The story so far
How Conveo started, in the founders’ own words
At our July 2026 offsite in Cascais, Hendrik, Dieter and Niels told the whole team how Conveo began, and we recorded it. Press play on any chapter to hear them tell it.
- 01PhiladelphiaBefore Conveo
How the idea for Conveo came to be
Research interviews with patients kept getting cancelled, and Hendrik saw that an AI moderator could fix it. As a McKinsey consultant doing AI strategy work, he was on the market research for a pharma services company that interviewed patients in the last months of their lives. Interviews were planned for a good day, but by the time the moderator arrived, most patients felt too unwell and the interview was cancelled. An AI moderator could be there whenever they wanted, in private.
Hendrik0:51 - 02AntwerpBefore there was a name
Why Hendrik quit McKinsey to build it
Y Combinator turned down his first application, sent before the company had a name, but told him it ranked in their top 10%. If that much came from a week of work, he figured, the idea deserved all of his time. He quit McKinsey.
Hendrik0:22 - 03AntwerpEarly 2024
Why DataCamp’s co‑founder joined Conveo
Dieter co-founded DataCamp, an educational platform for data science, and was its CTO. Time and again he saw teams work overtime on a new product, then find out customers didn’t want it. When Hendrik brought him the idea, he saw a way to solve that problem for other companies. He came in as an advisor, then joined full time.
Dieter0:46 - 04At homeJanuary 2024
Where Conveo started: a kitchen table
In January 2024 a few friends started building around a kitchen table. Nobody was paid for about nine months, and with no money and no customer yet, the first months were scary.
Hendrik0:27 - 05AntwerpSpring 2024
How
Interobecame ConveoThe first name was Intero, until French speakers told us it sounded like an exam, or an interrogation. The name changed; the idea at its core is the same as on day one. Conveo was incorporated in April 2024 and conveo.ai went live the same month.
Hendrik0:23
The first conveo.ai, 18 April 2024, as the Internet Archive saved it. See it on the Wayback Machine - 06San FranciscoSummer 2024
Getting into Y Combinator on the second try
Conveo joined YC’s Summer 2024 batch. YC doesn’t give you a desk, so the team rented a three-bedroom Airbnb apartment in San Francisco with a big living room and worked from it day and night.
Hendrik0:08Dieter0:30 - 07San Francisco9 July 2024
How a research veteran joined on a three-week trial
Niels Schillewaert co-founded the research agency Human8 with three partners and built it for 27 years. After meeting the founders a few times, he came home and told his wife they were smart, he liked them, and the idea was good but risky. She said do it. He flew to San Francisco: if it didn’t work out within three weeks, he said, he’d call it a holiday. He is still here.
Niels0:53 - 08Antwerp, London, New York, San Francisco2025 to today
Where Conveo is today
The first pilots with large consumer brands turned into a business. In February 2025 we raised a $5.3M seed round led by 6 Degrees Capital, and in 2026 a $50M Series A led by DST Global, with YC, Balderton and Visionaries. Today we are 90 people across four offices.
The team in Cascais, July 2026.
