X Tech Finals at DTU Skylab today. A great opportunity to see what the students attending the course has learning from dipping their toes into entrepreneurship and building the foundations for a business. 1/

Full to do-list for the day in the rare absence of a ton of meetings. Will be good to hopefully get a lot of things checked of.

Not everything is about research-based DeepTech. There are tons of other cool founders out there, putting their money where their mouths are and showing how determination, passion and focus can help move a dream to reality. Huge shoutout to Jacob Baagøe and Bricks Performance System. 1/

There is a wider point at play here: When everybody is talking about 'transformation' it becomes table stakes. And thus in-herintly NOT transformational. Transformation does not happen from studying the playbooks of others. You need to forge your own path. www.duperrin.com/english/2026...

Starting the weekend with a first assessment of one of our new times in the Pre-Scaleup Programme looking to identify the best, focused areas of helping them progress on their journey. I like the assessment-framework as it gives pointed direction and creates a foundation for momentum.

No wonder really when a trillion ton of training data come straight out of the marketing department. AI is probably the only set of ‘eyes’ which ever ‘read’ the mumble-jumble anyway. 1/

Long weekend ahead. Much needed. Packed calendar ane even more packed to do list. Great to be involved in many things but also challenging.

It is so easy to talk about how investors appetite for investing in startups is just so much bigger in the US. But when you factor out late-stage mega rounds in the AI giants, US VC interest in investing in startups is actually flat if not directly declining. Food for thought. 1/

A think there is a real risk 'the deal' is dangerously shifting towards something, people find untenable. With AI projected to cost thousands of jobs, and huge data centers taking up more and more ressources from everybody and hurting the environment, where is the win in this for 'the man'? 1/

Steve Jobs was famous for saying that the hardest thing is saying 'No'. Yet he did it, cleaned up the mess that was Apples product suite and established a laser focus on a product line up that is unmatched to this day. We should all say 'No' more. All is not opportunity. Most is a distraction.

How much of what we do and say every day is really just a big sharade?

The other day a thoughtful guy said something that stuck with me: "When I get to like people, I have a tendency to speak my mind". That made me wonder: Is speaking our minds a lead indicator for whether we like the people we're among? Is pro politeness a placeholder for not really givin' a s***?

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Netflix is impressive in many ways. But I think there is one learning that outshines all the others: What is possible when you make a commitment to focus on the long haul rather than 'optimize' for short term gain. More companies should be learning this ONE lesson. www.forbes.com/sites/steved...

This article about David Sachs from The Atlantic is a fascinating read into the tech bros and how little regard they have for anything...but themselves. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

In a fast moving world, fast decisions have long lasting consequences. But we fail to register them, because we're wiring ourselves so much for fast thinking that we forget to think slow to avert disaster. Prof G delivers. Again. 1/ medium.com/@profgallowa...

Another busy month is in the bag. My Monthly Review for April is out. madsjvk.com/the-month-in...

Back in the saddle after a nice, almost summer-ly weekend.

Don't ever talk about business having hit 'rock bottom' and not being able to get any worse. There is only one rock bottom. It is called zero. Which usually also means bankruptcy. Implying having hit 'rock bottom' above zero carries the risk of a false sense of security that can prove fatal.

Spending most of the day in internal workshop talking about values and aligning them with strategy. It's important every once in a while to take some time out, reflect and reemerge with a renewed sense of purpose.

Whenever people talk about looking forward to having 'real conversations' at fx an event, it makes me think... How many 'un-real conversations' do we actually have on a day-to-day basis? And why?

Making the leap from academia to entrepreneurship is a huge transition, where it is important to adapt to at least one new set of principles. I write. madsjvk.com/winning-vs-b...

When you’re trailing towards your competitors, you can deal with it in 3 ways: 1. Ignore it. Usually not a great plan. 2. Find excuses. Won’t fix the problem. 3. Understand the problem. And work to fix it. I recommend option 3 in every single case.

If we believe we can engineer the future, we should also be able to reverse engineer the future, when it comes to unlocking the commercial potential of the innovative technologies that are making their way through the labs and looking to take on the market. Right? 1/

You may have all the opportunities in the world, but if the other guys actually have a plan plus an ability and will to execute relentlessly on it, you're still left empty-handed. True for startups as well. 1/ medium.com/enrique-dans...

