INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AGENCY WITH A STARTUP INCUBATOR DREAM

At Dynteq, they're busy developing products and prototypes for clients every day, building lasting partnerships. Their ultimate dream is to build a startup incubator where they support startups with product development and business support. To truly realize this dream, Christiaan Haverslag and Rob Lenferink knew their company needed to grow.

“We make a wide variety of products, from garden lamps to submarines,” Christiaan begins enthusiastically. “Essentially, we do product development for other companies. Think of issues they can't solve themselves due to a lack of time, capacity, or facilities.” Rob adds: “We've been doing that for twenty years. Our clients are as diverse as the products we make. For example, we support SMEs as a kind of external R&D department. We often collaborate with them for long periods of time. We also work here and there for large multinationals that want to launch products quickly but lack the capacity. But the clients we're most excited about are the startups. They want to get to a minimal viable product as quickly as possible.”

Ultimate R&D work environment

They truly develop together with the clients, says Christiaan. “On the one hand, we're always busy forging and creating, which is the innovation and product development part. On the other hand, we also want to make a real impact for people. So we also contribute to the decision-making process.” Rob also values ​​this collaboration. “We want to create the ultimate R&D work environment. That's how we want to make an impact, both for ourselves and for our clients.”

A facility for brainstorming, creating, and testing

The real impact for the region lies in the gentlemen's ultimate entrepreneurial dream: a startup incubator. "It should be a facility where startups involved in technical product development have a place to brainstorm with professionals, create prototypes, and conduct tests. This isn't just about having a good workshop, but also an office where they can receive their first customers. Rob and I feel this call very strongly: to make a valuable contribution to startups in the region." To achieve this, however, Dynteq needs a certain turnover volume to cover some of those costs. The big question turned out to be: how do you work towards sustainable growth for your company?

Satisfied customers

That's why Christiaan and Rob joined GROW. "GROW sounded almost too good to be true, but it was spot-on. It opened our eyes to the fact that a satisfied customer is the most important thing for us," says Rob. "A satisfied customer stays with us, brings in new projects, and tells others about us. So you have to look at what the customer needs. Since GROW is very data-driven, we gained insight into that very quickly." The program also helped professionalize the commercial side, says Christiaan. "That was partly customer research to discover who the ideal customer is, but on the other hand, it was also about our value proposition. Instead of just relying on our intuition, GROW taught us to look at the data."

A critical mirror

That sounds positive, but the reality still caused some friction. Christiaan: "The guys from Gritd were able to hold up a critical mirror to us. That was uncomfortable at times. They really tickled us and put us to the test. Just go get the data. Go conduct customer interviews. By really questioning our customers, we learned a lot more." That indeed resulted in growth, says Rob. "Not so much growth in revenue, but in business operations. For example, we've now started Scaling Up for Impact for sustainable growth, which aligns well with the GROW program. We've become even better now, and I'm proud of that."

Impact for the region

The big dream of a startup incubator is thus becoming increasingly a reality. Rob: "Our organization is now so strong that we've been able to outsource more of the daily management of Dynteq. That's necessary; otherwise, we would never have been able to focus sufficiently on the incubator. We can now fully commit to that, because the new location is almost finished." If it’s up to Christiaan and Rob, they aren’t done growing yet. "In the future, we'll have truly created an ecosystem here that makes an impact for the region," says Christiaan. "The more great startups we can facilitate and help realize their dreams, the better it is for the region."