This week, I sat down with my longtime Techstars colleague and friend Allard Luchsinger, Managing Director of the ABN AMRO + Techstars Future of Finance Accelerator in Amsterdam.

Allard and I have been on each other’s investment committees for years, so this conversation hits a bit differently. We’ve traded notes across dozens of startups, and we’ve seen each other call the shots on what makes an unstoppable founder. That theme became the golden thread through this episode.

We get into Allard’s journey from building startups during the dot-com era, to co-founding a zero-commission trading platform years before Robinhood, to leading one of Europe’s most respected fintech accelerators. We also dig into:

• His experience investing in African fintech and why mobile-first changed everything

• The early signals from AI and how they mirror fintech’s formative years

• The conviction you need to invest at pre-seed when all you have is a deck, a founder, and a feeling

• The power of mindfulness, presence, and early-morning meditation

• Why stablecoins and tokenized assets are quietly rebuilding the financial rails from the inside out

This one’s full of hard-earned wisdom from someone who knows both sides of the founder–investor equation, and delivers it all with a calm clarity that hits home.

LINKS:

Connect with Allard Luchsinger on LinkedIn

ABN AMRO + Techstars Future of Finance Accelerator: Website | LinkedIn

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