What could be better? Masters of Scale – a community of committed serial entrepreneurs with a shared passion for high-impact entrepreneurship – partnering with SBIC Noordwijk to support our space business community. As the newest community partner, the company’s masters and experts will be regularly at our headquarters on NL Space Campus to offer support to the startups covering anything from financing and fundraising to scaling and strategy. This partnership strengthens SBIC’s offering of expertise available and read on to discover more! Don’t delay in reserving your place for any of the upcoming partner-in-residence open house sessions and the finance masterclass on 30 May.
Masters of Scale was born from the observation that entrepreneurs transitioning from startup to scaleup often find themselves in a phase where generic advice fails to meet their nuanced needs and lacks the depth required to navigate their situation effectively. What’s glaringly absent is guidance rooted in actual experience – advice that can steer them through their specific challenges, market positions and capabilities, a gap seldom bridged by textbooks or generic mentorship.
This is where Masters of Scale comes in, a company that was founded in the Netherlands in 2020 by the three co-founders – Tessa de Flines, Dieuwke Hoogland and Duke Urbanik. The team has since grown and is currently composed of 35+ masters, experts and fractional leaders across Europe. Through its strong network of networks, Masters of Scale helps startups scale smarter and faster with help from experienced entrepreneurs and talented experts who have done it before. Co-founder Tessa de Flines shares further insights in this partner interview.
What is your company about and what is your focus?
Masters of Scale is a community of committed serial entrepreneurs (we call them “masters”) and experts with a shared passion to accelerate high impact innovations of international startups. Our community members have proven experience in successfully establishing, scaling, funding and selling companies, and have domestic and international networks. We offer a modular approach to help startups scale using masters and experts specifically chosen to fit specific needs. For example, we can support with fundraising, internationalisation, go-to-market strategy, organisational structure and management, product and business development, and much more!
How can you help our space business community?
The entire Masters of Scale team is excited about our new partnership with SBIC Noordwijk – one of the first ways we are eager to help the community is through a variety of topic-centred office hours with different team members, for example on go-to-market strategy, international expansion, marketing, fundraising and processes. Our masters and experts are eager to host these office hours at SBIC and share their entrepreneurial experience and expertise with the startups. Get these dates in the diary and book a session: 25 April with Pieter Kraaijeveld (strategy), 14 May with Chris Anell (marketing) and two opportunities to discuss fundraising strategies on 30 May with Dieuwke Hoogland and Duke Urbanik. We will also be presenting a finance masterclass that day too.
What approach does your team like to take?
For us, creating the right match – between the startups and the masters/experts that we connect them with – is essential. It’s about more than the expertise itself, we also focus strongly on alignment with a company’s unique culture and values.
We also emphasise the power of the community we have built – by working together, we offer access to an entire support network of professionals ready to step in and assist. The way we work with customers is very flexible and tailored to their specific needs, whether they need an ad hoc session, more intensive support or an assessment of how ready they are to scale.
Are there any recent developments in your company that will benefit the SBIC community partnership?
We recently launched a new service that we saw increasing demand for: fractional leaders. What we saw is that as businesses experience rapid expansion, they face a multitude of decisions and challenges. Founders are stretched thin across various leadership roles, often outside their expertise. While the need for strategic leadership is evident, a new full-time leadership role may not yet be feasible.
That’s where fractional leaders come in – these are experienced executives, available on a part-time basis, providing strategic leadership and direction in different business areas. It’s a cost-efficient way to access top-tier executive expertise without full-time costs. We have over 25 fractional leaders in our community, who can cover any role from COO (chief operating officer) to CTO (technology) and CCO (commercial, marketing, sales), and everything in between. This is a service we’re excited to offer to the SBIC community as well!
What draws you to our community?
SBIC brings a great group of innovators together – and our masters and experts are thriving in these ecosystems. They love accelerating innovations and getting them to the market.
What aspect of space related business appeals to you?
The majority of the Masters of Scale team is driven to support bringing impactful innovations to the market as from their different backgrounds they are capable of quickly understanding the high tech and often complex products and services in the space sector. We also know that space businesses tend to scale very quickly and those are journeys that we love to be a part of.
What’s the first step for the startups to reach out?
The quickest way is to send us an email or a LinkedIn message or just reach out to any of the team via our website. We also hope to see and meet them at SBIC’s networking and community events and get in touch directly!
Getting in touch with Masters of Scale
Contact: Tessa de Flines
Email: hello@mastersofscale.nl
Website: mastersofscale.nl
ESA BIC Noordwijk incubatees will get an introduction from Tessa de Flines of Masters of Scale during the info session on 11 June to discover the support options available for space business startups.
Masterclass: Unlock the Secrets of Your Company’s Financing
Where/When: 30 May 2024, 14:00 to 16:00 at SBIC Noordwijk
Presenters: Dieuwke Hoogland and Duke Urbanik from Masters of Scale
Book via: Eventbrite or SBIC community members get the free link in Slack
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