Sabine VanderLinden

Activate Innovation Ecosystems | Tech Ambassador | Founder of Alchemy Crew Ventures + Scouting for Growth | Chair, Board Member, Advisor | Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow-Bayes Business School

I don't just talk about innovation, AI, workforce or digital transformation— I build the bridges that make things real.

As Founder & Venture-Client Partner of Alchemy Crew Ventures, I run global R&D + Adoption Labs that connect Fortune 500 insurers and corporates with the most brilliant tech ventures on the planet. Think of us as the “fast lane” between startup brilliance and enterprise adoption. My themes include FinTech/ InsurTech and deploying AI at scale responsibly. 

What this looks like in numbers:
📍 Accelerated 160+ ventures and sourced 55,000+ startups worldwide
📍 Invested in 35+ early stage startups
📍 Delivered exits like FitSense → Zurich (2018), MyFutureNow → L&G (2019), and Tia Tech → Sapiens (2020)
📍 Created Insurer-led Acceleration and Scaleup programs that turned pilot purgatory into scalable commercial success

But the real story? I help founders land their first million-dollar client, build authentic personal brands, and help corporates cut through the noise to adopt tech that drives real growth.

My world revolves around:
📍 Venture Clienting 2.0 & Corporate Innovation Frameworks
📍 AI (ethics, adoption, emerging risks)
📍 Climate Resilience, Risk Futures & Sustainability Transformation
📍 The Future of Work (where humans + tech thrive together)

Beyond Alchemy Crew:
📍 Co-editor of the bestselling INSURTECH Book
📍 Wrote forewords for the Future of Insurance and Momentum
📍 Lecturer on Corporate Venturing at Bayes Business School
📍 Board + advisory roles across VCs, Scaleups (The CareVoice), foundations (Women to Watch), standards (ACORD Solutions) & global insurers
📍 Top 10 Business Podcast "Scouting for Growth" 
📍 Recognized with 10+ awards, including Most Influential CEO – Insurance Corporate Ventures (2024/2025)

My channels beyond LinkedIn:
x.com: @SabineVdL
instagram: @sabinevdlofficial
Medium: @sabine_vdl
Podcast: Scouting for Growth and Beyond Tech Frontiers
Newsletter: alchemycrew.ventures

What drives me?
Creating value where others see friction.
Turning hype into measurable outcomes.
And making sure technology becomes a force for good, not just another buzzword.

Award List (10+): Insurance Times-Tech & Innovation Awards Winner (2018), Grant Thornton-Face of a Vibrant Economy (2018), Business Insurance-Women to Watch Honoree (2019), Corporate Vision-Venture Validation Firm of the Year (2021), Finalist Women in Insurance Perseverance Award (2021), Awarded Perseverant Company to Watch in (2021), ACORD Awards (2020/2023), Most Influential CEO-Insurance Corporate Ventures (2024/2025).

Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer & Venture Partner

Delivering venture labs that accelerate, industrialize and democratize the way tech ventures engage with corporations. These labs apply acceleration, co-creation, and commercialization techniques to de-risk the way insurers and financial institutions collaborate, grow, and scale their venture-led growth initiatives.

Also, systematizing for a select group of growth ventures the way their engagement with corporations.

You can find out more 👉🏽 https://alchemycrew.com/

Laurent van Hamme ❖ CRM ❖ CCO

IDEMIA

Context: World leader in the field of biometrics and cryptography in more than 180 countries. $3B revenues. 
Interim management of global pricing and bid management. Salesforce project lead for the payment services business unit. Change management.
#Robert Walters

Interim Manager Global Pricing, Bid Management and CRM

Quadridge Portage

Director - Sales Effectiveness - Sales Operations - CRM - Pricing

Manager de Transition - Consultant

SEPTEO

Context: Software / Saas company. 200+ sales in various entities, merging under one global sales organization and one Salesforce org. 
Audit. Best sales practices and effectiveness. Set-up of a new program management. Salesforce, LinkedIn Sales Nav, Sales Insights. Global management of the program. PMO.

