“Do we really need to haze the next generation of female founders?
In sororities, hazing is a rite of passage. For female founders, it’s often unspoken. Many women who’ve made it to the top feel like they have to struggle alone. So those who come after them should too.
Anieke Lamers doesn’t buy that.
In Episode 124 of Women Disrupting Tech, Anieke Lamers challenges the view that female founders must struggle alone and explains how we can create an investment ecosystem that supports bold women early. As a founder-turned-Borski Fund partner, Anieke brings both urgency and unique insight.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube. Or scroll down for the lessons, magic moments, and reflections from our conversation.
3 Lessons From This Conversation
You know that some parts of the system weren’t built to be fair. And that other parts weren’t built for women at all. But Anieke shines a light on the quiet forces shaping funding decisions, and what we need to do to change them.
Impact-driven founders are burning out, and VCs need to notice.
Founders who care deeply often put the mission above their own well-being. Anieke saw it happen again and again. So she launched The VC Coach to help investors recognize the signs early and make more human decisions that protect both founders and their portfolios.
How trust is built on similarity and why you need to second-guess yourself as an investor
Anieke explains how investors often trust founders who feel familiar. If someone talks or behaves like you, you’re more likely to see them as competent. But that instinct reinforces bias and keeps overlooked founders out of the room.
We need structural changes, not just individual effort.
More female founders and more women in VC matter, but policy matters too. From better parental leave to education that teaches girls how to fail, Anieke makes the case for systemic support so women don’t have to choose between building a company or a family.
💬 Which of these lessons resonates most with you? Share them in the comments.
And if you want more lessons like this? Follow the podcast or subscribe to updates for a weekly dose of female founder inspiration.
Or scroll down for magical moments, practical takeaways, and my own observations.
- 3 Lessons From This Conversation
- Highlights and timestamps
- 3 Magic Moments In The Episode
- Practical Takeaways for Founders
- The Quote From The Episode
- 3 Things That Changed The Way I Think
- A Question for You 🤔
- Coming Up On Women Disrupting Tech
- Listen to Episode 124 on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube
- Other ways to amplify the voices of Women Disrupting Tech
- About Anieke Lamers
- About Borski Fund
- Events that Women Disrupting Tech Must-Attend
- What I Want To Leave You With
Highlights and timestamps
| Time | Highlight |
|---|---|
| 02:40 | Journey to Borski Fund |
| 05:29 | The Role of an Operating Partner |
| 08:28 | Challenges for Women in Leadership |
| 11:26 | The Founder-Investor Dynamic |
| 14:36 | Building Peekabond: A Personal Journey |
| 17:26 | The Emotional Attachment of Founders |
| 20:24 | Coaching for Mental Health in Startups |
| 23:29 | Changing Expectations in Pitching |
| 26:18 | The Importance of Diverse Teams |
| 29:19 | Borski Fund’s Mission and Impact |
| 32:21 | The Slow Progress of Female Founders |
| 35:26 | The Future of Gender Equality in VC |
| 37:57 | Bias in Investment Decisions |
| 41:16 | Selecting the Right VC |
| 44:04 | The Need for Policy Changes |
| 47:01 | Celebrating Female Founders |
| 49:53 | Success Metrics for Borski Fund |
| 52:52 | The Role of Men in VC |
| 55:48 | Final Thoughts and Connections |
3 Magic Moments In The Episode
In this episode, three moments reveal what drives Anieke Lamers as both investor and person: empathy, self-awareness, and imagination make her approach unique and charming.
When women help women, everyone wins.
Long before joining Borski Fund, Anieke founded The Old Girls Network to connect women who wanted to lift each other up. It was her response to seeing senior women believe others had to climb the same hard road they did. Her story is a reminder that solidarity is not a luxury; it is a responsibility.
Her wake-up call as a VC turned founder.
As a junior analyst, Anieke used to ask founders tough questions, assuming she knew better. Only after becoming a founder herself did she realize how arrogant that was. Founders live and breathe their companies. No thirty-minute meeting can match that depth of insight.
The idea of business baby showers.
