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Conversations with the founders, investors, and operators driving Belgium’s startup scene,
Exploring the ideas, stories, and strategies that accelerate the ecosystem flywheel 🚀.
**DEWI:** Hi, I'm Dewi Van De Vyver. I've been a tech entrepreneur for 15 years already. I'm also a member of a couple of boards and a strong advocate for more women in STEM and entrepreneurship. Happy to be here.
**ROBIN:** Thank you, Dewi, for taking the time to join us for the Syndicate One podcast. You've been a very visible, active participant in the ecosystem for quite a while already. But for those who don't know you: what is your backstory? How did you end up here?
**DEWI:** I've actually been in startups since 2006. That's when the tech part became very significant in my career, when I joined Fortis Venturing. It had always been present before that, but 2006 was when it really started. When I told anyone it was a venture studio, nobody understood what I would do there.
Then, in 2011, I founded Flow Pilots together with three co-founders. That was an IT services company, and it was sold off in 2022. After that, KU Leuven asked me to help a spin-off leave the university, and that became Effex, which has now been sold to an American company.
**ROBIN:** Congratulations.
**DEWI:** Thank you.
**ROBIN:** Really admire the journey so far. But that's 20 years now that you've seen this ecosystem develop and grow into what it is today. How do you look back at the early years of your career, and the difference between how the ecosystem was formed then and how it has matured since?
**DEWI:** It's really amazing. For those who started in the early years, everybody knows it was very difficult to find information and get support on how actually to grow a team, found a company, get your financing mix, and build a go-to-market strategy. All those things existed, of course, but that kind of information was hidden inside the Big Four. The best way to start your career at that time was to work for one of those consultancy firms, because then you had all those components in your backpack.
I think that's the biggest shift. At a certain point, people started to realize that this information is super important to give to founders. That you need at least a little bit of financing, a little bit of what sales is, how you build a sales strategy, and how you manage people. That's the biggest shift: a founder today can access that information at a really easy pace.
And it's very diverse. You have it for kmo's, but you also have it for real startups. You have it whether you're a tech company or a hardware company. For all these different kinds of companies, all this information is available. Back in the days, it wasn't.
When we founded Flow Pilots in 2011, you already had a bit of the Netlog outcome. Now we call it the Netlog mafia, but at that time it was Netlog, and then you had Twoo, and then you had all those things. But what it really was, how it really worked, all that information was not freely available yet. Everybody was still learning.
The Antwerp ecosystem as it exists today didn't exist yet either. At one point, we applied to Start it @KBC, and they said, "Yeah, you're too evolved already." We had already existed for two or three years by then, but I do know that, as a founding team, it would have been great if we'd had that support. Especially on how you communicate among founders. How do you work it out when you're not aligned?
We also did what a lot of companies did in those days: you have your services company, then a product next to it, and you fund the product through the services company. And then you can't apply for certain subsidies, and so on. All those early mistakes.
Today, as a founder, if you still make them, you're not listening, and you're not awake, because everybody will tell you how it works. I've seen the networks coming. I've seen The Beacon, and NOA with Netwerk Ondernemen, and Voka with Plato and Bryo. You see that everybody really tries to help those founders, whether it's a small KMO or a real tech startup, avoid making those mistakes.
**ROBIN:** So you could say entrepreneurship has been democratized to some degree. There's a lot more information, more resources, a support network around it, better investors, and whatnot.
**DEWI:** Money as well.
**ROBIN:** Money as well. But by definition, you would think that opens the door to many more starters being formed. Which is still relatively... I mean, the quality gets higher, but it's not like we're having a flood of people starting companies. So what is still the barrier to entry there, in your opinion?
**DEWI:** I mentioned in the introduction that I'm on a couple of boards, and I'm also a member of the STEM Platform. And one of the barriers is not enough students in STEM fields. That remains a real barrier. STEM in the broad sense of the word, so not only university STEM but also technical education, because those are the people who can do things, invent things, and create things.
