Vidar Andersen

"[...] one of the most important persons in the German startup scene." - Wirtschafts Woche

Vidar Andersen

A Norwegian tech entrepreneur (b. 1975) who from time to time founds (tech) startups to scratch his own itches.

A certified Lean Launchpad Educator invited to be trained at Stanford by Steve Blank (the father of the Lean Startup movement), his "hobby" is spreading education on how (not) to build startups to students and helping founders as a very modest and non-detrimental cap table position in super-early-stage tech startups.

And - because they keep asking - he also helps corporations achieve innovation 50x faster and creating results instead of PowerPoints with +ANDERSEN & ASSOCIATES.

Currently living in Meerbusch, Germany (CGN/DUS area) - and, pre-pandemic, in airplanes around the world...

More about Vidar

See SpeakerDeck and SlideShare for slides from talks & keynotes.

Bookings:

Speaking / Teaching* or Open Office Hours*

*Please note as of February 24th 2022, bookings are not available to Russian owned or controlled companies, subsidiaries, GOs, etc long as the illegal invasion of the sovereign state of Ukraine is ongoing, Russian troops are still in Ukraine, and Putin remains in power. Thank you for understanding.

PRESS & MEDIA:

Download Bio & Photos

Founder

Vidar Andersen speaking at the Password conference in Tallinn, Estonia

A popular keynote speaker, pictured Andersen is speaking about what marketers can learn from startups at Estonia's largest marketing conference "Password".

 

Educator

Vidar Andersen teaching the Lean Launchpad curriculum for startups from Stanford, herea a picture of his studens in Iran

Andersen is a certified Lean Launchpad (LLP) Educator trained at Stanford by Steve Blank himself, here pictured teaching the LLP curriculum to students at the largest private tech university in Iran.

  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
  • University of Cologne
  • International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Portugal
  • BITS Iserlohn
  • Qazvin Islamic Azad University (QIAU), Iran
  • Cologne Business School (CBS)
  • Dokuz Eylul University Izmir, Turkey
  • WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management
  • NW University of Applied Science, Switzerland
  • Knowmads Business University, Amsterdam
  • Northern Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamburg
  • Karlshochschule International University
  • Maastricht University
  • Cologne Polytechnical College
  • USAID, Moldova
  • Rheinland Pitch
  • Pitching Masterclass
  • & more
Vidar Andersen's Pitching Masterclass in Budapest, Hungary

Andersen teaching his Pitching Masterclass, pictured here teaching in Budapest, Hungary.

 

Corporate Innovation with +ANDERSEN & ASSOCIATES

Vidar Andersen teaching his Innovator Masterclass at Telefonica Germany, Munich

Pictured, teaching his Innovator Masterclass for corporates at Telefonica Germany, Munich

  • Deutsche Telekom
  • ABInBev
  • AXA
  • Philip Morris International
  • Bertelsmann
  • BARCO
  • Henkel
  • Yello Strom
  • Telefónica
  • Vebego
  • Reifenhaeuser
  • Traveltainment, The Amadeus Leisure Group
  • Carlsen Publishers
  • International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Portugal
  • Mainzer Stadtwerke
  • & more iconic brands under NDA
Vidar Andersen keynoting at RTL's Digital Shapers in Zagrab, Croatia

Andersen's keynote (view on RTL) "Why Corporate Innovation Fails" at RTL's Digital Shapers conference in Zagreb.

 

Featured & Recognized

Logos of places Featured, Recognized, Speaker, MC, Panelist
  • The New York Times
  • CNN
  • Business Insider
  • Forbes
  • TechCrunch
  • NCIIA @ Stanford (Lean Launchpad Educator Scholarship with Steve Blank & Jerry Engel)
  • Wirtschafts Woche (Named "one of the one of the most important persons" in the German startup scene)
  • The Innovator's Handbook 2018
  • IndieGoGo (Featured Campaign, globally)
  • Rude Baguette (Named "Top 5 People to Know" in the German startup scene)
  • Startup Ambassador to the City of Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Netzwertig
  • SxSW Startup Ambassador to the State of NRW, Germany
  • DViCE
  • Nordic Startup Awards (Winner, People's Choice Norway)
  • Die Welt
  • SlideShare ("Slide of the Day", multiple times)
  • Accenture
  • USAID
  • BBC Click
  • University of Deusto, Bilbao (Global Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program GEAP Scholarship received)
  • NY1
  • Kabel Eins
  • Ketchum Report
  • Monaco Media Forum
  • Startup America
  • c'n'b Conference (Winner, Most Innovative German Business)
  • MLOVE
  • StartupBus (Buspreneur, BeNeLux)
  • Up Global
  • Rheinische Post
  • & more

 

Speaker, Panelist, Moderator (MC)

Vidar Andersen moderating the closing panel discussion at the World Business Dialogue, Cologne.

As a popular MC, here Moderating the closing panel discussion at the World Business Dialogue, Cologne.

  • SxSW, Austin Texas
  • LeWeb, Paris
  • Web Summit, Dublin & London
  • Stanford, California
  • dmexco, Cologne
  • Pirate Summit, Cologne
  • TEDx Hamburg
  • Cambridge, England
  • gBETA, Anchorage Alaska
  • Intrapreneurship Conference London
  • Shahid Beheshti University Tehran, Iran
  • Password, Tallinn
  • Maastricht Week of Entrepreneurship
  • Global Entrepreneurship Week
  • Tech Cocktail Austin
  • World Business Dialogue
  • Rheinland Pitch (Germany's largest startup pitch event)
  • DRadio Wissen
  • WDR Fernsehen
  • RuhrSummit
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Advance Day Cologne
  • Startup Pirates
  • Lean Camp
  • Business France, Impact Germany
  • Campus Party Berlin
  • Interactive Cologne
  • Global Startup Weekend Facilitator (retired)
  • Global Corporations under NDA
  • & more

 

Organizer

 

On a panel discussion with State Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, Dr. Pinkwart, about the Gruenderstipendium NRW

A jury member for the Gruenderstipendium NRW in Cologne and Duesselforf since its inception, here on a panel discussion about the program so far with State Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, Dr. Pinkwart.

 

Previously

In the 15 preceding years, Andersen was an on and off employee in various highly specialised companies helping large international companies and organizations like Statoil, TeeKay Shipping, Shell, Esso, Exxon, T-Mobile International, Deutsche Telekom, Lufthansa, The Royal Norwegian Government, The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research with innovation and digitalisation - in between founding his own companies - and the last position he held before he decided to never be an employee again was "Head of Digital", responsible for all things digital at the lead agency to T-Mobile International, and a member of the board. But that's a whole different story. You can find more information about these preceding years on the LinkedIn profile.