We built the hiring partner we wished we'd had.
Teamcubate started as two founders' answer to their own scaling problem. Today we help ambitious companies find, hire and keep great people across Europe, with our hub in Belgrade and deep roots in the Western Balkans.
It started with a problem we couldn't solve at home.
In 2017, Marc Lucas and Niels Thimmer were each scaling an online business, Marc in the Netherlands and Niels in Denmark. Both hit the same wall.
"Teamcubate does what we wished someone had done for us when we first looked across Europe for talent."
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Summer 2017
Two founders, one hiring wall
In Copenhagen and Amsterdam, talented people were hard to find, and harder still to convince to join a growing company. Young businesses were seen as risky, and they were competing with established multinationals for the same candidates.
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The analysis
Looking at the whole map of Europe
Instead of fighting harder for the same people, Marc and Niels compared cities across Europe on talent depth, education, connectivity and how welcoming the business environment was to companies building something new.
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The decision
Belgrade becomes the hub
Belgrade came out on top: a large, well-connected capital that draws talent from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia, with a strong tradition in math, science and the humanities.
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It worked
From our own teams to our network's
Teamcubate quickly became a success for the founders' own companies. Soon, companies in their network asked for the same thing, and Teamcubate became a company in its own right.
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Today
Hiring across Europe
We now source candidates in more than 20 European countries and have hired hundreds of people for our clients, from single critical roles to complete teams.
A hub with a much bigger talent pool than the city itself.
A lot has changed since 2017. The qualities that made Belgrade the right choice haven't.
Close to every client
Approximate direct flight times from Belgrade
A big, central city
Belgrade is one of the largest cities in Southeast Europe, with an international airport and direct connections to Europe's major business cities.
A regional magnet
Belgrade is the hub for Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia, so talent flows in from an area much larger than the city.
Strong education
There's a long tradition of rigorous math and science education, alongside humanities such as psychology. Successful companies need both.
Room to build
Many Northern European cities are dominated by multinationals in the race for talent. In Belgrade, the market is still friendly to companies building something new.
Business-ready English and a fast-growing tech scene
Serbia ranks in the top 25 worldwide for English proficiency (EF EPI 2025), and its ICT service exports reached a record €4.55 billion in 2025, up 10% on the year before.
The talent shortage is bigger than ever.
The problem Marc and Niels faced in 2017 is now one most European employers recognise. Companies that only look locally are competing for a shrinking pool, so where you hire matters as much as how you hire.
Hundreds of hires. Some of them became companies.
We measure success by how long people stay and how much our clients grow, not by how many CVs we send.
From client team to Becky.works
Some partnerships grow beyond hiring. Becky.works, now a leading financial company in the Dutch market, was created together with a Dutch Teamcubate client, starting from a team we helped build.
Founder-built, founder-minded.
Business first, then people
We start by understanding what you're building and what the role needs to achieve, before we look at a single CV.
Fit beyond the CV
We assess communication, collaboration and motivation as carefully as technical skills, because those decide whether a hire stays.
With you after day one
Our support continues after the contract is signed, with onboarding, HR and the cross-border details that keep a team running.
Tell us what you're building next.
Whether it's one critical role or a whole team, we'll show you where the right people are and the simplest way to hire them.
Sources: ManpowerGroup Global Talent Shortage 2026 · Eurofound via EUobserver · Government of Serbia, ICT exports 2025 · EF English Proficiency Index 2025. Flight times are approximate direct-flight durations.