Anieke believes we should celebrate female entrepreneurship the same way we celebrate new life. Instead of baby clothes, gift founders a Notion subscription or a tool that helps them grow their business. Building a company is also a kind of birth, and it deserves the same support and joy.
These moments show the mix of empathy, self-awareness, and imagination Anieke brings to investing, explaining why she’s reshaping leadership in venture capital.
💬 What do you think of the idea of business baby showers? Share the post with someone you’d invite.
💡 Looking for the practical tips Anieke shared for female founders navigating fundraising and finding the right investors? That’s coming up next.
Practical Takeaways for Founders
As Anieke puts it: “As a female founder you have to be either mad or genius, and probably a bit of both, to start building.” And Anieke knows both sides of the table. She evaluated pitches, pitched investors as a founder, and now she is one. She shares three insights to help you get started on your fundraising journey.
Get a storytelling coach.
Data builds trust, but stories build memory. Your founder story is what sticks with investors long after your pitch deck fades from view. Just imagine what your story would sound like if you stopped pitching and started connecting.
Ask about the fund’s vintage year.
The fund’s age determines how long a VC has before they need an exit. If your vision takes time, a short remaining investing period means that you could be talking to the wrong partner. And don’t be afraid to ask. Investors will tell you.
Look for a values match, not just a financial fit.
The right investor believes in what you’re building, not just how fast you can grow it. Talk to other founders in their portfolio. Ask how they show up when things get hard.
These tips are practical, but they also speak to something deeper: knowing your worth, asking the right questions, and refusing to shrink your ambition to fit someone else’s timeline.
💬 Know a founder who should know about these? Share the episode with them using the buttons below.
Or scroll down to discover an inspiring quote and learn about my own takeaways.
Next, I’ll share the moments from this conversation that shifted how I think about founders, investors, and the system that connects them.
The Quote From The Episode
Many VCs seem to think that they are the real heroes of the story. Anieke Lamers has quite a different opinion about this.
“If anything, VCs should be putting founders on a pedestal. Because they are ultimately the people building the companies and bringing in their money.”
Anieke Lamers, Operating Partner at Borski Fund
3 Things That Changed The Way I Think
What struck me in our conversation was the deep passion that Anieke has for improving the odds for female founders. And some of the factors that play a role are not even money-related. For instance, talking with Anieke made me see just how much pressure the system puts on both founders and investors.
Detachment can be a strength.
Passion drives founders, but it can also hold them back. When you’re too emotionally attached to your startup, it becomes harder to experiment or pivot. Anieke’s story, and her reflection on the WeTransfer founder’s detached mindset, showed me how experience helps create emotional distance—and how freeing that can be.
The VC timeline shapes how companies grow.
I used to think ten years was long-term, until Anieke explained how it actually pushes founders to chase short-term wins. In a system that celebrates unicorns, too many good companies die early. Maybe it’s time to let sustainable growth count as success too.
Investing isn’t as rational as it looks.
Most VC decisions are shaped by gut feeling and intuition, not just data. It made me wonder how many great ideas are missed simply because they don’t feel familiar enough.
These moments matter because they expose the invisible forces shaping who gets funded and who burns out. Seeing them clearly is the first step toward changing them.
Scroll down for my closing thoughts on what this episode means for the future of inclusive investing. And if you’re ready to discover what else Anieke and I cover, listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
A Question for You 🤔
💬 Which part of Anieke’s story resonated most with you?
Was it the reality of founder burnout, the “business baby shower” idea, or her take on fund timelines and bias?
👇 Share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s keep this conversation going and make inclusion the new normal in tech.
Coming Up On Women Disrupting Tech
Next week, it is time for episode 125. And let me tell you, it is perhaps one of the best conversations that I’ve had. Magali Elhage and Matthijs Welle from Dutch unicorn Mews come on the podcast to share how they’re building a culture that ties belonging to success.
To give you an idea of what I mean, listen to this fragment about the new employee introduction. I don’t get emotional easily, but listening to this brought tears to my eyes.
So stay tuned for more Women Disrupting Tech. And until the next episode, as always, Keep Being Awesome!
