What if the missing ingredient in the food system isn't a better product, but a better way to build the people who build the products?

In this episode of Tomorrow's Bites, we sit down with Bart van der Zande, Director of Fresh Ventures, a venture studio on a mission to transform the food system by doing something that accelerators and VCs largely don't: building companies from scratch, before the idea even exists, with founders who are selected not just for their skills but for their relationship with a problem.

From 3,000 people reached to 300 applications to 25 carefully chosen founders per cohort, Fresh Ventures runs one of the most intentional company-building processes in the agri-food space. Bart has seen what separates the founders who break through from the ones who don’t, and it has very little to do with the technology they build.

We explore:

Why venture studios are fundamentally different from accelerators and VCs and why the food system specifically needs all three
How Fresh Ventures selects founders before the solution exists and why "problem-founder fit" matters more than the pitch
Why deep domain experts are often the hardest people to get unstuck and how to coach them back to the problem they're actually best placed to solve
The red flags Bart watches for in founders: fixed mindsets, burning relationships, and falling in love with a solution instead of a problem
How the same venture building model is now being replicated in Uganda and Tanzania and why the approach has to be completely different And much more…

This is a conversation about what it actually takes to build companies that don't just grow but change the system they operate in.

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😊 The Guest: Bart van der Zande

Look into: Fresh ventures
Venturing Into Regenerative Food Systems for everyone that do not know where to start.

Inside the Venture Studio Turning 300 Applicants Into Food System Changers - With Bart van der Zande Director Fresh Ventures Studio

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Inside the Venture Studio Turning 300 Applicants Into Food System Changers - With Bart van der Zande Director Fresh Ventures Studio