Decision one: the entity
The office itself is usually a BV — the management company — sitting beside the family holding it serves: the holding owns, the office manages, a service agreement at arm’s length connects them. Families wanting the control layer add the STAK above the holding from day one: the certification move and the full architecture.
Decision two: the team
Lean beats institutional: one steward (often the founder, later a trusted professional), a bookkeeper on retainer, and the adviser bench — notary, tax, banking — engaged per event. Payroll of one, network of six is the Dutch pattern; the first hire has its own playbook: building the team.
Decision three: the mandate
Ten pages, written once: investment scope and limits, distribution policy (what the family may expect, when), decision rights per layer, reporting rhythm, and the succession clause — who steps in, on what trigger. The mandate lives in the STAK conditions and the governance charter: the charter layer, and prepares the heirs deliberately: next-generation governance.
The first ninety days
Entities in weeks (formation remotely), banking on a prepared file, the mandate drafted while the notary works, first board minutes on Dutch soil — and the January rhythm starts counting from there.