Director, Sales effectiveness - Interim management

ALSOLU, a Delta Plus Group company

Context: two recently acquired companies by a world leader of security equipments. Two former competitors in the need of properly working together. Absence of general managers.
Audit. Definition of the sales strategy. Implementation of different sales channels, including distribution through specialized resellers and set-up of key account management. Product and Pricing strategy. Communication between the different entities in different locations. Reorganization of the sales department. Sales incentives set-up. Overall project management. Change management. Transition to the new GM.

Director Global Sales - Post merger integration

Context: digital transformation for a construction company.
Assessment of the situation. Identification of key priorities. Specifications for several key projects including dematerialization, digital customer surveys, connection digital design platform and ERP, design management, CRM community partner portal, key account management, and training platform. Project and change management.

Digital transformation - Interim management

Algeco Group

☞ World leading supplier of modular building solutions (LBO). €1B revenues, €300M Ebitda. 3400 employees in Europe and Asia Pac.
Managing sales operations and marketing (CCO). Industries 30%, Administration 30%, Construction 30%, Events and Emergencies 10%. Member of the Executive Committee reporting to the CEO.
Streamlined sales organization and successful implementation of various key strategic programs: 
✔ CRM and CPQ rollout and management in 18 countries (SalesForce™) and 600 users
✔ Digital transformation: development of a new e-business platform. Increase of the online revenue stream (+30% p.a.). Implementation of a customer portal (Partner Community). Marketing automation with Pardot. IoT experimentation
✔ Conception and new development of the pricing add-on to SalesForce: Peer Pricing (ISV approach on the AppExchange). Pricing expertise and implementation of a new and innovative incentive system
✔ Product and 360 value added service management across Europe
✔ Communication: complete reshape for a consistent and strong brand positioning over Europe

Keywords: Sales operations - CRM - SalesForce SalesCloud - CPQ - Pricing - Marketing automation  - Digital - Transformation - Strategy  - Large account management

Head of Sales & Marketing Europe

☞ France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Continuous growth over 5 years with €300M revenues, €80M Ebitda. P&L and sales management of the team (23 branches and 150 sales reps) 
Implementation of several key major programs, including:
✔ Peer Pricing™, an innovative technology combining price performance and incentive plans 
✔ Full reshape of the CRM, set-up of Salesforce™ and several add-ons 
✔ Sales pipeline analysis and enhancement. Forecasting. BI tools
✔ Set-up of a new sales organization and channels (large accounts, account and lead management)
Marketing and communication
✔ Definition and implementation of the strategic plan. Set-up of the budget exercise w/ the CFO
✔ Product development including full reshape of product portfolio around value added services
✔ New marketing plans with strong orientation on 360° solutions
Engineering management
✔ Project office and R&D teams. Management of the design office. Development of new high end modular constructions and new regulatory compliance (RT2012, Eurocodes). Urban stacked units w/ 6 levels

Sales, Marketing, Pricing and Engineering VP, Southern and Western Europe

Cosidays

☞ New and innovative internet services for the tourism industry 
Creation of the company. Set-up of a new marketplace concept www.cosidays.com. Specifications, project management, technical implementation (off-shore) and business development. 
✪ Nominated for the best new e-commerce site of the year 2009 (Fevad, Nuit des Favor’i) and identified as one of the 10 best original e-business models for 2010 (le Journal du Net)

Founding Partner

Itexium

☞ Founded in 2007 with former partners from CSC and KPMG Peat Marwick. IT, Internet, Intranet and CRM consulting
Business development and business support. Internet and intranet solution w/ web 2.0 and social media. SME

Principal Partner

☞ National Telco part of Vivendi Universal group. €1.4B+ revenues. Member of the Consumer Division Executive committee 
Consumer & Soho division. 20+ people
✔ Implementation and management of e-commerce for voice and DSL services (35% of company sales)
✔ Online brand advertising, media planning, affiliation programs, SEO, SEA and referencing. Multi-channels
✔ Set-up and management of the Cegetel web Portal w/ 1.3 million unique visitors per month in year one, business development and online customer service 
✔ Loyalty, anti-churn, data mining (2.5 million+ customers) and CRM programs. Telemarketing and management of several call centers (150+ positions) such as Teleperformance, PCCI, Victoria

