Troublemaker Shenzhen

Making your maker-dreams come true

Huaqiang Bei International Maker Center, 7/F Huaqiang Plaza Building, Huaqiang North Road, 518000 Shenzhen, China

Makerspace Centre d'industrialisation Espace de coworking

Superficie 100 m²

Ouvert en Juillet 2016

Type de structure Private company

Exploré en Septembre 2017


Troublemakers help makers accelerate their project from idea to production at lightening speed.

Thématiques principales

Technologie - machines & outils Entrepreneuriat Robotique Industrie & innovation Santé & bien-être Education Electronique

Cet atelier est fait pour les :

Entrepreneur.es

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Notre atelier en détails

Découvrez en plus sur notre espace, nos membres, nos machines & services !

Henk created Troublemaker last July with 3 other stooges as they couldn’t find any other existing makerspace providing machines and teaching you how to use it.

Ideally located, in the incubation space “Huaqiang Bei international maker center” gathering a dozens of technology startupers, Troublemaker provides both a co-working and a maker space to any maker who wants to turn his idea into a real product.

For 160€ per month, you’ll have access to your own desk, conference rooms, event space, the fully equipped lab to make a professional prototype but also help from professional engineers.

Highly connected in the bustling ecosystem of Shenzhen, Henk will be your guide. If you need support, Henk will introduce you to one of his “gurus”, professional mechanical and/or electronic engineers. If you need to launch your 1st batch or go on mass production, the founder has a partnership with an in-town factory in Long’an and is connected to another dozens of other ones in the area.

Today, Troublemaker is getting bigger and bigger:

  • In Shenzhen: 2 weeks ago, a new Troublemaker office opened in Nanshan,
  • But also worldwide: 3 franchises were created in Berlin, Norway and Myanmar and another one will soon appear in Perth in Australia.

The main users of Troublemaker maker and co-working space are the following:

  • Engineers (from 7 to 9 members) looking for a work place and hardware projects to work on. Some of them are called “gurus”. They access for free to the space but in exchange work for Troublemaker: it goes from providing classes on how to use the machines to helping entrepreneurs on their projects.
  • Start-ups already incubated in Huaqiang Bei International Maker Center looking for advice, skilled makers and a prototyping lab (a dozen)
  • Overseas start-ups looking for a work place, skilled makers and connections in the Shenzhen environment to develop their project. 3 are located in HQB space, 2 in Nanshan space and 1 uses the factory in Long’an.

Most of the users get to know Troublemaker thanks to word-of-mouth and Internet.

For example, we met Cesar, Brazilian entrepreneur, who’s here in Shenzhen for 1 month to improve his prototype and launch a 1st batch for his “raspberry pi tablet for kids”: MakePi.

Then we met Humberto Matias, Argentinian freelance, who arrived at Troublemaker 3 months ago. His mission is to prototype and manufacture a device to plug on a mobile for hearing-impaired people.

More than one year ago, Henk and his 3 other-co-founders launched Troublemaker’s legal structure in Hong-Kong as it provides more flexibility. Each of them invested 2500$ in the makerspace, most of it was injected in equipment and facilities.

Today, 90% of the costs are allocated to the rent.

In terms of revenues, more than 30% come from the matching between engineers and entrepreneurs (15% of fees per project), 50% from the desk, meeting rooms and machines rentals and the rest of it from punctual events (tours and visits, …) and workshops.

Note that Henk doesn’t want to make mark-ups when connecting a maker to a manufacturer.

For the future, another idea of revenue could come from the commercialization of products developed by Troublemaker’s franchises. Thereby, the Norwegian one’s just prototyped in Shenzhen an educational product.

Even though Troublemaker, after only 1 year, is breakeven, they don’t make profit yet.

Here are the future development plans for Troublemakers:

  1. to open an incubator in Shenzhen by the end of the year,
  2. to develop maker education activities,
  3. to expand Troublemaker’s network with further factories and makers all around the world,
  4. to structure and develop the franchise model,

o The model will be structured as follows: each franchisee will pay a fixed monthly fee of 100€ and 3% on its turnover in exchange for Troublemaker’s brand, model and network.

o Today, 3, soon 4, Troublemaker targets more than 200 locations in the world.

