Young M&A Café Rotterdam

Daan Bovenberg, Managing Director Excelsior Rotterdam

From the pitch to the deal table

After ending his football career, Bovenberg sought more intellectual challenge.
He immersed himself in strategy and M&A, worked on company acquisitions, and later returned to Excelsior, this time as Managing Director.
He soon discovered how much sport and business have in common: both rely on teamwork, discipline, and execution under pressure.

His experience in the financial world shaped his leadership style.
In football, just like in deals, a plan only matters if it can actually be executed.
That insight taught him to look critically at the numbers, stay focused on what truly matters, and believe that with the right people and culture, you can outperform your budget.

Culture as a competitive advantage

Excelsior operates with the smallest budget in the Dutch Eredivisie, yet has been profitable for seven consecutive years.
The key? A strong culture, clear values, and behavior that aligns with them.

Every player, coach, and staff member knows what is expected of them.
That clarity and discipline make Excelsior perform structurally above its financial weight.
In M&A terms: most post-deal challenges don’t come from miscalculations, but from cultural gaps and lack of alignment.

Value beyond the numbers

A football club has more in common with a scale-up than you might think.
Profit is rare: value is created through brand, community, and data.
Excelsior builds its future not only on the field but also through partnerships, a strong business club, and engaged fans.

For dealmakers, the parallel is clear: the topline never tells the full story.
Real value lies in relationships, trust, and reputation, in what people build together, not just in what’s written on the balance sheet.

The common thread

Throughout Bovenberg’s story, one message stood out: value creation starts with discipline and ends with behavior.

Whether you’re in a locker room or a boardroom, performance and trust are built the same way: through consistency, connection, and a clear culture.

The first Rotterdam edition of the Young M&A Café showed that the best insights don’t come from theory, but from practice.
Bovenberg closed the evening with a message that stayed with everyone:

“Value isn’t created in numbers alone, it’s built in the community around you, on the field, in the boardroom, and beyond.”