Willem Knaap is a Dutch senior operator and executive transformation leader based in Amsterdam, working at the intersection of AI adoption, venture growth and corporate development. He has more than fifteen years across corporates, scale-ups, government institutions and venture ecosystems, including Rabobank, ING, KickstartAI and Startupbootcamp, and co-founded the fintech Peaks.com.

What does Willem Knaap do?

He works as an executive transformation leader, taking fractional, interim and advisory mandates with a clearly defined scope. He designs and runs AI adoption programs, drives venture growth and go-to-market, and leads corporate development and strategic partnerships, turning strategic intent into adoption, execution and measurable progress.

Is Willem Knaap available for fractional or interim roles?

Yes. Willem Knaap takes on a selective number of senior fractional, interim and advisory mandates, typically two to three days a week; full-time is negotiable depending on scope. Each mandate has a clearly defined scope, objectives and deliverables. The best way to start is a short conversation by email at willem@ventureplanner.nl.

What is Willem Knaap's background?

He was Head of Open Innovation and Senior Venture Builder at Rabobank, a Senior Venture Builder at ING, Partner at Startupbootcamp and Innoleaps, and interim Director of Strategic AI Programs and Partnerships at KickstartAI. He co-founded the fintech Peaks.com and runs Venture Planners Group, taking executive and advisory roles with technology ventures, including advisory roles at GlassMedicalAI and mintBlue.

How can I hire Willem Knaap?

Willem Knaap takes on a small number of senior fractional, interim and advisory mandates at a time, each with a clearly defined scope and deliverables. The best way to start is a short, no-obligation conversation by email at willem@ventureplanner.nl to see whether the challenge and the fit are right.

What kind of companies does Willem Knaap work with?

He works with corporates, scale-ups, technology ventures, government institutions and venture ecosystems. Past and present partners include Rabobank, ING, KickstartAI, Startupbootcamp and Innoleaps, and he co-founded the fintech Peaks.com, so he is equally comfortable inside a large organization and alongside an early-stage founding team.

Can Willem Knaap help my organization with AI adoption?

Yes. A core part of his work is designing and running AI adoption programs: turning AI ambition into concrete use cases, governance, ways of working and measurable traction across an organization, rather than leaving it at strategy on paper. He was interim Director of Strategic AI Programs and Partnerships at KickstartAI.

Which sectors and areas of expertise does Willem Knaap cover?

AI adoption, venture growth, go-to-market strategy, corporate development, strategic partnerships, public-private innovation, venture building and governance. His sector experience spans financial services and fintech, technology and AI, and the broader startup and scale-up ecosystem.

Where is Willem Knaap based and which languages does he work in?

Willem Knaap is Dutch and based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, working with clients across the Netherlands and Europe. He works fluently in both Dutch and English.

Executive Transformation · AI Adoption · Strategic Program Leadership · Corporate Development

Turning AI ambition into transformation, execution and growth.

I help organizations translate strategy into execution, through executive transformation, AI adoption and complex strategic programs: the use cases, operating models, data and AI infrastructure and adoption trajectories that create value. Strategy put to work, not another deck.

Available for fractional, interim and advisory mandates

AI adoption and transformation · Strategic program leadership · Venture growth · Use cases and data/AI operating models · Executive working sessions and alignment

Discuss a mandate LinkedIn

or email willem@ventureplanner.nl

Creator of The Adoption Tree™ Model and the TMM6 framework.

In conversationon camera

ModeratingFood4Future, Bilbao

SpeakingFT · TNW

SpeakingFT · TNW Conference

Working sessionwith founders

years of experience

programs and ventures

stages

regulated sectors

Experience across

KickstartAIRabobankINGPeaks.comStartupbootcampAhold DelhaizeKLMNSAegonVan Lanschot KempenKraft HeinzMondelezShellUnileverEIT FoodFMEDutch Ministry of Economic AffairsDutch Ministry of the InteriorDutch Ministry of Justice and SecurityDutch National PoliceLUMC KickstartAIRabobankINGPeaks.comStartupbootcampAhold DelhaizeKLMNSAegonVan Lanschot KempenKraft HeinzMondelezShellUnileverEIT FoodFMEDutch Ministry of Economic AffairsDutch Ministry of the InteriorDutch Ministry of Justice and SecurityDutch National PoliceLUMC

01What I do

A senior operator who turns ambition into execution.

Technology rarely decides the outcome. People, incentives, ownership, trust and execution do. That is why the work below ultimately comes back to one thing: making complex technology land in practice.