At the beginning 4, now Henk remains the only CEO of Troublemaker. He works by himself and involves his gurus, electronic and mechanical engineers, to work on entrepreneurs’ projects on demand and organize trainings and workshops punctually.

Most of the workshops are focused on “How to use the machines and workbench” in the lab and provided to the new joiners of Troublemaker.

From time to time, Henk organizes:

  • workshops for kids and students such as the class “how to build a robot” provided to students from Promoteus Education,

  • but also visits and tours of the Shenzhen technological ecosystem.

Moreover, every week, technical meet-ups are set up at Nanshan space gathering a dozens of makers.

As none of the projects developed inside the co-working space are owned by Troublemaker, there is no official documentation process.

However, when it’s possible, Henk tries to document events and workshops he organizes by taking pictures and videos posted on his social networks.

Henk created Troublemaker last July with 3 other stooges as they couldn’t find any other existing makerspace providing machines and teaching you how to use it.

Ideally located, in the incubation space “Huaqiang Bei international maker center” gathering a dozens of technology startupers, Troublemaker provides both a co-working and a maker space to any maker who wants to turn his idea into a real product.

For 160€ per month, you’ll have access to your own desk, conference rooms, event space, the fully equipped lab to make a professional prototype but also help from professional engineers.

Highly connected in the bustling ecosystem of Shenzhen, Henk will be your guide. If you need support, Henk will introduce you to one of his “gurus”, professional mechanical and/or electronic engineers. If you need to launch your 1st batch or go on mass production, the founder has a partnership with an in-town factory in Long’an and is connected to another dozens of other ones in the area.

Today, Troublemaker is getting bigger and bigger:

  • In Shenzhen: 2 weeks ago, a new Troublemaker office opened in Nanshan,
  • But also worldwide: 3 franchises were created in Berlin, Norway and Myanmar and another one will soon appear in Perth in Australia.

The main users of Troublemaker maker and co-working space are the following:

  • Engineers (from 7 to 9 members) looking for a work place and hardware projects to work on. Some of them are called “gurus”. They access for free to the space but in exchange work for Troublemaker: it goes from providing classes on how to use the machines to helping entrepreneurs on their projects.
  • Start-ups already incubated in Huaqiang Bei International Maker Center looking for advice, skilled makers and a prototyping lab (a dozen)
  • Overseas start-ups looking for a work place, skilled makers and connections in the Shenzhen environment to develop their project. 3 are located in HQB space, 2 in Nanshan space and 1 uses the factory in Long’an.

Most of the users get to know Troublemaker thanks to word-of-mouth and Internet.

For example, we met Cesar, Brazilian entrepreneur, who’s here in Shenzhen for 1 month to improve his prototype and launch a 1st batch for his “raspberry pi tablet for kids”: MakePi.

Then we met Humberto Matias, Argentinian freelance, who arrived at Troublemaker 3 months ago. His mission is to prototype and manufacture a device to plug on a mobile for hearing-impaired people.

More than one year ago, Henk and his 3 other-co-founders launched Troublemaker’s legal structure in Hong-Kong as it provides more flexibility. Each of them invested 2500$ in the makerspace, most of it was injected in equipment and facilities.

Today, 90% of the costs are allocated to the rent.

In terms of revenues, more than 30% come from the matching between engineers and entrepreneurs (15% of fees per project), 50% from the desk, meeting rooms and machines rentals and the rest of it from punctual events (tours and visits, …) and workshops.

Note that Henk doesn’t want to make mark-ups when connecting a maker to a manufacturer.

For the future, another idea of revenue could come from the commercialization of products developed by Troublemaker’s franchises. Thereby, the Norwegian one’s just prototyped in Shenzhen an educational product.

Even though Troublemaker, after only 1 year, is breakeven, they don’t make profit yet.

Here are the future development plans for Troublemakers:

  1. to open an incubator in Shenzhen by the end of the year,
  2. to develop maker education activities,
  3. to expand Troublemaker’s network with further factories and makers all around the world,
  4. to structure and develop the franchise model,

o The model will be structured as follows: each franchisee will pay a fixed monthly fee of 100€ and 3% on its turnover in exchange for Troublemaker’s brand, model and network.

o Today, 3, soon 4, Troublemaker targets more than 200 locations in the world.

