Jan-Willem Denys

I'm building a better way for ambitious talent and early-stage founders to find each other. Right now startup discovery is mostly passive. You see companies only after they raise funding or go viral with a launch announcement. That means that many high-potential teams (and meaningful early roles) stay invisible during the most interesting times.So I founded StartupMap (https://startupmap.one), a proactive platform that makes startup discovery and hiring searchable, inclusive, and visible before the headlines. Instead of waiting for “we raised €XM!” posts to show up in your feed, you can actively explore startups and roles that match your ambition.What started as a weekend MVP, a visual map of startups with live hiring signals, resonated beyond expectations, and quickly validated the problem. It topped a Reddit community feed and got a combined total of 500k+ views within weeks. Today StartupMap covers 3,100+ startups and 8,000+ open roles across Europe, and we’re expanding, following demand from the community to include more cities, roles, and ecosystem signals.How I help:• I build tools that make ambitious startups and early-stage roles easily discoverable and searchable, not hidden behind algorithms.• I translate real problems into actionable product direction, backed by user behavior and conversations, not assumptions.• I help founders get seen early and help job seekers find impactful roles before everyone else does.Before building StartupMap, I worked as an AI Analyst at Superlinear, where I operated between clients and engineering teams to identify real business pain points and translate them into technical solutions. I repeatedly saw how early-stage companies struggle with hiring and visibility, often relying on expensive recruiters, heavy marketing spend, or simply hoping the right candidates somehow find them.I’ve lived in Belgium, the UK (Aston University), Sweden (Chalmers University), and Berlin (Antler One) and I’m particularly passionate about product validation, early-stage ecosystems, and solving real problems that people actually care about (by actually talking to them).If you're building something serious, and want to be discoverable earlier, or if you want to join a startup before everyone else knows about it, let's talk.Join my Newsletter for the best weekly startup jobs: https://startupmap.one/newsletter