Jeremie Poirier

Exceptional entrepreneurs come in many shapes and sizes - show us who you are and what you can do! 🛠️💡🚀 Since we at KRING mainly develop our venture concepts in-house, we care less about your idea, and more about YOU as a potential co-founder. Ideas change, people remain. The mindset and values we are looking for in individuals are (among others): 🤘🏼Proactiveness, hands-on, structured thinking, skin in the game, empathy, and kindness. Our experience has taught us that while the mindset and drive is alike, the educational, professional, and personal experiences across the best entrepreneurs differ a whole lot - and thank god for that! We don’t like to put people in a box - but nevertheless we have tried to provide a framework for our typical #cofounder profiles: 💚 Health and Energy industry experts 🦸🏽‍♀️ Second-time entrepreneurs (successful or failed) 📊 Management consultants 🛠️ Operators in high-growth startups / scale-ups 🌈 ...Surprise us and show us what you got! We are constantly looking for great people to join us on our mission to make the world a better place - one #impact venture at a time. Are you curious and what to learn more about building a venture with KRING? 👉Reach out to our Head of Talent & Culture, Agnes A.. Have we forgotten an ideal co-founder above or do you have any reflections to share! We would love to hear from you! #venturestudio #teamiskey #peoplegame

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Bankrupt. Small. 6 hours away. These are a few of the characteristics of the business that today's guest Jens Grudno bought. Those were the bad. But there were also the good: * 117 years old * Strong brand * Differentiated, high-quality product * And cheap — Jens didn't pay much for the business This is the story of how Jens worked his way through finance and startups, and arrived as the owner of DOVO, an old business manufacturing an old product: straight razors. This is a turnaround story, and Jens acknowledges that he chose for himself a very difficult task for someone who'd never bought a business before. But as you'll hear, he is drawn to outsized challenges, to proving the haters wrong. But it wasn't just an emotional decision. This is a guy who read Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor as a teenager, so he thinks like an investor, always seeking value, risk-reward asymmetries. And he thought the downside here was limited, while the potential to restore this centenarian to its former glory represented big upside. Now of course, there's theory... then there's reality. This has ended up being extremely difficult, and everything has taken longer than predicted. But Jens has survived and stabilized DOVO, and he's gearing up for the launch of a new product that he's optimistic will dominate its category and catapult its revenue. Enjoy this rollercoaster ride with Jens Grudno, owner of DOVO. ( 👉 link to interview in comments below)

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Join us for a new, inspiring conversation on angel investing. We are joined by Mikko Silventola, the first investor in Bolt and hugo. Tune in on EUVC 💙 And your favorite streaming platforms. 🎧 #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

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Exciting news! Balnord - our new VC fund for tech founders from Poland & Baltics, is live! We know that building a technology company is a unique task and we want to be the ones who will help you achieve the remarkable. We want to be the partner who will help us in good times and difficult moments. We think, act and invest long term. And we're here to help you from pre-seed to exit. #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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Have to share some excitement on what is going on right now. 🔥 The startup landscape is transforming, and we’re seeing this shift clearly in the Nordics, driven by a new wave of technically strong founders and the AI-platform shift. These founders are capitalizing on lower costs, rapid product development, and faster iteration cycles — fundamentally reshaping how startups are built. Here’s what I’m observing: 🔸 Getting off the ground has never been cheaper. What once required millions of $’s and a large team now takes a small group of brilliant founders and some token cost (which is plummeting). The barriers to entry have fallen dramatically, empowering ambitious founders to bring their ideas to life with unprecedented efficiency. 🔸 Faster than ever. Gone are the days of lengthy development. Today’s founders are embracing “build-test-iterate-repeat” cycles at breathtaking speeds. New versions are being shipped several times per day (!), not per quarter. Micro-pivoting has become the norm, enabling startups to adapt quickly and refine their products in real time. 🔸 Next level teams. We are seeing a wave of technically strong founders, many of them at young age, who have grown up in the AI-era. More PhD's in the pitch decks on my desk than ever before. Many founders who have experience from earlier journeys with Nordics start- & scale-ups making them know what good looks like and where the bar is. What this leads to? 🔹 Great and truly disruptive solutions 🔹 Increased competition 🔹 Higher failure rates as a lower barrier to entry and the opportunity in the platform shift makes more take a shot (which I welcome!) 🔹 A big threat to incumbents (My tip to incumbents: Don't build. Buy or collaborate with the new-comers. You won't be able to keep up.) 🔹 Fundraising is becoming very polarised. Either you are in the bucket I'm describing above or you are not. And if you are not, it's not a fun time right now. But if you are, it's a very fun time. 🔹 Unprecedented return potential The startups that do succeed are achieving spectacular results in record time. These outliers that used to yield 100x returns is now potentially delivering 1,000x — and in half the time. The game is faster, the stakes are higher, and the opportunities — particularly in the Nordics — have never been more exciting.

