I speak the truth most stages aren't ready for.
I speak the truth most stages aren't ready for.
Keynote speaker on human performance, conscious leadership, and the aliveness edge.
Keynote speaker on human performance, conscious leadership, and the aliveness edge.
— BIANCA GFREI · Keynote Speaker · Former 2x VC-Backed CEO · Somatic Executive Coach
— BIANCA GFREI · Keynote Speaker · Former 2x VC-Backed CEO · Somatic Executive Coach
"We are operating in survival mode and calling it performance.
The most successful leaders of our time have become the most efficient at not feeling. And the system is breaking the people running it."
"We are operating in survival mode and calling it performance.
The most successful leaders of our time have become the most efficient at not feeling. And the system is breaking the people running it."
— Bianca Gfrei
— Bianca Gfrei
Forbes 30 Under 30 · Austria's Entrepreneur of the Year · 2× VC-Backed Founding CEO Human Performance · Conscious Leadership · The Aliveness Edge
Forbes 30 Under 30 · Austria's Entrepreneur of the Year · 2× VC-Backed Founding CEO Human Performance · Conscious Leadership · The Aliveness Edge
I speak from experience, not theory.
I speak from experience, not theory.
I'm a former 2× VC-backed founding CEO turned keynote speaker. I built and scaled two health-tech companies in Europe and the US, raised millions in venture capital, was named Forbes 30 Under 30 and Austria's Entrepreneur of the Year — until my own nervous system forced the operation to stop.
The breakdown became the doorway into the work I do now.
Today I speak to leaders, founders, and organizations on a single question:
What if the way we've been performing was never sustainable to begin with?
My keynotes bridge neurobiology, somatic intelligence, and lived experience. I don't deliver wellness talks. I deliver paradigm shifts — the kind where audiences leave not with notes, but with a question they can't stop turning over.
I speak in English and German. Based in Lisbon. Available worldwide.
I'm a former 2× VC-backed founding CEO turned keynote speaker. I built and scaled two health-tech companies in Europe and the US, raised millions in venture capital, was named Forbes 30 Under 30 and Austria's Entrepreneur of the Year — until my own nervous system forced the operation to stop.
The breakdown became the doorway into the work I do now.
Today I speak to leaders, founders, and organizations on a single question:
What if the way we've been performing was never sustainable to begin with?
My keynotes bridge neurobiology, somatic intelligence, and lived experience. I don't deliver wellness talks. I deliver paradigm shifts — the kind where audiences leave not with notes, but with a question they can't stop turning over.
I speak in English and German. Based in Lisbon. Available worldwide.
My work moves leaders and organizations from:
My work moves leaders and organizations from:
Fear-based performance
Aliveness-based performance
Emotional suppression
Emotional intelligence as data
Overperformance
Sustainable performance
Emotional armor
Authentic leadership
Self-abandonment
Self-trust
Disconnection
Relational intelligence
This is not a wellness talk. This is a paradigm shift in how high-performing humans lead, decide, and build.
This is not a wellness talk. This is a paradigm shift in how high-performing humans lead, decide, and build.
Signature keynotes
Signature keynotes
Every keynote is shaped to your audience, your moment, and your strategic question.
Every keynote is shaped to your audience, your moment, and your strategic question.
01
The aliveness revolution the future needs
We are operating in survival mode and calling it performance. I make the case for aliveness as the most strategic move leaders have left.
02
The leaders who feel win
Why emotional suppression is quietly destroying decision quality, trust, and innovation — and what changes when leaders learn to read their own signals.
03
Holding it together vs. feeling it through
The hidden emotional cost of scaling. How high-functioning burnout looks like success — until it doesn't.
04
The human edge AI cannot scale
AI amplifies whatever state we lead from. If we lead from fear, we scale fear. I make the case for aliveness as the only human edge that remains.
05
Trust-based leadership in high-pressure environments
Why trust is the most underestimated performance driver of modern organizations — and how to build it through nervous-system awareness, not policy.
06
Your body knows before your brain does
Inner signals as performance intelligence. How somatic awareness becomes a strategic capacity in volatile, high-stakes environments.
07
Founder mental health: the missing layer in startup success
What every investor, board member, and founder should know about the biological cost of building — and what to do about it.
08
From emotional armor to authentic leadership
Why the leaders shaping the next decade will be the ones who took off the armor first.
