Ilse De Smedt

The through-line

Ilse De Smedt's consistent argument is that the constraint on a company's growth is usually the founder's own grip on the work. The pivotal moment in building Com&Co was accepting that other people do certain things better than she does: as long as you believe "I do it best", you stay a slave to your own business and cannot grow [2]. She puts it plainly: "Het moment dat je dat kunt lossen, dat is het moment waarop dat je eigenlijk kunt ondernemen, kunt groeien" [2], and its inverse, "Ge kunt niet groeien als ge in die mindset vast zit" [2]. Entrepreneurship, on her account, is mostly a confrontation with yourself: "Als je onderneemt, komt u zelf heel vaak tegen" [2].

The second half of the through-line is what she replaced control with. Rather than steering the company by financial targets, she reframed its purpose around the people in it, making Com&Co the best chapter of their careers, and the counterintuitive result was dramatically better financial results together with near-zero attrition since 2018 [1][2]. The numbers stopped being the goal and improved anyway.

On hierarchy and structure

Her strongest position is against layers: "Als ge een te fellen hiërarchie installeert, dan duwde heel veel dood" [2]. The specific harm she describes is to young talent, put under managers who suppress new ideas until initiative dies, which is why Com&Co is deliberately built without hierarchy and everyone carries full responsibility for shaping their own job [2].

Flatness, though, is not the same as everyone doing everything, and here her thinking has moved. The original "everyone does everything" setup meant the company was permanently working on people's weaknesses. Switching to defined roles and fixed client teams that play to individual strengths unlocked a growth flywheel and let a Ghent agency compete with the big shops [2]. The internal rallying line captures the ambition without the pomp: "Kom en Co is het beste btw-agency van de wereld, zeggen wij intern alstublieft" [2].

On putting employees first

The reframing away from financial targets toward being the best period in an employee's career is presented as a business decision, not a soft one, and it produced both strong financials and almost no staff outflow [1][2]. She also treats the payoff as personal rather than purely commercial: "Fun brengen voor de medewerkers, dat brengt eigenlijk ook gigantisch veel fun mee voor uzelf" [2], and on the satisfaction it gives her, "Ja, dat geeft mij even veel voldoening als goed cijfers" [2].

On choosing and refusing clients

The employee-first principle extends outward into commercial discipline. Com&Co refuses large pitches that demand free work, on the straightforward economics that "Dat gratis werk, dat betaalt uw klant van eigenlijk, hè, zo simpel" [2]; they pitch only where they genuinely believe they are the best fit [2]. They also demand commitment in return, because teams invest deeply in research and expertise, two-month engagements are not worth doing, and clients are expected to go long-term in the way the agency does [2]. And clients whose culture disrespects the team, through excessive hierarchy or treating the agency as order-takers, get one attempt at a different team before the relationship ends [2].

On sustainability and a normal life

She is candid that the hustle phase is genuinely fun, the pizza nights, running yourself ragged for every job, and equally clear that it does not last: to build something that survives twenty years you have to contain the work inside normal hours so people can lead a normal life [2]. On her own side of it, hiring a nanny removed her working-mother guilt and turned evenings with her children into quality time, which is what made young kids and company-building survivable at the same time [2].

Takeaways

• The freelancer-to-entrepreneur transition happens the day you accept others do some things better than you; hold on to "I do it best" and you stay a slave to your own business [2].
• Excessive hierarchy kills young talent's initiative, so build without layers and make everyone fully responsible for shaping their own job [2].
• Flat does not mean "everyone does everything": that version has you constantly working on weaknesses, while defined roles and fixed client teams built on strengths unlock growth [2].
• Making the company the best chapter of employees' careers, instead of chasing financial targets, delivered better financials and near-zero attrition since 2018 [1][2].
• Refuse pitches that demand free work, because existing clients end up paying for it; pitch only where you are genuinely the best fit [2].
• Require long-term commitment from clients to match the depth of research your teams invest, and end relationships with clients whose culture disrespects your people [2].
• The pizza-night hustle phase is fun but cannot run twenty years; contain work within normal hours, and remove domestic guilt with practical help so the combination stays survivable [2].