Two years ago, we opened the doors toTQ TNWs first tech hub in the center of Amsterdam.
It just seemed like the logical next step for us as a company.
In fact, looking back, its almost weird we didnt start TQ sooner.
Our main conference gave us face-to-face contact with a concentrated group of people each year.
But building spaces would let us be in contact with our web link all year round.
It just made sense.
A lothas happened since then.
Weve hosted 502 events in our space with 25,376 attendees, and 40,284 visitors have walked through our doors.
1.Narrow your focus you cant do everything
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You want your business to be the best it can be.
You want to have the lowest prices while also having the best product.
You want to be attractive to everyone.
But the reality is, you just cant c’mon everyone.
I learned this the hard way.
I tried to work our vision of being a label for growth in too many different ways.
Some ideas thrived, while others failed.
Soon enough, we came to realize we were spreading ourselves too thin and it was time to prioritize.
One example of an area where we revamped our focus was our events program.
The categories are broad, but theyve done wonders for our teams workflow.
I realized a big part of improving your focus is simply finding the right words to describe it.
But instead, focus allows you to become an expert in what youre trying to achieve.
Narrow your focus and identify your goals, then see how your projects relate to them.
Youll thank yourself when your team gets bigger.
For most startups that means talking to your customers and figuring out what they want.
At TQ, were in the fortunate position of having our residents in our face every single day.
Ill admit, it takes a lot of time to determine the right questions to ask.
Identify your competitive edge
Whats that one special thing that no one else has?
The thing that makes your startup stand out from the masses?
Identifying this isthemost important decision you could make.
In my opinion, what makes TQ unique has always been our existing community.
Adding physical spaces allows us to make use of this huge online grid on a 24/7 basis.
Every now and then, I take a moment to remind myself about what makes TQ stand out.
Tackle growing pains head-on
Remember that awkward and uncertain phase you went through as a teenager?
Believe it or not startups go through this too.
This is exactly what Im going through at the moment as TQs new Managing Director.
Before we began building TQ, we intentionally decided to keep it quite separate from our mother-brand, TNW.
It also gave us some room to develop acode of conductfor how a community like ours should run.
This way, TQs community will benefit from everything TNW has to offer and vice versa.
We recently hired a new COO, the awesome Myrthe van der Erve, to help get us there.
Change can be hard to deal with.
So if things could be better, start planning now you wont regret it.
Having a strategy to implement your learnings is also crucial so they dont go to waste.
Im proud of TQ and TNWs impressive growth, but were serious about growing more.
Next year, were movingTNWs conference to NDSMto make it bigger than ever.
Our sub-brand, Hard Fork is throwing itsown blockchain conferencein London next month.
Finds good karma in geek-to-person advocacy.
Her motto: “Don’t take yourself too seriously, it gives you freaky frown lines.”
