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 context in this sector. Here’s some data to make this concrete:

• During the early stages of Ringtime, Diederik spoke with a recruiter who had qualified 140,000 candidates in a year. Of those candidates, only 3% was placed. 
• Behind those 140,000 candidates qualified, there’s hours and hours of more wasted work. Recruiters have cold targets that go up to 100, 120 calls a day. And 80% of the time they just land on voicemail.

Imagine the scale of time wasted. Imagine the frustration of doing a job that requires so much effort, with such little impact. This is why large recruitment agencies in this industry need to hire thousands of recruiters per year. The average tenure in the role is 1-1.5 years. The data is telling us that humans aren't loving this job at the moment.

Ringtime is fixing all of this.

One of their customers went from a 35% conversion rate to 80% conversion rate. That's more than 2x of all the candidates coming in and it's only after a few weeks of using this tool. 

A recruiter they spoke to said their job is finally starting to be fun again.

They just raised a seed round led by Volta Ventures, also backed by Syndicate One. Keep watching this startup, they are going places!

Listen to the episode to hear:

• Why Ringtime killed deals outside staffing to focus on the blue collar recruitment vertical
• What it’s like to build in a vertical that is new to the founding team 
• How Ringtime is making recruiters’ jobs better, focusing their time on high impact work and removing the boring part, rather than replacing them 
• The future of blue collar recruiting 
• How customers doubled conversion rates in just a few weeks 
• The founder rule they use for hiring early employees
• And more...

This is not a sponsored episode, I genuinely loved this event and wanted to highlight it for benefit of the Allez Startups listeners. 

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, making the mortgage journey faster and smarter for everyone involved. The numbers speak for themselves: 81% faster mortgage decisions and a 90% boost in first-time right scores.

This is Geert's second venture in the mortgate space — he joined the first one as employee #2, back when there was no startup community or ecosystem in Belgium. Besides his role as a founder, he's also an active member of Syndicate One. In the podcast we discuss the difference between building now and building 10 years ago in Belgium.

What I found most compelling in the Oper Credit story was the AI pivot. Geert walked me through how they went from building digital onboarding tools to going all-in on Agentic AI, and why that was the natural next step towards their original vision of real-time mortgage underwriting.

We also talked about building a distributed team across Antwerp, Vienna and Zurich, how European mortgage regulation actually made international expansion easier, and more.

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

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 to after-school childcare and homework support.

They’re tackling one of Europe’s biggest societal challenges: the growing care crisis. But what makes this story even more remarkable is how they’re building it. The entire platform was created using AI coding tools (without a traditional engineering team!) allowing them to move at extraordinary speed.

We talk about:

• The personal moment that sparked the idea
• Why building B2C in Belgium is so hard
• How they turned PR into a growth engine
• Their bold B2B2C strategy, positioning care as an employee benefit
• Winning major recognition within their first year
• What it really means to build a “societal unicorn”
• And the founder reality behind the ambition

This is a conversation about speed, impact, and rethinking how we care for both older and younger generations: powered by AI, but built for humans.

Keep listening to discover how Maurice & Nora plans to change the way Europe thinks about non-medical care.

This episode really delivers. It’s jam packed with practical, local advice, 100% tailored to startup founders building in Belgium. 

Dups is a legal and financial advice firm specialised in startups. Their team, approach and pricing is founder-centric and it’s visible from this interview. 

Check it out to learn: 

• Belgian specific dos and don’s for fundraising and exits
• Common mistakes seen in Belgian startup founders and how to avoid them
• Important things to look out for in the term sheets, specific to Belgium 

And more...

Check out their fundraising guide for a glossary of terms and for a structured, well-written read on the topic. 

Based in Antwerp, founded in 2015, Conversation Starter is a Belgian startup born before the ecosystem had the support network it has now.

I found Rutger inspiring and impressive. I’ve heard people say that “Belgian founders aren’t ambitious enough”, but Rutger is deeply defying this stereotype. He started coding and teaching before he was even legally allowed to start a company. He has unstoppable ambition and high standards and it’s from these extremely high standards, that Conversation Starter was born. He built for Hasselt's first TEDx event, which Rutger co-organised, and the rest is history.

We talked about the tricky balance between working on vs working in your company. Rutger shared how he’s navigating that shift today, hiring his first salesperson, raising new funding, and trying not to get stuck in day-to-day operations.

We also explored why communities are moving away from social media and into smaller, curated spaces.

Resources
Conversation Starter
Steward Owned
imec.istart

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Dalton and Its Vision
01:23 The Journey to Dalton's Creation
03:04 Lessons from Previous Ventures
05:34 Vincent's Background and Interest in Marketing
08:37 The Concept of Growth Hacking
10:14 The Impact of Competitive Swimming on Vincent's Career
13:34 Finding Co-Founders and Building the Team
15:51 Product Overview and Case Study of Dexter
21:17 The Technology Behind Dalton
24:31 Challenges and Market Positioning
27:22 Future Directions and Vision for Dalton
30:34 Pricing and Customer Engagement

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, from fun stories of people walking into each other in the early days to the real impact its having on the ground reducing accidents and increasing learning speed. We talked about what it means to be too early in a market and we ended with a candid discussion on the challenges of being a female leader in a male dominant sector.

