There’s no blueprint for building a global business. No step-by-step manual for growing from a single office into a global performance marketing powerhouse with teams around the world.
For Raymond and Ramon, the founders of Creative Clicks, it was never about having a perfect plan. It was about moving forward, one bold step at a time. As they reflect on 15 years of highs, lows, and everything in between, a clear picture emerges: this isn’t just a story of success. It’s a story of resilience, reinvention, and relentless drive.
In a small office overlooking Amsterdam’s Bloemenmarkt, two friends decided to bet on themselves. They’d spent years in corporate structures, building someone else’s dream. It was time to try something different.
“We thought we’d finally get more freedom,” Ramon says. “A little flexibility. Some beers on Friday afternoons.”
But freedom quickly turned into responsibility.
“That changed completely when we hired our first or second employee,” Raymond adds. “Then you have to lead by example. And from then on, yeah, it didn’t stop anymore.”
That was the moment they realised they weren’t just launching a product: they were building something far more demanding, and far more meaningful.
“Rollercoaster is the only word that fits,” Raymond says.
There were moments of breakthrough. Moments of doubt. Long stretches when they pushed forward only to be pushed back.
“It’s just a way of life,” Raymond reflects. “Working hard, working with a team, doing your utmost best and just keeping on.”
That relentlessness, fueled by passion more than predictability, became the thread that tied together every phase of their growth.
Back in 2009, Creative Clicks didn’t launch with dreams of global domination. The vision was focused, but the scale? Unimaginable at the time. What started as a mobile product venture quickly became something much bigger: a global performance marketing agency with 250+ people, working for the biggest worldwide brands.
“We surpassed our own ambitions,” Ramon says. “It’s a very dynamic industry, so every few years new opportunities appear. It’s hard to envision that 15 years later we’d be serving such a list of global brands.”
Raymond adds, “We didn’t have the knowledge or the ambition yet to become a global performance agency. But once we started seeing opportunities, we just hammered down on them.”
What carried them wasn’t foresight, but hunger. “We stayed hungry,” Raymond says. “And every time we saw a new opportunity, we chased it.”
Because in this kind of industry, and with this kind of mindset, you don’t grow by following a roadmap. You grow by writing one as you go.
Looking back, one early decision changed the entire trajectory of the company: becoming self-reliant.
“At that point in time,” Ramon says, “we were dependent on third-party affiliate networks. We made a strategic move to go into performance marketing ourselves. This was the change that completely shifted the company’s strategy. After multiple acquisitions, the result is a global performance marketing powerhouse helping clients worldwide reach their user acquisition goals.”
That decision meant more risk, but also more control. It was the beginning of Creative Clicks as a performance-first, data-driven growth engine.
Every founder hits a point when things feel like they’re slipping away. For Raymond and Ramon, there was a stretch early on when the future of Creative Clicks felt deeply uncertain. They had poured in everything-time, energy, personal savings- and the runway was getting dangerously short.
“We’d spent our own money. The bank wasn’t sure. We felt like everything could collapse,” Raymond recalls.
But they didn’t quit. They pushed harder. Held onto the belief that they could turn it around, even when the odds were stacked against them.
“It was a make-or-break moment,” Ramon says. “When we finally got that breathing room, it changed everything. From that point on, we were able to accelerate.”
Raymond adds, “We were only four or five people then. But from that moment, we started growing fast.”
That moment, when it all could have fallen apart, became a catalyst. It didn’t break them. It made them.
“That’s when we really started flying,” Raymond says.
That growth opened the door to their first acquisition, a move that would further shape their trajectory.
“For us, it felt like a big risk,” Ramon says. “Even though it was calculated. We were personally liable for it. That’s pressure. But it paid off and gave us confidence.”
Years later, acquisitions feel less risky, but those early ones taught them how to grow not just fast, but smart.
“We don’t pivot once and call it done,” Raymond says. “We’re constantly adapting.”
That mindset of staying fluid, scanning the horizon, became core to their strategy.
“The performance space is broad,” he explains. “From verticals like insurance, software, utilities, hearing aids, you name it. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes it’s a big success. But when we see something, we do it.”
And the key, as Ramon puts it, is continuity: “We always diversify to ensure the future of the company. That’s how we capture what’s next.”
Some of Creative Clicks’ biggest wins didn’t come from internal breakthroughs, but from helping their clients grow, often faster than anyone expected.
“We’ve had clients that started small,” Ramon shares, “and scaled faster than anyone imagined.”
But it wasn’t luck. It was trust. And it was earned.
