Our Story
The people around you make a difference.
House of Founders brings established entrepreneurs together. People who share their experience, challenge each other and build new companies together.
01 / The beginning
It Started with a Message
Marleen Evertsz built GoldRepublic, Nxchange and Digital Notary. She wanted to spend a week making something with founders she knew and trusted, so she sent them a message.
Nobody knew exactly what they would do, and everyone said yes.
02 / A Villa in Cape Town
The Second Evening
In March 2026, eight founders and around twenty builders moved into a villa with a tennis court in Cape Town.
They wanted to find out how many companies the right people could build in one week, with all the AI available today.
The first two days were for ideas. Each one went on the table and the whole room went over it. In those two days, 384 ideas came up, and most fell away.
“After day one I really thought: this is never going to work. By the second evening, it was running.”Marleen Evertsz · Initiator of Part I
03 / Why we keep doing this
You don't have to work it all out alone.
Building a company means making decisions without ready-made answers. Around a table with other founders, you can voice your doubts, test an idea and get to work. You bring your knowledge into the house and leave with new perspectives, relationships and companies.
A Visit to Dunoon
During the week, the founders visited Inkwenkwezi Secondary School in Dunoon, a township in Cape Town. What they saw there became Superpower Hub, a free platform for young entrepreneurs in Cape Town’s townships.
Seven Weeks Later
On 29 April 2026, more than 1,100 founders and entrepreneurs came to De Kromhouthal in Amsterdam to see the five companies and the documentary about that week.
The House grows
The fifth company built that week was House of Founders itself, the idea to do it again with new founders in new places.
The people who bring us together.
Lotte and Lisette bring the right people to the table and make room for them to build together.
Lotte van Rijen
Lotte was one of the builders in the house in Cape Town. She knows the week from the inside.
Lisette Braakenburg van Backum
Before the House, Lisette co-founded Upstream Festival. She brings that experience of gathering entrepreneurs to every Part.
