***Ok, we have a confession to make. Stealth Founder Rebekah does not exist. Nor does Pilar.One, the company that raised 450 million and grew the team to 500 employees in 6 months. This episode script was written by Chat GPT and read by Lisette. April fools! Enjoy Rebekahs crazy answers and the AI generated music anyway***

Rebekah is the CEO and founder of Pilar.one, a fast growing startup that creates better humans through advanced use of CRISPR, the genome editing technique. She raised over 450 million us dollars to date from unknown private investors and runs her lab facility in an undisclosed location.  

Although it seems she came out of the blue, that is because Rebekah is not her real name. She had a successful exit in a previous company and uses that alias to stay safe.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• The applications of CRISPR for genome editing;
• AI as a gamechanger for founders;
• How to create better humans.

Ferhat is the CEO and Co-founder of Valyuu, the circular economy marketplace to sell and buy pre-owned goods, like smartphones and macbooks. With first hand experience from T-mobile and a first venture in b2b refurbishment, he started the company in January 2021. 

Valyuu joined Techstars and in March 22 they raised a first investment with ten prominent angel investors. Valyuu has been growing rapidly, so Ferhat is currently raising to support the next stage.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• Building a multi sided platform in the circular economy;
• The value of a startup accelerator;
• Taking investor calls on a train station floor… ;-)

Links mentioned:

• People: Ferhat Topuz, Jingwei Ren, Arvin Esterabadi, Thomas Mensink, Laurens Hamerlinck, Leonie Timmermans, Stefan van den Berg, Anna Brandt, Noor van Boven
• Companies: Valyuu, 2Hearts Community, T-Mobile, Techstars, Golden Egg Check, ABN Amro, Afterpay, Swapfiets
• Other: Careers at Valyuu, Ferhat in an investor call at Amsterdam CS
• Media: Altin Gun - Halkali Seker

Abdessamad Dari is the MD of Techgrounds Netherlands. With a background in management, sales and system admin, in 2019 he joined Techgrounds. He is Managing Director of the Rotterdam based program that reskills talent in IT. 

Katia Ramos’ career includes several administrative roles at different organizations until she found herself out of a job. She is a participant in the current program.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• opportunities in tech for underrepresented talent
• a paradigm shift for employers;
• first hand experience from inside the program

Links mentioned:

• People: Abdessamad Dari, Katia Ramos, Ruben Nieuwenhuis, Marijn Roelof, Rory Heltzel
• Companies: TechGrounds, MolenGeek, Booking.com, Rabobank, Squerist, PostNL, ITCampus
• Media: Molengeek (SIfted Article), Fugees - Can’t take my eyes off of you

Want to promote diversity and professionalism in your IT team? Looking for talented new IT people? Visit https://techgrounds.nl/voor-bedrijven/

Born in Iran, Parya moved to the Netherlands at the age of twelve. She has a background in systems engineering at Technical University of Delft. There, together with Joris Mollinga and Mark Evenblij she founded DuckDuck Goose - a remarkable company on a mission to detect deepfake.

DuckDuckGoose first clients included the NFI (Dutch Forensic Institute) and the Dutch House of Representatives. In 2022 the European organization IDNext awarded DuckDuckGoose won the Digital Innovation Award 2022.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• How to spot a deepfake;
• Starting a business out of University;
• Growing as a leader and as a team;

Links mentioned:

• People: Parya Lotfi, Mark Evenblij, Hajo de Boer, Ewout Karel, John van Schagen, Leonne Dieleman, Joe Bloemendaal, Jin Han, Ian Wachters, Hans Henseler, Joris Mollinga
• Companies: DuckDuckGoose, TU Delft, NFI, YES!Delft, BNR
• Media: Tom Cruise Deepfake, Baraye - Shervin  
• Other: IDNext Awards, GDPR, TU Delft Impact Contest

With a background in engineering and business, Peter Paul started his career at the acclaimed shipbuilder Damen Shipyards. In 2017, together with Daan Geldermans he founded Skoon on a mission to make clean energy accessible.

Damen Shipyards became his first investor soon the Netherlands most prominent cleantech investor Kees Koolen followed. 

Today, Skoon is scaling up at an impressive rate, growing a whopping 800% in 2022.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• How do you turn crisis into an opportunity?
• What is it like to raise capital in cleantech?
• …  are dutch founders dreaming big enough?

Links mentioned:

• People: Peter Paul van Voorst tot Voorst, Daan Geldermans,  Kees Koolen, Sjoerd de Jager, Arash Aazami, André Kuipers
• Companies: Skoon, Damen Shipyards, Workspot, Maritime Sisters, PortXchange, ChatGPT
• Other: Peter Pauls photography album, Coldplay - Higher Power

Born and raised in Rotterdam, Jamal has been involved in a number of social initiatives: from RefugeeHero, Edubility foundation. Starters4Communities. 

