Pepijn Vloemans

Lives in Amsterdam with three kids, two cats and one wife
Startup storyteller. Worked at Fastned and Farmless)
Created a list of the most ambitious European hardware startups
Likes to visit underrated countries
Writes a progress and underrated ideas newsletter on Substack
Reads books
Founded the Tien Procent Club to popularise the idea of effective giving (traditional charity fundraising is decoupled from actual success of the charity. Charity evaluators are the answer.
Maintains a list of beautiful Dutch words

Things I believe

The only limits to human progress are the laws of physics
The world has gotten much, much better over the past centuries
For most people on the planet, NOW is the best time to be alive
should build a civilisation on Mars
Humans are the only animal with a capacity for morality outside our own kin. We should cultivate this towards other people and animals.
Three strong moral convictions: (1) the way we treat animals for food etc is wrong (2) we should eradicate preventable diseases globally (we know how to do this and it would not cost much) (3) if you want to change something, you should probably start with yourself
Developing smaller, cheaper, simpler and lower-maintenance tunnel boring capacity is highly underrated
The ultimate bottleneck for Europe's future is cultivating and cultivating and attracting ultra-ambitious founders
Aesthetic minimalism has peaked — beauty and tradition in architecture will make a comeback

Ask questions, be genuinely curious above all else
Say the things you cannot say or that are uncomfortable to say
Tolerate silence, even if it's mildly uncomfortable
When you disagree with someone, instead of stating your opinion, ask: what's the best argument against this? Or: how would you summarise your opponent's position as charitably as possible?
Raise someone's ambitions. It's free, it's underrated and it works.

Affordable space tourism. At least low earth orbit, but preferrably the moon
Mass drivers and huge ass telescopes on the dark side of the moon
A permanent Mars base
Supersonic commercial flight
Fully electric VTOLs
Tunneling startups drilling hundreds of kilometres of small-form tunnels per day
Eradication of all cheaply preventable diseases like malaria and vitamin deficiencies
Large scale land reclamation of the North Sea
A majority of global energy generated by solar
Synthetic fuels (solar power to methane / methanol) outcompeting fossil fuels
Fermented proteins going mainstream

When joining a startup, look for the most obsessed founder
A startup should be like a cult with a secret at its core
Embrace pain, confusion and messiness
Ego is the enemy. Make a point of writing down your mistakes to the group.
Present information starting with the conclusion
You can just do things
Always question the requirements that are handed to you. Chances are they were made up in ten minutes just before your joined.
See what happens when you delte parts or processes — humans are hardwired to add, not remove
Celebrate wins — it signals what you value and shows there is progress despite all the things that go wrong
Say the difficult or stupid things no one else dares to say
Be extremely nice