Venture studio · Netherlands · Europe
We build things worth building.
Lab of Awesome is a European venture studio that creates, launches and grows technology companies around ideas we believe should exist. We turn meaningful problems into products, products into ventures and ventures into growing companies.
Currently in the lab
Four ventures. Four different industries.
How we build companies
Ideas are cheap. Building is the interesting part.
We find meaningful problems, develop an unconventional solution, validate whether people actually want it, build the technology and launch it into the real world. Then the harder work starts — and we stay for it.
- 01
Discover
Find meaningful problems and market opportunities.
- 02
Validate
Test the assumptions that matter before investing heavily.
- 03
Build
Create the technology, product and proposition.
- 04
Launch
Put the venture into the real world and acquire the first users or customers.
- 05
Grow
Develop the commercial engine around what works.
- 06
Scale
Build the organisation, team, systems and capital structure required for growth.
We can stay actively involved through all six stages. Not every experiment becomes a company. That's the point.
Beyond launch
Building is only half the job.
A product is not a company. After launch the harder work starts: finding customers, building distribution, improving the product, creating a team and developing a repeatable growth engine. Lab of Awesome is built to stay involved beyond launch — from idea to product, and from product to growing company.
Discover
Find opportunities worth pursuing.
Build
Create products and technology.
Grow
Create customers, distribution and revenue.
Scale
Build the organisation around success.
The growth engine
A venture needs more than a product.
Around every venture
- 01Product
- 02Technology
- 03Brand
- 04Distribution
- 05Sales
- 06Marketing
- 07Capital
- 08Team
- 09Operations
Together they create
Growth.
A product is one of nine. Missing three or four of the others is the usual reason a good product never becomes a company.
Portfolio logic
Different industries. Same obsession.
We are not tied to a single market. We look for industries where technology, changing behaviour or new business models create an opportunity to rethink how things work.
- Consumer
- Live entertainment
- Healthcare
- Artificial intelligence
- Legal technology
- Autonomous systems
- Maritime technology
Companies
You know the industry. We know how to build.
Some of the strongest ventures start inside established industries. You bring the problem, domain expertise, customers or market access. We bring entrepreneurship, product, technology, AI and the ability to turn an opportunity into something real. Together, we can build a product, platform or entirely new company.
Partner
We combine capabilities and, when the opportunity earns it, build a jointly owned venture. Our preferred model.
Build
Venture building as a paid engagement, with the same founder mentality.
Explore
Start with the opportunity and find out whether something deserves to be built.
We would rather own the outcome together than optimise billable hours.
Talent
Don't join a company. Help build the next one.
At Lab of Awesome, engineers, designers, operators and entrepreneurs work across ideas at the earliest possible stage. One year you might be building a consumer platform used at festivals. The next challenge could involve healthcare AI or autonomous maritime technology. We are looking for people who enjoy ambiguity, ownership and building from zero.
- Founding Engineers
- AI Engineers
- Product Designers
- Product Builders
- Growth Entrepreneurs
- Venture Leads
- Domain Experts
We hire people for the Lab, not only for vacancies.
Investors & partners
Get closer to what we're building next.
Lab of Awesome continuously develops and validates new ventures. As companies mature, we may open opportunities for selected investors and strategic partners to participate.
Founders
Built by entrepreneurs. For builders.
The founders combine entrepreneurship, technology, product development, AI and commercialisation — and stay close to every venture in its earliest and most fragile phase.
Maarten Dik
Founder
Entrepreneurship, commercialisation and taking new ventures from concept to market.
Tim Hoogstrate
Founder
Technology, product development and applied AI across the venture portfolio.
Venture partners and venture leads are added as ventures mature.