Saskia van den Ende

Ever wonder why sometimes ignoring client requests can lead to better outcomes? At August Venture Talent, we excel in helping startups, scaleups, and growth companies hire exceptional talent. We measure success not just by client satisfaction, but by their genuine excitement about their new hires. So, why might I seem to ignore initial client specifications? When a client requests a candidate with, say, 10 years of experience, I ask, “What are you really looking to achieve with this hire?” It’s not always the years that count, but the impact they will have. By focusing on what the hiring leader truly needs—the exact skills, mindset, and cultural alignment to drive extraordinary results—we often discover that the perfect match might not fit the original specification to the letter but far exceeds expectations in crucial ways. We're strategic partners, not order takers. By questioning assumptions and expanding possibilities, we help clients achieve their vision—even when that vision evolves through our collaboration. My ultimate goal is to exceed what our clients imagine possible.

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🚨 Partnership announcement! Thrilled to officially share our partnership between Jopp - Young Professionals and Fintechamps! The last couple of months I've been working together with Mark van der Sluis and the Fintechamps team on this partnership. We’re combining our strengths to ensure that top-tier talent finds meaningful opportunities in one of today’s most exciting industries - FinTech. 🚀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁? We’re not just matching candidates with roles. We’re working to equip talent with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in FinTech. Together, we’re developing specialized training programs to prepare candidates for the unique challenges of the industry, ensuring their success from day one. 💡 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: 1. Fintechamps brings unparalleled industry expertise and a vast network in the fintech and payments sectors. 2. Jopp offers a fresh, quality-driven approach to talent acquisition, focusing on matching young professionals with opportunities where they can thrive. Mark, founder of Fintechamps, sums it up perfectly: “𝘑𝘰𝘱𝘱’𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴. 𝘛𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩.” Curious about how we’re helping FinTech's with talent acquisition? Check the link for more details: https://lnkd.in/eCnfYQTe #fintech #TalentAcquisition #partnership #careers

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Fascinating data about the VC investments per capita by now in 2024 that Yoram Wijngaarde and his team at Dealroom.co brings. As we get stuck in our mindset on the big advanced ecosystems that are making lots of noise, there are incredible places where resiliency in terms of capital raised is remarkable. Singapore 🇸🇬 (Jacqueline Poh, YC Choy) is at the top of the charts followed by the UAE 🇦🇪, right ahead the US! Switzerland 🇨🇭 is the leading European country with the most VC money invested per capita, followed by Israel 🇮🇱 (Michal Freeman-Shor). My take is, watch for small countries that put tech, AI, startups and the private capital market in their priorities as a leading economic growth driver. Those are the tech exporters of talent, tech and capital and will attract investors globally. #capitalmarkets #privatecapital #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #AI #economy #growth #entrepreneurship #privateequity

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This morning, Equip hosted an exclusive breakfast at The Hoxton, Amsterdam, with HR leaders from top FinTech companies including Adyen, Fourthline, InShared, bunq, BUX, Insify, Silverflow, BridgeFund, Invested and STX Group. Theme: "Financial well-being at a FinTech". We had an excellent conversation as a group, resulting in three key insights: 1 - Financial education is a great entry point into addressing financial well-being in your organization 2 - Financial literacy and planning support are important in solving the big challenges around recognition of total rewards by employees 3 - It's critical how cultural differences around money and its taboo are addressed These smaller, more exclusive events are definitely something we'll do more often.

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The Amsterdam-based startup previously known as YourCampus has rebranded itself as Alleo, securing a robust €5M in Series A funding led by Mediahuis Ventures, among other investors like Newion, DFF (Dutch Founders Fund) e ROM InWest. This rebranding marks a pivotal shift for Alleo, founded in 2021 Florian Gendrault, Ruben van den Boogaard, Sven Cune, George Visniuc and Adil Bougamza, by emphasizing its commitment to innovating flexible and personalized compensation solutions that cater to various life stages of employees. The transformation reflects Alleo's strategy to address the evolving needs of the workforce and to expand its footprint in the corporate market. Alleo's platform stands out by allowing employees to tailor their compensation packages to align more closely with their personal and professional needs, integrating seamlessly with tax regulations and collective agreements. The startup's focus on flexibility and transparency is proving to be a game changer in the HR landscape, attracting significant attention from both SMEs and larger corporations alike. Looking forward, Alleo's strategic rebranding and successful funding round are set to fuel its expansion, particularly into the German market where it has already begun making significant inroads.