And it's, unfortunately, a little bit of Flemish-Belgian culture. It's about the mantras we tell our children. What is the safest way to have a good life? We can debate the different aspects of what a good life is, but in our context, it means you're safe and you know what's ahead so that you can buy that house, have those kids, and have that car in your driveway. It's kind of an ultimate dream that has been painted. And it's a horror if you don't attain that. I don't know if that's the right word, but if you don't reach that goal, it's like you didn't succeed.
The thing is, the safest path to get there is a job that provides security for 20-plus years. Sometimes I tell this as a joke, but it's actually not a joke: in my family, there were two places you went to for work. It was either the government, and you could choose from many government institutions. Federal government, communal services. Lots of options.
**ROBIN:** Lots of options.
**DEWI:** Or you could work for Pfizer or one of the companies that deliver to Pfizer. That's because I live in Puurs, on the N16. You have all the companies that deliver to Pfizer, as well as Pfizer itself. That was the safe option. And indeed, all my cousins, aunts, and uncles did it, and they have a good life. They have a safe job. They know when the day starts and when the day ends. They know how much will be in their bank account. And by the end of their life, they know how much pension they will have. It's so easy.
And then you have the option to go for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is messy, and you don't know. I have done two exits, and I get these wealth managers at my address, and I have to explain to them: yes, I did this two times, and yes, I did make money out of it, but it's not enough for me to retire at this point, and not enough for you to start doing wealth management.
So it's a messy trajectory. Some succeed, and succeed massively. And for every single entrepreneur who succeeds massively, there's an equal number who don't succeed and actually fail dramatically. In between, there's a wide range of entrepreneurs who do well, and that's it. But it's not safe. You cannot grasp it. It's a bit messy. It is a lot of work.
So parents, tutors, all those institutions that come before you're formed, they all steer you away from the really cool and challenging path of being an entrepreneur, towards very safe grounds. I think it's really a culture thing. And I always laugh when you go to the VBO or to Voka, and they stand there giving big speeches about being an entrepreneur, and how important industry is for our country. But the people standing on that stage have never had one single day in their lives where they were uncertain about the paycheck at the end of the month. That is the discrepancy in all of our lives today: entrepreneurs are still the ones who really take risks, even though everybody says they should.
**ROBIN:** What you're referring to is a societal bias, not just in Belgium, for that matter. The societal push to de-risk your life, take the safe path, that's going to be the way to go. And it's almost being a rebel to do it the other way. Entrepreneurship, build something, create something. It's very odd sometimes, in this industry, to venture outside and realize there's a whole world of people who have not only no interest in entrepreneurship but no notion of what it actually means.
But we're getting into a bit of a philosophical discussion. I'd love to learn, because you've had your entrepreneurial adventures and your journey, and it's always difficult to distill only a few takeaways. But if you would share two or three key learnings with someone who's maybe aspiring to be an entrepreneur today, what would they be? What are the lessons you'd like to share?
**DEWI:** One last thing on the previous part. The duality of living in a country like Belgium, and actually in this part of the world, is the irony of the safety net. We're using it in the wrong way. In the US, India, and China, you don't have that safety net. And still, ironically, people take more risks than when they don't have one. So somewhere there's a mismatch. The safety net should actually be the thing that makes you more inclined to take risks.
And for me as an entrepreneur, maybe that is the little bridge. You live in this part of the world where there is a safety net. So you can take a risk. It is good to take a risk. You learn a lot from taking a risk. You learn who you are, what your resilience is, and how much you can take. So that's the first thing.
And it's scary, yes. But actually, it shouldn't be scary here in Belgium, in Flanders, where there are so many systems that, when shit hits the fan, you don't have to live on the streets. Most of the time, people who live on the street, unfortunately, don't have access to care. Because here, if you are born here, that is not something that will happen to you. So that's one thing.
