TWTG is a Rotterdam-based technology company that makes industrial sites smarter. Its wireless sensors give operators a live view of how their equipment is performing, helping them prevent failures rather than react to them. In 2024, TWTG became part of IMI, strengthening our ability to turn hardware into data-driven insight for customers.
When John Tillema founded TWTG, he built it into a specialist technology company trusted by some of the world's largest energy businesses. In 2024, TWTG was acquired by IMI, creating the platform for its next phase of growth. Today John serves as Growth Hub Director for IMI's Process Automation sector, helping shape innovation across a much broader portfolio.
TWTG had reached the point where a larger organisation was needed to make the next step of scaling happen. We looked for a partner whose skills and DNA matched ours. The question became: who could take this technology further than we could ourselves, once we were willing to admit that might no longer be us? The industrial fit was obvious.
When did you know it was time for TWTG to become part of a larger organisation?
Some of it was simply right place, right time.
IMI was never the "always been the end goal" type of partner. TWTG had reached the point where a larger organisation was needed to make the next step of scaling happen. We looked for a partner whose skills and DNA matched ours. The question became: who could take this technology further than we could ourselves, once we were willing to admit that might no longer be us?
The industrial fit was obvious. Our sensors operate in exactly the same environments where IMI's valves operate, serving many of the same customers and sites. We were a 35-person company selling to Shell, Total and Chevron, one door at a time. IMI already had the installed base and the relationships we would have needed to build next. From a product perspective, it was a no-brainer.
What really surprised us during the process, and where IMI made the difference, was the organisational fit. The speed, the deep engineering knowledge of everyone we met, and the flatness of the organisation. We met the Group CEO and COO before a Letter of Intent had even been signed. All of those things made IMI feel much more like home than we had expected.
What surprised you most after joining IMI?
How little I actually understood about our own industry. I'd spent twelve years building and running a company and thought we understood business. Suddenly I found myself learning about governance, planning cycles, capital allocation across a portfolio and a whole game I'd never played before.
The obvious caveats were there too. The pace difference is a shocker. As a small company, speed was our currency, so we used it to the max. Everything was urgent, all the time. At IMI I've had to get used to what I call "corporate physics", or optimising for different things. But there's a flip side. We don't need to be first; we need to be good. The sheer amount of capability and power you can bring together once the direction is set genuinely surprised me.
I also expected resistance. I expected to feel like an outsider, sometimes even a bit of a fraud coming in from the sidelines. Instead, I found people who were curious, open and incredibly accessible. There were shorter lines to senior leadership than I'd expected from any listed company, and I discovered just how much unpolished opportunity sits inside a business this size. As a founder, you fight for every lead. Suddenly, you see potential being uncovered everywhere in the organisation. The new challenge becomes choosing where to focus, motivating people intrinsically and creating momentum. That required entirely new ways of working and thinking for me.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all? I'm still here, and I'm more motivated than ever.
How has your role evolved since joining IMI?
I've gone from running my own company to looking across an entire portfolio.
Today I'm Growth Hub Director for Process Automation, helping shape how a business of more than £1 billion, still a scary big number, creates its next generation of growth opportunities. I'm part of a team now, rather than trying to do strategy and execution on my own. I didn't join IMI to keep doing what I already knew how to do. Instead, I've had the freedom to get involved wherever I can add value across the wider business.
That has opened doors that simply wouldn't have existed before. I've been able to explore technologies and markets I would never have touched as a founder, from service valves and actuation to nuclear and hydrogen. I've worked directly with sector leadership on strategy for a business of this size, and benefited from leadership programmes and coaching that I probably would never have prioritised, or budgeted for, running my own company.
Some of it is uncomfortable. I often feel like the rookie walking into rooms where I'm the least knowledgeable person, and that hadn't happened to me in over a decade. But that's exactly where I wanted to be. You don't get to new places by staying good at the old ones.
What would you say to another founder considering joining IMI?
Be honest with yourself about why you're considering M&A in the first place. The money is one conversation, but it's quickly forgotten. The more important question is what comes next: for you as an entrepreneur, for your team and for the technology you've built.
Finding a company that combines global scale with genuine respect for engineering means you can feel good about the decision long after the transaction is complete. It gives you the opportunity to keep building, just on a much bigger stage. For us, that all came together with IMI.
