Four Dutch female technology founders share the secret to success

There’s never been a better time to do business in the thriving Dutch technology industry, where strong digital infrastructure and national entrepreneurial initiatives have created a fertile foundation for innovation.

Although the Netherlands has women-led companies in the areas of fintech, education and healthcare technology, agritech and AI, there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality in the technology sector. The Diversity & Inclusion Task Force, which is part of the Dutch Ministry of Economy and Climate Policy, 18% of Dutch IT professionals are women, Only a small portion of that number plays the role of top management for technology companies. The Dutch government wants to increase that number to 50% by 2030.

In the thriving Dutch entrepreneurial ecosystem with over 4,000 startups, women struggle to raise money.European startup founded by women Last year we got only 1% of the moneyWhen 5.7% of total Dutch funding 2019. In the Netherlands, there is a significant shortage of women to lead funding rounds, 6% of venture capitalist fund partners are women — Well below the European average 12%.. It’s strange that the ideas and innovations of female tech entrepreneurs don’t come true, as venture capital firms and investors are dominated by men.

However, there are also promising signs of helping women in the tech industry in the Netherlands. The Dutch Chamber of Commerce has found an increasing number of female entrepreneurs, 62% increase between 2013 and 2022.. The percentage of women in the top ranks is gradually increasing.

From an expert community such as Next woman When She is important To organizations advocating diverse gender financing such as Fundlight When Bolsky FundThere are an unprecedented number of resources for female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. We will riseAn Amsterdam-based organization founded to help women in the technology industry, 750,000 euros Last year, we helped women in the technology sector, including creating a three-year program that included mentorship, networking, and training courses.

Equally important is the role of mentors and role models in fostering a female technical entrepreneurial spirit, sharing experiences and lessons learned from startups to scale up and beyond. These four founders share tips and advice for professional women who follow in their footsteps.

Diane Yanknegut

Janknegt is the founder of WizenoseA cloud-based AI-powered EdTech platform that uses data and machine learning to make digital learning more accessible and personalized.

About the Importance of Staying Curious:

“Without curiosity and a desire to learn, Wizenoze wouldn’t have been there. I think these are two basic elements for any entrepreneur. If you lack these skills Don’t even think about starting your own company. For me, curiosity and learning are always going on! “

Advice for leaders starting to use new technologies such as AI:

The phrase “AI” is highly overrated and misused. It’s not the Holy Grail, it’s a tool that helps you move toward your goals. Before considering using AI, it’s a good idea to understand the basics of AI. Mentioning AI as part of a suggestion does not leave a strong impression. “

Diversity and Comprehension in Dutch Techniques:

“For me, diversity is more than a gender debate. It’s about different ages, colors, religions, beliefs, introversions and extroversions, etc. In the long run, truly diverse teams are always diverse. It’s better than a non-sexual team, so it’s not just a fashionable topic, it’s a lifeline for success. Unfortunately, the Netherlands has a balanced number of diverse entrepreneurs. No. This is really alarming. One of the big reasons is the lack of capital invested in diverse founders. It’s surprisingly low. Only 1.3% of VC capital. Invested in female founders, even less for founders of colored races. “

Encouraging more women to start high-tech companies:

“To stimulate the female entrepreneurial spirit, we will acquire more female venture capitalists, promote open thinking in all VCs and showcase the fun aspects of being an entrepreneur. Needs to modify access to growth capital. “

Bernadette Wijnings

Bernadette Wijnings

Wijnings is the founder and associate partner of. Het StrategiekantoorA Dutch consulting firm and was previously established SwingA fintech company that develops technology and digital services for the wealth management industry.

Her Leadership Philosophy:

“Teams are everything. As a leader, you must carefully select your team members and make sure they live up to your company’s values. Each individual has his or her strengths. It contributes most to the team when you can make the most of it and work in the way that suits you best. At the same time, it is very important that you have a clear responsibility. For the new venture I am launching. I started by writing “design principles” – what makes an optimal SaaS company? Many design principles are people-centric, and the rest are centered around the establishment of the company itself. Everyone who joins my new venture, whether it’s a new colleague or an investor, must agree on the design principles. This saves a lot of discussion and thinking when scaling up. “

About fostering innovation:

“In a culture of innovation, it is imperative to forgive mistakes, discuss them openly, and celebrate, so that everyone can learn from them and experiment safely.”

