you learned so far?
Martijn: It’s true, I joined at an exciting time. A key milestone right off the bat was the launch of our new website and brand identity for Cartularius – that happened around when I joined, and it was a team effort I was proud to be part of. It symbolized how far the product had come. But beyond the outward milestones, I’d say the most important moments for me have been interactions with customers. For example, I sat in on a training session with one of our new customers and watched their Salesforce admin’s eyes light up when they realized how much time they’d save not having to chase documents across different systems. Those kinds of “lightbulb moments” are golden. They reinforce why we do this. A big insight for me has been just how versatile Cartularius is. Coming from the outside, I knew it as a document manager for a specific use case. Now, I’m seeing customers apply it in ways we maybe didn’t even anticipate – from managing legal dossiers in a financial firm to handling large media files for a marketing company. That’s taught me the lesson that, as a product and customer leader, I should always keep an open mind about how our tool can be used, and listen to those use cases to guide our roadmap. Another lesson I’ve learned (or rather, re-learned) is the power of teamwork. Joining Marco and Joris, we’ve formed a tight-knit trio at the helm.
The synergy of our three-man leadership team has already produced great forward steps. We each have our domain (vision/strategy for Marco, tech for Joris, customers for me), but we collaborate on all major decisions. It feels like being part of a well-coordinated sports team, to use a metaphor I love. Speaking of which, one more insight: building a community is just as important as building the product. We’ve been actively encouraging a community around Cartularius – through our new support site, through blogs and other content. I’ve learned that users get even more value when they share tips and best practices with each other. So a takeaway for me is to foster that community aspect; it’s not just company-to-customer, but customer-to-customer connections that matter. In summary, the milestones like the rebrand, new big client wins, etc., are great – but the day-to-day wins of seeing users succeed and a community forming are the most rewarding. The lesson is to celebrate those, because they indicate we’re doing something right.
Interviewer: What’s something about you outside of work that helps shape how you lead or approach your role?
Martijn: I have a pretty big passion outside of the Salesforce world: I’m a huge sports guy, specifically when it comes to goalkeepers in team sports. In fact, I’m the founder of a platform called ZEROHERO, which is dedicated to goalkeepers and goalies across all kinds of sports. I even put together a book filled with stories and photos celebrating the “keepers” – it’s kind of my tribute to those unsung heroes on the field. This passion isn’t just a hobby; it’s something that has fundamentally shaped how I think about teamwork and leadership. As a goalkeeper myself (in amateur indoor soccer) and the father of an ice-hockey goalie, I’ve always been fascinated by the role. Keepers often don’t get the spotlight, but they’re absolutely critical to the team’s success. What I learned from that, which I apply in business, is the importance of having each other’s backs and the value of roles that might be underappreciated.
In my ZEROHERO project, I’ve built a community where goalies share knowledge and support each other because collaboration and trust are key – no single keeper has all the answers, but together we have a wealth of experience. I bring that same mentality to my role at Upper Spire. I truly believe in the power of collaboration and knowledge sharing, whether it’s within our team or with our customers. In fact, I see many parallels between building strong sports teams and creating successful customer relationships in business. For example, in sports, every player (or stakeholder) needs to understand the common goal and trust that their teammates will do their part – similarly, I work hard to build trust with customers so they know we’re in their corner, and I encourage customers to share their experiences so others can learn. Another aspect is resilience: goalkeepers have to shake off a setback quickly (say you let in a goal, you can’t dwell on it). In customer success, if something doesn’t go perfectly – maybe a feature is missing or a support issue arises – I take that same approach: address it head-on, learn from it, and move forward without losing sight of the bigger picture. So, in a fun way, my involvement with sports and the ZEROHERO community keeps me grounded and reminds me of the human side of what we do. It’s all about teamwork, whether on the pitch or in the office.
Interviewer: What excites you about the future of Cartularius and Salesforce in general?
Martijn: From where I stand – interfacing with our customers every day – I’m excited about how Cartularius will continue to make life easier for Salesforce users. Every time Salesforce announces a new feature or product, I’m thinking, “How can we leverage that or complement it for our customers?” For instance, Salesforce is going big on enabling automation and AI, and I see Cartularius fitting right into that narrative. It excites me to think that in the near future, a salesperson or service rep might not even have to think about document management at all – it will just happen in the background because Cartularius, powered by some smart Salesforce AI, will file things in the right place, notify the right people, maybe even draft the first version of a document. We’re not far off from that. I’m also excited about the growing awareness of the importance of document management. A few years ago, when I was consulting, it was sometimes hard to convince organizations to invest in a document management solution for Salesforce – it was seen as a “nice-to-have.” That’s changing now; companies are realizing that unstructured data (like files) needs just as much love as structured data. Being in a position to educate and assist customers on that front is something I look forward to. In terms of Salesforce in general, I’m excited about its expanding ecosystem. Salesforce is not just CRM anymore; it’s sales, service, marketing, analytics, integration – and with recent moves, it’s also data warehousing and AI. This expansion means customers will rely on Salesforce for even more of their operations, which means the documents tied to those operations should live in Salesforce too. We have a big opportunity to support that trend. Another thing – and this is the CCO in me speaking – I’m excited about building out our customer community as we grow. I envision user groups, events, maybe even an annual Cartularius customer meetup, where folks can share how they’re using the product and we can exchange ideas. Salesforce has a wonderful community culture (the “Ohana”, as they call it) and being a part of that with our own spin is thrilling. So, big picture: I’m excited that the problem we solve is only going to get more relevant, that the technology to solve it is getting more powerful, and that our user community is growing and thriving. That combination means the future is bright – for Salesforce users and for us at Upper Spire.
Interviewer: Finally, how do you see your role evolving as the company and customer base grow?
Martijn: I see my role evolving in tandem with our expanding reach. Right now, I’m very much “in the trenches” with our customers – onboarding new ones, fielding feedback, helping refine processes. As we grow, I’ll be focused on scaling that customer-centric approach. Practically speaking, that means building out a larger Customer Success team. I anticipate hiring and mentoring customer success managers and support specialists who can maintain the high-touch relationships we pride ourselves on. My role will shift toward enabling that team – giving them the tools, knowledge, and culture to take superb care of our users. I also see myself spending more time on customer strategy. By that, I mean using the insights we gather from our user base to influence our product roadmap and company strategy. As we get more customers, data and feedback will come in at a higher volume. It’ll be part of my job to synthesize that and ensure the “voice of the customer” is heard loud and clear in every decision we make. Additionally, as one of the co-owners, I’ll naturally be involved in broader strategic planning with Marco and Joris – everything from which markets to expand into, to what partnerships we might pursue. And as I mentioned, community building is big on my agenda. I can see my role involving organizing user events or championing online communities as we grow. On a personal development note, I expect I’ll have to become more metrics-driven over time – measuring customer health, adoption rates, NPS scores, things like that – to keep a pulse on our success as the numbers scale up. In essence, I’ll go from being the go-to guy for every customer question to the architect of a larger customer success organization. But one thing I intend to keep, no matter how big we get, is direct interaction with customers. That’s the favorite part of my job, and it informs everything else. So even if I have a team handling day-to-day support, you’ll still find me jumping on client calls or visiting clients on-site when possible. It’s vital to me that I never lose that firsthand connection with our users.
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