Last month, I had the privilege of joining a thought-provoking panel at The Next Web (TNW) 2025 in Amsterdam, hosted by ACT | The App Association. The session titled “Error 404: SME Voices Missing in Tech Policy”—was skillfully moderated by ACT’s Executive Director Chelsea Thomas and brought together founders, ecosystem entrepreneurs and tech innovators to shine a light on how regulation is shaping the future of innovation.
The on-stage dynamic felt great and the engagement with the audience was productive and very interesting. Overall, I think The Next Web attracts great talent and open-minded people about tech and clearly also: policy. The panel started with a quick overview of relevant and recent experience we have with innovation and policy. Sometimes these two worlds match and other times it doesn’t. While it is tempting to focus on either side, what the panel was really about is opinions and insights on how founders can deal with this current regulatory environment.
Some key takeaways on the main subject from the perspective of vaic.at:
1. Make sure you keep yourself up to date on changes effecting your sector and potential connecting sectors. This is easier said than done, but there are some interesting policy experts you can follow to stay up to date. I can definitely recommend following Maria on LinkedIn for example.
2. When possible, be sure to share your input in conversation/debates about policy that can impact your business or future expansions. Policymakers want to hear from you as you are their constituents too. It might be hard to reach policymakers, I know. This is why vaic.at Software joined the ACT | App Association. They facilitate the conversation with policymakers and SMEs like ourselves.
3. Don’t assume a certain policy change won’t affect you before looking into it. Some policies can have various unintended consequences for your business and policymakers might not even know it’s happening.
About those unintended consequences… As the founder of vaic.at software, I also used this opportunity to speak about the real-world challenges that the current Digital Markets Act (DMA) poses to small, privacy-first European software companies like ours. While the DMA’s stated goals may sound agreeable, the reality for a lot of developers is that the DMA is damaging platforms we rely on to build trust with our (new) customers. Such as platforms from Apple and Google. Particularly, concerns around sideloading requirements, alternative app marketplaces, and interoperability obligations—are having a disproportionate impact on other privacy and security features of these platforms. Users trust in their smartphones might be at risk as the European Commission increasingly targets the platforms on these smartphones with forced changes. These changes in our opinion could form a threat to user privacy and security.
Our company operates in an environment where trust, privacy, and safety are non-negotiable pillars. We noticed early on that our services in app form have higher user engagement and also has a proven track record of building a trust relationship with our services faster than our web services. The facts are that our apps distributed on the Apple App Store bring in users that are more willing to create profiles and fill in personal information vs. our web version of the exact same service. The initial “leap of faith” in small/growing third party developers from the user is directly connected to their trust in the platform they find the third party apps on. The DMA’s lack of a clear definition for what constitutes “proportional” security measures Apple and Google can implement, creates serious uncertainty—not just for platform operators, but for developers like us who rely on those platforms to offer a secure and trustworthy user experience. This ambiguity risks undermining our ability to build safely, especially when privacy is one of our core values. If potential new users lose trust in the ecosystems Apple and Google provide, third party developers will e presented with the negative consequences.
My co-panelist James Hanson, Founder of Layers Studio, echoed these concerns in relation to the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill/Act (DMCCB/A). He noted how similar legislation risks creating parallel complications for startups across the Channel—again, without meaningful SME consultation.
Jonas Almeling, ACT’s EU Ambassador, provided a vital call to action: startups and scaleups need to get involved in policy conversations early. Even if the laws are passed, constructive feedback on the implementation can help still help shape the outcome. It’s time for us as entrepreneurs to speak up for the sustainability of Europe’s tech ecosystem. The whole panel unanimously agreed on this point.
Thank you
A heartfelt thanks to the ACT team for bringing this panel to life. Special appreciation goes to Chelsea Thomas for moderating, and to the incredible behind-the-scenes team—Bradley Simonich, Alex Cooke, Maria Goikoetxea Gomez de Segura, and Giulia Cereseto—whose tireless work made this moment possible.
To everyone who came to visit us before/during/after the panel, thank you.
*This article does NOT contain legal advice. Just the experience and opinion of the founder of vaic.at Software. For legal advice, ALWAYS contact a legal expert.
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