FORMATS
Keynote · Workshop · Panel · Fireside Chat · Masterclass In-person · Hybrid · Online
Audiences from 30 to several thousand
Where I've spoken
Where I've spoken
Stages
Global Female Leaders Summit Berlin · HLTH Europe · Female Founders Experience (FFX) · Austrian Startups Summit · ViennaUP · La Futura Global Trend Conference · NPO Congress · Hub:Conference Berlin · Inside Out Summit · Startup Grind by Google · EU EIC Women Leadership Programme · Impact Hub · TU Vienna Innovation Incubation Center · Founders Institute · Pioneers · Tomorrow University
Stages
Global Female Leaders Summit Berlin · HLTH Europe · Female Founders Experience (FFX) · Austrian Startups Summit · ViennaUP · La Futura Global Trend Conference · NPO Congress · Hub:Conference Berlin · Inside Out Summit · Startup Grind by Google · EU EIC Women Leadership Programme · Impact Hub · TU Vienna Innovation Incubation Center · Founders Institute · Pioneers · Tomorrow University
Featured in
Forbes · TechCrunch · Die Welt · Capital Magazine · Built In NYC · Red Bulletin · Die Presse · Deutsche Startups · Futurezone · Forbes Austria
Featured in
Forbes · TechCrunch · Die Welt · Capital Magazine · Built In NYC · Red Bulletin · Die Presse · Deutsche Startups · Futurezone · Forbes Austria
Testimonials
Testimonials
"Bianca understands the unique pressures of being a founder. She brings deep expertise in body and mind work."
Kosima Kovar, Serial Founder, 2× Forbes 30 Under 30
"Bianca's session was clear, engaging, and packed with practical insights everyone can immediately apply."
Anna-Mari Saari, Chief of Staff, Onego Bio
"A complete game-changer. The idea of emotional mastery for a more grounded way of being, leading and connecting — I can highly recommend Bianca's sessions to everybody, especially men."
Felix Zabel, TUM Venture Labs
"We are always excited to work with Bianca."
Female Founders, Europe's leading network for women founders
"Bianca, as a former founder, deeply understands high pressure and performance. She doesn't just help prevent burnout — she empowers leaders to harness their potential and turn their mental well-being into a strategic advantage. We recommend her fully to our portfolio founders."
Helena Torras, EUTOP50 Investor & Board Director
"Bianca understands the unique pressures of being a founder. She brings deep expertise in body and mind work."
Kosima Kovar, Serial Founder, 2× Forbes 30 Under 30
"A complete game-changer. The idea of emotional mastery for a more grounded way of being, leading and connecting — I can highly recommend Bianca's sessions to everybody, especially men."
Felix Zabel, TUM Venture Labs
"Bianca, as a former founder, deeply understands high pressure and performance. She doesn't just help prevent burnout — she empowers leaders to harness their potential and turn their mental well-being into a strategic advantage. We recommend her fully to our portfolio founders."
Helena Torras, EUTOP50 Investor & Board Director
"Bianca's session was clear, engaging, and packed with practical insights everyone can immediately apply."
Anna-Mari Saari, Chief of Staff, Onego Bio
"We are always excited to work with Bianca."
Female Founders, Europe's leading network for women founders
"Bianca understands the unique pressures of being a founder. She brings deep expertise in body and mind work."
Kosima Kovar, Serial Founder, 2× Forbes 30 Under 30
"A complete game-changer. The idea of emotional mastery for a more grounded way of being, leading and connecting — I can highly recommend Bianca's sessions to everybody, especially men."
Felix Zabel, TUM Venture Labs
"Bianca, as a former founder, deeply understands high pressure and performance. She doesn't just help prevent burnout — she empowers leaders to harness their potential and turn their mental well-being into a strategic advantage. We recommend her fully to our portfolio founders."
Helena Torras, EUTOP50 Investor & Board Director
"Bianca's session was clear, engaging, and packed with practical insights everyone can immediately apply."
Anna-Mari Saari, Chief of Staff, Onego Bio
"We are always excited to work with Bianca."
Female Founders, Europe's leading network for women founders
Without the filter. The real story.
Without the filter. The real story.
I was born in Austria. Built two VC-backed health-tech companies before my 30s. Forbes 30 Under 30. Austria's Entrepreneur of the Year. By every external measure, I was succeeding.
Until 2018, when I was standing in a New York room full of brilliant scientists, investors, and biohackers — building a longevity company optimizing human life — and realized I was the least alive I had ever been.
I walked away. From the company. From New York. From the only identity I had ever known.
What followed was the hardest period of my life. Ashrams. Silent retreats. The jungle of Mexico. Until a former engineering professor turned meditation teacher said the sentence that changed everything:
"We are completely literate in the external world. We are almost entirely illiterate in the language of the heart."
I had been the most analytically sophisticated version of myself — and completely illiterate in the only language that actually mattered.
Today, I guide leaders through what I call The Return to Self — not to fix or optimize anything, but to come home to the self that was always there beneath the performance.
The journey continues.
I was born in Austria. Built two VC-backed health-tech companies before my 30s. Forbes 30 Under 30. Austria's Entrepreneur of the Year. By every external measure, I was succeeding.
Until 2018, when I was standing in a New York room full of brilliant scientists, investors, and biohackers — building a longevity company optimizing human life — and realized I was the least alive I had ever been.