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For all the active investors in my network who are interested in the The Next Web conference. The mission of the conference is inform and connect tech with present and future challenges: 🔥 Giveaway Alert - Experience our Impact Day at The Next Web! Startupbootcamp is giving away 5 exclusive Investor Tickets for The Next Web (TNW) conference on June 20-21 in Amsterdam! 🚀 How to participate: ➡ Comment on the original post - see below ➡ The first 5 qualified to comment will receive a signup link. ➡ If qualified*, you’ll get a free TNW Investor Pass for our TNW Impact Day on June 20th! Don't miss this chance to witness groundbreaking innovations and network with the brightest minds in tech. *Qualification is at TNW's discretion and requires being an active investor. #ImpactDay #DemoDay #Impact #Startups #RenewableEnergy #NetZero #InclusiveFinTech #Fintech #DeFi #TNW #TheNextWeb #Startupbootcamp

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The annual 2024 Dutch Tech report states Dutch startups are growing at a slower pace due to longer investment cycles compared to European countries such as the UK and France.  👋 We can help! ... Book a short call to discuss how Fuse Capital is supporting Dutch and other EU tech businesses to keep their 🚀 growth targets while not diluting their equity. 

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Erik Noyes writes on how entrepreneurs should consider using AI tools to analyze customer data at scale, extract valuable insights, and make informed decisions. At risk of repeating others, here’s the quick take: 🔷Otter.ai - for transcribing focus group sessions or interviews in seconds 🔷Microsoft Azure - detects emotional cues and tones in customer conversations, by aggregating this data over time we can more deeply understand how customers feel about the brand, product or service. 🔷MeaningCloud - voice of the customer (feedback at scale) aggregated from social, product reviews and customer support tickets. 🔷Claude - iterate/generate variations on messaging based on customer feedback 🔷Copy.ai - to create product descriptions that resonate with a target audience It has become clear that the future belongs to those who understand how to leverage AI effectively. Onwards! #AI #Entrepreneurship #CustomerExperience #DataManagement #Marketing

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On today’s episode of the EUVC podcast, we have an inspiring, in-depth discussion on Data Driven Portfolio Modelling. And for this, we brought together: 👉 Joel Larsson, Founding GP of Pale blue dot 👉 Jon Coker, Founding GP of Eka Ventures 👉 Joe Schorge, Founding GP of Isomer Capital 👉 Anubhav Srivastava, Founder & CEO of Tactyc. Together, we discuss about: 👉 portfolio modeling 👉 fund forecasting 👉 portfolio construction 👉 the importance of maintaining a current fund forecast 👉 making adjustments based on real-world market conditions ... and more that we invite you to listen to on EUVC. | 🎧 Link in comments. #EUVCpodcast #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

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Why don’t we speak about Founder Associate in Belgium? Let's change that! The fancy term "Founder Associate" refers to the right-hand person to a startup founder, assuming a multi-functional role to support the founder’s massive workload and facilitate the company’s rapid growth 🐣 Since starting as a Founder Associate at Chift - One API, I’ve noticed that this role is not very common in Belgium as it is in neighboring countries. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure to attend an Early Builders event in Paris, and it was nothing short of inspiring! I witnessed a vibrant community and a highly motivating ecosystem, fostered by many French Founder Associates, including Victoria, Gaétan, and Henri who have enlightened me about this job in my first days at the office. Managing the chaos of early days can be stressful, and it is a great opportunity to share our experiences with our peers. The stories of Nicolas Sitter and Tania Kefs on Wednesday were even more insightful, as they were part of the whole journey until they reached unicorn status 🦄 Aren’t we missing this in Belgium? It seems like there aren't any similar communities for young Belgians entering the startup world. This echoes a reflection I had during my time as a VC intern at Seeder Fund, noticing the differences between the Flemish ecosystem and those of Brussels or Wallonia. Although we are part of the same country, we could gain so much by sharing our knowledge and experiences together 🇧🇪 So, who’s up for building a thriving community of early employees in Belgian startups with me? Comment below if you are and tag others peers. Let’s start this together ! 🚀

