Notes from my podcast conversation with Rien Kamman, co-founder and CEO of Source.ag.
Every founder hears the same advice. Keep your burn low. Don't hire too fast.
And almost every founder thinks: yes, but we're different.
Rien Kamman thought so too. It nearly cost him his company.
What Source.ag does
Source.ag builds AI software for greenhouse growers. Rien compares it to Google Maps: it watches how tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers grow throughout the season, and advises growers when something unexpected happens. It forecasts harvests, helps plan cultivation, and can even steer systems like irrigation autonomously.
It's deep tech. Models that simulate plant biology don't exist off the shelf.
The mistake: compounding assumptions
After a big funding round, the plan looked logical. Six more months of R&D. Then two years of commercialisation. A hockey stick curve. Customers lining up. High willingness to pay.
"Those are all compounding assumptions," Rien said. "And every time you take the most positive one."
So Source.ag hired ahead of the curve. If growth was coming, they'd need customer success. And support. And more. By 2024, the company had around 120 people, all assuming a wave of business would arrive.
It didn't arrive on schedule. At one point, about a million euros a month was flowing out.
"That was just f*cking stupid in hindsight," Rien said. "In the end I'm responsible. I'm the CEO, it was my choice. There's no one I can point to."
The correction
In the summer of 2024, it clicked. Rien had to step in and let go of roughly half the company, down to about 70 people.
He calls it one of the hardest periods he's been through.
The surprising part: according to Rien, the smaller company is about twice as productive.
Headcount is not growth
The core mistake is a mental one, and many founders make it under investor pressure: thinking that growing in headcount means growing as a company.
"That's complete bullshit," Rien said. "You grow as a company when you grow in customers or revenue."
With a lot of money in the bank, every problem got the same answer: let's hire someone for it.
Rien's rule
"Only hire people when it really hurts. Keep going with the team you have for as long as possible."
What this means for founders
Check your plan for stacked optimism. If every assumption is the best case, your hiring plan is fiction.
Hire on traction, not on forecasts. Customers and revenue first, headcount second.
Don't solve every problem with a new person. Ask first whether the current team can carry it.
Own the call. Rien's openness about his mistake is exactly what makes it useful.
You can read every book on this. But, as Rien said, sometimes you have to pay the pain yourself.
Listen to the full conversation with Rien Kamman on the We Love SaaS podcast.
