How a culture of curious innovators is driving Cradle’s growth to record heights

Jelle Prins (39), along with his co-founders Stef Grieken, Eli Bixby, Elise de Reus, and Harmen van Rossum, is at the beginning of something big. He recognises the same energy he felt during the early days of Uber - when there were no cars on the road and they were just a team of three - or when he built the first mobile applications for Booking.com, PayPal, and Google with his own agency. With a strong tech background, Jelle witnessed the revolution of machine learning at Google’s Moonshot factory. This made him wonder: where can AI have the most positive impact on the world?

 Faster and better with more ideas

Thus, without any biology knowledge and after many late-night hours with his partners, Jelle started Cradle in 2022. The company creates web-based software for bioneers that accelerates the development of new proteins with AI software. ‘Traditionally, this process involves a lot of trial and error - long processes that are costly. This can be improved, as AI can generate far more ideas than humans ever could,’ Jelle explains. ‘The model also learns faster, allowing us to test suggestions that might not have received funding initially, while significantly reducing the chances of a project having to stop due to a lack of ideas.’ The company had raised funds three times, totalling 100 million euros, and built a team of 45 specialists in Amsterdam and near the world's largest pharmaceutical companies in Zurich.

 Extremely ambitious and intrinsically motivated

The company is growing at an unprecedented rate and radiates ambition. ‘The perception is often that it’s challenging to be highly ambitious. People often think, ‘if I don’t set the targets too high, they’re easier to achieve’. I don’t believe in that at all. We are extremely ambitious because we are going to solve the world’s major climate problems. People feel that, and they want to be part of it. That’s why we receive multiple unsolicited applications every day,’ says Jelle. ‘Top talent can choose where they want to work. They want to be intrinsically motivated, proudly tell their friends what they’re working on, and make a positive impact on the world. On the flip side, you also need to pay top talent well. I think that’s only logical because we also ask a lot from them.’

 Cultural values as the foundation of success

According to Jelle, Cradle’s employees share several key characteristics. They are smart, self-starting, and capable of making significant strides in a short time. ‘At a start-up like Cradle, there is an enormous amount of work to be done. There’s no time to wait for an assignment. Plus, I enjoy working with really good people from diverse backgrounds.’ He has always been fascinated by culture and how it can influence a company and its processes. ‘Even before we started developing our actual product, I wrote our cultural values - a document with the principles on which our people base their decisions. This is essential to have because even if a decision doesn’t turn out perfectly, you can always explain why a certain choice was made,’ Jelle explains. ‘What is considered good work? What do we invest in, and what do we deliberately avoid? You must always think ahead. What you sow now, you can reap in a few years.’