The other thing is: be informed. Don't do it unthinkingly. We talked about how much information is available today. So talk to other entrepreneurs. Talk to advisors. Please join an entrepreneurial group. There are so many different kinds. For every personality, there's a group you can match with. And don't think you have to do it alone, because that's something entrepreneurs often feel, too: lonely. It's just because they haven't invested time in gathering around them the people they can spar with, actually talk to, and share ideas with. So that's the second one.
Then the third one is: when you do not know something, hire somebody who does. Spend money on somebody who can do it better than you. Very important. Don't try to do it yourself, because your time is valuable too, and the time you spend doing something you're very bad at is wasted money and wasted time. And be creative about it. Often, I hear: " Yeah, but hiring an HR consultant is very expensive." Yes, if you take them full-time on your payroll. But often, you don't need those people full-time on your payroll when you're just a startup. Hire them for the time you need them to solve something, learn, and maybe get better at it, and take over again. But hire people who know, and spend money on it. I think that's very important.
And the last one is: know your customer. You might think you have a good product, but does your customer think the same? It's a mistake I still see made so often. People think they have a good product, and then you say, To whom are you selling it? Who is your ICP, your ideal customer profile? And they cannot answer it. And then: so how are you selling it? How are you promoting it? How are you marketing it? And they're like, huh? And I say, okay, but what are you doing at the moment? I am working on a product. You're working on a product, and you don't know who needs it and who's going to buy it—red flag.
So know your customer—GTalk to people. Ask them whether they would want to buy your product. Try to sell it, even if it's not there yet. Because if nobody asks you afterward whether it's already on the market, or nobody says, " Hey, yes, I really want to buy it, and you don't get those signals, then you're working on a bad product.
**ROBIN:** Great lessons, great takeaways. You mentioned this entrepreneurial support network that's now in place and may not have been in the past. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Syndicate One in that context, because we're trying to level up the ecosystem by forming a network, and this compounding effect of getting great people in the same group. You're now part of Syndicate One, recently, so we're very grateful for that. Before you talk about what you're going to focus on, I'd like to know what attracted you to Syndicate One, first as an investor and now as an active member. And how do you plan to use it to achieve your own goals?
**DEWI:** What attracts me to Syndicate One is that it's for founders. That's true entrepreneurial spirit, and it just lives throughout the whole community. I met Laurens a long time ago. I've known you a very long time, too. And I know all the people who are involved as well. You feel that it's really for the love of the startup. I wanted to say "love of the game," but that feels a little cringy.
In the end, founding a company, putting everything into it, playing with all the buttons you have to make it work. Go-to-market strategy, sales, funding, all those things, and trying to hit it off and find that right tune. That is so important. And you feel within Syndicate One that that's what drives the fund as well—finding founders who are equally driven to find the right tune and the right set of buttons to hit. And every time I talk to someone at Syndicate One and see how they approach funding and all of that, I feel this drive. So I'm very happy to be part of it now.
**ROBIN:** And we're very happy for that. You've just sold Effex. What is next for you? Aside from Syndicate One, of course. I'm sure you'll start a new company, a fund, or whatever in the future. But how far along are you in deciding what's next?
**DEWI:** As I said, I still have my engagements as a board member. That's one thing I'm definitely going to continue. I think it's very interesting to have that link to the corporate world.
The second thing is my social initiatives. The STEM Platform, as well as The Ada Talks, is a network of women who come together roughly every quarter to listen to inspiring women who have started their own businesses. So it's for entrepreneurs and tech founders. Those are things that are very important for me to keep continuing, and they do take some time. And now Syndicate One is also one of them.
As for me, I really feel I want to be at that crossroads between corporates and startups at this point. With AI, so much is changing. Corporations are struggling with what they have to do, but sometimes I feel they're going to go and invent the warm water again. So I want to find a way to advise them on how to use startups to leverage themselves. That's where I want to go at this point. I think that's where my value will be greatest.
And being part of Syndicate One will also help me there. On the one hand, introducing corporates to the startups that we have funded. And on the other hand, doing the crossover the other way as well. So yeah, that's where I'm looking and heading at this moment.
