Ben Linders
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersTilburg, Netherlands
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Ben Linders does
Ben Linders Consulting is a sole proprietorship registered in Tilburg, the Netherlands (KvK: NL 52234010), founded by Ben Linders in 2009 after a 25-year career in software development, management, and consulting. The firm operates as a one-person independent consultancy focused on Agile, Lean, Quality, and Continuous Improvement, serving software development professionals, agile teams, and organizations across banking, insurance, healthcare, government, multimedia, and technology. The business combines consulting, coaching, and mentoring services with a substantial self-published content portfolio.
The core product surface is a content-led toolkit: five authored books (notably 'Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives' and 'What Drives Quality'), the Agile Self-assessment Game with expansion packs for Scrum, DevOps, Kanban, and Business Agility, and roughly fifteen card- and board-based coaching tools covering retrospectives, psychological safety, culture, impediments, quality, and root cause analysis. There is no underlying software platform or proprietary technology stack; the offering is human-delivered expertise packaged as digital downloads, paperbacks, and live workshops. Products are available in 14+ languages and distributed through the benlinders.com webshop, Amazon, Leanpub, Bol.com, Managementboek, InfoQ, and Smashwords.
Revenue is generated through four streams: one-time digital and physical product sales (€1.99–€32.99), book sales, professional services (workshops and coaching at €150–€450), and affiliate commissions from Amazon Associates and partner programs. GTM is primarily direct-to-consumer via the webshop, augmented by event-driven workshop sales at conferences such as GOTO CPH and Agile Testing Days. Marketing is content-driven through the company blog, InfoQ editorial work, LinkedIn, newsletters, and conference speaking. The business is bootstrapped, with no disclosed funding, no subsidiaries, and no institutional ownership.
Ben Linders firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ben Linders
- Legal name
- Ben Linders Consulting
- Website
- https://benlinders.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Ben Linders is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tilburg
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Ben Linders business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Others
Revenue model
- Product Sales (Digital Downloads): Self-published digital products sold via the benlinders.com webshop and third-party platforms. Includes coaching card games, PDF exercises, and coaching tools in multiple languages. Prices range from €1.99 to €32.99 per product.
- Book Sales (Paperback and eBook): Self-published books on agile practices sold as paperbacks and ebooks. Available on Amazon, Leanpub, and direct from benlinders.com. Includes translations in Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Russian, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese.
- Workshop and Training Fees: Fees for online and onsite workshops, masterclasses, kick-off training sessions, and coaching/mentoring sessions. Workshop prices range from €150 to €450. Coaching sessions are available at custom rates. Includes free lifetime support.
- Affiliate Commissions: BenLinders.com participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and affiliate programs with Bol.com, Books depository, Booktopia, Kobo, Managementboek, earning commissions on referred sales.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Self-assessment Game Digital Downloads |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Card Games and Coaching Tools |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | eBooks |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Paperbacks |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Workshops and Training |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Book & Card Packages |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Ben Linders product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ben Linders Consulting is a one-person independent consultancy that sells self-published books, proprietary card games, and coaching tools on agile practices, and delivers workshops, masterclasses, kick-off training, and one-on-one coaching/mentoring on agile retrospectives, quality, impediment handling, and continuous improvement. Products are sold as digital downloads, paperbacks, and standalone coaching toolkits through the benlinders.com webshop and third-party bookstores, while services are delivered as public workshops, private in-house engagements, and conference sessions worldwide.
Product overview
Ben Linders offers a portfolio of agile coaching tools consisting of core books (Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives, What Drives Quality, The Agile Self-assessment Game, Problem? What Problem?, and Continuous Improvement), card-based coaching games (Agile Self-assessment Game with expansion packs for Scrum, DevOps, Kanban, and Business Agility; Retrospective Smells Cards; Psychological Safety Cards; Culture Cards; Agile Quality Coaching Cards; and Impediment Games), and workshop/training services (Valuable Agile Retrospectives, Assessing your Agility, Collaborative Problem-solving, and Psychological Safety workshops). Products are available as digital downloads and physical items through the webshop, with books also sold on Amazon and Leanpub. The offerings form a cohesive toolkit for agile coaches, Scrum masters, and consultants to facilitate team improvements and organizational agility.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives A book providing exercises for personal retrospective toolbox to help readers become more proficient in doing retrospectives and getting more value from them. Sold as paperback, Kindle, and eBook via the benlinders.com webshop, Amazon, and Leanpub, with multiple translated editions.
- What Drives Quality A book exploring how quality plays a role in all software development phases, providing practical solutions for delivering high-quality products. Sold as paperback and eBook worldwide.
- The Agile Self-assessment Game A book and card game used by teams and organizations to self-assess their agility, reflect on collaboration and team interworking, and engage in next steps for their agile journey. Sold as a standalone book and card game product.