In 2020 he founded Social Debt, on a mission to ensure that there is no more profit on debt collection. His work has not gone unnoticed: Jamal featured in various Dutch media, which even led to questions in the dutch parliament. Social Debt is one of the first two companies to receive funding by the NN Group Social Innovation fund.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• Helping young people to get out of problematic debt;
• Funding an scaling a cooperative social enterprise;
• The risky path of entrepreneurship.

Links mentioned:

• People: Jamal Oulel, Sarah Reitema, Hulya Kat, Patricio de Boom, Willem Los, Michael van Loenen, Jos Versteeg 
• Companies: SocialDebt, RefugeeHero, Starters4Communities, CIC, CityLab010, Quan, Woonstad Rotterdam, Heilige Boontjes, LaatBloeien, YouBeDo 
• Media: NPO Interview (In Dutch), MT/Sprout 
• Other: NN Social Innovation Fund, Steward Ownership, Fugazi, Upstream Festival, Kempi - Stratiblues

Simon co founded NOWI Energy together with Omar Link, a fellow Strategic Product Design Master student at TU Delft.

In 2016, they set out to design a chip that harvests energy - to replace batteries. They grew the company to forty employees, with sales teams in San Francisco and Shanghai. They raised a series A in november 2019 and in November 2022, the company was acquired by Nexperia.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• Non technical founders solving a technical problem
• Finding the right advisors along your journey;
• And ofcourse… the acquisition by Nexperia

Links Mentioned:

• People: Simon van der Jagt, Omar Link, Jan Willem Klerkx, Ad Scheepbouwer, Ronald Prins, Menno van der Marel, Christiaan van Nispen, Merijn Zondag, Elisa van der Jagt - Zondervan, Ellen Elschot?
• Companies: Nowi Energy, Nexperia, YES!Delft,  Fox IT, PetBNB, Tiler Charge, NEXT Delft , ASML
• Other: CES, blog: should startups invest in a large scale conference like CES, Vroegefasefinanciering RVO, Upstream Festival, Macklemore - Downtown

Clinton is the founder and CEO of Maxwell & Spark, manufacturer of renewable energy systems.

Originally from South Africa, he has led highly innovative engineering teams, in the fields of materials engineering and renewable energy. From academics, solar car racing and the large hadron collider, to shipping lines and litigation in Africa and Europe. 

He is an Honourary academic at University of KwaZulu-Natal. His academic career started in Philosophy but led him to a PhD in Materials Engineering.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• Accelerating the energy transition;
• Academia versus industry;
• Moving to the Netherlands…  from South Africa.

Links mentioned

• People: Clinton Bemont, Richard Hardiman, David Evans, Cailin Greiner, Gerko Visée
• Companies: Maxwell & Spark, Spar, Rotterdam Partners, Fairtree & Elefant, RanMarine, YES!Delft, The Hague International Center 
• Media: Solar team
• Other: Mandoza - Nkalakatha

Michiel is a b2b e-commerce veteran. 

He joined ISM e-company - which was founded by Jan Kees de Jager and Karel van der Woude - during his Master at Erasmus University more than 20 years ago. 

Later, he became Managing Partner. Since 2011, he has been dedicated to building Sana Commerce. As their CEO, he helps companies worldwide achieve e-commerce success, with a team of more than 400 people all over the world.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• Switching from a project business to a product business;
• Creating one culture with team members across multiple timezones;
• How the lessons from the 2008 crisis still apply today.

Links mentioned:

• People: Michiel Schipperus, Jan Kees de Jager, Karel van der Woude, David Heinemeier Hansson 
• Companies: Sana Commerce, ISM eCompany, Valantic, Pimm Solutions
• Media: Article: “The bubble has popped for unprofitable software companies” 
• Other: Van Nelle Factory, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, Rotterdam companies founded since 2000 in the finder, Vacancies at Sana Commerce, Hackyourcareer.com, Black Eyed Peas - Pump It

Ellen joined Yuki right after they launched in Belgium, where she grew the business with more than 100% year on year. 

In 2020, Yuki was acquired by the Nordic Visma Group. And a year later, Ellen took over from CEO and Yuki founder, Lucas Brentjes. Today she is responsible for The Yuki Company, which includes Yuki in three countries as well as two other ventures.

Ellen graduated with honors in Applied Economics at University of Antwerp, and now spends her time between Antwerp and Rotterdam.  

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• Taking over from a founder CEO;
• What happens after your company gets acquired;
• How to keep employees engaged as the company grows

Links mentioned:

• People: Ellen Sano, Ruud Hendriks, Arco van Nieuwland, Lucas Brentjens, Sebastian Toet, Marc Coppens, Rogier van den Heuvel, Harmen van Norel, Esther O’Callaghan
• Companies: Yuki, Visma Group, DizzyData, Yaarwerk, Nexxworks, Hundo
• Other: Queen - Don’t stop me now, Gauss Curve, Restaurant Stable, Restaurant InVINcible,