When it feels real — Building beyond the noise

Building isn’t always about more: more charts, more outreach, more events. It’s about those sharp moments when movement becomes meaning.

This summer, we took a deep breath — not to pause, but to reflect and push sharper. We automated ourselves into free time. We doubled down on one-venture-one-owner. We saw founders leave countries, comfort zones, and steady paths behind.

Because the only thing that makes building real is the conviction to keep going when it’s messy.

Inside the Builders way: Scaling by going sharper

Studios don’t scale by adding more partners, more layers, more noise. They scale when ventures scale. That’s why we rebuilt the way we build:

• One partner, one venture, full ownership.

• A studio engine that automates itself.

• A partner model for scar-tissue founders.

This isn’t theory—it’s how we run every week. AI Labs on Wednesdays. Deep partnerships instead of playbooks. Scar tissue over shiny frameworks.

👉 We’re looking for more hands-dirty builders:

• Studio Partners — real scars, real urgency. 🔗

• First Engineer Hire — the product that builds startups 🔗

• Founding CTOs — code meets conviction 🔗

• Entrepreneurs in Residence — no sidelines, just building 🔗

In the loop: Navigators, labs & networks

• AI Labs 🤖 — Every Wednesday, the team trades coffee for code and automates one piece of studio chaos. From building an MCP that chews through 600 customer interviews → to simple scripts that kill hours of admin. Not innovation theatre. Just messy, fast, practical wins. Full deep-dive 🔗

• Navigator Spotlights —

  • Eliska: Future-of-work + finance whisperer. Helped Everday turn hunches into Skill Passports, and Cortena sharpen FP&A positioning. Read more 🔗

  • Wouter: Traction over theory. Helped Avery cut through ICP noise and nail a four-week GTM sprint. Read more 🔗

• CTO Network — Back after summer. A rare keynote from Ahmed Bashir (ex-Apple, now DevRev), plus no-fluff roundtables on AI product, security trade-offs, and velocity vs debt. Co-hosted with AWS & Borski. Oversubscribed already. But check it out. 🔗

Ventures in motion

• Avery — The Grand Tour is live. 🎬 Five nights. Five cities. Comedy meets recruiting, with stand-up, real talk on why LinkedIn is losing the AI battle, and a first sneak peek of Avery in action. We’re rolling through Eindhoven, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Amsterdam from Sept 8–12. Tickets just dropped, grab yours. 🔗

• Everday × Avery — Padel meets HR. On Sept 17, both ventures team up in Amsterdam to host HR leaders for an evening that blends real talk on what’s broken in HR with a padel court showdown. Conversations first, padel balls after. Signup today. 🔗

• Cortena — Sharpening every week. Bruno and Sebastian are actively sharing progress as they shape Cortena into the AI-native FP&A platform for modern CFOs. From data privacy positioning to sharper GTM narratives, the public launch is coming closer. Follow along. 🔗

👀 What we’re reading (and writing):

• Automate yourself, or someone else will. Michael on why AI is underhyped, and how AI Labs is replacing 80% of repetitive work with in-house automation.

• When did it feel real? Julia on why not all traction is progress, and how to chase clarity, not just activity.

• Trust, resilience & scars. Sharon’s notes on trust, partnerships, and the real scars behind venture building.

• The AI shakeout is here. Elana Gold predicts 80% of AI startups will pivot or die, with survivors owning workflows, having distribution first, and charging real money today.

• You can’t build AI products like other products. Lenny Rachitsky highlights the CC/CD framework — a new way to scale AI systems without breaking user trust.

• The future of sales in 2026. Jason Lemkin on what AI will automate away in sales — and why humans will still own in-person, complex deals, and true GTM orchestration.

Final word: Make it real

Building isn’t pretty. It’s BBQs on the river one Friday and boardroom scars the next. It’s moving countries for a vision. It’s automating the boring stuff so you can focus on what matters. It’s betting on partners who show up in chaos, not in slides.

This month, we saw ventures, founders, and partners choose meaning over movement. That’s when it felt real.

So ask yourself: What’s the one move that will make it real for you?

Forward, always,

Michael van Lier
Managing Director at Builders