Podcast
Allez Startups
Hosted by Claudia Colvin · EN
Behind-the-scenes interviews with Belgium’s startup founders, investors and local experts.
I’m Claudia, a Talent and People advisor for startups and a former founder. When I moved to Belgium in 2022, I explored the local startup scene. It seemed small, fragmented, full of complexities and hurdles.
Digging deeper, I realised Belgium is full of bold founders, scaling startups and an ecosystem that’s on the rise.
But most of its stories remain untold, or only shared in local networks.
This podcast aims to change that.
I’m pulling back the curtain to spotlight Belgium’s startup founders, investors and local experts. They’ll share real, personal stories about what happens behind-the-scenes, the knowledge they built and lessons learnt along the way.
Expect local inspiration and hands-on knowledge, in English, across regional barriers — so we can all learn from others' journeys.
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
#5 Go Ocean with Marte Greefs
Sep 400:48:40Tap to summarizeEpisode SummaryIn 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 offering transparent and tangible restoration projects for companies to invest in, ranging from coral or mangrove restoration in the Global South to shellfish reefs and seagrass in our more northern waters. This helps companies compensate their CO₂-emissions, meet their sustainability goals, marketing and comms or even HR goals.I was deeply touched by the founding story behind Go Forest: a tragic event that led to a strong push for positive impact.Marte talked about the challenges of sales and fundraising as an impact business, some of the restoration projects they support, and them broader topics like when to move to an office what to delegate as a founder. She chose Go Forest over a role at the EU Commission (!) and she talked about what helped her make that decision.Founder help recommended by MarteGig and GrowNoaBelgium Startup Ecosystem (and Awards)Chapters00:00 Introduction to Go Ocean and Marte's Journey05:44 Navigating Career Choices: Startups vs. European Commission09:45 The Early Days at Go Forest14:03 Business Model of Go Ocean and Go Forest18:31 How to do Sales and Marketing as an Impact Business22:34 A Different Take on the Carbon Credits Market26:51 From Tragedy to Positive Impact: The Story Behind Go Forest31:21 Current Projects and Future Directions of Go Ocean32:54 Restoration Efforts and Challenges35:24 Building Partnerships for Marine Restoration36:05 Engaging Employees in Ocean Conservation39:13 The Journey to Finding an Office43:01 Aligning Values with Investors46:02 Support Systems for Startups
Transcribe →#4 Mbrella with Quinten Vandermeulen
Jul 3, 202500:49:06Tap to summarizeIn 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 Brussels and founded in 2020, they’re currently a team of nearly 40 people. they’ve had two fundraising rounds, the most recent one in 2023 when they raised 6 million and acquired Mobbox.What stood out to me from this conversation is the intentional and unconventional company culture Mbrella is building, based on a fundamental belief in the power of an async and written first communication style. We talked about the inspiration for that, how it works on a practical level and the impact it’s having.As the conversation evolved, I realised that their success has also come from defying conventional advice. Instead of building global from day 1, they built hyper-local from day one, and it’s paid off. In 5 years, Mbrella has had 100% customer retention, no customers have churned. This is almost unheard of in SaaS.We see on Linkedin these 10M ARR in just a few months stories. Mbrella is an example of success achieved on a different path. A belief in the market opportunity, even when growth was slow, and a commitment that paid off down the line because after 5 years, the results are visible.Keep listening to see how they got there.ResourcesMbrella's company handbook Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier HanssonChapters00:00 Introduction to Quentin and his first Startup Moovle05:47 The Birth of Mbrella: Addressing Mobility Needs09:57 Market Positioning: Competing in a Niche13:11 Winning The ING Tender and Building for Enterprises16:42 Building an Async Writing First Company Culture 26:15 Launching from a Studio32:43 Creating a Parent-Friendly Culture39:50 Deep Work and Slow Responses46:00 PLG Doesn't Work for Everyone
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