BlackFries

About

Built by people who know what building costs.

BlackFries was founded in Brussels by David Francotte and Eileen Cols.

Both had seen the same structural problem from different sides: talented founders lose time, capital and credibility trying to navigate fragmented ecosystems alone.

BlackFries was created to give them a better starting position.

Our conviction

Talent is not the problem. Isolation is.

Founders rarely fail because they are incapable of learning.

They fail because they must learn everything simultaneously, identify partners without trusted references and make critical decisions without enough information.

Many of the capabilities they need are essential — but not required full time.

By sharing experienced resources across several companies, BlackFries helps founders move faster, avoid preventable mistakes and invest their energy where it creates the most value.

The founders

David Francotte — Co-Founder — Product & Go-to-Market

David Francotte

Co-Founder — Product & Go-to-Market

David is a repeat founder and commercial operator who understands the complete journey from opportunity to product, market and growth.

He spent three years managing a 750-person services company in the United Arab Emirates and previously worked as Head of Sales in the services industry. He then spent ten years building a fashion-tech startup, experiencing first-hand the challenges of product development, fundraising, commercial growth and entrepreneurship.

At BlackFries, David leads Product and Go-to-Market. He helps ventures identify the right opportunities, build products customers want and create the traction needed to grow and raise capital.

His thing?Turning ideas into companies people want to buy from — and investors want to back.

Eileen Cols — Co-Founder — Operations & Finance

Eileen Cols

Co-Founder — Operations & Finance

Eileen is a CFO and operational leader with experience spanning large international organisations, startups and fast-growing scale-ups.

At 31, she became CFO of a 2,000+ employee consulting company on a Benelux level, leading a Finance and HR team of more than 50 people. She later chose to shift her career towards entrepreneurship, becoming a Fractional CFO and working alongside founders of fast-growing scale-ups.

Since then, she has helped companies navigate rapid growth, fundraising and transformation — from building finance and operational structures to supporting investor relations, M&A and a successful 7 figures exit.

At BlackFries, Eileen leads Operations & Finance, helping ventures build the financial and operational backbone they need to scale.

Her thing?Turning ambitious ventures into companies built to scale.

Principles

  1. 01

    Work alongside the founder.

    Advice has limited value without execution.

  2. 02

    Face reality early.

    Evidence matters more than enthusiasm.

  3. 03

    Build responsibly.

    We refuse business models that create uncontrolled risks for users.

  4. 04

    Think beyond Belgium.

    Start close. Build for larger markets.

  5. 05

    Share what works.

    Every venture should make the next one stronger.

  6. 06

    Stay for the journey.

    We build long-term partnerships, not short-term programmes.

Meet the KitchenContact