Experience Lab

What Experience Lab does

Experience Lab is a privately held Belgian tech consulting firm headquartered in Ghent that sells "tech lead as a service," offering fractional technical leadership to growth-stage businesses that need senior engineering guidance without committing to a full-time hire. The firm packages this offering in three productized tiers: a Kickstart one-time engagement (€1,500) for a technical audit and architecture proposal, a Collab day-rate engagement (€750/day) for strategic planning and team guidance, and an Advisory monthly retainer (€500/month) for ongoing support including a WhatsApp line and four hours of monthly technical assistance. Underlying technical differentiators cited are composable architecture approaches and AI-driven innovation integration, with the firm positioning itself around external validation, architecture decisions, and team mentoring rather than product development as a managed service.

The firm serves a horizontal mix of clients spanning enterprise, mid-market, and digital-agency segments. Named engagements include Store No8 (Walmart's corporate venture arm, for solution architecture), Accountants Academy (a composable-architecture learning platform now serving 9,000+ users), and Nimble (engineering team mentoring of 10+ engineers). The go-to-market is sales-led and consultative: prospective clients schedule an introductory call, after which engagements are scoped. The firm's marketing footprint is limited to its website (xlab.be), which carries case studies and client logos as the primary social proof, and there is no disclosed funding, partnership, or channel-reseller ecosystem. Operating scale is small, with the firm reporting 1–10 employees, no disclosed management team, and no published revenue figures.

Name

Experience Lab

Legal name

Experience Lab

Website

https://xlab.be

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Experience Lab is a small Belgian consulting firm in Ghent offering fractional tech-lead services (Kickstart, Collab, and Advisory tiers) in AI-driven innovation and composable architecture to growth-stage businesses ranging from startups to mid-market companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IT Consulting & Technical Leadership Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

iBPMS (Intelligent BPM Suites) & Process Automation Suites (HDAEAHAG)

Keywords

• Fractional tech leadership
• Tech lead consulting
• Solution architecture services
• Composable architecture advisory
• AI-driven innovation consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Ghent

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Advisory Services: Monthly retainer-based advisory service providing ongoing technical guidance, WhatsApp support, and monthly strategic meetings. Targets businesses needing sustained technical leadership.
2. Day Rate Consulting (Collab): Day-rate engagement model for strategic planning, technical oversight, team guidance, and innovation scouting. Flexible consulting engagements billed per day.
3. Project-Based Consulting (Kickstart): One-time engagement package including technical audit, architecture proposal, and shareable presentation. Initial assessment and scoping engagement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Experience Lab provides fractional tech-lead services to businesses, offering three engagement tiers: an initial Kickstart technical audit package (€1,500), day-rate Collab consulting (€750/day) for strategic planning and team guidance, and a monthly Advisory retainer (€500/month) with WhatsApp support and ongoing technical leadership. The firm focuses on AI-driven innovation, composable architecture, and team mentoring for growth-stage and mid-market companies.

Product overview

Experience Lab operates as a tech-lead-as-a-service consultancy offering three tiered engagement packages. The Kickstart package (€1.5K) provides an initial technical audit and architecture proposal. The Collab package (€750/day) delivers strategic planning, technical oversight, team guidance, and innovation scouting on a day-rate basis. The Advisory package (€500/month) offers ongoing monthly meetings with WhatsApp support and four hours of technical assistance. The firm emphasizes AI-driven innovation and serves as fractional technical leadership for businesses seeking to build, validate, and scale their technology operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kickstart A one-time initial engagement package priced at €1,500 that delivers a 4-8 hour meeting covering a technical audit, architecture proposal, and shareable presentation, designed for businesses seeking an initial assessment and scoping of their technology needs.
• Collab A day-rate consulting engagement priced at €750 per day that includes strategic planning, technical oversight, team guidance, and innovation scouting for ongoing project collaboration.
• Advisory A monthly subscription advisory package priced at €500 per month providing one scheduled strategic meeting, a WhatsApp support line, and four hours of technical support, designed as an ongoing fractional tech-lead engagement.

Quantifiable outcome

• Platform serving 9,000+ users built using composable architecture
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Netguru: Netguru is a European-headquartered digital consultancy offering software development, AI, and product consulting. It is comparable to Experience Lab in serving European growth-stage and mid-market clients with technical leadership and product engineering, and has overlap in target customer base.
• ThoughtWorks: ThoughtWorks is a large global technology consultancy that provides strategic technology advisory, architecture, and software delivery — overlapping materially with Experience Lab's solution architecture and tech-lead services. It serves enterprise clients at much greater scale and acts as the incumbent alternative for buyers considering smaller fractional providers.
• EPAM Systems: EPAM is a large global engineering services firm that provides digital platform engineering, AI, and consulting services to enterprise clients. It represents the scaled-incumbent alternative for the same enterprise buyers Experience Lab targets with its AI-driven innovation and composable architecture services.
• Xebia: Xebia is a global IT consultancy delivering digital transformation, cloud, DevOps, and AI services to enterprise clients. Its AI strategy and composable architecture practices overlap directly with Experience Lab's core offerings, making it a relevant incumbent competitor for mid-market and enterprise deals.
• Toptal: Toptal is a global talent marketplace that connects companies with freelance software developers, tech leads, and fractional executives. It competes with Experience Lab for the same buyer — companies seeking senior technical talent on a flexible engagement basis — but operates at vastly greater scale and offers a broader talent pool beyond tech leadership.

Direct peers

• Atomic Object: Atomic Object is a US-based custom software consultancy that pairs senior technical consultants with client teams on a project basis. Its model of embedding experienced technical leadership with product teams mirrors Experience Lab's mentoring and architecture advisory engagements.
• DockYard: DockYard is a digital product consultancy offering custom software development, architecture advisory, and team augmentation. It is comparable to Experience Lab in delivering senior technical leadership and solution architecture to product teams on flexible engagement terms.
• Lemon.io: Lemon.io is a marketplace matching startups with vetted freelance developers and tech talent. Like Experience Lab, it serves growth-stage companies that need senior technical expertise without full-time hires, and both compete on speed-to-engagement and quality of vetted talent.
• Plural: Plural is a platform focused specifically on fractional CTO and technical leadership engagements, the same core offering Experience Lab sells ('tech lead as a service'). Both target companies that need experienced technical leadership on a part-time or project basis.

Emerging players

• Mentorcruise: Mentorcruise is a marketplace for 1:1 technical mentoring, matching engineers and technical leaders with mentees. It overlaps with Experience Lab's team mentoring and tech-lead-as-a-service positioning, particularly for early-stage founders seeking experienced technical guidance.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/XLab_BE
• Facebookfacebook.com/xlab.belgium

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Experience Lab