Improving Women’s Representatives in Technical Leadership:

“Gender diversity in the Netherlands still has a long way to go. The majority of startups and scale-ups are still founded and managed by white men. Although women’s representatives in technology leadership can be improved in many ways. One of the most important steps is the socio-economic background that investors include not only gender but also ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and education. In addition, they truly accept diversity as well as embrace it. We need to build a more inclusive culture. Part of what we need to do is to educate “non-diversity” about the positive impacts and social needs of creating diverse teams. “

About knowing when to move to a new venture:

“I realized it was time for a transition because I realized that I was losing energy from the challenges facing Blanco. I reduced building from scratch, strengthened the specialized process, and strengthened operational optimization. And improved delivery capabilities. My strength is in building a company and I wanted to start over, but every action is important and every choice has a huge impact. I wanted to feel the rush of new startups again. “

Lessons learned from the establishment of FinTech:

“As a small choice: automate everything from client onboarding to reporting from the beginning. Make everything data-driven and never build technology without a well thought out user story and functional design. Thoroughly select investors and invest time and money in education and teams. “

Willemijn Schneyder

Willemijn Schneyder

Schneider is the founder and chief executive officer of SwipeGuideA performance platform for the manufacturing industry that captures, scales, and automates important operational knowledge for teams and the entire site.

About promoting new ideas:

“Swipe Guide is a young technology company. Every swipe is an expert and an innovator. They participate because they have something to contribute to our mission. Unleash ideas such as hack days and innovation challenges. There are rituals to help with. Inspire team members to look out of the box and inspire different industries and events, but basically apply the same principles as selling to customers. We are trying to unleash the potential of untappedness from the inside by ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to product development. “

To keep focusing on user needs and issues:

“We talk a lot with other tech companies and talk about different approaches to ensure that as we grow, everyone on the team focuses on solving the problems of influential real users. Learn. SwipeGuide has three key concepts that we have adopted since its inception and we want to nurture and evolve as we grow. Deep understanding of our users, collaboration of open innovation with our customers, and different disciplines. Is the integration. “

“SwipeGuide has been developing solutions in open collaboration with users since its inception. Initially, we used customer boards to identify problems and solutions. As we grow, we all We’ve moved to a user-open system. They can make suggestions to public innovation committees and agree with problems seeking solutions, as many organizations do, of course. The concepts we design and develop are validated and tested by our users, but the important thing is to stand behind the question and design and develop what they need, not what they want. In that sense, we are the most human-centric software solution. Whether it’s marketing, sales, product development, or engineering, every swipe that joins a team should spend time at the forefront with customers and users. If you don’t know the hassle of the average factory operator or maintenance engineer, how can you develop a sticky digital tool that solves a real problem? Finally, our product You’ll find that it’s built by experts in computer science, mechanical engineering, behavioral design, and educational science. Solving big puzzles with different hats brings value. “

About her experience as a female founder:

“My challenge as a female founder was no different from any role I played as a woman before establishing a female entrepreneur, manager, innovation consultant, or SwipeGuide. Access to finance was all. It’s ten times more difficult in the world of technology because it’s alumni, so certainly we had to break through the barriers of prejudice as a diverse team, which makes us more resilient. We also believe that many changes have already been seen in the last few years. People are becoming more and more aware of their prejudices and their privileges. But we are alternatives. You need to make sure you cross and deal with it, not men / women. In fact, I’m talking about this topic because I have a lot of privileges as a well-educated Western European white woman. Is it the right person? It’s not perfect. We believe that by deepening our awareness of the prevalence of unconscious bias, we can make real progress. “

Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt

Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt is the founder of New forkUse blockchain to help agrifood companies optimize their supply chains, mitigate risk and improve food integrity.

Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt

About funding your business:

“The hardest part of software and new technology is getting the first paid customer. Often, what is considered good is to raise money first, then develop ideas, and then the customer. I strongly believe in the reverse order. First get paid customers and then raise money to improve and improve your product. “

My Leadership Philosophy:

“A good leader is a system thinker. They can understand the strengths and weaknesses of the system and get the big picture, not the specific pieces. The ability to see the whole system is to take advantage of new opportunities. Leaders have a great heart to work together and put people in a position to maximize their individual strengths. “

When introducing complex technologies to users for the first time:

“When we market something, it’s received by the primitive parts of our brain. It has a very simple response menu. Often, we remove complexity by removing it. I’ll try to explain, but it doesn’t work. You just need to get the attention of your audience and keep them attracted, so don’t talk about technology. Explain the potential effects of technology. Instead of talking about technology, we aim to experience its impact and get a PoC as soon as possible. “

Advice for young women who follow in your footsteps:

“Be confident, thicken your skin, think big and bold. From day one, form a team and fire someone who doesn’t look like an A player. You have a B or C player. If so, they can really hurt everyone else. In technology, the key resource is still people. We need talented people who can build the right technology. “