Jonas Kjellberg

Serial entrepreneur, investor and author, Jonas Kjellberg is the former Managing Director of Skype and was part of the founding team - a simple, innovative idea that has gone on to revolutionise the telecommunications sector.

His career has been focussed on one main question – how do you disrupt companies to change the game?

A commanding keynote speaker , Jonas captivates audiences with his Skype story – from being told he was ‘mad’ to join, to overseeing its evolution into one of the internet’s biggest businesses as its VP of Global Sales and MD.

On both a specific and broader level, he addresses all aspects of contemporary business in the tech sector and beyond, including entrepreneurialism , disruption, innovation, sales , customer experience, culture and growth.

Jonas has enjoyed some huge business successes in his life – from investing in Rocket Internet, now an FSE-listed company, to recognising the potential in Zalando, a European electronic commerce company -  but he asserts that he has gleaned many useful lessons from his failures too.

Since the sale of Skype, he has worked extensively in consulting and advising start-ups, as well as starting his own businesses.

Jonas was the CEO of Campuz Mobile, a mobile operator sold to Vodafone, and Optimal Telecom, an internet company.

He has served as the Vice President of Bertelsmann for Lycos Europe, a network of websites offering communication services, and the CEO of Wyatt Media group, an investment company that develops small and medium-sized companies in digital media.

At Stanford University and the Stockholm School of Economics, he lectures on sales cultures and how to bring product sales, profitability and the whole company together.

He has also published three books – ‘Gear Up Ventures - Your Best Idea Ever’, ‘Business Creation’ and ‘Gear Up - Test Your Business Model Potential and Plan Your Path to Success’ (nominated for Management Book of the Year).

Since 2014, he has served as the Chairman of the Board at Gourmetli.com, a peer-to-peer food network platform, and he continues to stir up the status quo on the corporate circuit with his provocative, well-informed presentations.