Reality has a habit of catching up with you. Sometimes startup projects starts in more or less random ways and without much vision going into it. It can be totally fine and build on a lot of energy, but the energy alone has a habit of running out. This is where reality catches up. 1/

What happens when you're just copying the next guy/girls idea in the rush for richness and fame? This 👇. Please be original and actually value adding. ehandbook.com/the-startup-...

Probably one of the best pieces on what it means to have a 'why' before publishing anything, I have ever read. Crisp and clear. Short recap: Be genuinely invested A great lead-in to the seminar on Executive Presence (whatever that is) I am attending tonight. blog.startupstash.com/posting-with...

Heading for Oslo to participate in the Life Science Academy Summit. Looking forward to meeting some interesting people.

Sign of the times…🤪 www.cnbc.com/2026/04/15/a...

Protip: If you’re pitching for a grant, don’t end your deck with a “Thank you!”-slide. 1. You haven’t got anything to thank for. Yet. 2. It will up there all the time during the Q&A and do NOTHING to support you. Instead: Reiterate the promise and potential of your project. Make it back-able.

Are you ready to step up and play an active role in moving research to market? Then apply for one of the 21 (TWENTY ONE!) open positions as commercial co-founders of research-based Danish early startup cases fresh out of university. (Two of the teams are 'mine') www.linkedin.com/posts/open-e...

People who actually understand business and what it means to build a great, viable and sustainable one will be in high demand going forward. The value of taking short cuts will be trending towards zero.

The critical factor to startup success is moving from 'Can you build it?' towards 'Will they buy it?'. It is a welcome change from the business side having been ignored and ridiculed by so many early stage tech founders for decades. www.game-changer.net/2026/03/31/w...

Interesting new partnership here. I would love to know what went into the due diligence process of choosing the right partner for Novo Nordisk? Navigating between big AI vendors is a maze with many tough considerations and choices. www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

Packed to do list for today. I am a big fan of planning and scheduling, and it can be so fulfilling and rewarding to just work your way through a long list and tick one box off after another. 1/

Great ending to the week with one of my teams receiving an InnoExplorer grant from the Innovation Foundation Denmark for maturation of their research into a future startup generating growth, prosperity, jobs and European autonomy.. It's yet another testament to all the great things brewing here.

I have long been a big fan of Steve Blank and his approach innovation and entrepreneurship. His way of thinking about a problem and how to work towards addressing it is second to none IMHO.

One of the many things Claude is exceptionally good at is reviewing 'opportunities' others send your way. Fx suggestion of collaboration, partnership, co-development etc. I always put it into Claude and ask it to give me 'the good, the bad and the ugly' and be candid. It always delivers. 1/

Spending most of the day seeing pitches from teams looking to apply for the InnoExplorer grant.

Ended the day participating in a gateboard session for our Startup Program. 7 teams pitched and got assessed to qualify for Stage 2 of the program. 1/

Great meeting in our design group on Teams & Support today. Lots of ideas and knowledge sharing and just downright inspiring to be working with people as passionate about other people and teams as I myself am. 1/

Case in point... medium.com/enrique-dans...

I maintain the notion that the most sure way of achieving AGI in reality is...making us humans dumber than the machines. wlockett.medium.com/ai-deskillin...

Back in the saddle after Easter break. Celebrating by publishing my monthly review for March. Enjoy! madsjvk.com/the-month-in...

Just finished setting up a new Bsky-account for more personal posts in Danish. If interested feel free to follow @madsjvk.bsky.social for more. Looking forward to engaging in the discusssions about a lot of the things going on around us with other Danes on this platform. Happy Easter!

Participating in job interviews for a new future colleague today. Will be interesting to experience the process from the other side of the table.

My take of the national elections in Denmark yesterday: The result is what happens, when ego's are in the way of dialogue, and founding a new party becomes more about someone (i.e. the leader) than something (i.e. the politics). Things get atomized for no good reason. None. 1/

What if the Hormuz closure is the best thing that could happen for green energy transition? Interesting idea. Have been thinking the same. Some structural problems can also be seen as inflection points and colossal opportunities for innovation. thoughtsparks.substack.com/p/the-150-oi... 1/

Too true for comfort.