“You have to be a user of your own product. Only then do you really see what customers don’t like — and you can keep improving it.”

Short biography
Mark Nuvelstijn is the CEO and co-founder of Bitvavo, an international crypto exchange with over one million customers. After studying business administration and law (including a Master’s in Tax Law) at the University of Groningen, he began his career in international corporate tax advisory at Loyens & Loeff — but left after 6–7 months when the opportunity arose to build Bitvavo with two technically minded co-founders. Founded at the end of 2017, Bitvavo scaled rapidly while building a product-led organisation centred on in-house technology, data, and a growing compliance and risk function. The company has been under supervision of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) since the end of 2020, and has expanded beyond its original Benelux base with increasing focus on other European markets.