The Perfect Exit, Founder Stress & Why "Nice Guys" Fail | Bart Vandekerckhove - Collibra

He quit his job at a multi-billion dollar company with nothing but a half-formed idea, zero technical knowledge, and a conviction that privacy would matter. For almost a year, Bart Vandekerckhove tried to sell a product that didn't exist - without a CTO, without a prototype, and without anyone taking him seriously.Then he built Raito into a real company and sold it back to the very place he left.In this episode:- Why Bart resigned during COVID with a mortgage, wife, and two kids- Selling enterprise software for a year with no CTO and no product- The chair-throwing moment that taught him everything about leadership- How corporate politics secretly control your entire sales cycle- His mother's advice about giving his wife equity (and why he regrets ignoring it)- The motorcycle cliff metaphor that explains how founders self-sabotage- Why "Plan B" relationships with competitors saved his exit- Three pieces of advice for experienced professionals starting their first companyChapters:00:00 - Meet Bart: Data Governance Explained Simply03:07 - What Data Governance Actually Means07:19 - The Idea That Became Raito10:51 - Starting a Company With Zero Technical Knowledge14:22 - Almost a Year Without a CTO17:40 - From Daydreamer to Founder19:30 - Finding a Co-Founder Who's Your Opposite21:12 - The Values That Kept Them Together23:40 - Kind vs. Nice: A Founder's Distinction25:29 - The Chair-Throwing Moment28:54 - How Corporate Experience Helps (and Doesn't)30:18 - Political Capital: The Hidden Sales Variable36:19 - First Customers and the Drug of Closing Deals37:21 - Fundraising: When to Raise and What to Know First40:46 - The Three Mentors Who Shaped Everything46:25 - Building to Exit vs. Selling Back to Collibra49:32 - Networking as an Introvert51:35 - Relationships, Family, and the Spillover53:31 - Operating Under Uncertainty56:33 - The Motorcycle Cliff: Where You Look Is Where You Go1:01:23 - Advice for Experienced Professionals Starting a Company1:04:16 - What the Next Five Years Hold👇  CONNECT  WITH BART VANDEKERCKHOVEBart Vandekerckhove ►https://www.linkedin.com/in/bartvandekerckhove/Colibra ► https://www.collibra.com/👇  CONNECT  WITH  SHAMILShamil Malachiyev ► [www.linkedin.com/in/shamilmalachiyev](http://www.linkedin.com/in/shamilmalachiyev)FluidLabs ► https://fluidlabs.com/🎙  LISTEN to The Founder’s Code onSpotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/7v6YOQ77R1xzbOiiHsDawdApple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-s-code/id1797768317🔔 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE for more unfiltered conversations with the founders and engineers building the future of tech.#FoundersCode #DataGovernance #PrivacyTech #StartupStories #Founder #Entrepreneurship #Bootstrap