Munich Startup: What motivated you to found a company?
For me, founding is a means to an end. Climate change is our generation’s largest challenge
and I have been determined to use my skills and time to contribute to solving it. The most
impactful thing I could do was to tackle the structural barriers that prevent the industry
from decarbonizing – data availability and transparency. Scaling such solutions would make
every hour I put in worth it in the long run.
Saying “no” to things
Munich Startup: What do you now wish you had known before founding your first company?
Gyri Reiersen: Being a founder includes a lot of “noise” and you need to be vigilant with your time
management. You are responsible to make decisions on all topics, with little to no
information as basis. You need to enjoy diving into different topics and learning constantly,
while also saying no to most requests and time-thieves. As Jim Collins puts it: consciously
productive and disciplined.
Munich Startup: How have you funded your company so far?
Gyri Reiersen: We raised a pre-seed financing round last fall of €1.7M.
Munich Startup: When and where do you have the best ideas?
Gyri Reiersen: I’m often the most creative in the evening and when I have some time with my own
thoughts. I alone rarely come up with the best ideas, but believe in team effort to throw out
mediocre ideas to then build on them. Together our ideas become gold.
Munich Startup: What are your three favorite work tools?
Gyri Reiersen: Apart from all communication tools
– Linear (changed from Jira and love the UI)
– Miro/Physical whiteboards to structure and discuss with others
– Raycast – preHy neat productvity hacker
Be bold and authentic
Munich Startup: What is your top tip for pitching?
Gyri Reiersen: Be bold and authentic
Munich Startup: Do you think now is a good time to start a company? Why?
Gyri Reiersen: There is capital available on the market and most of us are incredibly privileged with
excellent educations and job opportunities. Your personal financial and career risk is
therefore rather small. By founding, you put yourself in a position to grow tremendously
every day but you should only do it if you think you will enjoy the journey.
Munich Startup: What technology or industry would you bank on when founding your next startup?
Gyri Reiersen: As any AI engineer can tell you, good data is the holy grail. I believe that Web3 will change
how we deal with (big) data and how we structure our societies and economies. It might
not yet be accessible for everyone, but I’d love to work on decentralized data ownership for
everything from personal health data to reforestation projects.
High notary fees in Munich
Munich Startup: What do you think could still use some improvement in Munich as a startup location?
Gyri Reiersen: Munich was my no. 1 preferred city to found in, mainly due to the amazing ecosystem of
stakeholders from industry, academia, VCs and founder networks. The only downside is the
high notary costs.
Munich Startup: What founder would you like to meet in person some day? And what would you ask them?
Gyri Reiersen: I’d love to get to know Lars Rasmussen, the co-founder of Google Maps and the early tech
advisor of Canva! A fellow scandi with great experience on how to build strong tech orgs.
I’m sure his advice would be tremendously valuable.
