As part of our 15-year anniversary celebrations, we opened the doors of our Amsterdam HQ for a special evening with our community. Together with three inspiring female founders, we gathered to talk about the realities of building a business with purpose – sharing the wins, the setbacks, and everything in between.
What happens when you put three passionate female founders in one room? A conversation full of honest lessons, tough challenges, plenty of laughter, and the kind of stories you only hear from people who've built businesses from the ground up.
Joining the panel were our founder Paulien Wesselink, alongside Agnes Weber, founder of MENDED, and Marthe de Groot, founder of MARIE MARIE Amsterdam. Each brought their own perspective on entrepreneurship, sustainability, and staying true to your mission while navigating growth.
No two founder journeys look the same, but one thing became clear throughout the evening: building a business is rarely a straight line. From unexpected challenges to defining success on your own terms, every story reminded us that entrepreneurship is as much about resilience as it is about ambition.
Sustainability That Works
One of the biggest conversations of the evening centered around sustainability—not as a separate "impact" initiative, but as something that should be woven into every part of a business.
Repair, craftsmanship, and fair production only become truly scalable when they also make commercial sense. Sustainability shouldn't live in its own category; it becomes more powerful when it's part of quality, customer loyalty, and an exceptional customer experience.
Scaling Without Losing Your Soul
Growth is often measured in numbers, but the panel challenged that idea.
Scaling isn't simply about selling more. It's about creating the systems, teams, and structures that allow your business to grow without losing the values, craftsmanship, and personality that made it special in the first place.
Success looks different for every founder.
For some, it's growing internationally. For others, it's raising awareness around an important issue or building a business that creates meaningful change. And sometimes, success simply means recognizing when your original mission has been fulfilled.
The conversation was a reminder that there isn't one blueprint for building a purpose-driven business – and that's exactly what makes these journeys so inspiring.
Always Return to Your Why
Every founder spoke about moments of doubt. Quality issues, logistics, growing pains, unexpected setbacks – they're all part of the process.
What carries you through those moments is your "why." Having a clear purpose gives you something to return to when things get messy and reminds you why you started in the first place.
A huge thank you to our incredible panelists – Paulien Wesselink (O My Bag), Agnes Weber (MENDED), and Marthe de Groot (MARIE MARIE Amsterdam) – for sharing your experiences with such honesty and generosity.
And thank you to everyone who joined us, asked thoughtful questions, and helped make it such an inspiring evening.
Here's to many more conversations that celebrate entrepreneurship, community, and building businesses with purpose.
Great conversations deserve great memories. We've rounded up our favorite moments from the evening – from behind-the-scenes smiles to the panel in action.
