May 6, 2026
Afraid to Win: How the Netherlands is Raising a Generation of Entrepreneurs Who Play It Safe
This session dives into where playing it safe creates strength, where it limits growth, and how to navigate both worlds more effectively.
This panel on the Upstream stage is a candid exploration of how Dutch entrepreneurial culture – shaped by pragmatism and risk-aversion – stacks up against a more aggressive, scale-first mindset, especially in innovation adoption, fundraising, and global ambition. Speakers are:
Constantijn van Oranje leads Techleap, the initiative to turn The Netherlands into a European powerhouse for tech companies. He and his team run programs and connect a community of the most promising and ambitious startup & scaleup founders in The Netherlands. Techleap also works with stakeholders like the government to improve the conditions for tech entrepreneurs to scale their companies. He is member of the National Growth Fund Investment Committee, Board member of the NATO Innovation Fund, Fellow at Deloitte Centre for the Edge and Senior Advisor Digital Technology & Macro Strategy at Macro Advisory Partners in London and New York. Additionally, he is ambassador of the European Innovation Council. Constantijn co-founded StartupFest Europe, which is still the biggest start-up event ever organised in The Netherlands. Previously, he was Chief of Staff to VP Neelie Kroes at the European Commission in
charge of the Digital Agenda and led the Brussels office of the RAND Corporation following jobs at Booz Allen & Hamilton, IFC and the Cabinet of EC Commissioner Hans van den Broek. Aside from innovation and technology, Constantijn van Oranje is passionate about art, music, photography, and nature.
Vicky Kuang is an investor at Draper Associates, focusing on early-stage, technology-driven startups shaping the future. She co-founded CUBE Summit, a Collaborative University Blockchain Ecosystem that brings together students and alumni to drive Web3 innovation. She also serves as co-chair of the Yale Blockchain Club and its annual Blockchain Conference. At Yale, she was a Principal Investigator in Professor Leandros Tassiulas’ lab researching decentralized credit scoring, supported by the Roberts Innovation Fund at Yale Ventures. Vicky holds a B.S. in Accounting from Santa Clara University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Hans is a Dutch serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of HelloPrint, the global marketplace for customisable printed products. With activities in 13 European countries and the US, the B Corp-certified platform serves over 1.000.000 B2B customers and connects a network of +300 manufacturers and logistics partners. Next to HelloPrint, Hans is an active investor in technology startups, co-founder of AI startup Engaige Technologies and an advocate of a resilient Dutch tech ecosystem.
Melissa Ablett-Jordaan is an event host, moderator, and growth-focused executive working at the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship, and women’s health. She is the founder of Sibyl, an AI-native platform focused on reproductive mental health, starting with pregnancy loss. Previously, Melissa served as Chief Operating Officer of CIC, leading startup hubs across eight cities worldwide, and has worked in U.S. innovation policy and early-stage media startups. She lives in Rotterdam with her husband, two children, and her miniature dachshund.
See you there!