Haje Jan Kamps

Overview

Haje Jan Kamps is a Dutch entrepreneur, author, and angel investor based in the United Kingdom, known for his work in virtual events and technology journalism. He is the CEO of Konf, a platform for small and medium-sized virtual conferences and events. Prior to this, he was the founder and CEO of Triggertrap, a hardware-focused company in the photography space. He has also served as a staff writer for TechCrunch and has been featured in Forbes. Additionally, he has been part of the panel of judges for the E! People's Choice Awards and the Oslo Innovation Award. In 2011, Kamps created the Triggertrap universal camera trigger, a device based on the Arduino rapid prototyping platform. The Triggertrap was known for connecting cameras to various sources (light, laser, sound, or any other arbitrary source), and can be used to trigger the camera on a certain event. The Triggertrap project was crowd-funded via the Kickstarter platform in July 2011, raising $77,262 - more than 3 times over its original $25,000 goal. In 2017, he co-launched Lifefolder, known for having launched Emily, a Messenger Facebook chatbot designed to help people with end of life planning in North Carolina. Using artificial intelligence, Lifefolder aimed to normalize talking about death and prepare for the logistics of dying. In December 2017, it was announced that the company was about to cease operations. Kamps has authored several books on photography and entrepreneurship, including 'The Rules of Photography (and when to break them)', 'Shooting Yourself: Self-Portraits with Attitude!', and 'Accelerated Startup'. He has also ghostwritten books for influential entrepreneurs and investors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the past decade, he has mentored more than a hundred startups, and he has seen thousands of pitches—the good, the bad, and the ugly. In addition to his entrepreneurial efforts, Haje is working as a founder coach, helping startup founders build companies that stand the test of time, and—yes—create perfect pitches. Kamps has been a staff writer for TechCrunch and is still a frequent contributor to the news site. His work on TechCrunch has been featured on Forbes. From 2011 to 2017, Kamps acted as the Founder CEO of Triggertrap. He is currently the CEO of Konf, a platform for small and medium-sized virtual conferences and events. On the blog of the company registered at Medium, an online publishing platform, Kamps himself stated that a permanent behavior change was expected because of the COVID-19 pandemic and that people were likely to rely more on virtual conferencing, which may have some positive effects on the environment. As an expert, he has been part of the panel of judges for the E! People's Choice Awards and the Oslo Innovation Award. Kamps has authored several books on photography and entrepreneurship, including 'The Rules of Photography (and when to break them)', 'Shooting Yourself: Self-Portraits with Attitude!', and 'Accelerated Startup'. He has also ghostwritten books for influential entrepreneurs and investors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the past decade, he has mentored more than a hundred startups, and he has seen thousands of pitches—the good, the bad, and the ugly. In addition to his entrepreneurial efforts, Haje is working as a founder coach, helping startup founders build companies that stand the test of time, and—yes—create perfect pitches.

Investment Focus

• Innovative technology startups
• Scalable business models
• Strong founding teams
• Clear market demand
• Potential for rapid growth
• Global scalability
• Sustainable competitive advantage
• Clear exit strategy
• Alignment with personal values
• Commitment to social impact
• Diverse and inclusive teams
• Strong intellectual property
• Proven traction or user base
• Clear monetization strategy
• Ability to pivot when necessary
• Strong customer acquisition strategy
• Data-driven decision making
• Clear financial projections
• Ability to execute quickly
• Resilience and adaptability

Portfolio Companies