04.06.2026
From enablement to intelligence: the next phase of AI within Your.Online
Artificial Intelligence has rapidly moved from experimentation to application. The conversation is shifting from what AI can do in isolation to what it makes possible when it becomes part of the foundation entrepreneurs already build on. That is the territory Your.Online is moving into.
In an earlier perspective, we described AI as a practical catalyst for entrepreneurship: something that helps people start faster, make better decisions, and build with more confidence. That principle still stands. What is evolving now is the role AI plays in making that possible.
Where AI initially supported individual tasks, it is increasingly shaping how digital products are created, managed, and improved over time. Software is no longer just a set of tools with predefined interfaces. It is becoming something that understands intent and translates it into execution.
For entrepreneurs, this fundamentally changes how businesses are built. The process shifts from navigating complexity to expressing goals. From assembling tools to orchestrating outcomes.
From infrastructure to intelligence
That shift has direct implications for the space we operate in. Your.Online has always been positioned at the very start of the digital journey. Through our local brands, we provide the infrastructure that millions of small and mid-sized businesses rely on: domains, hosting, websites, and the services around them. That foundation is not new. But what can be built on top of it is changing rapidly.
AI belongs inside that foundation. An intelligence layer that connects, guides, and enhances everything that is already there, making it more responsive to what entrepreneurs actually need at each step of their journey.
This opportunity is not limited to one region. Across both Europe and the United States, millions of SMBs are navigating the same shift: how to build, operate, and grow in an environment where AI is redefining speed, expectations, and competition. While market dynamics differ, the underlying need is the same; accessible, integrated intelligence that helps entrepreneurs move forward with confidence.
A deliberate choice to build
This perspective also shapes how we move. Since the beginning, Your.Online has followed an acquisition-driven model. By partnering with strong local entrepreneurs, we have built a decentralized platform with leading positions across multiple markets. That model remains unchanged and continues to be the core of how we grow.
At the same time, AI as a foundational layer is an area where speed, integration, and control matter, and where the category is still being defined. The right path here is building, not acquiring.
For that reason, we have chosen to invest in a focused initiative to develop this layer ourselves. A logical extension of the strategy, built with the same discipline and long-term orientation that defines how Your.Online grows. This effort is deliberately set up to be small, focused, and execution-driven, and has been established as the Your.Online AI Growth-team.
The initiative is led by Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt, who joined Your.Online through the acquisition of Progress Planner. Joost leads as Group Head of AI & Growth, and Marieke as Group Head of Brand & Community. Together, they bring decades of experience in product development, open source, and building tools that make complex things accessible to everyday entrepreneurs. At Yoast, they proved that a well-designed layer on top of complexity can reach millions of people who would otherwise never have benefited from it. That is the same principle at work here, at a larger scale and with a broader ambition. They work closely with Wido den Hollander, Your.Online’s CTO, and a team of developers and community leaders who have spent years embedded in the ecosystems where this work will have the most direct impact. For more on who they are and what drives this initiative, read the full announcement.
The team operates with a high degree of autonomy, close to real customer environments and existing brand platforms. Ideas are tested where they matter: in real customer journeys, with real users, in real markets. What works is refined and scaled. What needs rethinking gets rethought quickly. Over time, this produces something that is technically sound and operationally relevant in equal measure.
Building what comes next
The ambition is to introduce a new category of products, and to enhance what already exists. Across the lifecycle of any online presence or business, helping entrepreneurs move from idea to launch faster, simplifying day-to-day operations, and providing guidance that supports growth over time. The goal is reducing the friction between the tools that already exist, so entrepreneurs spend their energy on building rather than navigating.
This will develop step by step, use case by use case, embedded within the platforms our customers already use. Progress is visible in what entrepreneurs can do, not in what is announced.
What this opens up, over time, is something genuinely new for the entrepreneurs we serve. Getting online has always meant navigating a world built for specialists. Setting up a website, optimising for search, growing across platforms and channels: each step came with a learning curve that stood between ambition and outcome. The opportunity ahead is to change that experience at its root.
An entrepreneur who knows what they want to build should be able to build it. The intelligence layer we are working toward makes that possible, across the full lifecycle of an online business, from the first idea to sustained growth. That is the online possibility we are building toward.