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 equity and no charges, the incentive to apply is strong, there is nothing for founders to lose and much to gain. Built from nothing, when there was no startup ecosystem in Belgium, it has created a flywheel of startups (eg. Conveo, Aikido, Loop Earplugs) and a thriving community.

What struck me most was how Start it @KBC was built in the margins. When Lode joined KBC as an atypical hire, corporate life left him with more unstructured time than he was used to. He used it to go to events, meet people, and build relationships — which is ultimately how he found his two co-founders. How we use our free time can be a real differentiator for long-term impact. People who are hungry to build and learn do great things in their free time, they use it to push themselves, learn and create.

We also talked about the flywheel effect the Belgian startup ecosystem has reached, the deliberate work Start it @KBC has done on gender inclusion and why it's still hard, what they look for in founders at jury stage, and why scaling a mistake is one of the most common ways startups fail.

Chapters

01:00 From architecture to KBC — an unlikely pivot

05:00 Building in the margins: how the co-founding team came together

12:00 The first six startups and how the program was built from their feedback

20:00 Why Belgium sends more founders through accelerators than the rest of Europe

28:00 Gender inclusion: what works, what's still hard

38:00 Mental health, family and what founders take for granted

48:00 What Start it @KBC looks for: coachable, but not too much