Our

Office

Our office is built upon creative minds with backgrounds in business, design, art, language and software: a colourful blend for problem-solving!

We retain a flexible mindset and trust in the creative process. This tends to lead to extraordinary outcomes, even amidst the occasional chaos.

‍At The Main Ingredient, our team and craftmanship are leading.

Paul

Founder

Paul is founder and the creative brain behind The Main Ingredient.

It actually started when he was fifteen years old: Paul built a Nintendo website “just because it didn’t exist yet, and I thought it would be awesome to have one.” What started as a teenage  joke ended up being the biggest Nintendo community of the Benelux!

After finishing his graduation project at art school, Paul launched a startup, which was modestly successful. So he dove into the world of advertising… which made him feel more like a salesmachine. Cleary, the startup way of thinking was a better match. Paul: “For me, one of the most important things is interacting with people who share the same passion.

”That’s why The Main Ingredient was born in 2015. Within this company, Paul wanted to focus on building and launching several startups and ventures. Over time, The Main Ingredient expanded, learned, got more partners and became a loyal partner to many large, leading organisations. Paul: “Don’t just stick with ideas but really build them into operational ventures - that is something I can really relate to.”

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Nikaj

CEO and startup lead

Almost 30 years ago, Nikaj stood at the cradle of digital developments. He’s been in the game as a technical manager since the CD-ROM era, running projects at several multimedia companies in his twenties.

Nikaj never left the field of digital innovative products. In 2000, he became founder and CEO of Araneum Group. With this company he successfully executed interactive media solutions, with clients varying from local museums up to worldwide corporate setups like Nuon, Shell, and Vopak. Some of Nikaj’s strengths are connecting and motivating people. That’s why he knows how to guide organizations, projects and his team towards their goal.

As CEO at The Main Ingredient, Nikaj plays a leading role in the business and creative side of the company, from leading startups to handling finances. Next to that he is building and supporting the team - as a whole and as individuals.

Being busy all the time doesn’t mean that Nikaj can’t find a spare moment to play a round of golf, or enjoy a glass of wine next to a smouldering barbecue!

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Karin

Startup lead

Karin, a Film Studies graduate, began her career journey doing marketing for a film producer. An unconventional pathway that may seem, she discovered that the film industry and The Main Ingredient share more common ground than meets the eye!

After gaining experience in the digital world at both an agency and a corporate, being part of an innovation team and trying to setup new initiatives in a challenging environment, Karin took a great decision: moving to The Main Ingredient!

Three and a half years into her journey at The Main Ingredient, Karin has made her mark in creative strategies and user perspectives. She dives deep into new topics, she understands user needs, and she knows how to shape these insights into product concepts.

Away from work, Karin is a sport enthusiast, an avid home decorator and last but not least: a true culinary whiz.

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Lisa

Product designer

Beautiful and sustainable designs? Leave that to Lisa, our sociable product designer! She’ll make sure our products are sustainable, pixel perfectly crafted and beautiful to look at.

With a degree in Communication & Multimedia Design, Lisa joined our team in December 2020. Her favorite part of the role is creating digital products that make a meaningful impact, combining beauty with purpose. In other words: helping people and contributing to a slightly nicer world.

Beyond work, Lisa enjoys being outdoors, hosting dinner parties, and gardening. She loves dogs and believes in doing things well, guided by the motto, "Als je het dan toch doet, moet je het ook goed doen" (If you're going to do it, do it well).

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Irina

Developer

Secret knowledge of ancient spirits makes our shaman Irina create apps just from the ideas in the air. Raised by the Ural wolves and bears, she knows how to protect and lead her team into success. And she doesn't hesitate making her hands dirty. No matter if it's a deep coding session, content proofreading or a design review - she'd do it all, and give you harsh but fair feedback.

To keep connected with the nature, Irina likes to spend her time jogging, biking and doing yoga. And to immerse herself into other worlds she plays role-playing games on her PC.

Just be careful when trying to do small talk with her - bears didn't teach her much social skills.

Jeroen

Frontend developer

From a young age, Jeroen has been eager to learn how things work technically. That’s why he combines a degree in graphic design with creating interactive user interfaces. With over 7 years of experience at The Main Ingredient, Jeroen is our guy whenever we’re in need of solutions to complex problems. Because he makes sure everything in the browser is functional and looks good.

Outside of work, Jeroen calls coffee a hobby in itself. Fact: he takes time to manually prepare his coffee, making each cup perfect. He recently took his first steps in latte art, (although there's room for improvement…)

Despite a disappointing culinary experiment involving knakworst and suikerbrood, Jeroen still likes to experiment when solving problems. In his own words: “I find it particularly challenging if a customer knows where they want to end up, but they don't exactly know what road to take.”

Lisalou

Service designer

Lisalou is a sociologist and management graduate with a particular set of survival skills. As a child from the Dutch island of Texel, she can be trusted to find eatable plants and oysters, start a fire or sail the sea.

Besides running her own company, Lisalou expertly juggles user research, design sprints, and workshops. This fits her perfectly: her work is structured but creative, and there is a good balance between ad hoc tasks and long term goals. When not spinning magic at work, she loves freeride skiing in the Alps. This active mind and body need the right power food, which might explain Lisalou’s lifelong devotion to everything spaghetti!

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Dennis

Copywriter

Dennis is TMI's storyteller, making complex subjects understandable to all.

Passionate about words and music, Dennis began writing and playing music at a young age. This resulted in a degree in music from the Conservatory of Rotterdam.

At the same time, Dennis started building a writing career, covering diverse topics: from travel and art to financial guidance. Dennis: “Each new subject provides fresh learning opportunities. Because to write effectively, you must first gain a deep understanding yourself. This makes his work at The Main Ingredient both challenging and educational.”

When not writing stories, Dennis can be found in his studio - a little museum of vintage musical gear. Here, he records music and plays at festivals, music bars, and even techno clubs.

Bart

Interaction Designer

Bart is drawn to tangible user experiences, particularly in the visual and digital realm.

He effortlessly transforms abstract concepts into working products, expertly crafting user flows and high fidelity prototypes.

Bart, a Game Design graduate with 10 years of experience, took part in creating the world's first solar family car during his time at Lightyear 0. For him, UX design is like solving a puzzle. Bart: "People often take great UX for granted, yet complain when it falls short. No feedback means I've done my job!"

In his free time, Bart enjoys exploring medieval cities, capturing whatever catches his eye through photography.

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Want to

join us?

We are a startup studio in the centre of Amsterdam (less than 10 minutes away from Central Station). As startup studio we build our own startups and corporate startups. We take on the role of founder or co-founder for different projects to achieve a strong position in the market.

To do this we developed Scan, Build, Grow, our own process to guide every project through all necessary fases as we work towards Product Market Fit.

Join as Senior Software Developer