The Sky Without a Telescope

René Veldwijk, founder of Total Together, is an entrepreneur, a team player, and a creative force. But those who really know him also know that his heart has always belonged to the night sky. Not to fancy telescopes or expensive equipment , but to the simple act of lying on a mat under the stars, watching the heavens with others who shared his sense of wonder.

A Childhood Among the Stars

As a boy, René would head out at night with a few friends, armed with flashlights, thermos flasks, and worn-out notebooks. They lay on mats in open fields, pointing out streaks of light and keeping meticulous logs of what they saw: time, direction, color, brightness. Sometimes they waited for hours, whispering or joking quietly, until someone suddenly shouted, “There! Northeast! Yellow trail, three seconds!” Those nights — full of cold, laughter, and awe — became the foundation of a lifelong fascination.

Chasing the Shadow

Years later, René became a passionate eclipse hunter, the kind of person who drops everything to witness a total solar eclipse. He’s seen quite a few: standing in the dust of Turkey, on the plains of China, and under the wide skies of Australia. Anyone who’s traveled with him knows that he can be hard to miss — energetic, outspoken — but always driven by genuine fascination.

From Stars to People

That same energy fuels his work as an entrepreneur. With Total Together, he built a platform for collaboration and creativity. He believes in connecting people, in turning ideas into reality, in chasing what’s bigger than oneself.
His eyes are on the future, yet somewhere inside him there’s still that boy on the mat: impatient, curious, and gazing up at the universe with the same wide-eyed wonder.