Startup Studio Spotlight: Duodeka

Welcome back to another edition of Startup Studio Spotlight! This month, we want to take you back all the way to The Netherlands for another fantastic story behind a rising Dutch studio: Duodeka. Located in Tilburg, the Netherlands, Duodeka is a collective of entrepreneurs creating and developing digital companies. Founded in 2015 by a group of six students at Tilburg University, Duodeka was named after the Latin word for twelve.

“The joke was that we started with six and all worked for the amount of two. Ergo: Duodeka. A fictitious name, too, very consciously chosen because we have always had an enormous passion for entrepreneurship and did not want a link in our name to I.T., or software or technology,” said ​​Daan Schoof, partner at Duodeka.

According to Schoofs, Duodeka can best be described as an organization that focuses on systematically rolling out new companies. In doing so, Duodeka has a strong digital focus and emphasis on digital business models. These include platforms and software-as-a-service, for example. As such, they have a shared service center from which entrepreneurs and companies who want to develop a digital product and revenue model can get their information from.

Ever since, Duodeka has been able to assemble an incredibly great team of people to support their operations. They have the great ambition of actively participating in 48 ventures by 2032 by investing in developing their methodologies, manuals, scripts, experiments and data. Because Duodeka is a highly tech-focused studio, they have finessed their good strategy and execute it in a structured way which can be repeated indefinitely.

Three propositions have made it through the scouting and prototyping stages of Duodeka and have now become operational companies:

1. Mr. Winston

The most accessible, yet extensive, POS software for hospitality entrepreneurs who share our mission: to create the best guest experience possible.

2. Amigos

Amigos is a social app for spontaneous fun. In Amigos you indicate what you are doing, for example a house party, walk or drink. On the map you see the amigos who are doing the same thiing and want to join you. Amigos is currently live in the Netherlands.

3. Notulen Software

Meeting management software for entrepreneurs, managers, and secretaries who aspire to meet efficiently and in a result-oriented way.

If you’d like to learn even more about this exciting startup studio, continue reading for a quick Q&A that we did with the Duodeka team:

What sets you apart from the rest of the competition in the startup studio space?

Duodeka originally began 5 years ago as a custom software development company. However, we always had the ambition to transform into a venture builder over the years, a place where entrepreneurs can realize their dreams by validating, developing, and scaling business ideas with the support of a shared service center. The focus on letting the venture founder become the best version of themselves makes Duodeka a unique place.

Moreover, due to Duodeka’s experience with software development, we have a lot of in-house knowledge in the field of software development, a very scarce and sought-after skill. Our expertise in software development in combination with the entrepreneurial experience is a powerful unique selling proposition.

“I like to say I’m dangerous enough to know how to code and sociable enough to sell our company. And I think that’s a deadly combination in entrepreneurship”

~ Kevin Systrom, Instagram Cofounder

Furthermore, this skill set makes us very strong in ‘the first phase’ of the venture building process: the development of a minimum viable product to validate the concept. This allows us to quickly determine whether an idea has potential.

How has the startup studio model allowed you and your studio’s companies to navigate through the pandemic?

All our companies are digital products/platforms. This made the impact of the pandemic manageable. In addition, we have always been very keen on spotting opportunities to help our companies respond to the pandemic. The ability to develop very quickly has therefore led to great results. We’ll give a brief description of how each venture has managed to get through the pandemic.

Mr. Winston (POS software for hospitality entrepreneurs) got some new key features that helped a lot of hospitality entrepreneurs to survive the pandemic: for example, modules for self-order and home-order. With Mr. Winston, it is possible for hospitality entrepreneurs to provide a contactless customer journey.

Amigos (app for spontaneous contact) is our newest venture. The app makes it possible to meet new people who are in for the same as you. Many people met almost no new people during the pandemic. Because of this, Amigos was what many people longed for. Amigos has become one of the top social apps in the Netherlands and grew to 250,000+ users in a few months’ time.

Notulen Software (meeting management software) became even more valuable during the pandemic. Meetings were chaotic before the pandemic, but the shift to online and hybrid meetings made them even more chaotic. With Notulen Software the whole meeting process becomes a lot more structured. This was exactly what many companies were looking for.

How would you describe your studio’s approach to developing new ideas?

For us, it is very important that the potential venture is led by a motivated and inspiring venture lead / entrepreneur. The idea must really be his baby. After we’ve defined the idea and it’s ultimate core, we start the validation process which is very much hands on. We make use of theories like the Lean Startup, focusing mostly on the ‘get out of the building’ part.

We truly believe that great ideas are created when being an essential part of the actual market you are trying to target. So, if you want to build a business targeting software developers for example, make sure you interview at least 50 of them extensively. Yes, of course we also do our (desk) research, but the success will be essentially defined in-market.

What services do you offer your startups?

The ventures have access to various services from our shared service center. Our shared service center consists of people with different expertise, such as software development, marketing, human resources and project management. Furthermore, the shared service center can provide access to capital.

What does the studio’s level of involvement look like after the business has launched?

Duodeka remains a shareholder with a preference for a minority stake. It is our goal that a standalone organization is formed to support and grow the venture further. Our level of involvement depends on the stage and the needs of the venture. On a strategic level, we remain involved.

What unique benefits does the startup studio model provide entrepreneurs?

A major strength and competitive advantage of the startup studio model is that you are continuously accumulating experiences. This results in significantly lower failure rates in comparison to ‘normal’ startups. Furthermore, the Average Internal rate of Return (IRR) is higher and the time to Seed and Series A investments is shorter.

Thank you for reading another Startup Studio Spotlight! We’re looking forward to learning more about all the different startup studios around the world. If you’d like to be featured in our blog, drop a comment below, and we’ll reach out to you. See you soon!