Start to scale. Startup and Scale-up Founder Stories. – Details, episodes & analysis

Crijn Bouman is a pioneer in EV charging. In 2005 - long before EVs were a hype - he co-founded Epyon, one of Europe’s first fast-charging startups. That company later sold to ABB, where he grew their EV charging business in over 50 countries.

In 2019, he founded Rocsys, making EV charging fully autonomous through a smart combination of Computer Vision, Soft Robotics and AI. With offices in the Netherlands and Portland, Rocsys serves fleet operators: From automated trucks in the port of Rotterdam to robotaxis in the streets of San Francisco.

He’s a man on a mission — and if all goes to plan, one day he’ll fall asleep in a robotaxi in Rijswijk and wake up in St. Tropez.

In this episode, we'll talk about:

• Picking the right niche to serve a future market;
• Selling your startup to a corporate…  and coming back for round two.
• How to build a team across two continents, to scale in Europe and the US

Links mentioned:

• People: Crijn Bouman, Hans Streng, Ras Lalmy, Parya Lotfi, Herbert ten Have, Job Nijs
• Companies: ROCSYS, EPYON, ABB, TU Delft, Source, Meatable, Revolut, Ampelmann, Rivion
• Books: Clayton Christensen - Innovators Dilemma, James Collins - Good to grade, Andrew Growth - High Output Management 
• Other: www.hackyourcareer.com, Daft Punk - Giorgio by Moroder 

Marta spent over a decade backing startups as a VC. Now, she’s on the other side of the table, scaling Paebbl across Europe - balancing deep-tech innovation, manufacturing at scale, and a fast-growing team. She’s building a company that could change the way we build the world. A serial migrant, obsessed with frameworks, and here to share her story.

In this conversation, we’ll cover Martha's journey:

• What did she learn going from investor to founder? 
• What’s it really like scaling a deep-tech startup that has to build factories instead of just writing code?
• And… why did she ignore investors who told her co-CEOs don’t work? 

Links mentioned:

• People: Marta Sjogren, Andreas Saari, Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau, Pol Knops
• Companies: Paebbl, Techleap, Slush, Upstream Festival
• Other: Finder, Paebbl Showcase, Oura ring, Vacancies at Paebbl,  Queen - Under Pressure

Let me introduce Inventor, Biodesigner and Entrepreneur: Bob Hendrikx.

With a background in Architectural Engineering Bob strives for a world in which we work in symbiosis with nature. In 2020 he founded Loop Biotech, on a mission to revolutionize the funeral industry - through coffins that turn people into plant food.

Bob's journey received widespread attention, making headlines in Wired, CNN, The Guardian, and the BBC. VICE Media even awarded him the title of Human of the Year. 

His backers include Dragons' Den investors Pieter Schoen and Shawn Harris and we have a scoop: as he just closed a 2M crowdfunding round last to propel the business into its next phase of expansion.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

• Innovating in the funeral industry;
• Scaling up in Mushroom tech;
• Building a company with your fiancé

Links mentioned:

• People: Bob Hendrikx, Lonneke Westhoff, Pieter Schoen, Shawn Harris, Tony Robbins, Duke Urbanik
• Companies: Loop Biotech, Dragon’s Den, YES!Delft
• Media: Lighthouse Family - High

With a masters degree in Complex Systems, Josefien Groot went from national boxing champion to Scale-up CEO, advocating for a sustainable future. 

Before reaching the age of 21, she had already established and sold her first business specializing in circular products. In 2017, she co-founded QLayers alongside Ruben Geutjens. Her significant contributions have been widely recognized through numerous accolades, including the prestigious European Rising Innovator and EY Emerging Entrepreneur Of The Year awards. Despite her industrial pursuits, Josefien has a love for nature and lives off grid in a self-built tiny house with her partner and their daughter. 

In this episode, we'll talk about:

• Why we need to fix energy inefficiencies in industry;
• How to combine parenthood with scaling up;
• What off grid living teaches us about nature;

Links mentioned:

• People: Josefien Groot, Ruben Geutjens
• Companies: QLayers, UNIIQ, NPEX, ECFG Venture capital, Rotterdamse Havendraken, Welna
• Media: Voedselboscast, European Rising Innovator, EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, Up!Rotterdam Finder, Alexia Chellun - the power is here now

After he completed his master in strategic product design from Delft University, Dorus began to do graphic studio work together with his fellow student Delft Tom. 

From a deep love for music and the determination to stand up against the industry with products that produce massive electronic waste - they started Gerrard Street, in 2015, which was later renamed Repeat Audio. 

Today, Repeat offers a range of modular high fidelity headphones. Notable users include the Metropole Orchestra, and one of the most important Dutch rappers, Sticks. 

Dorus also finds time to play the piano and gives back as a volunteer by helping refugees. 

