Augustin ‘Gus’ van Rijckevorsel has built his career on bold bets and stubborn ambition.
By his 30s, he’d launched seven companies: some collapsed in spectacular fashion, others scaled fast enough to put him on the radar of Europe’s top investors.
Gus is the kind of founder who hacks the system, takes bets most would avoid, and believes the only real risk is standing still.
Now, as CEO at Ultra, he’s aiming to build the “Netflix of gaming” out of Europe.
In this episode, Gus shares the unfiltered reality behind the founder journey.
Takeaways from Gus’ episode
1️⃣ Vision is a distortion and reality keeps you in business
Founders survive on a healthy dose of delusion, but long-term success demands you confront the facts, not just your ambitions.
2️⃣ If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
Cut corners on hiring and you’ll regret it. Quality people are the only thing that matters.
3️⃣ Layoffs and failure never get easier, only more public
You’ll go from hero to villain overnight, and sometimes you’ll have to make impossible calls. Learning to live with the emotional fallout is part of the founder’s job description.
4️⃣ Entrepreneurs take bets, business owners play it safe
Real entrepreneurs chase scale and put everything at risk to get there. If you’re clinging to ownership, you’re not growing, you’re just maintaining.
5️⃣ The biggest risk is standing still
Speed is the new survival skill. You don’t have a decade to prove yourself. If you’re not moving fast, you’re moving backwards.
In this episode we cover:
00:00 Intro to Gus van Rijckevorsel
02:10 From success to failure and back again
07:48 Lessons from collapse and comeback
11:15 Mindset, mentors, and surviving setbacks
16:22 How to spot opportunity
25:33 The all-or-nothing founder approach
30:54 Ultra’s “Netflix for gaming” vision
37:38 Beating the gatekeepers
39:55 Scaling, fundraising, and moving fast
44:30 Managing remote teams
46:59 Europe’s next tech wave
51:22 How AI is changing gaming
59:09 Europe’s protectionism as an edge
01:01:29 Lessons for young entrepreneurs
01:05:37 The value of taking bold risks
