Survival of the Fittest Special

PICNIC '09 Special

Creating and maintaining a sustainable business in a rough economy

This PICNIC Special focuses on the challenges and possibilities for starting companies in the current economic climate. Entrepreneurs will talk and discuss about how to make the most of very little, and investors will provide a clear overview of how they handle their portfolios and funds in a troubled economy.

Johan Stins interviewed by Paul Geurts

Johan will talk about investor readiness and preparing your venture for Future investments.

Johan Stins has more than 10 year experience in the venture capital business. Before he joined the venture capital business, he gained valuable high tech domain expertise by working as a software developer at a number of Dutch multinationals. Nowadays he supports high-potential entrepreneurs in their drive to build world class companies. His company SFServices offers financial services to (early stage) tech companies. Sfservices bridges the gap between investors and innovative fast growing tech companies. Currently he develops in cooperation with YES!Delft a Masterclass Investor Readiness which he will give to a select group of Technostarters later this year.

Marijn Pijnenborg interviewed by Arnoud Haverlag

Marijn will be interviewed about Funda and the way she managed to get investments for her ventures.

Marijn Pijnenborg is founder and director of Zomoto bv. Zomoto is a network that resides a variety of automotive websites auto.nl, autoblog.nl, carwoman.nl, zomoto.nl among others. Furthermore she is an investor and board member for the restaurant reservation platform SeatMe.nl. For six years Marijn was an executive for Funda.nl, the successful and biggest real-estate website in the Netherlands.

She had a very early involvement in Freeler, the first free internet service provider in the Netherlands. She was involved in the creation of the portal for the Dutch Bank, Rabobank.nl

Marijn studied economy at University of Amsterdam and has a specialization in Econometrics.

Roel de Hoop Interviewed by Renato Valdés Olmos

Roel will provide an outlook on how Prime manages its current portfolio, and the choices prime makes in a difficult economic climate.

Panel Discussion

An entrepreneurs outlook in the current economic climate.

Mindy Hull Panel leader

Skilled & creative change agent. Enjoy starting conversations and forging loyal relationships across multiple industries. I thrive on big ideas, building bridges that didn't exist; opening doors previously locked; and negotiating big deals often thought impossible. Strong lean toward creating, building and developing new products. Highly intuitive ability--able to see emerging trends and actively anticipate and pursue the collaborative opportunities associated with them ahead of the pack.

Arnoud Haverlag

Arnoud is Co-founder of Marvia. Marvia lets you create, manage and deliver your print materials online. We offer all storage, security and support. You take your print campaigns to new heights. And you don’t have to worry about installing software. All you need are an Internet connection and a web browser.

Stefan Fountain

Half Dutch and half New Zealander, Stefan is co-founder and CEO of Soocial, a startup aiming to create the next generation contact management platform. He holds a MSc degree in Business Information Technology from the University of Twente. His master thesis analysed the effects of Trust and Network effects on online applications; an article based on this research was recently published in a scientific journal. Stefan loves creating simple interfaces, usable web applications and crazy movies featuring David Hasselhoff.

Renato Valdés Olmos

Co-founder of My Name is E, a service that brings your online identities to the real world, and Postmachina, a multi-disciplinary creative agency with studios in Amsterdam and Berlin. Renato holds a Master of Arts in Interaction Design, with a focus on design aesthetics. He is an entrepreneur, designer, speaker and borderless citizen. He loves hats.