In this episode, we'll talk about:

• How to build a consumer brand in the circular economy;
• Pivoting from product as a service to product sales;
• The fine line between failure and success in crowdfunding

Links mentioned:

• People: Dorus Galama, Tom Leenders, Sticks, Willem de Bruin (from The Opposites)
• Companies: Repeat Audio, Sennheiser, Sony, Frame.Work Laptop
• Media: Yes - Rhythm of Love, Dorus as a guest in Upstream Talks 

With Master’s degrees in Strategy and Marketing, she excelled in mobility. From cutting carbon footprint at General Motors to boosting fleet growth at Greenwheels. 

In 2021, Bibi co-founded umob with Raymon Pouwels. They secured 8M in funding within two years. And today, umob stands as the first MaaS operator in the Netherlands to integrate all three e-moped operators (Check, GO Sharing & felyx) into one platform.

In this episode, we'll talk about:

• The opportunities and business model in MAAS
• Beating the odds as a young, female founder.
• If fundraising can be fun…

Links mentioned:

• People: Bibi Jorissen, Raymon Pouwels, Souren Arakelian
• Companies: Umob, GreenWheels, GoSharing, CIC Rotterdam, General Motors, BAQME,  Equalture
• Other: Shoe Dog - Phil Knight
• Media:  You’ll Never Walk Alone - Lee Towers, Jay Shetty Podcast

In the last episode of this year, Up!Rotterdam's Lars & Lisette reflect on the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Rotterdam and its development over the past 4 years.

We'll talk about:

• How our scale-up ecosystem developed over the past 4 years;
• Who you found the most interesting founders this year;
• All you ever wanted to know about Up!Rotterdam.

Links mentioned:

• People: Lars Crama, Lisette Braakenburg, Hans Scheffer, Friso Schmidt, Han Kleppe, Fonger Ypma, Koen Burgers, Mattijs Slee, Nalden, Ellen Sano, Jamal Oulel, George Birch, Marie José van den Boomgaard, Ekim Sincer, Ohad Gilad
• Companies: Up!Rotterdam
• Other: Startup Partners: transparency in the world of startup service providers, HackYourCareer: work for a Rotterdam/Delft based scale-up
• Media:  Fleetwood Mac - Dreams (2004 Remastered)

During his PhD research, Wang explored robots' societal impact on the elderly, especially with dementia. 

In 2015, he left that and founded Tinybots, to make a tangible difference for those with cognitive challenges. 

Today, their care robot Tessa is a proven solution for patient self-reliance, used by care providers all over the Netherlands on a daily basis.

In this episode, we'll talk about:

• How care robot Tessa helps clients lead more independent lives;
• The challenge with technology adoption in healthcare;
• Keeping a collaborative culture when the team grows;

Links mentioned:

• People: Wang Long Li, Umar Nizamani, Jan Pons, Menno Kamphuis
• Companies: Tinybots, NiceDay, Moov’d
• Other: Van Nelle Fabriek
• Media:  Billy Joel - Vienna

With a Master in Hydraulic Engineering from Delft Technical University and an Executive MBA from INSEAD, he spent 15 years with Shell, where his latest roles included Investment Director for Shell ventures as well as Commercial Head for Shell Hydrogen.

In 2021, he was asked by Koolen Industries as the first employee of Battolyser Systems, a cleantech company with patented technology. Fast forward three years, and Mattijs is the CEO of a company of almost 100 employees.

We'll cover the following topics:

• Why the energy transition requires ambitious leaders;
• How to negotiate a 40 million euro deal with the European Investment Bank.
• How Mattijs reinvents himself from a 1 man team to leading 100 people.

Links mentioned:

• People: Mattijs Slee, Fokko Mulder,  Geert Laagland
• Companies: Battolyser Systems, Koolen Industries, Shell Ventures, Shell Hydrogen, Vattenfall
• Other: Hydraulic Engineering at the TU Delft, Book: the strategic approach to building a boarding, Guns ‘n Roses - November Rain 
• Media: Battolyser Systems on YouTube  

Joris Biskop is the former CTO of Luxexcel, 3d printing lens specialist, which was recently acquired by Meta for €400 million. Based on his insights there, he founded Addoptics, of which he is now the CEO. Addoptics is a smart manufacturer of optics, serving an impressive list of customers worldwide from their office in Rotterdam.

We'll cover the following topics:

• The opportunities in a 1 trillion Augmented Reality market;
• Pivoting from niche prototype production to scalability;
• The pro’s and cons of taking investors on board;

Links mentioned:

• People: Joris Biskop, Boukje Vastbinder, Benjamin de Wit, Maarten Schweers
• Companies: AddOptics, Luxexcel 
• Other: Meta Rayban Smartglasses, Rotterdam Sustainable Floating Homes Media:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT_Ox_4nKSg&t=139s, Forbes - Looking forward to the future of AR and VR, Globe Newswire - Augmented Reality Market Size to Surpass $1109.71 Bilion