Meet Pepijn & Alice: Our New Technology Consultants

Please, introduce yourself…

Alice: Hello! I’m half Italian, half Dutch and after having completed a Master’s in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) I joined Venture IQ as a full-time Technology Consultant in August 2022. I have been working with the team for a month now and time really flies here: on my first day I immediately started on two exciting projects on aquaculture innovations and energy efficiency… We have just completed them, and I can’t wait to see what is next! 

On a personal note, I am passionate about politics and photography, and as soon as the weather gets warmer, you will probably find me riding waves on my windsurf. 

Pepijn: Hi! My name is Pepijn Kops, I joined Venture IQ in March of this year, also as a Technology Consultant. I live in The Hague with my girlfriend near the sea. I'm an avid surfer, so that is where you’ll often find me outside working hours.

Last year I finished my master's in Innovation Management at the Rotterdam School of Management, and before that, I studied at the TU Delft. My studies got me excited about corporate innovation and the role of start-ups in bringing emerging technologies to life, Venture IQ proved to be a perfect fit.

What do you do on a daily basis?

‍Pepijn: In my role as a technology consultant, I work closely together with our clients and a team of analysts on technology scouting projects. Usually, such a project goes from discussing the scope and finding the best way to segment and map a market, to identifying the most relevant companies based on the specific criteria defined by a client. Throughout this process, I’ll be in contact with the client to share thoughts on our approach and findings.

‍Alice: Yes exactly, day to day I’m either calling my clients, working with analysts on my project team, or doing desk research on all kinds of technologies and markets. I really enjoy that all projects are a collective effort and can be improved and refined throughout thanks to the active interaction with our team and clients.

‍Pepijn: Also, as we are still with a relatively small full-time team, there is always something to do in between projects. Whether that is on operational improvements, sales, and marketing or brainstorming on new features for our software Catalist.‍

What do you love about your job?

Alice: What I appreciate the most are the energy and dynamism that distinguish every day at the office. Projects are usually completed within three weeks, pushing us to continuously dive into new markets and technologies. To meet these tight deadlines, we make use of our in-house software, Catalist, which is able to efficiently automate otherwise tedious and time-consuming processes to filter out the noise typical of larger datasets. I have really enjoyed learning the ins and outs of the software, discussing cool features to add with our software developers  and the technical challenges that come with them; it is so rewarding to see the results of their work and put them into use.

Pepijn: I enjoy the fast pace and diversity of my work. Over the past 7 months I've worked on many exciting projects. Topics would range from agricultural robotics, to electrolysis or resource extraction from waste water in the span of weeks. Also, as Venture IQ is a scale up itself it is exciting to be part of a growing technology enabled company and learn about all kinds of business aspects that come with it.  Not to mention, the warm welcome I've had from the team.

How would you describe VIQ culture in 3 words?

Alice: Welcoming, go-getting, and definitely gratifying!

Pepijn: I would say driven, self-starting and genuine. Also, I love the fact that there is a lot of opportunity and trust to take up responsibilities from early on and work independently.