About us

A partnership that anchors growth

At scale, one wrong leader can stall revenue, dilute culture, and drain investor confidence. The right one unlocks speed, focus, and performance. We ensure your leadership hire multiplies growth — not risk.

The core principles
that guide us

[ 1 ] The real issue

Leadership hires are often used to release tension.
We look at whether the role solves the actual problem.

A man in blue casual wear smiling and using a tablet while sitting on a desk in a creative office space.

[ 2 ] Who owns what after

Leadership decisions shift accountability before anyone is hired.
If that isn’t clear upfront, it won’t be later.

[ 3 ] What’s being avoided

Some decisions are postponed by adding people.
That avoidance usually resurfaces fast.

[ 4 ] How leadership works today

New leaders don’t reset the system.
They step into how decisions already happen.

[ 5 ] What’s hard to undo

Some leadership moves are reversible.
Others quietly set direction for years.

Two men have a conversation about Ankkor leadership decisions in a bright, modern office. One man with glasses gestures while speaking as the other listens with his back to the camera. Green plants are visible in the foreground.
Two people, a man and a woman, sit at a table interviewing a woman with curly hair about Ankkor leadership decisions. The scene is viewed through glass, with papers and cups on the table. Both interviewers appear attentive and engaged.
A man in a tan suit gestures while presenting about Ankkor leadership decisions to colleagues in a modern office. A woman with a laptop listens attentively, and another person is visible in the foreground. Large windows are in the background.
A man with curly hair and glasses smiles and sits with clasped hands during a meeting about Ankkor leadership decisions, with blurred colleagues and laptops in the background.

How we work together

Trust

We earn access to leadership decisions through consistency and discretion.

Candor

We say what’s there, without smoothing edges.

Conviction

We don’t move forward unless the decision holds beyond the next phase.

Commitment

We stay involved when decisions carry weight.

Respect

We don’t overstep founder ownership of direction or authority.

Robin Van Santvoort – Founder / Managing Partner (left)
Ion Raphaël Radu – Managing Partner (right)

Robin Van Santvoort – Founder / Managing Partner (left)
Ion Raphaël Radu – Managing Partner (right)

The story behind
Ankkor

At a certain point, leadership decisions stop being flexible.

In a scale-up environment, each leadership selection reshapes how decisions are made and how responsibility flows. Over time, those effects compound and become harder to undo.

Scale-up challenges rarely come from vision or market fit.
They come from leadership decisions that no longer fit the company’s next phase.

The name Ankkor reflects that reality.
An anchor doesn’t stop movement.
It prevents drift while momentum continues.

That is the role Ankkor was built to play.

Who we work with

We work with European scale-ups where founders still hold primary decision authority and the company is approaching a leadership inflection point.

Typically, this stage appears when:

  • growth begins to outpace organisational structure

  • decision pressure increases across the leadership team

  • operational responsibility starts to distribute beyond the founder

  • execution discipline becomes essential for continued scale

At this stage, leadership decisions begin to shape enterprise value.

Ankkor works selectively with companies where leadership hiring will determine whether growth compounds or execution risk accelerates.

The people behind Ankkor

Ankkor is headquartered in Belgium and operates across Europe as a cross-border leadership partner for technology and AI-driven scale-ups.

We work with EU-based scale-ups that are preparing for or actively executing international expansion — companies headquartered in Europe and building structured cross-border footprint beyond their domestic markets.

Our focus spans Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and other European innovation ecosystems where technology and AI ventures are scaling under increasing capital, regulatory, and operational pressure.

These environments are typically defined by:

  • International market entry and expansion complexity

  • Investor scrutiny and capital efficiency expectations

  • Regulatory navigation across multiple jurisdictions

  • Leadership decisions that directly influence enterprise value

Ankkor operates as a single European partnership, not a network of local offices.

At this stage of growth, leadership hiring is not a regional transaction. It is a strategic inflection point that determines whether international expansion compounds enterprise value or amplifies execution risk.

We work directly with founders and boards on leadership decisions where alignment, capital discipline, and international execution determine whether scale compounds enterprise value or exposes operational risk.