Meet Tim: From Lost Trucks to Digital Twins at TwinLabs

Some startups are sparked by a moment of brilliance. Others begin with something more relatable: frustration.

For Tim Wade, one of the co-founders of TwinLabs, it all started while wandering around the Tour de France in search of a mobile office truck.

“We were wasting time every day just trying to find things — the truck, the entrance, the toilets… it added up,” he recalls. “So we slapped a GPS tracker on the truck. Simple. That tiny step snowballed into building an operational digital twin of the entire backstage setup for the Tour.”

That single act — locating one asset in real time — opened a door. Suddenly, organizers, partners, even the police could make smarter decisions, faster. And the TwinLabs vision began to take shape.

“We realised if we could just get this kind of tech into people’s hands, we could help them answer questions they hadn’t been able to before,” Tim says. “It’s not just about solving billion-dollar problems. It’s about solving the everyday inefficiencies that grind people down.”

When early users got hands-on with the platform, the lightbulbs started to go off.

“At first, it was hard for people to picture what we were building,” Tim says. “But once they used it — saw the data, the maps, the real-time insight — the conversations changed. Suddenly they were discovering things we hadn’t even thought of. That’s when we knew we had something real.”

TwinLabs has stayed close to its original vision, but it’s evolved — thanks in large part to customer feedback.

"What’s changed for me is how I see the value,” Tim reflects. “It’s in how we connect layers of data, relationships, spatial context — and make it usable for real people doing real work.”

One of the most complex features currently on his mind? Enabling users to configure their digital twin environments themselves. “It touches a ton of areas in the architecture,” he says. “But it’s powerful. It’ll let customers adapt the system to their needs without waiting on us.”

That challenge is emblematic of the broader ambition.

“Our product brings together a lot: live data, historical data, Vision AI, LLMs, 2D/3D front-ends, multiple database types. It’s a mess of technology domains — and the miracle is that it all ends up in something a business user can just click around and use.”

Throughout it all, Tim’s carried a strong belief in autonomy — and not just for the users.

“Autonomy here means owning the outcome. It means making the decision, solving the problems, and delivering. We don’t micromanage — we back each other.”

That mindset extends to how the team works.

“I’m all about using the right tool for the job,” he says. Whether that’s Endel to focus, Grammarly to clean up typos, or Cursor to write better code — marginal gains matter. It’s in our DNA — we all came from pro cycling where every bit of efficiency counts.”

When he’s not building, you’ll find Tim on his bike. Long, solo rides. Sometimes ultra-endurance.

“When you’re a few days into back-to-back 10-hour rides and everything hurts, you have to dig deep. That mental toughness translates. It helps when things are hard at work.”

Looking ahead, Tim is excited about what’s next. Founder-led sales have brought in a wave of new customers — each with their own use cases and lightbulb moments.

“We’re starting to open up whole new verticals. In 12 to 18 months, I want to see us with two or three new templates live and in use.”

And in three years?

“Multiple industries. Deep usage. A bigger team. More value for our customers. We’ll keep building, keep solving, keep growing.”

And if you ask what advice he’d give his past self?

“Start selling earlier. There are visionaries out there who’ll buy into what you’re building — they’ll help you shape it faster than you can alone.”