You've outgrown your 9-to-5. But leaving feels like jumping off a cliff.

Staying gets heavier every year. The only other option seems to be quitting, without a salary and without knowing if your idea will work. So the thought stays a thought.

Show me the third way

Inside the Lab · Stockholm

Sound familiar?

You're one of the most capable people at work. So what's been holding you back?

You did everything right: the grades, the degree, the responsible job. And still, every week, the same quiet question comes back: is this really it?

You've tried a new team, a new manager, fewer hours, maybe a course or two. It helps for a while. Then the feeling returns.

The problem was never you.
Leaving a stable job just looks like one huge, reckless jump, and nobody showed you the smaller steps.

The thoughts that keep you where you are

"I can't just leave. There's the mortgage."

"I don't even know what I would do."

"I'm not even sure starting a business is for me."

"What if I try, and it fails?"

"I'll start when the time is right."

What the Lab is

There's a lot of space between staying forever and quitting tomorrow.

That space is where the Lab works.

The Woman Entrepreneur Lab brings the methods startup incubators use to women who still have a 9-to-5.

Books and courses sell entrepreneurship as a straight line: write the plan, then launch. In real life it works in rounds. You make a rough version of your idea, test it with real people, learn from what they say, and go again. Each round, your idea gets more real.

You do this work in the room, in a small group of women, with someone who has done it many times looking at it with you.

1Start from what you know. A first guess at who has a problem you can solve.
2Make it rough. A few sentences or a sketch, clear enough to react to.
3Test it with real people. First the women in the room, then someone in your target group.
4Learn, and go again. Every answer tells you what the next round should be.

Two women in conversation at the table during an evening session

A participant filling in a worksheet during an evening session

A woman writing in her workbook during an evening session

Our evenings in Stockholm, 2026.

Why the Lab is right for you

Find out if your idea is worth it, before you risk anything.

No financial leapYou test before you invest, and long before you resign. Your salary keeps coming in the whole time.

Sized for a full-time jobIncubators are built for full-time founders. The Lab fits the hours you actually have.

An expert eye on your workMethods from years of testing new products with teams at companies like Scania and Ford, now applied to your idea.

Women beside youSmall groups of women asking the same questions. You find out quickly that you're not the only one.

Either answer is a good answer.

If real people want what you offer, you have proof to build on. If they don't, you found out in weeks instead of after years of wondering, and you keep the skills to test your next idea.

Two women talking on a sofa during an evening session

What's happening now

We're building the Lab, the way we'd build any idea.

Right now we're creating and testing the best formats to help women start building their Plan B, strategically, without the reckless leap. Evenings, a one-day sprint and a longer programme are all on the table, shaped together with the women who join the first sessions.

Follow along on Instagram to see what we're testing, and to hear first when new dates open.

Follow @mendez.palencia

Meet the founder

Hi, I'm Cristina.

I'm an engineer and strategic product designer. I studied at TU Delft, co-founded two startups during my Master's, and spent years helping companies like Scania, Ford and Vanderlande test new products before building them.

In 2026 I left my 9-to-5 to build my own company. Over the years I've met so many brilliant women who freeze the moment they think about starting something of their own. The Lab is how I want to change that.

Cristina working on her laptop with a cup of coffee