Mads Vad Kristensen

Spending the day at The Kitchen, the innovation hub for Aarhus University. It's my first time here. Cool place they have built with a proper entrepreneurial vibe. Looking forward to a great productive day with some good discussions about person profiling and team dynamics.

One of the hardest things working with research-based spinout teams is to help them articulate and feel confident in why they are pursuing the journey, they have embarked on. I created an effective tool to help guide them through those reflections. I write. madsjvk.substack.com/p/the-first-...

Early riser and heading for Aarhus today on the train. Meeting my fellow colleagues from the other Danish universities to discuss personality profiles and their role in team dynamics for spinouts. Looking very much forward to it.

Discussing application for the DTU PoC grant this morning with one of my teams. Applying and pitching for funding is always tricky. Because you never exactly know what will trigger the interest of the panel on the day. But being crystal clear about the opportunity, you're presenting, helps.

Spending a bit of my Sunday playing around with setting Claude up to be a critical interviewer - of me. The skill is getting pretty strong, and it's starting to feel like a 3rd degree interrogation. Which is great because it forces ME to think more about my own ideas.

To quote a former chairman of the board in a big company, I used to work for (after having told him on my first day on the job that I was sure, he would hear a lot from me going forward): "Now, I wonder: Is it a promise or a threat?" (He was VERY British...)

DTU Skylab gets more smart muscle! We're merging our leading innovation hub with DTU Entrepreneurship under the DTU Skylab brand. I know firsthand what amazing things we can do, when we combine research and hands-on execution into ONE. Can't wait! (in Danish) www.dtu.dk/nyheder/alle...

Co-founder opportunity! One of my teams is looking for a commercial co-founder to help them take their stellar patentable invention - an easy-release magnet for optical labs - to the market. The opportunities to expand are endless, and the opportunity is REAL! www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Service info: Just migrated this account to Eurosky.social. Handle will stay the same. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

How many startup teams do you meet, who have a clearly articulated bet on the future they are working towards enabling? I write. madsjvk.substack.com/p/what-bet-a...

Back from vacation and ready to kick off the new week with a couple of days in school at the DTU Board Education.

I have been listening in on the hype about solo founders being the future of everything for a while now. I simply do not buy it. For mundane, simple stuff? Maybe, but they staying power is low. For complex challenges? No. I write. madsjvk.substack.com/p/the-mirage...

Last day at the office before a short autumn break.

Every startup challenge is not an engineering problem. In fact there are plenty of challenges, which even the best engineering cannot solve and which requires an entirely different skillset. But you need to classify the problem correctly first. I write. madsjvk.substack.com/p/a-tough-cu...

AI is already speaking to AI, when it comes to recruitment, job applications and CV screening. Leading nowhere except creating waste. Extending that practice to agents for other purposes does not seem like it is going to be an amplifier of efficiency. continuations.com/the-right-to...

Short week coming up. Taking the last 3 days off to spend a bit of autumn break with the family. Looking forward to it.

Very interesting. And super scary; apparently we're sooo easy to manipulate, you can almost forgive the bots and their masters for trying to take advantage and amplify discontent. Almost.

Starting the final day of the week coordinating the pitch sessions for the upcoming Digital Tech Summit taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 4-5. Great to see the diversity of startups looking to get a chance to pitch in front of the audience of the numerous sessions.

Great discussion with one of my teams this morning about the difference between building a great, impactful product and getting buy-in from the people who have the budgets. The second part, you cannot fix through great engineering. You only get through by understanding current behavior and drivers.

Another day in school. This time centered around what research tells us about founder equity split and the future success of their startups. Super interesting stuff.

Back in school this morning for the next lectures on DTU Board Education.

A new month is upon us. And as usual that means it is time to review the month that just went by. Plenty to uncover this time around. My Monthly Review of September is out. madsjvk.substack.com/p/the-month-...

Monday again and a super busy week ahead covering everything from policy development for startup teams, mentor meetings and progress assessment in our startup program. How about you?

Todays topic on the DTU Board Education: Financials and investments. Looking forward to getting nitty gritty.

Back in school today for module 3 of the DTU Board Education talking about conflicts in teams and how it relates to board work. Super interesting stuff and right up my alley.