01 · AI Adoption and Scaling

From pilots to production.

Problem: AI initiatives stall between experiment, policy and the reality of the organization.
I do: I design the adoption architecture: framework, governance, use-case selection, capabilities, decision-making and change needed for scale. I work from my own published model, The Adoption Tree™ Model: six decision gates, six foundation blocks and a transfer test that hands the system to internal owners.
Outcome: Use cases that scale, with measurable value and a path to production.

02 · Venture Growth and GTM

From product to traction.

Problem: Strong technology, but a fragmented commercial motion.
I do: I sharpen positioning, ICP, enterprise GTM, partnerships and investor narrative.
Outcome: A venture that closes deals and grows in a scalable way, rather than one that keeps pitching.

03 · Corporate Development

Building the route to scale.

Problem: Partnerships and venture moves get stuck in decision-making, governance or internal processes.
I do: I structure partnership strategy, operating models and decision rights so commercial opportunities do not stay stuck.
Outcome: Deals and partnerships that move forward, not just announcements that fade.

04 · Public-Private Program Design

Where government and enterprise meet.

Problem: Public-private AI ambition often moves faster than governance, funding and execution capacity.
I do: I design programs, governance and partner architecture across ministries, public organizations, partners and corporates.
Outcome: Programs that move from intent to instruments, funding, use cases and execution.

05 · Additional Domains

Commercializing complex
technology.

Where deep technology meets the market.

Adjacent work across sustainability compliance and data infrastructure, including Digital Product Passport and CSRD readiness. Relevant where technology, regulation and commercial reality all have to land at once.

02How I work

How I work inside a mandate.

Strategy is usually not the hardest part. What decides the outcome is the operating system underneath it: who owns what, how decisions get made, and the rhythm that turns intent into delivery.

Assess and frame

I start from where the organization actually is: the ambition, constraints, stakeholders, interests and where value can genuinely sit. Sometimes from a blank page, sometimes in the middle of the chaos.

Leaves behind: a charter with a sponsor, a domain owner and a named internal successor.

Design the operating model

Objectives, governance, decision rights and roles, with the data and AI landscape underneath. The structure that makes delivery possible.

Leaves behind: an operating model with decision rights that people actually use.

Select the use cases

Choose where value is real and provable. Define and prioritize the use cases, so time, money and attention go to what matters, not to oversized solutions without a business case.

Leaves behind: a shortlist with a business case per use case.

Build, test and align

Build frameworks, ways of working and first deliverables around a clear goal. Programs run on people, so I align interests, ownership, decision-making and timing while the work is being built.

Leaves behind: working deliverables and the evidence each decision gate requires.

Adopt, scale and embed

From pilot to production, embedded in teams with feedback loops, clear ownership and a careful handover.

Leaves behind: a transfer test passed and a budget line for the run cost.

Learn, change, adapt

Every project, program and pilot teaches the organization something. I make sure that learning is captured, embedded and put to work, instead of lost when the work ends.

Leaves behind: a recorded learning the next wave inherits.

These six steps are the model in practice: the same six gates The Adoption Tree™ Model describes.

Every engagement runs as a clearly defined assignment, with agreed objectives, governance and deliverables. I work independently and bring my own model and tooling: The Adoption Tree™ Model for adoption, TMM6 for program execution, with the goal of building lasting capability inside the organization.

My model

The Adoption Tree™ Model

My own model for enterprise AI adoption. Frontstage delivery creates the visible value. Backstage capability makes it repeatable. A temporary Adoption Office connects the two and is built to hand the system to internal owners. Published as a whitepaper, version 1.1, for comment and field evaluation.

Read the model and get the whitepaper at adoptiontree.ai

My delivery framework

The TMM6 Framework

Complex transformations require more than project management. TMM6 is how I run them: trust, mandate and momentum, combined with governance, executive alignment and structured delivery to accelerate complex transformations.

The framework is continuously developed and validated in practice. Not a survey, but an LLM-driven engine that turns your input into concrete advice, while the model validates itself and learns from every interaction: a self-improving loop. The TMM6 app puts it in the hands of project and program managers: tmm6.ai.

03Selected work

A track record on the harder problems.

Now · The Adoption Tree™ Model

Author and publisher

An operating model for enterprise AI adoption. Version 1.1, Amsterdam, October 2026, published for comment and field evaluation at adoptiontree.ai.

