Allez Startups

Summary In this episode, I spoke with Diederik Syoen, co-founder of Ringtime . Founded in 2025 in Gent, Ringtime uses AI to speed up frontline hiring, screening blue collar candidates at scale via phone and WhatsApp. The AI handles live conversations in 22+ languages, also outside office hours. The inefficiencies of blue collar recruitment are at a scale that is unthinkable to someone with no cont...

This is a quick episode featuring Leen Anthuenis. She's the CEO of SuperNova, an Antwerp-based tech and innovation festival that has become Belgium's most prominent event of its kind — imagine the Belgian Slush or TNW. It takes place every year in March and is an unmissable event for anyone wanting to get a full-immersion into what's happening across Flanders in tech, startups and innovation. You'...

Summary In this episode I spoke with Geert van Kerkhoven, CEO and co-founder of Oper Credits , an Antwerp-based startup on a mission to fix Europe's broken mortgage process. Founded in 2019, they raised a Series A of €11 million in 2022 and now count around 40 employees, active across multiple European markets. Oper Credits sells to banks, not borrowers. Their technology sits behind the scenes, ma...

In this episode I spoke with Lode Uytterschaut, Co-Founder and CEO of Start it @KBC — Belgium's largest startup accelerator, with 9 locations in Belgium and 3 abroad, having coached over 3,500 founders since it launched from a single floor of an Art Deco tower in Antwerp. I cannot stress enough the monumental impact that Start it @KBC has had on the Belgian ecosystem. With no strings attached, no...

Meet the deeply human startup whose product has been built entirely thanks to AI. In this episode, I’m joined by Thomas Butstraen, co-founder of Maurice & Nora, the Antwerp-based startup on a mission to become the “Uber for non-medical care.” Maurice & Nora connects seniors and busy families with reliable, vetted students who can help with everyday tasks, from gardening and companionship t...

My vision for this podcast was always for it to be highly practical and operational, not just inspirational. This is why I’m pairing founder interviews with expert advisor interviews, who share knowledge and insights that are relevant to people building in Belgium.  This episode really delivers. It’s jam packed with practical, local advice, 100% tailored to startup founders building in Belgium.  D...

In this episode I spoke with Rutger Bevers , founder and CEO of Conversation Starter , a matchmaking platform helping event participants and communities meet the right people and have meaningful 1-on-1 conversations. He's also co-founder of several communities, including Steward Owned and Long Term Society. Based in Antwerp, founded in 2015, Conversation Starter is a Belgian startup born before th...

Summary In this episode I spoke with Vincent Declercq, CEO and Co Founder of Dalton, a startup revolutionizing website optimization through AI. Vincent shares his journey from previous ventures to the inception of Dalton, emphasizing the importance of validation and learning from past mistakes. He discusses the appeal of marketing and growth hacking, the impact of competitive sports on his entrepr...

The startup in focus for this episode is Altheria and I spoke with two of its co-founders, Dimitra, the CEO and Can-David or CD, the Chief Design Officer. Altheria provides immersive virtual reality safety trainings for blue collar workers and its product is actually saving lives and limbs, keeping employees safe all over the world. They gave me a deep dive into their product and its evolution, fr...

Episode Summary In this episode I spoke with Marte Greefs, CEO and Co-Founder of Go Ocean, a sister company of Go-Forest, of which Marta was the first employee. Each company is a small team of 2 or 3 people, with restoration partners all over the the world and big ambitions for the future.  Go Ocean is on a mission to restore and improves the ocean’s health and biodiversity. They do this by offeri...

In this week’s episode I spoke with Quinten Vandermullen, cofounder and CPO of Mbrella, which is an HR platform that allows Belgian companies to manage everything related to mobility for their employees, for example their mobility budgets and commuting allowances.  It’s a more mature startup compared to the ones we’ve discovered in previous episodes, arguably at this stage a scale up. Based in Bru...

In this week’s episode, I spoke with Christina Hadinoto, founder of Contour Lab, a fashion tech startup based in Antwerp. Their product is a digital shopping assistant that uses AI to help you find clothes that match your body type and preferences, just like a human shopping assistant would do in a real store. I first met Christina when we both participated in an incubator organised by Impact Shak...

Summary In this episode, I spoke with Margot Wuillaume, co-founder and CEO of eBloom, an HR tech startup. The core product is employee engagement software but they've expanded their offering to provide a broader suite of digital HR tools.  I’ve tried several different tools in this space as a Head of People I can honestly say that I don’t think there’s another tool on the market that’s more custom...

In this episode I spoke with Patricio Castillo, co-founder of Prodi, a SaaS tool that uses AI to create internal communication podcasts for big corporates. At the time we recorded the episode, they’d only been incorporated for 5 months, but they’d already closed deals with some major customers such as Lineas and EntityData. The first customer they signed was Delaware, who chose them over Google’s...