Meet the Founder

WiLL – Willie Viljoen

I wasn’t born with a silver spoon. I didn’t walk into startup culture with an angel investor on my back. In 2018, my family and I were living day-to-day with no fixed roof. It was during those nights — in the dark, in borrowed spaces — that I opened my laptop and taught myself to code.

🧭 Walk in My Shoes

I started with basic HTML and no clue where it would lead. But I had a reason: my family. Every sleepless night, every crash, every failed loop — it all led somewhere. I built my first real platform, STAPP (SteelTradersAPP), by 2019. By then, I wasn’t just coding. I was *rebuilding* my life, line by line.

Before MY.TOWN, there was MyMargate — a simple local listing site I built to showcase businesses in my hometown. It was raw, it was rough, but it was mine. I ended up duplicating it into 40 versions: MyJozi, MyGardenroute, MyMargate, MyTswane... hoping to one day unite them into something bigger. That spark of a decentralized network? It became the foundation of what MY.TOWN is today.

After COVID, I built QLAPP (Quantum Living APP) with Hanco Ferreira and launched the Koepel Mega ZIP booking platform — one of my earliest clients and still going strong under the MY.TOWN umbrella.

Vision Connect became MY.CONNECT. Stock tools became MY.INVENTORY. Point of sale? MY.POS. Energy monitoring? MY.POWER. All of it now part of MY.BUSINESS — a real suite for real entrepreneurs.

📅 The Journey

2017: First lines of code while trying to keep my family afloat
2018: STAPP is born during rock-bottom survival mode
2019: STAPP prototype goes live
2019–2020: Launched 40+ local sites starting with MyMargate
2020: QLAPP + Koepel ZIP developed during post-COVID rebuild
2021: MY.TOWN concept takes shape — unifying all past builds
2023: Settled in Sedgefield; began live testing MY.LIFT locally
2024: Launched MY.SECURE — already 1500+ signups
2025: NFT Shares + Hashtag Hub + full rollout of all divisions

🧠 What I Believe

MY.TOWN isn’t just built on code. It’s built on values forged in fire. I call them the 5 P’s of Life — a personal framework that helped me rise from nothing and keep showing up, even when the world told me to stay down.

Purpose: You’re not here by accident. Everyone has a mission — something only they can do. I found mine in building a platform that makes others feel seen, heard, and in control of their digital world.
Passion: Purpose without fire is useless. Passion is waking up every day with grit in your gut and a vision that won’t let you sleep. It’s the fuel behind every night I coded until sunrise.
Perseverance: I’ve lived in cars. I’ve started over more than once. Life will try to break you — but you get to decide if it succeeds. Fall. Stand. Repeat.
Precision: Every line of code. Every choice. Every brand decision. Doing the right thing matters, but doing it at the right time? That’s power. Precision is what turns chaos into progress.
Payment: Not just money. I’m talking about impact. Legacy. Respect. If you follow the first four with discipline, the fifth shows up — in ways that matter more than just a paycheck.

This platform isn’t about getting rich quick. It’s about building capitalism with a conscience — a system where ownership, integrity, and impact go hand in hand. I’m not here to just make noise. I’m here to change the damn frequency.

📸 Beyond the Code

I’m also the creator of iAmWiLL Photography — a brand that lets me express the beauty I see in the world when I’m not buried in databases and deadlines. My lens taught me what code couldn’t: how to frame a story, capture feeling, and stay human in a world of machines.

"This isn’t just tech. It’s a declaration. MY.TOWN is the rebellion you can log into."

🚀 What's Next

Hashtag MY.TOWN. NFT-backed shares. Entrepreneur tools. Division by division, the platform grows — and so does the tribe behind it. My goal? Build something the suits can’t buy, the gatekeepers can’t control, and the people can finally own. Maybe I’ll finish my book too — not for fame, but so the next guy sleeping in his bakkie with a dream knows he’s not alone.