Venture Builder from idea to market

Barely 12 days later, Prime Minister Rutte announces an “intelligent lockdown.” With far-reaching consequences for society, the people, the companies. In our conversation, Daan Schoofs, still unaware of what the future will bring, talks about the origin, the development, and the future plans of Duodeka. Curious about the influence of the coronavirus crisis on Duodeka and how Daan Schoofs and his partners have responded to this, we called him in mid-April.

Asked about the influence of the coronavirus on Duodeka, Schoofs shows himself to be remarkably proud: "It is, of course, a huge crisis, with a lot of impacts. We notice that too. But it is precisely in these times that we continue to focus on co-investing in ventures and on the speed of software development. In contact with entrepreneurs, it has become clear to us that a lot of them want to respond extra quickly at this time in particular. We are happy to go along with that.

In addition, we have developed a knowledge series in which we share insights on validating business ideas and a knowledge series on getting started with software development. The latter is mainly inspired by the idea that we can use it to help entrepreneurs who (have to) use this time to work on the future".

Relatively little changed

At Duodeka, the daily impact of the coronavirus crisis is reflected mainly in the loss of physical appointments and the fact that events no longer take place: "And of course everyone works from home. By making concrete agreements with our staff about weekly and daily goals, we ensure that everyone remains productive. All our processes have always been digital, so relatively little has changed. ”

6 x 2 = Duodeka

The approach in times of crisis, organizing, getting on with things... it's Duodeka's signature. Started in 2015 by a group of six students at Tilburg University, who chose the Latin word for twelve as the company name: "The pun was, 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 with IT, or software, or technology.”

Even before Duodeka was founded, Daan Schoofs strongly believed that, "...if you want to achieve something, you have to try to get into an environment where the thing you would like to achieve happens". According to Schoofs, opportunities arise by themselves: "That's actually what happened at Duodeka. At the time, I was working with a fellow sorority member on a traveler’s platform. And yes, I was at the university, so I knew about the existence of Starterslift, the Tilburg University startup program, among others. We were then selected by the selection committee with that traveler’s platform and were able to get an office in the university’s TIAS Building together, at that time, with many more companies  that had a 'link' with Starterslift.

Eventually, I came into contact with my current partners in building T. Together we really made the step towards entrepreneurship when we started Duodeka".

Focus on digital products

According to Daan Schoofs, Duodeka can best be described as a Venture Builder: "We are an organization that focuses on systematically rolling out new companies. In doing so, we focus on the digital products, the digital business models. These include platforms and software-as-a-service, for example. And as Duodeka, we 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. So we're really talking about the entire infrastructure of such a digital business model.”

Out on the market!

Initially, Duodeka was very focused on software development. This has changed recently. Schoofs about this: "That has evolved much more towards a full cycle approach. So from... I have an idea, but I still don't know what to do with it and whether it's right at all; it still needs to be validated and refined... until... I have an idea and I really want to work with it; I really want to develop it and I want to take it to the market! And then also: how are you going to get it on the market?

In order to streamline this, we have developed our own product “FlyStart, for example.” This is an automation tool with which we can speed up the start-up of software enormously. We can use it to deliver a “shell delivery” of the software within a month.

This speedy delivery to the market is of course extremely important for entrepreneurs. But there is more than speed. It is also about validating and refining the idea. And then also: how to set up the marketing. We put all this together in a super-fast manner: website, marketing, social media... The entire chain of digital entrepreneurship, from the idea to its roll-out in the market, is what we offer the infrastructure for from our shared service center".

Theory and practice

The people who work for Duodeka mainly come from Tilburg University, Fontys Tilburg and Eindhoven, and Avans Den Bosch. According to Daan Schoofs, they work with young people in any case: "For us, these are the digital natives, who really grew up with our profession and are therefore completely comfortable with the techniques we work with."

Education is important, but certainly not the only thing that makes Schoofs happy: "To a certain extent, you will always have that education partly lags behind practice. And, I think, for a university (with a strong focus on research) that is often even more difficult than for a university of applied sciences (where apprenticeships, for example, play a much more important role).

In my opinion, what a university does very well is to teach you to think in an abstract and methodical way. That is a very useful skill, especially when it comes to planning, strategy, and thinking ahead in your company. The challenge is then to make the translation to: and now it has to be done. Roll up your sleeves and go!"

Initiatives from Tilburg University and Braventure (the current Brabant-wide start-up program of Tilburg University and its partners) to give entrepreneurship among students and student companies more impact can, therefore, count on Duodeka’s support. Schoofs: "We also see this trend. And we are also holding discussions within our company about how to put scientific knowledge into a venture, for example. Of course, the university has a wealth of knowledge. And you want—I think—as a society and as a university, that what is developed, conceived, and researched at a scientific level to also have concrete applications in practice."

No plain sailing

With six founders, all with university degrees and “entrepreneurship in their veins,” you would expect Duodeka to be an example of a perfect fusion of scientific knowledge and entrepreneurship. Whether this was indeed the case from the start, seems to Daan Schoofs a bit of a 'question of conscience', which he has to think about for a moment: "Yes, it’s always a bit of searching, if you have to reason back... In any case, it wasn't easy. Of course, you always have to overcome difficulties, especially in the beginning.

We started as a group of software developers and there was (and still is) an enormous amount of software- or IT-related work. So in the beginning it was very challenging for us to focus our business strategy. Because as a software developer you can take on many different types of work, but that also blurs your long-term path...

Initially, we certainly did focus on custom software development. And it took quite some time before we took the first steps towards really focusing on Venture Building. Personally, in hindsight, I think we could have made that decision a little quicker."

Proud of the company, but mostly of the people

By now, Duodeka has overcome the perils of the start-up and Daan Schoofs outlines the contours of a successful company: "What I am certainly proud of is that we have been able to assemble an incredibly great team of people around us: people who are highly specialized, highly motivated, and ambitious to work here. And that we were able to combine that with an accessible, informal working atmosphere".

With that group, Schoofs wants to “move into the future': "It is our ambition to actively participate in some 48 ventures from our shared service center in twelve years' time. We also have international ambitions. We would love to be active in other countries with our ventures and possibly have an office internationally. In any case, these are the ambitions we all want to grow towards together..."

Daan Schoofs, if asked, cannot foresee what the coronavirus crisis will do with those ambitions. "In any case, we are fortunate to have products and methods, such as our knowledge series, with which we can currently help entrepreneurs to move forward. For many, this time is considered to be a step in the right direction, but certainly also an opportunity to invest in knowledge now, so that—when everything is back to normal—an extra quick restart can be made".

Duodeka

Photo made by: Merel van Dooren Photography