On September 15, Niklas Zennström, founder of Skype and Atomico, will deliver a keynote speech on entrepreneurship at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Zennström was invited to speak by HOPE, the expert centre on entrepreneurship of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Technical University Delft and the Leiden University.

Mr Zennström will give a speech on his views of entrepreneurship in Europe, and will then open the floor to questions.

During the lecture, student-entrepreneurs have the chance to win an exclusive one hour meeting with Niklas Zennström.

Mr Zennström and his partner Janus Friis are known for their disruptive and innovative business start-ups. Together, they started Skype and Kazaa, companies that profoundly changed the telecom and entertainment industries. In 2005, Zennström and Friis sold Skype to Ebay for $3.1 billion. In 2006 they founded Atomico, a venture capital firm, to discover and invest in disruptive, innovative tech start-ups in Europe.

Mr Zennström and the Atomico team will be in Amsterdam to engage with the next generation of European entrepreneurs. Atomico invests in early stage companies in the technology, internet and social media industries that have the potential to be billion dollar businesses and have a global impact.

Skype is still one of Europe’s biggest start-up success stories, and Zennström is hoping to inspire other entrepreneurs to be similarly ambitious.

“You don’t need to have 1,000 super-smart entrepreneurs, you need to have a few of them to make a difference. Our job is to identify them and to inspire them to think even bigger", Zennström said in an interview in the Financial Times (March 22, 2010).

Mr Zennström also remains convinced that Europe is a good place to invest in technology: “While there may be more opportunities in the US, the ratio between opportunities and investors are much, much better in Europe.”

The lecture by Niklas Zennström is open to students and alumni from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and RSM, Leiden University and the Technical University Delft.

Program:
13.00 Doors open
14.00 Opening & presentations
• Upcoming entrepreneurs give insight on their businesses and discuss the importance of entrepreneurship as a career option
• Niklas Zennström talks about Entrepreneurship in Europe
• Q & A with Niklas Zennström
16.15 Social drink

Register: THIS LECTURE IS FULL. If you want a place on the waitinglist, sent an email to markusse@hope.eur.nl
Location: Forumzaal, M-Building, Woudestein Campus, Erasmus University, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50 Rotterdam

More information: Tijs Markusse, HOPE Entrepreneurship  markusse@hope.eur.nl