CTRL+Z: The one ❤️
This one is very personal Exactly ten years ago, over 4,000 people gathered in Amsterdam for our 10th TNW Conference—and I wasn’t one of them. For the first time ever, I missed our biggest event of the year. Not because I was sick. Not because I was on a beach sipping startup-sponsored cocktails. But because nine days earlier, I became a dad. And then everything went sideways. Within two minutes of being born, Bo—our son—was whisked away by doctors. He was struggling to breathe. Cue more doctors, more tests, no answers. By the end of day one, Bo had been transferred - alone - to a different hospital. That’s where they diagnosed him with a rare heart defect: transposition of the great arteries. He needed to go to another hospital urgently to receive a first surgery needed to keep him alive. A guy named Dr Rashkind had invented a life saving balloon procedure, 35 years ago, needed to extend the life of kids with this anomaly for a few days in order to prepare for an open heart surgery. I became an overnight expert in medical charts, oxygen stats, and the delicate art of not losing your mind in an ICU. For weeks, Bo was kept asleep, intubated with oxygen. His tiny body pumped full of drugs with names that sounded like headliners at Berghain: Morphine, Ketamine, Methadone. Still, my wife and I tried to find moments of normal. On the day of the conference, I told Charlotte I’d quickly check on Bo, then swing by TNW Conference in Amsterdam. A brief escape. That plan lasted exactly ten seconds. The moment I walked into Bo’s hospital room, I knew something was wrong. Doctors everywhere. His oxygen levels had dropped. His intestines—his second brain, as we learned—were shutting down. He needed to be rushed to yet another hospital. This time with a police escort. In Rotterdam they were able to neutralize the attack on his intestines and scheduled his open heart surgery two weeks later. Very long two weeks on the intensive care. The first time I held him: The day before his open-heart surgery, a nurse asked me a question I’ll never forget: “Have you ever held your son?” No. I hadn’t. He’d been hooked up to machines since birth. ‘Well, it might be a good idea to arrange that today, you never know what happens during such a surgery’. Three weeks after Bo was born he was lying in my arms for the first time. I cried. The surgery: Bo had open-heart surgery at just three weeks old. A team of nine professionals opened his chest and fixed his heart (thank you!!). It took six and a half hours; an amazing achievement. When the doctor told us it worked, I swear I aged backwards five years. Three weeks later, he was off the meds and smiling like nothing had ever happened. But of course, everything had. Last week we celebrated his 10th birthday! TEN I’m proud of you son. ❤️ you from here to the moon and back. P.S. in other news, if you know a founder looking for funding, point them towards https://openofficehours.xyz P.P.S. For the founders and investors amongst us, make sure to join the 5th edition of the Startup Padel Tour - https://startuppadeltour.com
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