Now fully private — and a BV
Moving fully onto the private side and incorporating as a BV gives us the structure to focus everything on what members actually need: a trusted room to work through the problems that decide whether a company scales or stalls.
What we solve together: connections and decisions
Some scaling problems are best solved together. Two come up again and again — and they're the whole reason the community exists: founders and leaders who connect better, decide faster.
- Connections — the right people, in the right room, at the right moment. Not networking; running into the handful of people who can actually move you forward this quarter.
- Decisions — made faster, by hearing from people who've made the call. Real numbers on the table, no panels, no decks.
Where we're playing next: AI, GTM and talent
With the focus clear, we've chosen three areas to put our weight behind over the coming period — the themes shaping how our founders scale right now.
- AI — the impact on how you build and operate.
- GTM — getting to market, with a particular focus on corporate adoption of scaleups.
- Talent — attracting and keeping the best people.
What's coming
A full slate is planned: a strong line-up of events, a set of Cities trips, and the next Rise programme.
On the platform
The platform is the network at your fingertips — where the community runs between events. Here's what you can do, with two things newly live.
- Direct messages — a private inbox for the founders you actually want to talk to. No DM requests, no follower games. (New)
- Find your peers — browse the member, company and partner network; filter by role, stage, sector and city, and see suggested connections.
- Book events — every dinner, Circle, clinic and trip in one place, RSVP in a tap.
- Circles — join, or propose, a founder or leadership circle that meets regularly.
- Marketplace — real discounts on the tools members use, and a place to promote what you offer back.
- A new partner page — meet the partners behind the community. (New)
Community wins
- Polarsteps won the Koning Willem I Prijs — the “Oscars of Dutch business”, in the SME category — presented by Her Majesty Queen Máxima in Amsterdam on 20 May 2026.
- MarvelX made EU-Startups' top 10 startups powering the agentic AI boom — for bringing AI agents to insurance claims.
What we're reading
A few links making the rounds in the community this week.
- Epoch AI — Data and analysis on how fast AI capability is actually improving.
- Unlocking scientific intuition (Daedalus) — DeepMind's chief scientist on AI for science — reasoning at digital speed.
- Giant Ideas — a Lightspeed co-founder on the venture market — Why companies stay private longer, and how venture is starting to behave like the public markets.
- Airbus partners with Mistral AI on sovereign AI — What could a Dutch version of this look like?
- Anthropic raises $65bn — Now valued at roughly $965bn — three months after its last round.
- The “wooden clogs” effect — A founder's write-up of the Deeptech Trip to San Francisco.
News from government
- Deeptech start-ups gebruiken vaker beleidsinstrumenten (ESB) — Dutch deeptech start-ups are drawing on government policy instruments more than before.
A message from the TL community team
Going private and becoming a BV doesn't change why we exist — it sharpens it. The room gets a little more trusted, the focus a little clearer, and the work stays the same: helping you scale the things that are hard to scale alone.
Thank you for being part of it. The best of this community still happens between the lines — in the intros, the readings, and the quiet help. Keep sharing.
— The TL community team