Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (@Boris) is an entrepreneur, investor, author, and speaker. Since the late 1990s, he has founded, built, and successfully exited multiple technology companies while playing an active role in Europe’s startup ecosystem.
He was the founder and CEO of The Next Web (TNW), which grew into a globally recognized technology media platform and events company. In 2019, the Financial Times acquired a majority stake in the business.
Beyond his entrepreneurial ventures, Boris has been involved in several initiatives aimed at strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe, including the European Commission’s StartUp Europe Leaders Club.
Boris is known for his insights on technology, innovation, and the future of entrepreneurship. He has spoken at international conferences, advised organizations on digital transformation, and was named Technology Trendwatcher of the Year twice.
With a background spanning art, technology, and entrepreneurship, Boris brings a distinctive perspective on innovation and change. In his talks, he combines real-world experience, sharp observations, and humor to explore entrepreneurship, leadership, creativity, and the impact of technology on society.
Today, he focuses on building and supporting companies, investing, and sharing knowledge about technology and entrepreneurship.
Testimonials for Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten
“Boris is something different! After participation and hosting various interactive marketing seminars around the world, I had the pleasure of being introduced and listening to an outmost interesting, inspiring and out-of-the-box speech presented by Mr. Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten. The seminar topic was “Evolve and innovate! Creativity, key trends and future opportunity in interactive advertising” and Boris rounded up the seminar with this spectacular performance: “How entrepreneurship, serendipity, the image of God and interactivity all come together in one vision of the future of technology and humankind”. I was amazed of the professionalism, enthusiasm and personal interaction shown by Boris . Simply brilliant and highly entertaining. Really fantastic performance and two thumbs up. A true breathtaking experience.”
Børge Sandengen, Managing Director at INMA
‘Boris is a man who believes in progress, innovation and a truly interactive world. The fact that he not only believes this but also works on making it a reality is very refreshing. Boris is not scared to ‘walk his talk’ and that makes him very convincing during his talk’
Jeroen Smit, publicist and moderator for Fusion 06