Company
24
March
2025
7
minutes reading time
Match, improve, grow: 10 years of NextGen with founders Frank and Machiel
For founders Frank Exterkate and Machiel Hogeterp, 10 years of NextGen means 10 years of entrepreneurial drive, jokes, antics, watching colleagues grow and improving each other's pitch in the car back from a client. We look back with them and look ahead: has their vision come true?
10 years ago you started NextGen together, how did that come about?
Frank: "In 2007 I hired Machiel at secondment agency INvizier, which I owned. Later our paths parted, but we kept in touch. Until he told me in 2015 that he was looking for something else. Well, let's go sit on the terrace!'
'I had INvizier on my own. And on my own: that doesn't suit me. Besides, I was just a headhunter and I didn't think that was distinctive enough. I missed the connection with the candidates after they had been placed - like when I used to be an HR manager myself, just like Machiel. And on that terrace in Borne, he agreed with me: INvizier is not distinctive enough. So we said: suppose we were to start an agency, what would we do differently?'
'Sometimes you drink a beer and chat about life -and the day after, everything is just back to normal. This was different.'
What kind of agency did you have in mind?
Frank: "We wanted to add value in the chain of talent, after the match is made. So not make match and send invoice, but train soft skills. That's where you can make a difference. We decided to focus on Gen X and Y, researched what their needs are and put a proposition on paper. And then we just started, just the two of us. Him one side of the table, me on the other. The 10 years really flew by.
Machiel: "Sometimes you drink a beer and chat about life, and the day after, everything is just back to normal. This was different. The day after we were so inspired - it felt very big. I don't come from an entrepreneurial family - "is that even for me?", I sometimes wondered. When we came up with this idea, I jokingly said: shall we do it together? Frank was a little further along in life and immediately took us very seriously, immediately took me very seriously. He was not kidding. 2015 was a risky time for both of us, but we were so full of this idea. We're going to make this happen, we said.'
'Because of his confidence, my confidence in myself grew. When I look back now, it was the birth of me as an entrepreneur. That's what NextGen brought me. And the vision we had together in that moment: match, improve, grow - offering people more than just a job, and companies more than just providing capacity - that also applies to the other companies we now have together.'
What was the division of roles between you?
Frank: "We did everything together: especially in the early days. Talking to candidates together, visiting clients together. And then on the way back: 'this you did not do well', '- this you did not do well'. But always hard on the content, soft on the person. It took us a while to let go of doing things together, but you get busier all the time, of course. Eventually Machiel moved more towards marketing and I towards finance. We still do a lot together.
What could such a discussion in the car back be about?
Frank: "I am a bit more direct, more to the point. As a result, I sometimes miss what's going on around me - Machiel is very good at that. Our common denominator is fun. Always a joke, always a joke. We also have a few rules, such as: no phone calls between 6 and 8. That time is for the family. And if he does call, my wife says: your partner is calling!"
Machiel: "It's very nice that we have the same drive. If something comes to mind at 10 o'clock at night, I just call Frank. I don't feel inhibited at all and we never get irritated by each other's mentality. We put exactly the same energy into our work. Talk things out. Have fun. Then you can last a long time together. And thanks to the home front of course, without that support we couldn't do business the way we do.'
'Many former NextGen people end up in places where they themselves become clients and hire a NextGen professional. Do you want a bigger compliment than that?'
How much of your vision in 2015 became reality?
Frank: "Nothing went differently than expected; everything has worked out. Only Business IT what Rob (Business Manager Business IT) now sets up with Peter (General Manager), that's new.
Machiel: "That we would now be working on the accreditation of our program as a post-hbo, we had not thought at the time! But the basis with the program as distinctive, is absolutely right. We want to continuously offer candidates a unique experience and the content of the program must move with what the target group finds important. And as conceived, there is also always fun. Not only between the two of us, but also on the shop floor with colleagues. Everyone is equal.
Frank: "Whether someone stays to further explore his interests. Or find their niche at a company and leave us: both are great. The highlight of the year is always the Christmas party, when we see everyone again and hear what great positions people have ended up in. Quite a few former NextGen people end up in places where they themselves become clients and hire a NextGen professional. Want a bigger compliment than that?
What have been the biggest challenges?
Machiel: "We think we have a very distinctive position. That's also how we talk: why wouldn't a company want to work with us? But there is so much competition in our industry, sometimes it is fighting to get our approach across the stage. Can we tell what we do? Then we often get a job."
Frank: "Many matches come about through mutual chemistry in the office. You hear a good candidate passing by a colleague, or a great assignment. How we achieved that chemistry in corona time with digital bootcamps is something I find very special. Despite all the cancellations of flex staff in the Netherlands, not a single client said goodbye to one of our NextGeners during all of corona - partly because of the key positions they are in.'
"When we two see an opportunity, sometimes we drop everything. Peter is going to be able to get the potential out of the proposition better than we can."
Since 2023, you have been taking some distance, how do you like that?
Machiel: 'The fact that we are only owners takes some getting used to: Peter is now a director and he is doing a fantastic job. We are still working full time three days a week for NextGen, but we are keen not to get in his way, but to help him achieve his goals. We can fulfill our ambitions as entrepreneurs not only in NextGen but also in a number of sister companies, so great that NextGen can now function well without us. Peter is making it a more robust company that can do well without us.
Frank: "It's going really well, Peter feels at home. He was previously the director of a large employment agency, so he brings a lot of things with him that we don't have in-house. Like experience in managing a large company. But also complete focus. When we two see an opportunity, sometimes we drop everything. Peter is going to be able to get the potential out of the proposition better than we can.'
Machiel: 'We are pioneers - making something out of nothing. But making a company more mature, setting up processes and managing people: that's what really energizes Peter.'
Frank: "And it's not just Peter who makes the difference for NextGen's new steps. Look at the people who have been working here for a long time. Who sometimes come in with little experience in a certain expertise, but really get a lot off the ground. Thanks to all the people in the office, NextGen has been able to make great strides. And, of course, the people who have already left - we look forward to seeing them again at the Christmas drinks party!
In 5 years, another great anniversary with drinks, where will NextGen be?
Machiel: "We are going to make a difference for 85 true NextGen people in their careers. That is our goal. Of course, this requires growth, which brings with it new phases and dynamics. Like now with Rob, a NextGen employee who has moved on to an internal position as an interim employee and is now going to set up the Business IT business unit. It would also be nice to be an established name in the Eindhoven region, where there is so much talent and assignments."
Frank: "I think we might hit that 85 within 2 years. And we've never been driven by bigger is better, or by money, but top service attracts top candidates. And that's what we want to be: a company that top talent wants to join.'
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