Jelmer de Jong, Partner & Chief Technology Officer

Partner, CTO

Before joining RTP, Jelmer was a partner at Amsterdam-based venture capital firm henQ, investing seed-stage in B2B software startups. Before that, Jelmer was leading international marketing & growth, and later product development at fintech unicorn Backbase, being part of the management team that grew the company from 40 to 800 people internationally.

What is your name, and please describe your role at RTP Global?
As Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Product Officer (CPO), I’m responsible for all things tech at RTP. I’m building out our internal (data) engineering team, creating our own Data Insights Platform. We believe strongly that venture capital is changing, and digital is one of the main drivers for this change. Instead of riding on the back seat, we strive to have a leading role here: creating our own Venture Capital Operating System — digitizing the traditional ways of working and making us better in sourcing the best founders, closing the best deals swiftly, and supporting our portfolio companies in the best ways possible.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of the job you do?
Delivering measurable results that impact our core business. Too much software or process is created forgetting the primary business goal or deliverable. I’m happy when I see an improvement in people’s lives when using the systems and software we create. Being able to point out deals that we were able to see and close based on our platform, not just pushing features.

What expertise do you bring to the founders you engage with?

Founders call me to brainstorm on marketing and growth strategy, enterprise sales best practices, expanding internationally, and scaling their product organization.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
To be honest, my work and private life are overlapping quite a bit. If you can claim “the internet” as a hobby, it would be mine. Scouring information and news. Learning new things, getting new insights, connecting with different people. Being curious and combining different ideas and concepts in new applications is vital in my job and something I genuinely enjoy doing 24/7.

Next to “the internet,” I enjoy reading books (everything from business to history and fiction), I like being on the water (from standup paddleboarding (SUP) to kayaking and canoeing), I prefer spending time in the outdoors (I try to make a few multi-day hiking trips a year), I shoot in some regional IPSC competitions, and I’m a low-level gym user, trying to stay fit.