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Swedish Serial Entrepreneurs: New Ventures 2020-2024 Sweden's startup ecosystem continues to thrive, with seasoned entrepreneurs launching exciting new ventures. Here's a look at some notable startups founded between 2020 and 2024 by serial entrepreneurs: 🌍 Pale Blue Dot (2020) Founder: Hampus Jakobsson Focus: Climate tech VC fund Previous venture: Co-founded TAT (The Astonishing Tribe), acquired by BlackBerry 💳 Brite Payments (2020) Founder: Lena Hackelöer Focus: Open banking payments Previous venture: Founded Nurture Capital 📊 Quartr (2020) Co-founder: Oscar Grönholm Focus: Investor relations platform Previous venture: Co-founded Talkative Labs 🚚 Einride (2020 major expansion) Founder: Robert Falck Focus: Electric and autonomous freight Previous experience: Co-founded Coinify 🏦 Treyd (2020) Co-founder: Peter Beckman Focus: Trade financing platform Previous venture: Co-founded Klarna 🧠 Mindler (2020) Co-founder: Johannes Hatem Focus: Digital mental health platform Previous venture: Co-founded KRY/LIVI 💼 Alva Labs (2020) Co-founder: Malcolm Burenstam Linder Focus: HR tech for recruitment Previous venture: Co-founded Teendriver 🌱 Plantjammer (2020 major growth) Founder: Michael Haase Focus: AI-powered plant-based recipes Previous venture: Founded EnergyMap These entrepreneurs are leveraging their previous startup experiences to tackle new challenges across various sectors, from fintech and healthtech to climate solutions and AI. What trends do you see in these new ventures? How do you think their previous experiences are shaping their current startups? #SwedishStartups #SerialEntrepreneurs #StartupEcosystem #Innovation

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Founders reveal the chaos behind building a startup in 2022-23's tough climate. I spoke with Ida Stjernström, co-founder of Silo Team, about her journey building a developer productivity platform. 3 Takeaways: 1. Having a comprehensive solution to a clear pain point helped convince investors. 2. Patience and resilience are key when facing the inevitable ups and downs. 3. Strong support systems like accelerators and co-founders make all the difference. (Full episode will be soon.) #startups #founderjourney #developerproductivity #siloteam

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How a simple idea led to a $55mn fundraise Simple but brilliantly executed Originally Sana AI, a Swedish startup, wanted to help large corporates to get some "order" in their complex and messy internal database/data, acting like an AI-powered learning and knowledge platform. Earlier this year the reality was that it had big clients indeed but was struggling to respond to calls and meetings with these large corporate firms like Electrolux...making it harder to prospect new ones or scale. So its founder simply flipped the business He decided to create a free version of the AI agent that could draft emails, take meeting minutes and complete simple forms that it was selling to enterprise clients, now guess what? 6 months after launching this trial version around 100,000 new workplaces had signed up and teams with more than five members now pay $30 per user per month. And today Sana AI raised $55mn at a $500 million valuation to scale its research lab and help its commercial expansion in the US. It's also now one of the best funded AI startup in Europe (its Series B was done last year) Its founder, Joel Hellermark, built Sana AI 8 years ago and wanted to use AI to create personalised workplace training plans, that, before AI even became "trendy". Not bad huh? https://lnkd.in/eeP4n_fZ