**ROBIN:** Fantastic. You're very vocal about diversity. We could fill a whole podcast interview about that. You're one of the most vocal ones. But I guess the main question I want to ask is: why is it so important? Why do you care so much about this change? What drives you in advocating for it?
**DEWI:** A couple of things. On the one hand, it seems ridiculous. You have 50% men and 50% women in this world. Women have always been entrepreneurs. If you go back in time, many women had shops, bakeries, small grocery stores, and other initiatives.
Did you know that one of the first startups was founded by a woman who hired female coders, only to have them fired after World War II? With the whole NASA projects and stuff like that. She just said: You know, it's okay, you can code from home. And they flew in punch cards. I'm sorry, I don't know the English word. And they could code them at home and then send them back—really cool kind of thing.
So women have been in entrepreneurship all their lives. And the question is: why aren't we here now? Where did we vanish? That's the kind of thing I always try to solve. How can we tell women today, and give them a little bit of a history lesson, that they can do it too? Somewhere, we learned, or unlearned, to be entrepreneurs. So that's one thing.
I believe it's an enabler. It empowers both men and women because the world we live in must be represented by all its people. We also put platforms in for people in wheelchairs. It's kind of the same. It's only that it's very visible that that person is different. And somehow, we still sometimes look at women as small men, in different areas of life. In medicine, in car design, and in sports clothing design as well.
And you see that from the moment women enter those fields. In sports clothing, for instance, how the cycling pants and tops are made, technically. From the moment that women enter those fields, you see an immediate increase in innovation, again for both men and women, in fabrics and all those things. So it's very important to have that other angle as well, because it enhances the part where we only look at it from a male angle. For me, it's the crossover of both views, of both men and women, that can boost innovation.
And then third, of course, for the economy. If women are more invested in entrepreneurship, it gives them more freedom. It gives them more equity. I hope it brings more money to women, so that more women can also start investing. And then again, it levels out, and you have both men and women as VCs, as LPs, and all those things, so that they can also invest in the world around us.
And women make other choices. So that means the companies we're going to invest in and the products we'll deliver to the market will become more diverse as well. It will just give us more business angles. It will give us more things to look at. So that's why I'm a very big advocate for more women in STEM, more women in entrepreneurship, and all those things.
**ROBIN:** That's a really good segue into something we at Syndicate One also care about: having more female founders and more female investors in the ecosystem. But we don't just want to stand on the sidelines cheering for it and rooting for it. We actually want to be an active participant there. Dewi, you're about to co-lead an initiative within Syndicate One. That's going to be a massive help, in my opinion. Do you want to talk about that for a bit, and say what we're trying to achieve?
**DEWI:** Really awesome, and really grateful. With Syndicate One, we're going to launch the initiative Untapped, drawing on the untapped potential we're missing at this point.
We believe the problem with fundraising, especially, is not that VCs are unwilling to listen to and review pitch decks from women, but that a pipeline is missing. So two initiatives are being launched. On the one hand, a webinar about what VC money is. Really digging into what kind of mechanism it is. When do you want to go for VC money? Everybody knows it's a specific kind of funding for your company, and we want to explain it in simple terms, really tapping into what women want to know. Also, what makes a good pitch deck, and what needs to be in it.
And then you can say, "Okay, Dewi, but that kind of information is already available." Yes, but most of the time it is broadcast in more male environments. Now we're going to take that information and translate it more to women, and also bring it explicitly to women. And of course, men are also welcome to join those webinars. But we're going to target women specifically with these webinars.
And the second thing is that we're launching a hackathon where we'll use all the tools we have today for vibe coding, like Lovable and Claude. And then, again, unite women to work on their business ideas and help them in the process, so that when they have questions or get stuck, they can ask us. Hopefully, from those business ideas, we create a flywheel that helps them learn about Syndicate One in the meantime and find a way to pitch it to our fund.