Ben van Leeuwaarde

Ben van Leeuwaarde is a Netherlands-based builder and entrepreneur with 8+ years of experience building software infrastructure for founders. He is embedded in Amsterdam's AI and startup scene, where he operates as both a practitioner and a community architect — co-organizing MEGATHON, billed as Europe's biggest AI hackathon, bringing 500–1000 builders together in June 2026 with a €100K+ prize pool.

Ben thinks seriously about how AI systems fail and how to build them responsibly. He writes on agent architecture, AI safety (including real-world cases of agents deleting production databases), RAG alternatives like PageIndex, edge inference latency, and ethical AI content creation. He posts in both Dutch and English, reflecting a bilingual professional practice that spans technical depth and consultative work with clients.

He co-initiated Back to Being — a project to walk 120 km of the Camino de Santiago while live-building an AI tool for Dutch mental health NGO Stichting MIND. It's a sharp expression of his values: human-centered technology, building in public, and applying AI where it can do genuine good. He joined TAG because of the quality of obsession he saw in its people — and has since become one of its organizers.