Robert Gaal
Robert Gaal is a Dutch entrepreneur and hacker. After high school, he decided to skip formal education and start a startup. Within 3 years he was named Europe’s Top Young Entrepreneur by magazine BusinessWeek.
Robert is the founder of Vesper, a startup that makes it possible for anyone to create a video game using AI. Anyone can use Vesper to build a complete 3D world with unique characters and locations, just by writing a story. Investors in Vesper include Google, as well as team members from Spotify and Unity, amongst others.
Watch his presentation about Vesper at Slush:
He is the co-founder of Wakoopa, a digital research company from Amsterdam that was bought by market research giant GfK. He also founded mobile provider Karma in New York.
After this, he worked in Mountain View at Google as a product manager, where he was involved with new applications in the field of machine learning and AI.
After serving as managing director of Google hub TQ in Amsterdam, he started a new professional social network called Quest. Quest was part of the prestigious incubator Y Combinator, which also included Stripe and Airbnb.
Behind the scenes he helped launch Foursquare in Amsterdam (its first city outside the US) and was a columnist for the Dutch Financial Times.
As an entrepreneur, CEO, and product manager, he is considered one of the few experts in building new AI products at both Google-scale and at a startup. Over the last 15 years, he has used unique methods to launch the right product for the right target group at the right time using artificial intelligence. He also has extensive experiences to share in the field of management and leadership in both novice and advanced teams.
He was one of the early investors in startups such as Revue (bought by Twitter), Framer, and Polarsteps. As an angel investor, he has a unique perspective on how new markets can be opened by small, driven teams. He is also involved with Atomico, the investment fund of the founders of Skype, as a member of their angel program.
Robert speaks passionately about innovations in technology, artificial intelligence, and product management with a measurable impact. He has previously presented at events such as South by Southwest (SXSW), Slush, and The Next Web Conference, and has guest lectured at Princeton, Columbia, and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
Read more about Robert on his website.