My name is Remco Livain, I am from the Netherlands and live in Switzerland. I use this site to share personal views on world events, keep you up to date on what we are up to at GANDT Ventures GmbH, and give you some insights into my life.
All content on this page was written by me and solely reflects my personal thoughts and opinions. I hope you will enjoy the read.
Best, Remco Livain
Follow me on
Medium: https://medium.com/@rlivain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rlivain
Get in touch
If you would like me to speak at your event or you are looking for a strategic digital sparringspartner please reach out to me using the contact form below.
Dutch entrepreneur in Switzerland
I am a digital entrepreneur and marketing professional and have had the privilege to work with a number of outstanding teams, at FriendScout24, Westwing Home & Living (Rocket Internet), MIFLORA (Venture Stars), Unleash 12 and GANDT Ventures.
At heart, I am a performance marketeer who loves to push the boundaries of that what is technically possible. Data-driven marketing is that what fascinates and helps me to take qualified decisions in all of my endeavours.
During my studies (at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands) I did judo on a semi-professional level and reached the Dutch national squad.
My latest Medium Publications
Google Duplex is a game changer
When Google introduces a feature, it has the power to change the way we use the internet. Google is more than just the gateway to the…
May 08, 2019 / 5min read. Read More
Why casual meet-ups are crucial to innovation success
In an age of remote working and digital productiveness, the number of personal interactions between workers goes down. At least, that is…
Apr 01, 2019 / 4min read. Read More
Entrepreneur vs. Corporate | Different short term goals
Why do startups and entrepreneurs get things done? Is it their expertise, the time they spend on one particular topic or a specific soft…
Mar 31, 2019 / 6min read. Read More
Quick Thought: Creative Design Is A Constant Systematic Process
How do you measure the impact of design and creativity; should you measure it at all?
Mar 19, 2019 / 1min read. Read More
Unsurprising Reasons To Join A Startup And Our Young Company
I have never worked in a real corporate environment. My career started directly in a successful startup. I was the very first employee of…
Mar 18, 2019 / 4min read. Read More
„The waiting game“ — how we have forgotten what it is like to communicate
As a society, we have become appallingly poor at waiting. We want everything to be presented to us without any form of time delay. Just…
Mar 18, 2019 / 4min read. Read More
The writing journey is more important than the outcome
Writing more is not necessarily better. What is important, is to write down what you really think, feel and believe in. I write because I…
Mar 17, 2019 / 2min read. Read More
Apple responds to Spotify — Clear, direct and decisive words
Spotify’s battle against Apple’s AppStore commissions goes into the next round. It has never been a real love story between these two.
Mar 15, 2019 / 2min read. Read More
It’s hard to work in the digital innovation department
It is hard being part of the digital department. Your work is always under close observation of everyone in the company. Whatever you do…
Mar 14, 2019 / 5min read. Read More
I hope Max Hauke can learn to inspire his peers without performance enhancing drugs
I don’t get it, I simply don’t. Last wednesday, a promising Austrian athlete was caught “in flagranti” with a needle in his arm, doing…
Mar 02, 2019 / 5min read. Read More
GANDT Ventures
The GANDT-Team consists of venture builder and digital business consultants. With our pragmatic approach to strategic consulting and business development, we allow your company to focus on its core competences. Together we develop digital strategies, plan and execute new digital products and services – which we refer to as “ventures”.
GANDT Ventures was founded in 2015 and we have been going strong ever since. We aim to coach, educate and help as many corporates and later stage ventures as possible. One of our main strengths is the ability to create a long term strategic basis for innovation within organizations – that allows for continuous innovation development and flexible organizational change.
The key industries in which we operate are financial services (Insurtech and Fintech) and retail (fashion tech and retailtech). To find out more about our projects and solutions, visit our webpage or contact me for more information.
Our core team is based in Zürich (CH) and our IT and Design team is based in Munich (DE).
Remco Livain NexusLab Blockchain Mentor
I am a mentor for one of the blockchain startups on the NexusLab Blockchain Programme in Zurich. Nexussquared is a Zurich-based business platform with a focus on blockchain technology and its application to business models across different industries. With a view to supporting diverse and broad-based innovation, nexussquared partners with institutions operating across the entire financial services spectrum and beyond.
Nexuslab hosts its three-month programme, which takes place in a predominantly virtual setting based on a secure collaboration platform to facilitate tailored coaching sessions and offer on-demand training. Three weekend hangout sessions in major European cities will provide founders of participating startups with the opportunity to meet face-to-face and learn directly from successful fintech companies.
Throughout the program, the start-ups are individually matched with senior level mentors and financial services experts to receive practical advice on regulatory, technical and commercial aspects of their specific business.
MIFLORA & Venture Stars
In 2013 I co-founded the MIFLORA GmbH (founding Team: Christoph Hadenfeldt, Tobias Mazet & Remco Livain). MIFLORA is a flower/gifting company based in Munich (Germany). As MIFLORA’s Chief Marketing Officer I was responsible for our general marketing strategy and our product experience. We aim to become the largest flower gifting company in Germany in the coming few years, offering a superior product experience to our competitors.
MIFLORA has a number of prominent investors such as: EXTOREL, the BayBG Bayerischen Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Heilemann Ventures, Atlantic Capital and Venture Stars.
Update November 2017: The MIFLORA GmbH was successfully sold to Blume2000 – find out more about the exit right here
Westwing Home and Living & Rocket Internet
In 2011 I joined Westwing Home & Living to lead the Global Online Marketing Team. As the Head of Online Marketing I was responsible for all global online marketing activities of Westwing Home & Living, Dalani, Heaven & Home as well as (Project) Bamarang. My Team consisted of over 25-30 highly skilled online marketing experts.
With our clear performance marketing focus, we managed to motivate millions of people around the world to join our exclusive shopping club for home and living products. Westwing home and living was founded by Rocket Internet in Berlin, with a core Team of excellent Founders around Stefan Smalla in Munich.
Online Dating (FriendScout24, C-Date & be2)
In 2007 I moved to Munich (Germany) where I worked in the online industry (Dating, Matching and Online Communities) for 4 years (FriendScout24, C-Date & be2). This was a great introduction into the online performance marketing world. As C-Date’s first employee I was part of the management team.
My job within the team was to structure and setup C-Date’s performance marketing and close large scale international cooperations with renown partners such as: Microsoft, United Internet Media, Yahoo!, Facebook and Ströer Media. It was at Insparx (C-Date & be2) that I developed my core competence in performance marketing, display marketing and cross platform international rtb-buying.
International Business Studies in Maastricht (the Netherlands)
I studied International Business (Bachelor) at the University of Maastricht (NL) majored in Management and Innovation.
During my studies I had the possibility to study abroad at a number of renown international Universities: Universidad Carlos III in Madrid (Spain), the RWTH Aachen (Germany), the University of Augsburg (Germany) as well as at Hanken University in Helsinki (Finland) where I did a summer course in “customer equity and customer relationship management”.
International Baccalaureate
I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship for the international baccalaureate at the age of 12. From the first day I set foot in the International School Hilversum, I started my bilingual education – in both English and Dutch. “Growing up” in an international environment was very valuable to me. It opened my horizon and gave me the possibility to meet and learn a lot about many interesting cultures.
The experience of learning the tricks and trades of subtle cultural differences at very young age to be invaluable to my personal development. I successfully finished the IBMYP and International Baccalaureate (Bilingual Stream) at the Alberdingk Thijm College/International School in Hilversum (The Netherlands).
