In the cockpit
That’s what I discussed with Ines Feytons, cofounder and CEO of Nascent. After six years as a legal consultant at Deloitte, she chose entrepreneurship. Her mission: helping founders find the right co-pilot so that teams can fly further than the first thermal lift.
The leap from the runway
“It was now or never,” says Ines. In April, together with her cofounders, she launched Nascent, a matchmaking platform that helps founders find a cofounder—or, conversely, step into an existing team. She saw the problem up close: team fit is underestimated—and that is precisely where Nascent wants to make the difference.
The platform: balancing supply and demand
Two sides, one goal: better matches.
Demand side: start-ups actively looking for a cofounder.
Supply side: often experienced professionals eager to embark on entrepreneurship, without their own idea, ready to step in.
The first users often come from accelerator programs, where the importance of a strong cofounder becomes immediately visible. On the other side: professionals who want to apply their experience in a new adventure. Active seekers, not casual browsers.
Navigating a complex airspace
Ines experiences the Belgian ecosystem as fragmented: there are many valuable initiatives, but players often work within their own programs and communities. Referrals between initiatives occur less spontaneously than in the Netherlands, where collaboration emerges more easily. On top of that, the geographic reality plays a role: Flanders and Wallonia each have their own networks and funding structures. This makes the landscape rich but sometimes less transparent for those navigating through it.
Internationally, she sees opportunities, especially in Scandinavia, where the human side of entrepreneurship takes center stage. Partners remain crucial: without a ground crew, there’s no safe landing.
Flying beyond the first customers
The biggest challenge is awareness: many founders realize too late that their greatest risk lies in the collaboration itself.
That’s why Nascent relies on partners who help carry the story and integrate the platform into their communities.
- Focus for the coming months (as Ines sees it):
- Setting up and testing international partnerships.
- Further refining the target audience and sharpening positioning.
- Developing a recurrent check-in for teams so collaboration becomes measurable and discussable.
Lessons from turbulence
“We should have probed willingness-to-pay more quickly. Enthusiasm didn’t always turn into a paying user,” Ines reflects.
That is entrepreneurship in unexplored airspace: iterating, adjusting, and staying on course. Impact over volume remains the guiding principle.
Conclusion – choosing course with the right crew
Nascent is more than ‘Tinder for cofounders’: it makes the often underestimated factor of human fit tangible and discussable. From the cockpit I hear in Ines the same pattern I see in many growth companies: technology and market are necessary, but without the right crew you won’t get past the first turbulence.
What stays with me from the conversation with Ines: clear choices, sober measurement, and smart use of partners—that’s how you climb safely.