One question. One hundred founders. One very good magazine.

There's a subtle validation in being asked to stand in front of a camera alongside 99 other people who are all building something they believe in.

That's exactly what Vliegwiel did. The Dutch startup initiative photographed one hundred founders and ecosystem builders across the Netherlands, asking each of them the same, simple question: what does the Dutch startup ecosystem need to succeed? The answers became a magazine striking enough to reach the hands of Minister Heleen Herbert herself.

The name says it all, really. "Vliegwiel" means flywheel. A flywheel doesn't create energy: it stores it, amplifies it, and keeps the whole system moving. That's the spirit behind the project: not to observe the Dutch startup ecosystem from the outside, but to give it some momentum from within.

Created by Robert Gaal and a small team of collaborators, Vliegwiel brought together a genuinely impressive cross-section of Dutch founders, from Picnic and Peerby to Weaviate and Polarsteps, and asked them to reflect on the big picture. The answers clustered around four themes: talent, policy, investment, and culture. Reading them feels less like a report and more like a dinner-table conversation: direct, opinionated, and a little urgent.

Our co-founder and COO Joren Tangelder was one of the hundred. Featured as "Meet Joren Tangelder — co-founder at Hydryx," it's a small but meaningful moment for us. The kind of recognition that feels less like a headline and more like a handshake with the wider ecosystem. Joren put it best himself: "Great initiative Vliegwiel! Excited to play a small part in it."

For a company that spends its days convincing people that landfills are actually energy goldmines hiding in plain sight, being part of a project that asks what Dutch startups need to thrive feels right. The Vliegwiel question: What does the ecosystem need? Is one we think about constantly. More patient growth capital. Policy that moves at the pace of climate urgency. A culture that celebrates the builders who take on the unglamorous, overlooked problems.

Flywheels don't spin themselves. But with the right push, they can keep going for a long time. We're glad to be part of the spin.