“It’s like betting on the right horse,” Raymond says. “But then you train the horse. You build with them. You build the systems, the relationships, the performance to help them win.”
That kind of partnership takes time, but when it works, the results are exponential.
“One of our clients started small,” Raymond continues, “and eventually, we became one of their top two user acquisition providers globally.”
That’s how growth at Creative Clicks often happens. Not in one dramatic leap, but in deeply strategic, high-trust collaborations.
Of all the risks they’ve taken over the years(acquisitions, expansions, investments), none compares to the very first: walking away from security.
“For me, it was giving up a really good job,” Ramon says. “No income for years. Watching savings slowly melt away. But we believed in it.”
Raymond echoes that, recalling his own financial uncertainty. “I had a family, a mortgage, a market in crisis. I had reserves, and they were disappearing. That was the highest risk I ever took.”
But that experience created a kind of calm.
“After you’ve lived through that,” Ramon says, “future risks feel manageable. You’ve built up the muscle.”
Creative Clicks was international from the very beginning. Working with partners across markets and continents was simply part of the business. But opening their first physical office abroad marked a new kind of milestone: the moment they took that global mindset and gave it structure, scale, and permanence.
That first office was in Toronto, an extension of a trusted partnership and a natural next step in the company’s evolution, especially for serving US customers.
“From day one, we worked with international partners,” Raymond explains. “Performance marketing wasn’t built in the Netherlands. It was global from the start.”
Ramon adds, “The office itself wasn’t the big moment. The relationship behind it, that’s what mattered. That was the real win.”
There was no single market or partnership that turned Creative Clicks into what it is today. Instead, the company scaled through consistency and perseverance.
“It’s stacking,” Raymond says. “Stacking clients. Stacking verticals. Stacking scale.”
Ramon nods. “It was never a one-hit success. It was slow. It was intentional. But we keep expanding to new clients and verticals.”
As Creative Clicks expanded across time zones and cultures, leadership became less about control and more about trust.
“It was hard at first,” Ramon admits. “We had to learn that people in different regions have different leadership styles, and that’s okay.”
What mattered wasn’t uniformity. It was alignment. A shared drive, even if the approach varied.
“You have to let people lead in their own way,” Raymond says. “That’s where real growth happens: when you trust people to make their own calls, in their own way, and give them the space to shine.”
From day one, Creative Clicks has moved fast: testing, iterating, and evolving with the market. But behind that pace is a philosophy that guides everything: the Triple E.
“We call it the Triple E,” Raymond explains. “Entrepreneurship. Energy. Expertise.”
That mindset isn’t just written on a wall; it’s how the team works, learns, and shows up every day.
“Don’t over-plan,” Raymond adds. “Just do. Try. Fall. Get up again. That’s how we’ve built this company: through momentum, persistence, and passion.”
In the early days, leadership at Creative Clicks was intense, direct, and hands-on. But as the company grew, so did the mindset behind it.
“I used to be very directive,” Ramon says. “I believed I could do most things better myself. But I’ve learned the power of trust. Now, I focus on hiring people better than me and giving them the space to do what they do best.”
That shift became a cornerstone of Creative Clicks’ growth.
Raymond echoes that: “We stopped settling. We raised the bar. And when you hire great people, you don’t need to micromanage. You just need to trust them.”
For Raymond, it wasn’t a deal or a dollar amount. It was a company trip to Valencia: watching the team laugh, connect, and celebrate.
“That’s when it hit me,” he says. “We built something people want to be part of. Not just a company, but a community.”
For Ramon, it’s the loyalty. The people who’ve stayed, grown, and made Creative Clicks what it is. “That’s what I’m proud of. That’s what lasts.”
Both founders believe the company is standing on the edge of its next big chapter. “There are things in motion now,” Raymond says, “that could transform our future more than anything we’ve done before.”
They won’t say too much. Yet. But the excitement is there. The same energy they had 15 years ago, now backed by experience, resilience, and a team built for scale.
More than numbers or milestones, Raymond and Ramon hope people remember how Creative Clicks made them feel.
“I hope they say, ‘That’s where I grew,’” says Ramon. “As a person, as a professional.”
Raymond adds, “That’s where I learned how to be resilient. Where I got the tools for life, not just work. And yeah, we had fun along the way.”
And that’s what makes 15 years of Creative Clicks more than a timeline: it’s a story of people growing, building, failing, and winning together. The journey isn’t finished. In many ways, it’s just entering its most exciting chapter. But no matter how big it gets or how fast it moves, the heart of it stays the same: a company built on trust, fueled by ambition, and shaped by every person who’s been part of it.
