Brain Fuel

What Brain Fuel does

Brain Fuel B.V. is a Dutch private limited company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Leeuwarden, with a secondary training facility in Utrecht. It operates a hybrid services-and-products business centered on a proprietary six-phase facilitation methodology called the Brain Fuel Flow (Preparation, Warming-up, Diverging, Converging, Deciding, Action), supported by 30+ named brainstorm techniques, 21 canvases, and a Scientific Advisory Board. Its service offering includes structured facilitation sessions — Design Sprints (4-day prototypes), standard Brainstorms, 12–24-hour Hackathons, and custom bespoke engagements — targeted explicitly at "green and good" sustainability-oriented organizations. A separate training arm delivers four 2-day programs (Facilitator Training certified at HBO+ level, Praktisch Innoveren, Creatief Denken, Innovatiemanagement) priced at €1,575–€1,835 per participant, plus the SDG Kickstarter methodology for UN Sustainable Development Goal integration.

Revenue is generated through two channels: professional services (quote-based custom sessions and scheduled open-enrollment training programs delivered via the Utrecht academy) and a self-serve e-commerce channel (shop.brainfuel.nl) selling books (€39.95), card decks (€79.95), sticker packs (€4.95), and canvas downloads (€9.95). Customer evidence spans large enterprises (Nike, DPG Media, Gasunie, StukTV/Talpa, Renewi, Vergé, Omrin), NGOs (Greenpeace, WNF, U Impact), and government bodies (Rijkswaterstaat, Gemeente Leeuwarden, Gemeente Zwolle), with go-to-market executed primarily through content marketing, a monthly newsletter, organic social, SEO, free webinars, and consultative direct sales — supported internally by a lean 1-10 person team and a curated network of 100+ external facilitators who deliver engagements at scale across the Netherlands.

Name

Brain Fuel

Legal name

Brain Fuel B.V.

Website

https://brainfuel.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Brain Fuel B.V. is a Dutch facilitator bureau that delivers structured brainstorming sessions, training programs, and physical facilitation tools to sustainability-focused enterprises, NGOs, and government bodies, built around its proprietary six-phase Brain Fuel Flow methodology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Leeuwarden

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Services (Sessions, Training, Trajectories): The primary revenue driver. Brain Fuel offers facilitated brainstorming sessions, multi-day training programs, and multi-session trajectories. Sessions range from standard Brainstorm events to tailor-made (op maat) engagements. Training includes Facilitator Training (2 days), Creative Thinking Training, Practical Innovation Training, and Innovation Management Training. Pricing for training programs is publicly listed (€1,575–€1,835 per program), while custom sessions are quote-based.
2. Product Sales (Webshop): E-commerce revenue through the Brain Fuel webshop (shop.brainfuel.nl). Physical products include De Brainstorm Bijbel book (€39.95), Brain Fuel Brainstorm Deck (€79.95), Starters Pakket (€89.95), sticker packs (Selection Day, Trophy Voting, Shitty Ideas), and bundles. Digital products include all-canvases downloads (€9.95). The Starter Pakket plants one tree per order via One Tree Planted.
3. Consulting and Advisory: Custom problem-solving engagements where Brain Fuel is engaged as a Creative Change Club to fly in and facilitate organizational challenges, including SDG integration, strategy development, and innovation roadmaps.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Brain Fuel is a Creative Change Club and facilitation bureau that delivers structured brainstorming sessions (Brainstorm, Design Sprint, Hackathon, custom-made), four multi-day training programs (Facilitator Training, Praktisch Innoveren, Creatief Denken, Innovatiemanagement), and sells physical and digital facilitation tools through its own webshop. All offerings are built around the proprietary Brain Fuel Flow six-phase methodology and a content library of 30+ named techniques, with deliberate focus on sustainability-focused ("green & good") organizations.