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Where is the best place to meet like-minded founders or investors for your next round? 🤔 FounderFuel.vc event of course! We curate all of our events to make sure the right connections are made 🤝 Our next event is on May 1st in Amsterdam! Send a DM or apply through the website. Existing FounderFuel members get in without waitlist 📋✅ See you there! 🍻 #community #founders #investors

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Measuring marketing in Venture is useless. Never one to mince my words, I was back on the EUVC podcast alongside Vincent Touati-Tomas & Jeroen van Doornik to discuss all things marketing in VC. Alongside all things narrative development, positioning, culture, and content and distribution, we also covered one of the hotly debated topics of the moment in the US vs Europe debate and even got into the weeds of the impact of regulation and what funds need to do in order to stand out. If you're curious about the mysterious world of venture marketing then have a listen here:

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🚀 'Private Equity: In Essence, Plunder?' 🔥 A must-read for investors and founders looking to level up! 🌱 Check it out here: www.blog.pitchndeal.com" 🔥 Statistically, there is an increased risk of failure with private equity ownership. PE portfolio companies are about 10 times as likely to go bankrupt as non-PE-owned companies. Granted, one out of five companies going bankrupt doesn’t portend certain failure, but it is a startling statistic. The rejoinder, of course, is that PE firms gravitate toward […] 🚀 🔥 https://lnkd.in/e3GQEVH8 🚀 Whether You're an Investor or a Startup, Discover Game-Changing Insights! Check Out Our Blog. #Leadership #Innovation #Marketing #Technology #Entrepreneurship

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VCLink's Daily Round Report (Part 3) 15. Vince Vissers's Firsty.app, a telecom startup, has raised €5.1 million ($5.4 million) from Speedinvest, DFF Ventures (Dutch Founders Fund), and prominent angel investors like Marcel Smits. The company aims to provide free mobile data globally, with coverage already expanded to 150 markets. https://lnkd.in/e5S8p79H 16. Socium, a Senegal-based HR-tech startup led by a team of innovators, has secured $5 million in seed funding led by Breega. The company plans to expand its AI-powered HR and payroll automation platform across more Francophone African countries. Partech, Orange Ventures, Chui Ventures, SONATEL, Outlierz Ventures, ⚡ SUPER CAPITAL ⚡, Evolem, and Techmind also participated. https://lnkd.in/ejNF6mrg 17. Benedikt Heuer's IonKraft, a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University specializing in plasma-based barrier coatings, raises €3.5 million ($3.81 million) in equity funding from M Ventures , TechVision Fund, and HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds to scale production for market entry. https://lnkd.in/eXK_JdiS 18. Greg Glass’s Fanstake, a fan engagement platform focused on athlete recruitment through NIL deals, has raised $3M in a pre-seed funding round led by Susa Ventures and Will Ventures. The platform aims to disrupt the sports industry by allowing fans to participate in athlete retention efforts. https://lnkd.in/epR3RmRk 19. Kelly Klifa's Heim, a healthcare technology company, has raised £2.2 million ($2.80 million) in seed funding led by Heal Capital, with participation from Form Ventures, Portfolio Ventures , and Houghton Street Ventures. The company aims to deliver healthcare services more efficiently at patients' homes. https://lnkd.in/eD2C-SW4 20. Bavovna AI, a Ukrainian startup led by innovators in autonomous navigation systems for drones, has raised $2.7 million to scale production. Presto Tech Horizons led the round with participation from Network VC, Allied VC, and other private investors. https://lnkd.in/eDhr68ke 21. Serviceform, active in Automotive and Real Estate tech, has raised €2.45 million ($2.65 million) from Virta Equity, BackingMind, Gorilla Capital, and angel investor Lasse Järvinen. The company is looking to expand into additional verticals and M&A opportunities. https://lnkd.in/ewkszYGc

