Are you sick and tired of all those success stories? All these perfect people you always see on both your Instagram and LinkedIn feed? Say no more: FuckUp Nights Rotterdam has got you!

FuckUp Nights is where stories of failed businesses are told, questioned, and celebrated. Trial and error is an integral part of entrepreneurship, so join us to hear honest stories about people who’ve been there and done that… totally wrong.

The format is simple: four speakers get exactly 8 minutes each to present their mother of all fuckups. The stories of the business that crashes and burns, the partnership deal that goes sour, the product that has to be recalled: you name it, and someone has fucked it up. After this presentation, the moderator and audience can question the hell out of the presenter. Let’s laugh together, give the speakers a standing ovation for their bravery and learn from each other’s mistakes!

Speakers

Doeke Boersma is Co-Founder & CEO of GO Sharing and GreenMo Rent. You probably know them from the bright green e-scooters that you can rent at almost every street corner in the Netherlands. The company rents out electric cars, e-bikes and electric scooters in the Netherlands, but also in other countries. The company believes that sharing is the new owning. Currently, Doeke Boersma oversees a green sea of more than 30.000 electric vehicles. If he had to choose a different profession, it would be United Nations Secretary-General. With ambitions like this, fuckups are of course unavoidable.

Geertje Zeegers is Country Manager and self-proclaimed Waste Warrior at Too Good To Go Nederland, an app that connects customers to restaurants and stores that have an unsold food surplus. After a career working with Data and AI, Geertje Zeegers wanted to combine her Tech skills with a passion for making the world a better place. Reducing the shocking amount of food waste in the Netherlands seemed like a good place to start. Geertje Zeegers is responsible for the entire operation of the Dutch branch of this international company. And as we all know, big responsibilities come with big fuckups.

Niels Braamse is the Sales Manager at BlueCity and in his former life, he was the co-founder of a green car leasing company. Niels’ goal was to move the Netherlands to sustainable car mobility as quickly as possible. The company only offered green cars financed with a green bank to green and sustainable companies in the Netherlands. Car leasing is a very capital-intensive area of business so to scale up, the business was sold to a regular car holding that is not necessarily green… Niels would like to share his learnings about selling a green company to a not-green holding.

Moderator

This edition of FuckUp Nights is moderated by Tara Lewis. This journalist with a sharp tongue will help our speakers uncover their darkest fuckups, and get the audience craving for more. Tara Lewis is mostly known for her columns in the NRC paper and her humorous podcast ROPOPO. She also works as a moderator and programmer at Rotterdam institutions like Arminius and Het Nieuwe Instituut.

Program

19:30 - 20:00 Doors open

20:00 - 20:45 Presentations and Q&A

20:45 - 21:10 Break with drinks

21:10 - 22:00 Presentations and Q&A

22:00 - 23:00 More drinks

This event does not take place in BlueCity, but in BIRD (Derde Boog, Raampoortstraat 24)

This edition of the FuckUp Nights is organized by BlueCity and is part of Upstream festival 2022. Upstream connects change makers who drive the transition to a digital, carbon neutral, circular and inclusive new economy, between May 31 and June 2 2022.