Link to the viral reddit thread mentioned

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 Marte
Gig and Grow
Noa
Belgium Startup Ecosystem (and Awards)

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Go Ocean and Marte's Journey
05:44 Navigating Career Choices: Startups vs. European Commission
09:45 The Early Days at Go Forest
14:03 Business Model of Go Ocean and Go Forest
18:31 How to do Sales and Marketing as an Impact Business
22:34 A Different Take on the Carbon Credits Market
26:51 From Tragedy to Positive Impact: The Story Behind Go Forest
31:21 Current Projects and Future Directions of Go Ocean
32:54 Restoration Efforts and Challenges
35:24 Building Partnerships for Marine Restoration
36:05 Engaging Employees in Ocean Conservation
39:13 The Journey to Finding an Office
43:01 Aligning Values with Investors
46:02 Support Systems for Startups

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.

Resources
Mbrella's company handbook
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Quentin and his first Startup Moovle
05:47 The Birth of Mbrella: Addressing Mobility Needs
09:57 Market Positioning: Competing in a Niche
13:11  Winning The ING Tender and Building for Enterprises
16:42 Building an Async Writing First Company Culture 
26:15 Launching from a Studio
32:43 Creating a Parent-Friendly Culture
39:50 Deep Work and Slow Responses
46:00 PLG Doesn't Work for Everyone

I first met Christina when we both participated in an incubator organised by Impact Shakers in collaboration with BeCentral, Elle Magazine, and Google. This was in January 2023; she was just at the beginning of her journey and was still working on closing her first paid customer.

Then I saw her pitch at SuperNova in March 2025, and I was amazed by the results she had achieved since I’d last seen her. Some major names appeared on the customer slide, she had strong data about the impact of her product, and she’d just closed a funding round. They’re now a team of five. When I saw that, I knew I had to get her on the show to share the story of how she got to where she is now.

Keep listening to find out how she found a technical cofounder despite not having a network to draw from, how she managed the shift from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, what it was like to enter a market as an early visionary before the world was ready for her solution, the impact she aims to have within the fashion industry globally, and her passionate call for more female entrepreneurs and investors.

Resources
Co-Founder matching from IMEC iStart
Lovable, the app building tool mentioned

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Christina and Contour Lab

06:25 The Impact of Contour Lab on Fashion and Mental Health

12:54 Finding Co-Founders and Building the Team

19:33 Overcoming Fundraising Challenges

24:57 Scaling and Market Opportunities

29:38 The Role of Support Programs in Entrepreneurship

32:45 Lessons Learned and Mindset Shifts

36:29 Future Ambitions and Advice for Founders

We talk about many things in this episode, the two stand-out topics for me were eBloom’s contrarian approach to building a product in a crowded market and their journey fundraising in the early stages. Margot shares how they managed to close their first round in just 2 weeks.

We talk about many other things including hiring, finding customers, the help they received as a Brussels-based startup from local organisations. 

Chapters

02:07 Introduction to Margot and eBloom

04:10 EBloom’s origin story

05:32 Building a product in a crowded market space

09:30 Launching during covid and finding their first customers 

12:03 eBloom’s first hire

13:50 The power of meeting in person 

15:53 Building a company culture that optimises for employee happiness

18:75 How a Master’s in Entrepreneurship became eBloom’s launchpad 

20:06 The origins of Margot’s entrepreneurial itch

22:18 Writing a book about management 

24:29 eBloom’s fundraising journey 

28:35 eBloom’s key metrics that matter

31:32 The Belgian entrepreneurial support network

Link to Margot's book
You can buy a copy here

Brussels organisations mentioned in the episode
StartLab
Réseau Entreprendre
HubBrussels 

Chapters 

00:00 Introduction to Patricio Castillo and Prodi
05:42 The Journey from Idea to First Customer
11:13 Incorporation Decisions and Challenges
13:38 Transitioning to Full-Time Entrepreneurship
20:10 Getting into Start It KBC
24:04 Other Key Accellerators That Boosted Prodi
31:13 Onboarding Clients and Product Iteration
35:26 Overview of The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers
40:13 Vlaio Subsidies
42:13 Choosing Belgium for Entrepreneurship
45:33 Advice for Future Founders
48:04 Future Goals for Prodi

Resources
The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick
Talking to Humans by Giff Constable
The YC talk Patricio mentioned about the 3 things you need to build a tech startup

Full Transcript
Full transcript of the episode with time stamps available here