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Sometime in March was my last day at Agro.Club, it was an amazing journey and we did some incredible work over last few years taking Agro.Club to the next orbit in terms of business model, growth, scale and a variety of other metrics. I want to thank Egor Kirin and Michiel de Jongh for the opportunity and the brilliant experience as we worked through the trenches. Personally too, it was an incredible experience as I was truly able to build "operational muscle" in scaling across dimensions - Streamlined our business to bring a razor sharp focus on our core - Full stack Global B2B Grain Marketplace - Grew Gross Revenue more than 6X - Grew Gross Profit more than 7X while expanding GP% in core markets - Launched, built teams and scaled operations in Brazil, USA and UAE - Raised Series B in one of the most difficult macro economic conditions (happy to chat 1:1 with founders on this one, way too many learnings to capture in one post) To the Founders out there: Some of my biggest learnings from this experience - If you can see PMF in one part of the business, double down on that with complete focus - Be quick and decisive in shutting down businesses that are a drain on capital and bandwidth - Capital allocation is key and continue to invest in growth but also have immense clarity on what not to invest in - Focus on metrics that truly matter to your business, be aware on what investors are looking for but disregard it if it does not make sense to you and/or your business - As a CFO I can tell you that while EBITDA is important, it is not the whole truth, Cash is king and knowing precisely the cash in the company, especially as you scale into hundreds of millions is gold - Hire folks who truly believe in your vision, that is table stakes. Indexing on experience vs hunger simply depends on the role - Despite the extreme odds, capital WILL find its way to top quality management teams who are building high growth fundamentally sound businesses (I cannot stress this enough but yes the bar is very high) Thanks to Speedinvest Deepali Nangia Enrique Martinez Hausmann VentureFriends Apostolos Apostolakis Pavlos Pavlakis Elevator Ventures Thomas Muchar Arushi Sharma Rabo Frontier Ventures Floris Onvlee Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien Curt Chadha for the trust and the support Finally, none of this would have been possible without you guys so special thanks to all my colleagues at Agro.Club Pedro Salles Fabio Nascimento Ricardo Faias Artem Akchurin Felipe Ballejo Fernandes Ivan Baryshev Jason Dippel, you guys are true rockstars and I cannot wait to see everything that you will achieve with Agro.Club and beyond. I have taken a short break and will soon announce whats next 🙏

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JamarGig Profile are delighted to present Liezl de Wouters d’Oplinter's stunning JamarGig Profile website. Learn more about Liezl by selecting Liezl 's JamarGig profile link: https://lnkd.in/gbZzyxB7 If you would like to create your own free JamarGig Profile website sign up here: https://lnkd.in/ef55xgzz #jamarGigProfile #JamarGig #talentwebsite #profilewebsite

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It's all about the long-term scaling mindset for CEOs of a #startup or a #scaleup! Listen to the latest episode of our favorite podcast, Momentum Podcast.

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talentX was launched exactly 3 days ago. We now have 3000+ Actors/ Models & Theatre Artists in our network...The ambition is to reach 30000+ in a month and then beyond. A lot of you wanted to know what we are doing & how are we different from the talent management agencies that already exist... I would like to borrow a term made famous by the amazing C. K. Prahalad & Stuart Hart in their seminal 2004 book - The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. But my reference is not the economic fortune, but the pure GOLD that exists amongst the millions of aspiring actors in India today. The next Nawazuddin/ Pankaj Tripathi/ Jaideep Ahlawat will be discovered by us at talentX. The existing agencies are looking for talent that's MADE it. We are not. We are creating opportunities for every actor in India to be discovered. By Casting Directors, Talent Agencies, Brands, Production Houses, OTTs. TV Channels, everyone...your search for fresh new faces ends here. Content creation & distribution has become democratised. The Creator Economy is going crazy. There is going to be a need for a lot of new talent, but unfortunately not at the top, but in the middle & at the bottom. That's where the fortune lies. We are using technology to build India's largest 'Connected' Talent Network. Built on 3 pillars of Trust, Transparency & Efficiency, we are organising a very large industry and creating enormous value for every stakeholder in the process. Project turnarounds will be faster. Fair & reasonable pay to actors will be ensured, without middlemen claiming a chunk of the proceeds & finally the system will ensure that the bad elements will be flagged & eliminated. Tech allows us to do that. If you are creating content & want us to find talent for you, give us a holler.

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