Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten built tech platform TNW (The Next Web) into a full-fledged media business in thirteen years. To continue growing internationally, a majority stake was sold to Britain's Financial Times Group in March. "I found it an incredibly tough journey.
He is one of the best-known faces in the Dutch tech scene. Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, along with co-founder Patrick de Laive, has been at the helm of The Next Web (TNW) for thirteen years. This international tech platform is best known in the Netherlands for its annual TNW Conference in Amsterdam, where thousands of digital minds from all over the world discuss the latest trends and developments in Internet and technology.
And to think that TNW was created in 2006 when Veldhuijzen van Zanten and De Laive wanted to spotlight their then startup Fleck. But because traveling to the intended tech event in San Francisco was very expensive and cumbersome, Veldhuijzen van Zanten and De Laive decided to stage their own event to pitch their businesses. Fleck has long since been buried, but TNW is alive and well. What began as a 300-person conference has grown into a two-day tech event with over 15,000 visitors. The daily blog with international tech news, with some 10 million visitors a month, is also a success story. In addition to the annual conference and news site, TNW has in recent years rolled out a strategy aimed at generating multiple revenue streams; for example, it founded growth accelerator TQ, launched a startup database called Index.co, rents office space to promising scale ups, and has a consulting arm where people from TNW help large businesses with innovation issues.
To strengthen management, Patrick's brother Robert Jan de Laive moved on as CFO a few years ago and Myrthe van der Erve was appointed Chief Operations Officer (COO) last year. Although Veldhuijzen van Zanten cherishes the past thirteen years, things are not going fast enough for him. 'In all those years we have worked to put down a solid product. The best compliment is the day after the conference, when most tickets are sold for next year's event. People who trust that you will again present them with a good program. The challenge is to make sure that everyone in the world thinks that about TNW.'
What does this challenge mean concretely?
"We guess that around twenty million people worldwide know TNW, an immense number. But our total target audience is about five hundred million people. In other words, nobody actually knows us. We no longer have to think about what to offer our target group, which is already a proven concept. It doesn't have to be more solid, it has to be bigger. But the question is: how do we get from 15,000 to 45,000 visitors to our TNW conference? And how do we get from ten million to fifty million visitors per month to our website? These are issues that keep me awake.
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (48) completed the Circus School in 1989, where he "graduated" in juggling seven balls. He then attended ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten and Rijksacademie voor beeldende kunsten, where he first came into contact with computers. After college, he starts his first business, V3 Redirect Services, in 1997, which simplified difficult urls into shorter addresses. In the Internet hype of 1999, Veldhuijzen van Zanten sells that business to Fortune City for 9.5 million euros. In 2001, he founded HubHop, a WiFi hotspot service. Again, he has himself bought out after two years, this time by KPN. For a long time, it seemed that everything he touched turned to gold. But Fleck, a web page annotation service set up in 2005, turned out to be a disappointment. In 2006, he starts the event TNW Conference. Two years later, a blog on trends and developments in the technology sector was added. In 2010 and 2011, he was named Technology Trendwatcher of the Year.
Achieving that kind of growth rate on your own is not easy, if not impossible. Is that why you started looking for a strategic partner?
'Actually, yes. We have come very far under our own steam, but we feel we are still not reaching enough people at the moment. I remember very well a meeting two years ago. Patrick, our finance director Robert Jan de Laive and I were all three thinking the same thing at the time: we were not even close to the maximum we could achieve with TNW. Then I said that maybe the time was right to bring a strategic partner into TNW. If we wanted to grow, now was the time: our name is established internationally, we make a solid impression, we have already built a large network, and in the takeover market all signs are still green. Patrick had exactly the same feeling and Robert Jan told me that he was actually already working towards this moment.'
Then the big search begins, but you're not going to shout it from the rooftops either. Was it immediately clear to you how to handle this?
'I knew a private banker from Berlin who had done this kind of deal more often. So I went to lunch with him in Germany and explained to him our desire. The first thing he said was that he was thinking exactly the same thing. 'I already know a couple of parties, so if you give me the green light I'll get started right away,' he responded enthusiastically. In retrospect, that banker played an important role in the acquisition process, because you do need help. I recommend it to other businesses as well, you need professionals who know how to manage that process.'
He already knew a number of parties, but you probably had a few Namur names of suitable partners in your head yourself.
'Of course. Let me put first that we are profitable, so we can grow on our own. In fact, we were looking for a partner who can offer us more than al- le money. We reduced our long list of 120 companies to a short list of about fifteen businesses. In the end, we held talks with three parties, but the Financial Times Group remained. When we initially heard that they were keen to talk to us, I was like, 'wow, this really is a dream partner.'
Financial Times was at the top of your list. The danger then is that you want too much. Were you also willing to walk away from the deal?
'Yes, absolutely. Sometimes you get stuck at certain moments, that's part of the negotiation game. But it wasn't that we then immediately said: then no deal.'
