Europe is losing the AI revolution, this is what we need to do | Lennard Kooy, Lleverage

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What Europe do our kids inherit?

That is where my conversation with Lennard Kooy started.

Lennard is Founder & CEO of Lleverage, the AI layer that gets manufacturers, wholesalers and logistics companies using AI and more profitable without replacing a single system.

60 customers. EUR 6 million raised. 130% Net Revenue Retention. 

All in less than 2 years.

He began with a developer platform and moved to AI for physical industry: factories, wholesale, logistics.

Part of the reason is demographic. He calls it the silver tsunami. Dutch manufacturing is losing people to retirement, and automation has to cover that gap now.

On Europe he is blunt about where our competitiveness is heading. I asked him what he would do as AI Commissioner, and he makes a case for protectionism.

His read on where Europe can win: applied AI. The layer on top of the systems companies already run. He sees the same opening in bio, agri-tech and defense.

The goal he is building toward: EUR 100 million ARR.

In this episode you also hear:

- What a "company brain" is, and how they capture knowledge nobody ever wrote down

- Who carries the accountability when an AI agent gets it wrong

- Why he prices an agent the way he prices a hire

- Why clients like Lufthansa stay

- The Marcus Aurelius exercise: what would you write today

Chapters - jump straight to what helps you: 

0. Intro

(00:00:00) Intro: Europe's AI-dependent future and Lennard Kooy of Lleverage

1. The Origin

(00:01:30) Welcome back: raising children in a US-China AI world

(00:07:30) What Lleverage does and why it matters

(00:09:40) From a developer platform to physical-industry AI: the pivot

(00:12:55) The silver tsunami: why Dutch manufacturing needs automation now

2. The Person Behind It

(00:14:35) Why this problem, why now: building affinity along the way

(00:17:50) Early life, an entrepreneurial father, and the first classic car

(00:19:20) What truly defines him: an unusually neutral temperament

(00:21:20) Two kinds of affinity: with the problem, and with the team

3. The Reality of Entrepreneurship

(00:25:25) "We aren't going to stay competitive": Europe's blunt reality

(00:26:35) If I were AI Commissioner: the case for protectionism

(00:30:10) Applied AI: Europe's only realistic play

(00:32:40) Beyond manufacturing: bio, agri-tech, and defense opportunities

(00:34:45) What is a "company brain," and why it matters

(00:38:00) Capturing tacit knowledge: monitoring, scans, and human feedback

(00:39:55) Accountability when an AI agent gets it wrong

(00:43:25) Lev.ai: giving agents names, personalities, and voices

(00:47:30) Personal AI agents — and where he draws the line

(00:48:30) July's record month: three big deals landing at once

(00:50:15) Pricing like a hire, not a SaaS subscription

(00:53:30) Treating AI agents like actual employees

(00:56:05) The vision: 1,000 companies and €100 million ARR

(00:57:45) What it takes to get there: brand, talent, timing

(01:00:15) The real moat: proprietary data and knowledge, not tech

(01:04:45) Stickiness: why clients like Lufthansa don't switch

4. Reflection & Meaning

(01:06:30) Ambition versus family: the balance that shifted

(01:08:10) Elon Musk isn't the example to live by

(01:11:10) The Marcus Aurelius exercise: what to write today

5. Insights & Closing

(01:15:30) Think: Roman emperors and the book that reframed his worldview

(01:22:40) Build: Claude Code, and an early anti-GPT stance

(01:23:30) Live: falling asleep by narrating an imagined story

About Purpose Driven: 

My name is Michel Breeuwer, founder and host of the Purpose Driven Podcast.

In this podcast we explore what lies beneath the surface of entrepreneurship. The stories, choices, strategies and inner processes that usually remain invisible.

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-breeuwer-21b52944/   

Links from Lennard Kooy & Lleverage:  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennardkooy/ 

https://www.lleverage.ai/