Dirkjan
PS If you fear missing out, subscribe to updates or follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube.
Listen to Episode 124 on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube
How Anieke Lamers Closes the Inequality Gap by Backing Female Founders with Borski Fund | Ep. 124 – Women Disrupting Tech
Other ways to amplify the voices of Women Disrupting Tech
Want to make inclusion in tech the new normal by 2032? Here’s how you can help:
Follow the Women Disrupting Tech Podcast
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Send this episode to a friend, a colleague, or someone who needs to hear it. Every share helps to build a more inclusive tech future and supports my guests in getting the stage they deserve.
So when you know someone who should hear it, pass it on when you’re done.
About Anieke Lamers
Anieke Lamers is a Dutch venture partner and coach who splits her time between Portugal and the Netherlands. She started her career in finance and venture capital before founding Peekabond, a startup that helped global families strengthen emotional bonds across distance. That experience changed how she saw both entrepreneurship and investing.
Today, Anieke works as an Operating Partner at Borski Fund, a Dutch fund investing in female founders of tech companies. Her role focuses on deal sourcing, strategic partnerships, and fundraising strategy, but her real mission runs deeper. She believes good investing is not just about returns, but about alignment—between head, heart, gut, and spirit.
Through her coaching practice, The VC Coach, Anieke helps investors make more conscious, human decisions and spot burnout early in their founders. Her purpose is simple but powerful: to inspire authentic connection. To connect people to themselves, to each other, and to the impact they can make when they lead with both empathy and conviction.
Connect with Anieke on LinkedIn, or learn more about Borski Fund below.
About Borski Fund
Borski Fund is a Dutch venture capital fund that invests in female-founded and gender-diverse tech companies. Its mission is to make the investment landscape more inclusive, proving that diversity is not just fairer but also smarter business.
The fund focuses on companies from seed to Series A, operating in health, circular economy, and what it calls future society. By backing underrepresented founders, Borski aims to reduce the gender funding gap and show that female entrepreneurship can drive both impact and profitability.
The fund is named after Johanna Borski, the first female investor in the Netherlands, who famously helped finance the Dutch central bank in the 19th century. Her legacy of bold, forward-thinking investment lives on in Borski’s approach today: investing in women who build the future.
To learn more about Borski and to discover if they’re a good fit, please check out their website or follow them on LinkedIn.
Events that Women Disrupting Tech Must-Attend
The fall is loaded with great events, and I’ve found some cool ones. Below is one event you definitely want to check out. For a full overview of all events, including links to buy tickets, please check the events page.
Diverse Leaders in Tech Events
If you like being in the know about what is happening in the DEI space, Diverse Leaders in Tech is the place to be.
Every last Thursday of the month, they have monthly in-person meetups for tech people, HR leaders and supporters of diversity to exchange insights, tackle challenges, and take action. It’s a vibrant, safe space where diversity is celebrated.
You can register for events on the DLiT website. Did I mention that joining your first event is free?
ImpactFest – 10th edition – 30 October 2025
The place to be for impact makers, period. Meet 1,500 impact makers from more than 35 countries during one of the 100+ sessions in the 10th edition of ImpactFest. You can learn more about being part of ImpactFest on their website.
Understanding Women’s Health – 3 December 2025
During this final 3mbrace Health event of 2025, you’re invited to better understand the importance of women’s health and the powerful role it plays in our personal, professional, and societal well-being. Men are expressly invited to join. And yes, I will be there too. More info and tickets can be found here.
What I Want To Leave You With
What struck me most in this conversation is how clearly Anieke connects empathy with action. She is not just talking about inclusion, she is building it through every founder she backs and every investor she coaches.
When we change how we listen, we change who gets heard.
When we change how we invest, we change who gets to build.
Borski Fund may still be needed today, but Anieke’s vision is for a world where it is not. Until then, the rest of us have work to do.
Listen to the full episode with Anieke Lamers on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube. And if it shifted your thinking on inclusion, share it with someone.
Women Disrupting Tech | The Podcast 