I walked away. From the company. From New York. From the only identity I had ever known.
What followed was the hardest period of my life. Ashrams. Silent retreats. The jungle of Mexico. Until a former engineering professor turned meditation teacher said the sentence that changed everything:
"We are completely literate in the external world. We are almost entirely illiterate in the language of the heart."
I had been the most analytically sophisticated version of myself — and completely illiterate in the only language that actually mattered.
Today, I guide leaders through what I call The Return to Self — not to fix or optimize anything, but to come home to the self that was always there beneath the performance.
The journey continues.
Let's create something that shifts the room.
Every keynote starts with a real conversation — a tight brief, a focused collaboration, and a talk shaped entirely around your audience and the moment you're in.
What your audience walks out with: a paradigm shift they can feel in their body, not just understand in their head.
+500
Trusted by 500+ founders, CEOs, and conscious leaders
"The most daring thing a leader can do is feel. Everything else follows."
"The most daring thing a leader can do is feel. Everything else follows."
— Bianca Gfrei
— Bianca Gfrei
FAQs.
How do I get in touch to book?
Reach out to Ruth Gruber at team@biancagfrei.com. The earlier the better — especially for in-person events where travel and scheduling need room to breathe.
How do I get in touch to book?
Reach out to Ruth Gruber at team@biancagfrei.com. The earlier the better — especially for in-person events where travel and scheduling need room to breathe.
How do I know which keynote is right for my audience?
How do I know which keynote is right for my audience?
Every engagement starts with a conversation. I take time to understand your audience, the moment you're in as an organization, and what you actually want people to walk away feeling — not just thinking.
What formats do you offer?
What formats do you offer?
Keynote, fireside chat, panel, workshop (half-day or full-day), and masterclass — in-person, hybrid, or online. For workshops, I work in smaller groups so participants can actually apply what they're learning in the room.
Do you customize your keynotes?
Do you customize your keynotes?
Always. The core message stays consistent, but the framing, examples, and emphasis are shaped around your context. A room full of founders needs something different from a corporate leadership team, and I treat them that way.
What size audiences do you work with?
What size audiences do you work with?
Anywhere from an intimate leadership offsite of 30 to conference stages of several thousand. The format adapts; the depth doesn't.
What languages do you speak in?
What languages do you speak in?
English and German, both native level.
FAQs.
How do I get in touch to book?
Reach out to Ruth Gruber at team@biancagfrei.com. The earlier the better — especially for in-person events where travel and scheduling need room to breathe.
How do I get in touch to book?
Reach out to Ruth Gruber at team@biancagfrei.com. The earlier the better — especially for in-person events where travel and scheduling need room to breathe.
How do I know which keynote is right for my audience?
How do I know which keynote is right for my audience?
Every engagement starts with a conversation. I take time to understand your audience, the moment you're in as an organization, and what you actually want people to walk away feeling — not just thinking.
What formats do you offer?
What formats do you offer?
Keynote, fireside chat, panel, workshop (half-day or full-day), and masterclass — in-person, hybrid, or online. For workshops, I work in smaller groups so participants can actually apply what they're learning in the room.
Do you customize your keynotes?
Do you customize your keynotes?
Always. The core message stays consistent, but the framing, examples, and emphasis are shaped around your context. A room full of founders needs something different from a corporate leadership team, and I treat them that way.
What size audiences do you work with?
What size audiences do you work with?
Anywhere from an intimate leadership offsite of 30 to conference stages of several thousand. The format adapts; the depth doesn't.
What languages do you speak in?
What languages do you speak in?
English and German, both native level.
FAQs.
How do I get in touch to book?
Reach out to Ruth Gruber at team@biancagfrei.com. The earlier the better — especially for in-person events where travel and scheduling need room to breathe.
How do I get in touch to book?
Reach out to Ruth Gruber at team@biancagfrei.com. The earlier the better — especially for in-person events where travel and scheduling need room to breathe.
How do I know which keynote is right for my audience?
How do I know which keynote is right for my audience?
Every engagement starts with a conversation. I take time to understand your audience, the moment you're in as an organization, and what you actually want people to walk away feeling — not just thinking.
What formats do you offer?
What formats do you offer?
Keynote, fireside chat, panel, workshop (half-day or full-day), and masterclass — in-person, hybrid, or online. For workshops, I work in smaller groups so participants can actually apply what they're learning in the room.
Do you customize your keynotes?
Do you customize your keynotes?
Always. The core message stays consistent, but the framing, examples, and emphasis are shaped around your context. A room full of founders needs something different from a corporate leadership team, and I treat them that way.
What size audiences do you work with?
What size audiences do you work with?
Anywhere from an intimate leadership offsite of 30 to conference stages of several thousand. The format adapts; the depth doesn't.
What languages do you speak in?
What languages do you speak in?
English and German, both native level.