- Problem? What Problem? A book specifically about dealing with impediments using agile thinking and practices, explaining approaches to effectively handle impediments in teams and beyond. Sold as paperback and eBook.
- Continuous Improvement
- Waardevolle Agile Retrospectives (Dutch edition) Dutch language edition of Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives, providing exercises for a personal retrospective toolbox. Sold as paperback.
- Agile Self-assessment Game - Corporate Edition
- Workshop: Valuable Agile Retrospectives for Teams
- Workshop: Assessing your Agility
- Workshop: Collaborative Problem-solving
- Workshop: Explore and Improve Psychological Safety in Software Teams
- Personal Agile Coaching & Mentoring
- Kick-off Training for Agile Coaching Tools
Quantifiable outcome
- Trusted by banks, insurance, healthcare, government, and tech companies worldwide
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Ben Linders
Customer profileNamed customers16 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Ben Linders technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Ben Linders partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- eduScrumcoreBen Linders is a friend and partner of eduScrum. He works with eduScrum co-founders Willy Wlaartz and Daniel Van Bree on agile education initiatives. Jeff Sutherland is also a big supporter of eduScrum and shares a mutual friendship/partnership with both eduScrum and Ben Linders.
- Brandi OlsonminorThe Business Agility Expansion Pack for the Agile Self-Assessment Game was developed by Ben Linders in collaboration with Brandi Olson.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Ben Linders competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Scaled Agile: Creator of the SAFe framework, offering enterprise agile transformation training, certifications, and consulting. Competes for the same enterprise agile budget but at framework/platform scale rather than solo-practitioner scale.
- Scrum.org: Ken Schwaber's professional scrum training and certification organization. Sells training, certifications, and learning paths covering the same agile domain but at significantly larger scale and institutional structure.
Others
- Leanpub: Self-publishing platform that hosts and sells Ben Linders' ebooks in multiple languages. Functions as a key distribution channel and infrastructure provider for the company's digital book business.
- ICAgile: Industry certification body offering agile certifications and an accreditation program for training providers. Operates upstream of solo consultants by certifying both individual practitioners and the courses they deliver.
- InfoQ: Software development media platform where Ben Linders serves as an editor publishing interviews and articles. Both an indirect distribution channel and a content ecosystem peer shaping how agile content reaches developers.
Direct peers
- Mountain Goat Software: Mike Cohn's one-person agile consultancy that sells books (Agile Estimating and Planning, User Stories Applied), training courses, and consulting services. Nearly identical solo-consultant + book + course + workshop business model targeting software development professionals.
- Allan Kelly: Independent UK-based software/lean consultant and author of multiple books (Xanpan, Changing Software Development). A solo practitioner offering books, training, and advisory services to similar enterprise software development clients.
- Management 3.0: Jurgen Appelo's company offering books, gamified leadership tools (Delegation Board, Kudo Cards), workshops, and certified trainer network. Closest direct competitor: sells the same combination of agile/lean books, card games, and workshops as Ben Linders.
- Gojko Adzic: Independent consultant and author of Specification by Example, Impact Mapping, and other agile/lean books; also builds and sells software tools. Comparable independent author-practitioner model with books, tools, and consulting.
- Poppendieck LLC: Tom and Mary Poppendieck's consultancy offering lean software development books, training, and consulting services. Closely comparable one-stop author + workshop + advisory business targeting the same lean/agile software development audience.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Ben Linders social profiles
Digital presenceBen Linders financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ben Linders leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Ben Linders funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ben Linders M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ben Linders
What does Ben Linders do?
Ben Linders Consulting is a one-person independent consultancy that sells self-published books, proprietary card games, and coaching tools on agile practices, and delivers workshops, masterclasses, kick-off training, and one-on-one coaching/mentoring on agile retrospectives, quality, impediment handling, and continuous improvement. Products are sold as digital downloads, paperbacks, and standalone coaching toolkits through the benlinders.com webshop and third-party bookstores, while services are delivered as public workshops, private in-house engagements, and conference sessions worldwide.
Is Ben Linders a public or private company?
Ben Linders is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Ben Linders founded?
Ben Linders was founded in 2009. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Ben Linders based?
Ben Linders is headquartered in Tilburg, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Ben Linders make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Product Sales (Digital Downloads) is the primary driver. The others are book Sales (Paperback and eBook), workshop and Training Fees and affiliate Commissions.
Who are Ben Linders's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Scaled Agile and Scrum.org. Others are Leanpub, ICAgile and InfoQ. Direct peers are Mountain Goat Software, Allan Kelly, Management 3.0, Gojko Adzic and Poppendieck LLC.
Does Ben Linders have an API?
No public API is recorded for Ben Linders.