Is it hard to negotiate with Brits?
'Not difficult, but different. The first few conversations I briefly reminded everyone of the cultural differences. We Dutch are very direct and open, which comes across as almost antisocial to Brits. The approach of the British during a deal is totally different. If I sell you a bicycle and you ask me: but how old is the inner tube? Then as a Dutchman I think pretty quickly that you don't trust me. A Brit asks even more: what brand of tube is it, how long has it been in there, have you ever polished it? The Dutchman thinks: are you going to buy that bike or not? But a Brit feels he's not doing his job properly if he doesn't get every detail above board.
So you guys got grilled big time?
They held us up to the light for a year, examined every contract, turned over every stone but when FT - surely the gold standard of media companies - goes into business with us, that's also the ultimate stamp of approval. You're not going to get a nicer compliment in your life.'
Is that why the whole negotiation process with FT took a year?
'Yes, FT is so incredibly solid. They wanted to know everything, not take any risks and preferably put everything in guarantees. Simple example: we had to guarantee that no one in our families set up a competing business. At first you think "fine," but then you start thinking: what if a cousin starts blogging and organizes a party, you're not going to tell me I'm going to get my ass kicked, are you? You get discussions like that, and lawyers get paid by the hour, so they happily entered that discussion. My role was always to ask them in plain language: 'guys, what exactly are you afraid of? It turned out that they were afraid that if I got angry, I would leave, secretly start a business in my daughter's name and take away all their customers. Well, we can think of another construction for that. But of course it takes a lot of time before you get through all those kinds of discussion points.'
Is it a tough stretch emotionally, too?
'It was incredibly tough. You have to think of it as having two jobs for a year, one of which you have to keep secret. Doing two jobs is already a horror physically, but that you are almost not allowed to talk about one is also a mental strain. And that constant uncertainty: am I working on something that is going somewhere? With every phone call I got from FT, I thought, 'It can't be...'
How did you ensure that TNW kept going during the acquisition process?
'That's really a big challenge. Such a process takes up so- much time, most entrepreneurs underestimate that. To be honest: so did we. I didn't wake up in the morning wondering how to make the conference a success, but: what is the next step in the acquisition process? TNW could have grown harder if we hadn't gone into that process. On the other hand, it's taking a step back and then taking two steps forward. All you can do is trust that the staff will keep the business going. And fortunately that has happened.
Financial Times has been around since 1888 and is a rock-solid brand, but it is also a traditional publisher. Is such a business really the right partner for TNW?
'We actually really like that heritage. In doing so, I don't feel that we are the super hip digitals and they are the old-fashioned dicks with paper. Look, I'm still that nerd who gets bullied in the schoolyard. But now I do have a big brother a few feet behind me and that feels a little different. And don't underestimate FT by the way, they do have a million subscribers. Their paper newspaper is fairly stable in terms of subscribers, the weekend edition is growing and online FT.com is really an example of how you can make money by providing valuable content online.'
Parent company Financial Times Group has taken a majority stake in TNW. What are they going to help you with?
'The clients we've had over the past thirteen years thought we were young, hip, fun and fresh. But still they continued to see us as a kind of startup. They still see it that way, but now we have this big brother which means we are just taken a little more seriously. Also, through FT, we are now getting into the boardrooms of businesses from the Fortune 500. I also told the staff that there is a new shareholder with a golden rolodex that we can take advantage of. Together we have mapped out a four-year plan that we are free to execute.
Your motto is "We inform, inspire and connect people who love tech. How do you currently view the startup culture in the Netherlands?
'Recently there was really a startup hype and we're kind of coming back from that now. I speak to people now who say, 'I can't hear the word star tup anymore.' I also got tired at one point of all those pitches that started with the 'We are the new Uber of toilet paper.' But I think we are doing quite well as BV Nederland. The breeding ground and ecosystem is in place, and a number of Dutch technology companies have already broken through internationally, such as Adyen and Elastic.'
So does the Netherlands need someone like Prince Constantijn of Oranje to promote our country abroad?
'Yes, I think so. We Dutch lack a sense of pride or the realization that we can play on a global level. Constantijn is trying to change that a bit. It's also a kind of false modesty that doesn't make sense. You have a page on Wikipedia that lists the longest pages on Wikipedia. At number three is the list of Dutch inventions. We are simply the most inventive country in the world! So we should not think that the next Facebook could never come from the Netherlands. Instead, we should think that if anywhere the new Facebook should come from, it's the Netherlands.
Wouldn't such a role as startup ambassador be for you?
'No, besides, I already play my part in the startup scene. Patrick and I deliberately wanted to start a business thirteen years ago that we wanted to work at until retirement. I still feel that way. Moreover, we have now entered into a long-term partnership with FT. I truly believe that when we look back thirty years from now we will say: 2019? That was really just the beginning for TNW.'
