Davinia Levie’s Post

✨ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 — 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨 ✨ Just came back from an incredible trip to San Francisco with an amazing group of AI founders. We visited and heard from some of the world’s most inspiring tech companies. Each one more innovative, ambitious, and future-focused than the next. And just like the founders found validation for their ideas during this trip, I also got mine: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. The programme was packed and honestly mind-blowing. Like AMA's with Jason K., Rahul Patil, Michiel Prins, Madhavan Ramanujam, Douwe Kiela and Nilkanth Patel, as well as company visits to Anthropic, OpenAI, Salesforce, General Catalyst and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Not to forget social gatherings with Deloitte, Amazon Web Services (AWS), YC Founders and the Netherlands Consulate in San Francisco. Each of them shaped the trip in their own way. And I truly want to thank everybody who made this possible! 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜? That happened in between all those visits. Over early breakfasts, quick coffee stops, Waymo rides, walks through the streets of SF and late-night drinks at the bar. Ideas sparked, friendships formed, and new business opportunities took shape. 🥞 What stood out most? As many of the founders in the group put it: “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞.” Even though I, Bob Rietveld and Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau were the ones arranging the trip. Guiding the group from one visit to the next (to the point where I only had to show my face for everyone to know it was time to move 😉 ), I also deeply felt that power of community myself. I’m not an AI founder. Not even a tech founder. And maybe I’ll never be one. But I feel incredibly lucky to keep experiencing the drive, curiosity, and generosity of this group. And so I came back, feeling even more grateful to be playing a tiny little part in helping the founders of the Techleap Community thrive, grow and scale. Thank you Hans Scheffer, Clare Jones, Tim Beyer, Lennard Kooy, Angelique Schouten, Sohrab Hosseini, Ozgun Erdogan, Lisa de Ruiter, Jelle Visser, Marnix Stokvis, Mathijs Gast, Rogier Fischer and Erwin Buckers, for letting me lead the way, just this once. 🧡 #Techleap #Community #AI #Networking #Innovation #Connection #TeamNL