Own IP · Research · Publication

Now · Venture Planners Group

Founder and Managing Partner

Executive and advisory mandates for technology ventures, including Machine2Learn and proba.earth. Focus on AI, sustainability, Digital Product Passport, CSRD, GTM and the commercialization of complex technology.

Executive mandates · GTM · Partnerships

Now · GlassMedicalAI

Strategic Advisor

Advisory role on commercial strategy, partnerships and enterprise adoption in medical AI.

Advisory · MedTech · AI

Now · mintBlue

Strategic Advisor

Advisory role on positioning, enterprise adoption and partnerships in data infrastructure and verifiable data.

Advisory · Data · Infrastructure

KickstartAI

Director Strategic AI Programs & Partnerships

Design and execution of public-private AI adoption programs with founding partners Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM and NS, and public organizations in the Netherlands. Author of the KickstartAI Adoption Framework and Adoption Canvas.

Public-private · Government · Enterprise

Rabobank

Head of Open Innovation · Senior Venture Builder

Development of innovation governance, portfolio management and the Data4Food program. Co-founder of Peaks.com and involved in venture building, fintech innovation and multidisciplinary teams.

Governance · Venture building · Fintech

ING

Senior Venture Builder

Venture building within ING’s innovation organization, developing and validating new ventures and propositions.

Venture building · Banking · Innovation

Startupbootcamp · Innoleaps

Program leadership at the corporate and venture interface

Acceleration, corporate venturing and innovation programs with founders, investors and international ecosystems across food, energy and technology.

Corporates · Founders · Ecosystems

04Perspective

Where perspective becomes execution.

History is context. The better you understand where something comes from, the sharper you can see what it can become. That is how I look at art and music, and ultimately also how I look at organizations, programs and AI.

Where I learned to look

Art teaches observation

I have gone to museums since I was a child. I grew up around ateliers, second-hand bookshops and exhibitions, with a father who is an art historian, and now pass that on to my own children.

In front of a work, I look at composition, material, craft, choices and omissions. Those things say something about the work and about the maker. I read a project, team or organization in a similar way: not only what is there, but why it came to be, what is missing, and what it would take to move it forward.

Museums, ateliers and places that shaped how I look: Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Rijksmuseum, Vatican Museums, Tate Modern, Galleria Borghese and Kunstsammlung NRW

01Art

What I listen for

Music teaches movement

Music works the same way for me. I do not only hear the song. I listen to the writing, composition, voice, performance, production and the influences underneath it.

From Vivaldi and Robert Johnson, through Charlie Parker, Elvis, The Beatles and Hendrix, to Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar and David Guetta: almost nothing comes from nowhere. Where a movement starts often tells you where it can still go.

Sometimes it is simply about enjoying craft and originality. Sometimes it is about recognizing when something is genuinely new, for a large audience or for a small community. That same attention is what I bring to work: influence, timing, context and execution.

Music as cultural evolution: Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, The Beatles, Robert Johnson, Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix

02Music

Craft turns perspective into execution

None of this is decoration. Art and music keep me sharp on the things my work runs on: reading context, forming a point of view, recognizing craft and making something actually work.

Ideas are not enough. Strategy is not enough either. The value is in understanding where something comes from, seeing what it can become, and then building it in the real world: organizations, programs, ventures and AI adoption.

05Mandates

Engagement models.

Selective work, typically two to three days a week; full-time negotiable depending on scope.

Fractional Executive / Interim Director

Ongoing senior leadership on a fractional basis, typically two to three days a week, or as interim director, always on a clearly defined mandate.

Executive Strategy Workshop & Discovery

Executive alignment around complex transformation and AI, with rapid assessment of opportunities, governance, risks and roadmap.

Executive Program Leadership

Directing complex strategic programs with multiple stakeholders, across business, technology and governance, on a clearly defined mandate with agreed outcomes.

AI Adoption Programs

Design and delivery of enterprise and public-private AI adoption programs, frameworks, governance and adoption trajectories.

Corporate Development & Innovation

Supporting organizations in growth, partnerships, innovation and ecosystem development.

Executive Advisory

Trusted advisor to boards, executive teams and founders on transformation, AI adoption and strategic execution.

Selective availability for senior fractional, interim and advisory mandates, typically two to three days a week. Full-time is negotiable depending on scope, always as a clearly defined assignment.

Discuss a mandate

06Get in touch

Want to move an AI, technology or venture strategy from intent to adoption? Let's talk.

One short conversation usually makes clear whether there is something to build together.

willem@ventureplanner.nl WhatsApp LinkedIn The Adoption Tree™ Model TMM6