Rick Pastoor
Rick Pastoor is an entrepreneur and expert in smart working. He is author of the book GRIP, which has sold over 130,000 copies. The book has been published in 8 languages.
Rick has been active on the internet since he was 9 years old. He taught himself to code by printing out and retyping website source code. While studying computer science, he started a web agency, which eventually led him to become one of the first employees at Blendle. At the journalism startup, he led the product team through the company’s growth from a small startup into a mature business—all while writing his book GRIP.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rick was part of the highly praised team of external developers that built the CoronaMelder app. His mission to help people get more out of their time continued with Rise: a startup that raised millions in investment in 2021 from Silicon Valley investors (including the former CEO of Slack).
Since early 2025, Rick has focused on achieving technological independence from the US with his new company Cirrux, where he is building high-quality alternatives to the American digital infrastructure we currently depend on.
Drawing from hands-on experience, Rick speaks about building successful products and setting up fast-growing companies. He also loves to speak about personal productivity—according to Rick: “everything begins and ends with having your own system in order.”
His presentations always contain a combination of concrete, directly applicable tips and an inspiring story to get more out of your time.
