Profile: Richard van der Giessen

Company name:
U-TRAX (holding company with four operating companies).

Company founding date:
March 1996.

Place of business:
Utrecht.

Names of founders:
Richard van der Giessen.

Ages of founders:
40.

About the company:
U-TRAX provides localization services (adapting games to local markets), does language tests and handles the marketing for videogames and multimedia products.

Current project:
In 2008, we set up a separate company for linguistic test activities: U-TRAX Quality Assurance BV. We currently have 20 testers from 10 European countries working in that operation, and we have had to rent another building to accommodate the new team.
The U-TRAX companies work on a lot of projects simultaneously; an average of about 20 a day. Some of those projects last four months and others take one hour to finish; so, it’s quite hard to pick just one. To mention one however: in March 2009 U-TRAX Multimedia Localisation BV worked on a major voice recording project to create the Dutch language version of a big game for PlayStation3. We were able to get a star cast for the project, including Carice van Houten, Derek de Lint and Liesbeth List. We’re working with good and appealing actors in order create more publicity for the phenomenon known as the ‘Dutch-language game’. There are surprisingly many people out there who still don’t know that there is such a thing as a Dutch game.

Source of inspiration:
Spirituality.

My big idea:
Games can be a creative and stimulating form of entertainment. U-TRAX assumes that people who release their tension through games will refrain from doing so in their reactions to others. That way, games help to contribute to a better world to live in. Apart from the fact that games keep us sharp, they’re also good for our motor activities and most of them are just plain fun to play. By localizing games, we make a lot more of the details of the games accessible to a lot more people; from young to old and from highly educated to not all that highly educated.

Favourite tools:
Keyboard and mouse (and in the case of software, spreadsheets!) ;-)

Favourite website:
www.nba.com

Hobby:
Music, games, basketball.

Best advice I ever received:
I definitely do not come from an entrepreneurial background, and I have had to learn everything by falling down and getting up again. To do so, I took a lot of advice from a lot of people, and I was able to extract a little wisdom from almost everyone’s advice. I also sometimes get in touch with colleague entrepreneurs when I need answers to specific questions, and I have noticed that it is often a very good way of finding good tips; regardless of how trivial the question may seem at the time. Obviously it helps if you have a big network of colleagues.
However, if I have to mention one good tip I once received, it is probably this: Never underestimate the amount of work and obligations a large staff entails. Make sure you have an effective evaluation system and / or personnel manager, because that will save you a great deal of time and money, which you could rather spend on more creative processes.

Biggest blunder:
Too many to mention; however, generally speaking I usually regret the things I never did or did not do soon enough. But the years bring experience and I now have a better sense of which things I should and should not do, and which ones I should do first. ;-)

Tips for professional colleagues:
Develop your intuition and trust your feelings.

As an ambassador of Amsterdam, I would...
Make sure that the specific strengths of the creative sector are optimally utilized, and collaborate with the other members of the Creative Board to give all the creative spirits in the AA the space to develop themselves.

Company website:
www.utrax.nl

Company email address:

Web 2.0:
www.linkedin.com/in/richardvandergiessen

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