Head of Marketing for the implementation of Internet / DSL services in France
✔ Product development, sales channels. Program management and DSL launch country-wide. Pricing, business planning and strategy. Management of the teams of product and project managers

✦ Head of a joint venture strategic project with Yahoo Inc. (business plan, negotiation, development of common product and services in view of a distribution partnership)

Vice President Marketing, e-business, CRM and Digital

Orange Business Services

☞ 7th largest telecom company (US€40B+). International & B2B 
International business development of the B2B activities (€3.1B)                      
✔ Development of new pricing strategies and incentive programs
✔ Management of the Pricing teams for all telecom services (voice, data, IS, applications and IP). 

Consistency, cross product positioning, structures for over 140+ countries
✔ Support to large deals, call for tender and pricing validation authority (up to US$100M)
✔ Partnership with shareholders and international telco. Negotiation. Transfer pricing
✔ Management of the multi-cultural team (25+ persons, France, UK/IRL and USA)

Vice President, Marketing & Pricing, World, OBS Equant

✔ Product Management & Business Development Europe then World for the IDDD voice services product portfolio (€300M+). Corporate and Carrier sales. Product development and deployment in fast-growing markets
✔ Management of the team (5 persons)

Product Manager Europe, France Telecom FCR / Transpac / Global One (2 years)                                                        
✔ Set-up of new business units across Europe, sales coordination and revenue objectives
✔ Marketing mix (product, prices, promotions, sales channels, sales guides)

Senior Director, Global One (FT, DT, Sprint)

VICE PRESIDENT, GM SALES AND MARKETING EUROPE – CCO | CRM | Pricing | Salesforce | Digital Transformation | B2B | Industry | Service | SaaS | Telecom | Management de Transition

✆ +33 7 56 92 44 44  ✉ laurent (at) vanhamme.net

As Sales and Marketing Vice President (or CCO), I’ve consistently worked in leading transformation projects, and in implementing new sales tools and processes with international, multicultural teams. 

My responsibilities encompass a wide range of activities, enabling medium - to large -sized enterprises to improve the way they do business. 

My career has developed with a strong focus on transformation, building new and often innovative solutions, as well as operational management. Here are some examples:
✔ reshaped sales organization and processes at national and European scales through the implementation of CRM solutions using Salesforce SalesCloud, Salesforce CPQ, Pardot, new sales channels and digital transformation
✔ executed and maximized the e-business activities and CRM for a national telco 
✔ designed price optimization for a multi-national service company through delivering innovative and efficient pricing tools, binding price performance and incentive
✔ managed the worldwide pricing department of a major telecom company
✔ facilitated the PMO of large marketing projects for a national telco, such as the set-up of the high-speed DSL internet offer.

These activities have been achieved with a particular care for people, from executives to end-users, and driven by change management as a key to success.

As a manager, I am committed to providing strategic and tactical leadership underpinned by a deep knowledge of my business and my job, which helps to better understand the various challenges my teams are facing on a daily basis.

I particularly appreciate working in the B2B and service environment, and even more in air transport services, which is reinforced by a passion for flying, being a pilot and flight instructor in my spare time. 

Let’s connect together on LinkedIn!

Post merger integration
Context: two recently acquired companies by a world leader of security equipments. Two former competitors in the need of properly working together. Absence of general managers.
Audit. Definition of the sales strategy. Implementation of different sales channels, including distribution through specialized resellers and set-up of key account management. Product and Pricing strategy. Communication between the different entities in different locations. Reorganization of the sales department. Sales incentives set-up. Overall project management. Change management. Transition to the new GM.

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Sabine VanderLinden

Laurent van Hamme ❖ CRM ❖ CCO

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