Augustin ‘Gus’ van Rijckevorsel has built his career on bold bets and stubborn ambition.

By his 30s, he’d launched seven companies: some collapsed in spectacular fashion, others scaled fast enough to put him on the radar of Europe’s top investors.

Gus is the kind of founder who hacks the system, takes bets most would avoid, and believes the only real risk is standing still.

Now, as CEO at Ultra, he’s aiming to build the “Netflix of gaming” out of Europe.

In this episode, Gus shares the unfiltered reality behind the founder journey.

🔗 Find Gus on LinkedIn and X

Takeaways from Gus’ episode

1️⃣ Vision is a distortion and reality keeps you in business

Founders survive on a healthy dose of delusion, but long-term success demands you confront the facts, not just your ambitions.

2️⃣ If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

Cut corners on hiring and you’ll regret it. Quality people are the only thing that matters.

3️⃣ Layoffs and failure never get easier, only more public

You’ll go from hero to villain overnight, and sometimes you’ll have to make impossible calls. Learning to live with the emotional fallout is part of the founder’s job description.

4️⃣ Entrepreneurs take bets, business owners play it safe

Real entrepreneurs chase scale and put everything at risk to get there. If you’re clinging to ownership, you’re not growing, you’re just maintaining.

5️⃣ The biggest risk is standing still

Speed is the new survival skill. You don’t have a decade to prove yourself. If you’re not moving fast, you’re moving backwards.

In this episode we cover:

00:00 Intro to Gus van Rijckevorsel

02:10 From success to failure and back again

07:48 Lessons from collapse and comeback

11:15 Mindset, mentors, and surviving setbacks

16:22 How to spot opportunity

25:33 The all-or-nothing founder approach

30:54 Ultra’s “Netflix for gaming” vision

37:38 Beating the gatekeepers

39:55 Scaling, fundraising, and moving fast

44:30 Managing remote teams

46:59 Europe’s next tech wave

51:22 How AI is changing gaming

59:09 Europe’s protectionism as an edge

01:01:29 Lessons for young entrepreneurs

01:05:37 The value of taking bold risks

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