Dalton has left the Wintercircus Startup Campus. Not because things didn't work out, but because they worked out so well that the E-commerce outfit outgrew its desk. Co-founder Vincent Declercq reflects on the startup's growth and the community that helped make it happen.

“There's even a PlayStation!” The chairs and tables have barely been unpacked, cardboard boxes are piled up in a corner, and there are still a few more finishing touches needed before Dalton’s new office feels truly ‘lived-in’. But Vincent Declercq knows exactly where his employees’ priorities lie. The team has now grown to seven people, five more than when we first spoke with Vincent and his co-founder, Ward Van Laer, a year ago about their fledgling startup, Dalton.

The two entrepreneurs had just secured €1 million in pre-seed funding, and it was easy to see why. With Dalton, they were building an AI co-pilot designed to optimize e-commerce website conversion rates in real time. “Most sales software only allows you to A/B test a single variable every quarter,” Ward explained at the time. “And don’t get me started on the amount of work involved in making small changes to your website based on the results of that one test.”

With Dalton, all of that becomes remarkably straightforward. Since launching in late 2025, the Ghent-based startup has persuaded more than a hundred companies to adopt its technology, ranging from Belgian lingerie powerhouse Van de Velde and Canadian audio giant Audiobooks.com to the American fitness chain In-Shape Fitness. “Even companies that were already highly sophisticated in their use of A/B testing saw a noticeable increase in leads and customers within a month,” says Vincent. “The difference is that our AI doesn’t just rapidly identify opportunities for improvement. It implements those changes immediately.”

The product is already generating enough buzz that, at e-commerce trade shows, the founders are regularly asked why Dalton hasn’t joined the Belgian unicorn ranks yet. After all, who wouldn’t want software that continuously improves a website’s performance on its own?

“But we’re only at about 30% of what we envision,” Vincent laughs. “We still need additional engineering power, plenty of creativity, and, above all, time to keep improving the proactivity and ease of use of our technology. Fortunately, we now have our own office, with enough space to do exactly that.”

To be fair, Dalton's new office is less than a two-minute walk from Wintercircus. And seeing the company outgrow the Startup Campus is exactly the kind of success story the place was built to create. "Still, my badge doesn't even work anymore," Vincent says, with just a hint of nostalgia. "It feels strange not being able to walk in whenever I want. Then again, having a PlayStation in the new office definitely softens the blow."

One thing is certain: Vincent and his colleagues loved their time at the Startup Campus, not just professionally, but socially as well. "At one point, all the startups got together for a game of laser tag," Vincent recalls. "It was fantastic. I mean, you have to admit, Wintercircus was practically built for it."

True, as a backdrop for a game of laser tag, Ghent’s tech hub makes Blade Runner pale by comparison.

“And it’s not just the camaraderie I’ll miss, or the fact that even at ten o’clock at night there’s always someone around to chat with,” Vincent continues. “I’ll also miss places like Bar Bougie. Being able to walk down a few flights of stairs for a meeting in such a lively setting, at virtually any time of day, is a special kind of treat.” Especially when you consider that Vincent once spotted Teamleader’s founder Jeroen De Wit sitting there. He headed downstairs for a conversation and, a week later, Jeroen had become one of Dalton’s angel investors. “All because I looked out of the office window at exactly the right time.”

But what Vincent values most is the knowledge that flows through Wintercircus in every direction. “From the start, we were impressed by the quality of the masterclasses,” he says. “We quickly realized we should attend as many as possible and soak up as much as possible if we wanted to help Dalton grow. But often, it was also the seemingly small conversations that made a difference. Things like: ‘We’re hiring, but we can’t find any candidates who excite us. How did you tackle that?’ The amount of time we’ve saved one another through those exchanges, and the number of mistakes we’ve avoided as a result — those things are almost impossible to quantify.”

Which naturally raises the question: would Dalton be where it is today without Wintercircus?

“One hundred percent not,” Vincent answers without hesitation. “And it’s hard to pinpoint a single reason, because it’s really the result of a hundred different things. If I may use a slightly odd comparison, it sometimes felt as though every startup was its own battalion, each fighting on a different front. But whenever you ran into trouble, you knew the others would come to your aid. The sense of camaraderie among the startups is unlike anything else I’ve experienced.”

He pauses for a moment before offering a final verdict. “If you want an acting career, you go to Hollywood. If you want to become a Michelin-starred chef, you head to Copenhagen. And if you want to build a tech startup in Belgium, you better make sure you get into Wintercircus.”

In the end, two equally important questions remain: did Ward ever make it to the Wintercircus gym, and has Vincent finally given up on his dream of becoming a travel influencer? Vincent bursts out laughing. “I don’t think Ward ever found his way there. As for me, I take comfort in the fact that I’m constantly travelling to e-commerce trade shows in Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Boston, and New York.”

“Actually,” he adds, “whenever we attend those trade shows, we cover a table with $20 bills. Only when people take a closer look do they notice the bills say ‘20%’ instead of ‘$20’. That’s when we tell them they’re leaving money on the table by not doing business with us. And it works!”

He grins. “The idea came from Stijn Jansen, Wintercircus’ creative director. So that’s yet another thing we’re taking with us from our time here.”