About simler

We believe every organization deserves access to professional-grade cybersecurity exercises — regardless of budget or team size.

Why we built simler

The European NIS2 directive is changing the landscape for cybersecurity readiness. A growing number of organizations are now required to structurally invest in incident response training — including tabletop exercises.

Yet for most organizations, conducting a tabletop exercise remains a time-consuming, expensive, and logistically complex process. Scripts take weeks to write, key roles are unavailable, and external consultants charge tens of thousands of euros for generic scenarios that don't reflect the organization's actual context.

We built simler to change this. By combining AI with a purpose-built digital environment, we make it possible for any organization to generate, execute, and evaluate realistic tabletop exercises — in minutes instead of months, at a fraction of the cost.

Where this is going

The layer that decides the outcome of a cyber incident — how people make decisions under pressure, and whether the response actually follows the organization's own plans — is the least tested layer in security.

That's what AI changes. An exercise no longer has to be an isolated conversation around a table: AI agents can simulate an incident the way it actually unfolds — end-to-end, across people, systems, processes, and policies in one continuous exercise. And with the barrier to running one gone, practicing stops being an annual event and becomes a discipline — continuous, like the threats it prepares you for.

And every exercise is also a measurement: who decided what, how fast, and where the response deviated from your own plans. Run after run, that builds something no report can fake — an evidence-backed picture of how prepared your organization really is, and proof you can put in front of an auditor.

That's what we're building

The simulation layer for the AI threat era.

The standing simulation: a digital twin of your organization's human layer.

Our principles

Security-First

We handle sensitive organizational data with the highest standards. Encryption, access control, and data isolation are foundational — not afterthoughts.

AI with Human Oversight

AI generates and assists, humans review and decide. Every generated script, document, and report can be reviewed and adjusted before use.

Accessible by Design

Professional-grade cybersecurity exercises shouldn't require a consultant and a six-figure budget. We're democratizing what was previously only available to enterprises.

Built in Europe

Designed with European compliance requirements in mind from day one. GDPR-compliant, NIS2-aligned, and hosted on European infrastructure.

Team

Michiel van der Steeg

Co-founder, GTM & Commercial

Michiel started his career in cybersecurity at Fox-IT, delivering security services to organizations in high-risk threat environments, before moving to KPN to shape enterprise cybersecurity product offerings. He later co-founded and exited one of the first Dutch digital-asset investment firms. At simler, he leads product strategy and go-to-market, drawing on his security background and years of operating through high-stakes situations to build a platform that reflects what incident readiness looks like in practice.

Floris Hol

Co-founder, Product & Technology

Floris started his career in AI a decade ago, spending seven years on Deloitte's AI team where he finished as lead AI engineer, shipping large-scale AI systems into highly regulated enterprises. His consulting background gave him a sharp eye for how technology lands inside real organizations and where it actually creates value. He went on to found and raise funding for a separate venture before founding simler, where he leads product and technology — building AI that gives organizations the edge they need in a world where threats don't wait.

Ready to transform your incident readiness?

Run your first exercise this week — plans from €99 per month.