At the beginning 4, now Henk remains the only CEO of Troublemaker. He works by himself and involves his gurus, electronic and mechanical engineers, to work on entrepreneurs’ projects on demand and organize trainings and workshops punctually.

Most of the workshops are focused on “How to use the machines and workbench” in the lab and provided to the new joiners of Troublemaker.

From time to time, Henk organizes:

  • workshops for kids and students such as the class “how to build a robot” provided to students from Promoteus Education,

  • but also visits and tours of the Shenzhen technological ecosystem.

Moreover, every week, technical meet-ups are set up at Nanshan space gathering a dozens of makers.

As none of the projects developed inside the co-working space are owned by Troublemaker, there is no official documentation process.

However, when it’s possible, Henk tries to document events and workshops he organizes by taking pictures and videos posted on his social networks.

Technologies & procédés mis à disposition

Impression 3D Fraisage numérique Electronique Découpe laser Outils pour le bois Outils pour le métal Etabli outillage

Services proposés

Café Formations & ateliers pratiques Coaching & mentorat de projets Espace de travail partagé Hébergement de startups & projets Prises de paroles & conférences Learning expeditions Prototypage Adhésions à l'atelier

Nos pratiques inspirantes

Ce que nous faisons de particulier pour gérer notre espace collaboratif

Matching makers to projects

What is it?

Troublemaker matches makers with entrepreneurs who need specific skills and development for the project.

In concrete terms?

The makerspace has a pool of engineers with different skills and background (electronic, mechanical or software engineers). Many entrepreneurs and start-ups will come to Troublemaker and ask for help to design, prototype and even manufacture their project. Henk will connect those latter to the needed maker. He’ll get 15{fd4c470d9b935926e3cb2dc10d222a0a7b07290bd30f0fbaac6a685b358b7df2} of fee per mission.

Why it’s interesting?

It’s interesting for the 3 stakeholders.

  • For makers who usually are freelances and are willing to work for engineering projects.

  • For entrepreneurs for whom it’s complicated to find the right person with the right skill in a foreign environment.

  • For Troublemaker as it generates today 30{fd4c470d9b935926e3cb2dc10d222a0a7b07290bd30f0fbaac6a685b358b7df2} of its revenues.


Franchise model

What is it?

Troublemaker is an international maker and coworking space based on a franchisee model.

In concrete terms?

Initially created in HuaQiang Bei in Shenzhen, Troublemaker has already developed 3 franchises in Norway, Germany and Myanmar. A new one will soon open in Perth, in Australia.

In the future, the model will be based on the following structure:

  • Each franchisee pays a fixed monthly fee of 100€ and 3{fd4c470d9b935926e3cb2dc10d222a0a7b07290bd30f0fbaac6a685b358b7df2} on its turnover

  • In exchange, they benefit from Troublemaker’s brand, model and network.

Each franchise can develop by itself products whose prototyping and production will be assisted by the powerful network of Troublemaker and commercialization will be realized through the different franchises.

Why it’s interesting?

It’s interesting for Troublemaker as they can develop their model globally, quickly, with very little hazard and generate a recurring revenue.

Thanks to this global network, Troublemaker creates a diversified and powerful value chain with key actors (makers, factories, …).


Nos projets de makers

Inspirez-vous des projets DIY de notre équipe & nos membres

MakePi - a DIY tablet for children based on Raspberry Pi

The MakePad story began with one simple mission— “To make the learning of code possible for everyone.” They are also proponents of the ‘maker culture’— a movement which encourages a DIY approach to designing, building, creating and learning.


Usound - a mobile phone for hearing-impaired people

uSound is a personal amplification smart audio system, developed by hearing and sound professionals to help people with hearing impairment at specific situations like:

  • Listening to a lesson at school
  • Participating of a conversation at lunch time / friends meeting or family
  • Participating of a work meeting
  • Listening to a conference
  • Listening to a movie at home

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