Product overview

Brain Fuel is a Creative Change Club and facilitator bureau offering a portfolio of facilitation sessions, training programs, and physical/digital products designed to help organizations solve problems creatively through brainstorming. The core offering is built around the proprietary Brain Fuel Flow methodology — a six-phase framework (Preparation, Warming-up, Diverging, Converging, Deciding, Action) — which underpins all services. Session formats include Design Sprints (4-day intensive prototyping sessions), custom tailor-made brainstorm sessions, and Hackathons. The training arm consists of four programs: Facilitator Training (2-day certified program), Praktisch Innoveren Training, Creatief Denken Training, and Innovatiemanagement Training. Physical and digital products sold through the webshop include De Brainstorm Bijbel (a 236-page book with 31 methods), card decks (Basis Deck), the Starters Pakket bundle, sticker sets for selection methods (Selection Day, Trophy Voting, Shitty Idea), and canvas packs for all methods. The toolbox additionally publishes 30+ free facilitation methods including Brainwriting, Selection Day, Short Storyboard, Idea Launcher, Impact/Effort-Matrix, Wow-Now-How-Matrix, Transporter, and Hammer That Nail.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brainstorm Session A facilitated group brainstorm session delivered by Brain Fuel's trained facilitators using the proprietary Brain Fuel Flow methodology and a toolkit of 30+ techniques. Aimed at teams and organizations needing to generate new ideas, strategies, or solutions to complex challenges.
• Design Sprint A structured four-day (20-hour) intensive session that helps businesses develop a prototype that would normally take six months, enabling launches, solutions, or major changes within a week without quality loss.
• Hackathon A 12- to 24-hour intensive session involving three to six teams brainstorming intensively to generate as many ideas as possible, suited for complex issues without a clear direction and marketed as a high-energy organizational event.
• Maatwerk Sessies (Custom Brainstorm Sessions) Tailor-made brainstorm sessions built to match client-specific wishes and requirements, regardless of the size or complexity of the challenge. Pricing is quote-based and delivered at client location or Brain Fuel's Utrecht training facility.
• Praktisch Innoveren Training A two-day training program teaching participants how to effectively apply innovation within an organization, covering the renewal of products, services, or processes. Priced at €1,835 per participant.
• Brain Fuel Facilitator Training A two-day certified training program teaching participants how to facilitate brainstorm sessions, covering tools and methods to achieve fast, effective, and creative solutions. Graduates receive a Brain Fuel certificate at HBO+ level. Priced at €1,575 per participant.
• Creatief Denken Training A training program teaching participants how to break standard thinking patterns to learn genuinely creative thinking, including popular techniques and methods for applying them in brainstorm sessions.
• Innovatiemanagement Training A two-day training program teaching participants how to set up and implement innovation processes so an organization is strategically ready for the next step. Priced at €1,835 per participant.
• De Brainstorm Bijbel (The Brainstorm Bible) A 236-page book written by co-founder Friso Visser covering everything about brainstorming and facilitation, including theory on participant types, facilitator characteristics, the Brain Fuel Flow, and 31 brainstorming methods with 21 canvases. Priced at €39.95.
• Brain Fuel Starters Pakket A bundled product containing 100 cards across four categories, instruction cards, 25 Selection Day stickers, and 10 canvas digital downloads, designed to help users run successful brainstorm sessions. Priced at €89.95; one tree is planted per order through the One Tree Planted partnership.
• Selection Day Stickers A selection method product consisting of 25 sticker sheets in four categories (heart, unicorn, stopwatch, calendar) used at the end of a brainstorm to vote on ideas by happiness, uniqueness, short-term effectiveness, and long-term effectiveness. Priced at €4.95.
• Trophy Voting Stickers 25 sticker sheets in four categories (1st prize, 2nd prize, 3rd prize, consolation prize) used at the end of a session to vote on the best ideas or concepts. Priced at €4.95.
• Shitty Idea Stickers 25 sticker sheets in four categories (broken planet, turd, sloth, middle finger) used to mark the worst ideas during a brainstorm, supporting candid evaluation. Priced at €4.95.
• Stickerpakket (Selection Day + Trophy Voting + Shitty Idea) A discounted bundle of 25 sticker sheets each of Selection Day, Trophy Voting, and Shitty Idea stickers. Priced at €11.94 (original price €14.85).
• Brain Fuel Alle Canvassen (All Canvases) A digital download package containing all Brain Fuel canvases designed for each method, available in tabloid, American letter, A3, and A4 formats. New canvases are sent by email for up to 6 months after purchase. Priced at €9.95.

Quantifiable outcome

• Design Sprint delivers results in 4 days (20 hours) that would normally require 6 months of development work.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• One Tree PlantedminorOthersBrain Fuel partners with One Tree Planted, a tree-planting organization. For every Starter Pakket sold, Brain Fuel plants one tree through this partnership, supporting environmental sustainability as part of its 'world-improving' mission.
• Circular Engine (Nicole Bakker)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNicole Bakker of Circular Engine played a leading role in designing and implementing the SDG strategy and policy formation trajectory at Omrin, working closely with Brain Fuel during the SDG Kickstarter engagement. She is described as a circular strategist who contributed to the development and application of Brain Fuel's SDG methodology.
• Arthur D. LittleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNicole Bakker of Circular Engine co-developed Omrin's Strategic Vision 2021-2024 together with Arthur D. Little, which incorporated insights from the Brain Fuel SDG Kickstarter. Arthur D. Little is a global management consultancy.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Livework: Service design and innovation consultancy using facilitated, structured sessions with corporate clients — comparable service model, methodology-driven approach and B2B facilitation work to Brain Fuel.
• Board of Innovation: Belgian-headquartered innovation consultancy offering facilitated innovation sprints, corporate training and innovation strategy — directly comparable in services, methodology and target customer profile to Brain Fuel.
• Sprintbase: Dutch innovation agency specializing in Design Sprints and corporate innovation programs — a regional direct peer delivering nearly identical service formats to Brain Fuel inside the same home market.
• ?What If Innovation: UK-originated innovation consultancy focused on applied creativity, facilitation and innovation training for large enterprises — the closest analogue to Brain Fuel's mix of facilitation, training and IP.
• Strategyzer: Swiss firm behind the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas, with a strong offering in innovation training and certified practitioner programs — comparable as a methodology-and-training-led innovation business.

Broad incumbents

• Doblin (Deloitte): Deloitte's long-standing innovation practice, offering innovation frameworks, sprints and training to Fortune 500 clients — an incumbent competing for the same enterprise innovation budgets as Brain Fuel.
• frog (Capgemini Invent): Global design and innovation firm (now part of Capgemini Invent) delivering design sprints, innovation strategy and training to large enterprises — adjacent but broader incumbent offering.
• IDEO: Global design and innovation consultancy and originator of the Design Thinking movement — overlaps broadly with Brain Fuel's facilitation and innovation methodology but at much greater scale and brand reach.

Emerging players

• InWithForward: Netherlands-based social innovation consultancy using facilitation, sprints and service-design methods to drive organizational change — comparable in method, scale and Benelux footprint to Brain Fuel.

Regional players

• HYPE Innovation: Germany-based innovation management software and consulting firm running structured innovation programs for European enterprises — comparable methodology and training work, with primary overlap in the DACH region.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/brainfuelnl
• Instagraminstagram.com/brainfuel.nl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Brain Fuel