Breaking Bread with Manna - Bootstrapped Edition

​What happens when you're no longer invited to dinner...?

It's something that has been bothering me (Aumar Mustafa) about the Amsterdam Tech Scene.

It doesn’t feel inspiring when every month or so, I see the same faces attending the same dinners. It feels like unless you have raised millions of Euros, you can forget about a seat at the table.

But what about the founders building quietly? The ones bootstrapping their way to profitability, or holding off on raising until they have better leverage?

I've always been passionate about cooking (sometimes even more passionate than Manna.). Together with Dann Bibas (former a16z scout) and Toine Voeten (Cloudflare), we’d like to invite a small cohort of Netherlands' next and upcoming bootstrapped companies for an evening of great food and honest conversation.

The core topic: How to scale from €100k to €1m ARR and the best ways to fund that journey.

This isn't just for founders who want to bootstrap forever. It's for those actively weighing all their options—whether that means staying bootstrapped, securing non-dilutive grants or timing a future VC round. (I’ll be sharing insights on the grants side, Dann will cover the VC perspective and Margot will talk about Cloudfare's startup programme). We welcome fresh voices to the conversation.

To apply for a seat at the table: 

Currently Bootstrapped (No prior equity investment yet but considering)
NL-Based Business
At least €50k ARR

​Date and Time: 3rd November, 18:30 - 22:00
Location: RSVP to confirm
Invite-Only

​About the Host:

​Aumar is founder of Manna. Manna is an AI-powered platform that automates the entire R&D subsidy lifecycle—from eligibility checks to payout. We give fast-growing tech teams/indivuduals access to non-dilutive government funding in minutes without the high fees, slow turnaround, or administrative friction of traditional consultancies. Loved by our 40+ clients. Save up to €20,000 per FTE per year.