Why Achmea looks beyond the idea when choosing founders

Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 29 – Iselde van Beurden, Talent Lead at Achmea Impact Ventures. Iselde shares how Achmea moved from an internal ideas factory to a fully fledged startup studio. Instead of focusing only on innovations connected to Achmea's core products, the studio builds independent startups where Achmea can add value and where there is societal impact to be made. This can include resources such as customers, data, and internal expertise. Drawing from her own experience as an entrepreneur, Iselde explains how that background helps her understand what founders may face, from working without certainty of income to investing in product development and staff. When evaluating founders, she looks beyond the idea itself, emphasizing that even the best idea needs the right founder. A strong founder can pivot an idea, while "the idea and the founder go hand in hand." In the rapid-fire section, Iselde shares her views on co-founders, gut feeling, risk-taking, revenue and impact, and serial versus first-time founders. She chooses co-founders to "spread the risk," prefers gut feeling over relying solely on track record, and explains Achmea's approach: "We build, we do both, but impact follows revenue." This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon! #Frontwalker #podcast #StartupPassport #rotterdam #ErasmusEnterprise