Hendrik van ItersonAmsterdam · Technology & AI Executive
Technology should createbusiness advantage.Not more technology.
I work with founders, CEOs, boards and investors to decide where technology and AI create real value — what to build, what to buy, who to partner with, and how to turn strategy into execution.
Fractional Executive · Strategic Advisor · Operating Partner
Amsterdam · Europe
Available for selected fractional and advisory mandates
The decision layer
I’ve spent my career where technology becomes a business decision.
Building companies, platforms and partnerships has taught me that the hardest question is rarely “Can we build this?”
It’s: Should we?
And if the answer is yes — why, with whom, and how does it create lasting business value?
This is where I work best.
You probably don’t need another consultant.
You may need me when…
- 01AI & Technology Strategy
AI is clearly going to change our business.But what should we actually do?
Separate valuable AI opportunities from expensive experimentation. Create priorities, investment decisions, governance and an executable roadmap tied to business outcomes.
- 02Platform & Product Strategy
Our technology decisionsare becoming business decisions.
Align platform, product, data, architecture, distribution and commercial strategy as the company grows.
- 03Fractional Executive Leadership
We need senior technology leadership.We don't need another engineering manager.
Technology leadership during growth, transition, fundraising or transformation while strong specialists continue to own engineering execution.
- 04Board & Investor Advisory
We're investing, acquiring or scaling.We need someone who can challenge the technology story.
Technology due diligence, value creation, AI opportunity, platform potential, investment choices, leadership assessment and independent executive sparring.
The framework
Five questions before we build anything.
- 01Why
What business advantage are we trying to create?
- 02What
What capability actually needs to exist?
- 03Build / Buy / Partner
Should we own it, procure it, partner for it or orchestrate an ecosystem around it?
- 04Who
What leadership, team, technology and partners are required?
- 05Value
How will we know this decision is creating meaningful business value?
AI made building cheaper.
It did not make deciding what to build easier.
Selected situations
A few examples of the environments where I do my best work.
Experience built across technology,
gaming, entertainment and platforms.
- Microsoft
- Amazon
- Adobe
- EA
- Activision
- Ubisoft
- Universal Music
- Warner Music
Selected companies, partners and ecosystems I've worked with or alongside.
Microsoft ISV Success
Programme participation
Microsoft Azure FastTrack
Programme participation
Microsoft for Startups
Programme participation
Microsoft BizSpark Plus
Programme participation
A useful distinction
I’m not your fractional lead developer.
I don’t join a business to write the next feature or become another layer of engineering management.
I work one level above that: technology and AI strategy, product and platform direction, commercial decisions, partnerships, investment priorities and executive leadership.
Strong engineers should own engineering. My job is to make sure they’re building the right thing.
Technology depth matters.
So does knowing where not to use it.
How I get involved
Technology & AI Executive
Usually 1–3 days per week.
For companies that need experienced technology leadership and executive judgement without creating another permanent C-level engineering function.
- Technology / AI strategy
- Executive leadership
- Platform & product direction
- Build / Buy / Partner
- Strategic partnerships
- Transformation
- Team / vendor leadership
CEO · Board · Investor Advisor
Recurring or situation-based.
Independent senior judgement around the decisions that are hard to take alone.
- AI and technology decisions
- Platform strategy
- Technology investment
- Due diligence
- Partner selection
- Leadership
- Fundraising and M&A
- Risk and opportunity
Operating Partner
For investors, venture builders and portfolio companies.
Turning a technology position into measurable enterprise value.
- Technology value creation
- AI opportunity
- Platform strategy
- New ventures
- Commercial ecosystems
- Leadership during scale and transformation
- Portfolio-company support
Not sure which model fits?
Technology changes.
The job doesn’t.
Find the opportunity before everyone else sees it — and turn it into something that works.
10Myth
Holding & venture company
A private base for building, investing and taking mandates on my own terms.
Founder years
Founder & operator
Learning that a business model is a technology decision wearing different clothes.
Digital platforms
Platform & distribution businesses
Digital distribution changed the economics of a category before the category noticed.
Platform & publishing
Publisher technology
Building publisher technology around data, platforms and commercial control.
Now
Technology & AI executive · advisor · operating partner
Working at the decision layer with founders, boards and investors.
Things I’m thinking about.
I’ve never been particularly interested in technology for technology’s sake.
What interests me is what becomes possible when technology changes the economics of a business, removes an old constraint or creates an entirely new way to reach customers.
I've spent more than two decades building companies, products, platforms and partnerships across technology, digital, gaming and entertainment.
That experience means I can move comfortably between a founder, a board room, a product discussion, a technology partner, an investor conversation and an engineering team.
I don't need to be the deepest specialist in every room. I need to know which questions matter, who should answer them, and what the business should do next.
Based in Amsterdam. Working across Europe and internationally.
Have a technology decision
that shouldn’t be made
by committee?
If you’re dealing with an important technology, AI, platform or partnership decision, tell me what’s happening.
Amsterdam · Europe
Fractional Executive · Strategic Advisor · Operating Partner