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This spring we had almost 8,000 Founders apply to come and work with us at Antler in the US. Of that, we had 300 Founders come and work with us in person in our offices, and we ended up invested in 32 of those teams that we were absolutely blown away by. I can't go into specifics quite yet as these companies are still in stealth but a small sample of what these teams are working on: (Comment below what you think are most interesting and I can help you meet the teams) 1. A team with experience at Boeing, SpaceX, Relativity Space, Hermeus and General Atomics are building full commercial scale wing-bodied aircraft. 2. Team of former Starlink and Raytheon engineers building edge computing software for space and satellite interoperability. 3. One of the biggest contributors to the Ape Coin DAU and his co-founder from Performance-IQ working on tokenizing and democratizing public advertising inventory (think billboards in timesquare) 4. Former leader of one of the most successful WoW clans and Founder of one of the highest traffic gaming sites in the world building the consumer metasearch for weightloss with her CTO who led engineering at Esper. 5. Founder who sold his previous company to Nexa3D building the supply chain needed to 3D print footwear right here in the United States. 6. Founder from C2i Genomics building early disease profiling and detection with novel multiomic sequencing (when they succeed will help solve cancer.) 10. Former researcher at Fermilab, Mercury Data Science and the Smithsonian automating the peer review and analysis of scientific documents to build a new SoR for global scientific progress. Couldn't be more excited to be working with Founders who are truly pursuing their life's work. If you’re an active investor who’d like to meet these founders directly, or a founder interested in becoming a part of this elite group, sign up in comments below ⬇️

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When an event is fully booked, It speaks volumes about its value. Because people see it as a must-attend. This year, I'm not just attending Slush. I'm hosting the Day 0: Perfect Your Pitch event🚀 It's for startup founders who need last-minute practice before meeting VCs. Day 0 is already fully booked out. But there's still a chance. Send me a DM if you want to meet up during the event. We can squeeze in some pitch practice. Don't miss this opportunity. Perfect your pitch and impress the VCs. See you at Slush. Join thousands of founders and VCs who receive these insights in my biweekly newsletter on LinkedIn🎯 And follow 👉 Igor Curic, CFA, MBA for more content like this!

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Properly the 5 best startups in the universe! I have received millions of requests from startups to be on the Højer List (aka Magic Rectangle). Here are the 5 startups I believe will all become unicorns in 2025: 1. ReefCircular ApS - “We're turning shell waste into sea life with 3D-printed reefs!” Showing up (early) is 80% of success, and this company was the first to apply. Not only that, but they are also doing something with sea reefs and have "circular" in their name. No governmental agency or middle-aged business angel will EVER deny them money. It's a well-deserved spot on the magic list. 2. Complir - "Lets retailers sell any physical product in any market". I don’t like this startup at all. They declined my offer to invest in the company a few weeks ago. How dare they say no to me! They seem very arrogant! But the FOMO is real, and by putting them on the list, I hope they will reconsider. Call me! 3. Kripthonite Therapeutics - “Solves a decades-old challenge in cancer treatment.” Let’s be honest: Most investors in biotech (including myself) don’t have the scientific skills to evaluate a startup’s claims. So, how do we perform due diligence? Simple - we invest in the biotech startups with the coolest names! Here, you have a startup referencing Superman in its name. I foresee a 300 MUSD Series A round coming up soon! 4. Nume (from Scaleup Finance) - "The one and only kickass AI CFO." Seriously, “CFO” sounds so dull, so I had already rejected them. But here is a team that understood the assignment and knows that I am the next Gartner of startup research. I really appreciate the 6 bottles of Dom Pérignon they sent. Of course, they need to be on the list – and, of course, also in the Magic Rectangle. 5. Remote.io - “Rocket fuel loaded, AI product incoming, unstoppable momentum! 🚀” Have you ever seen so many buzzwords so close together? Neither have I - and they even put in a rocket emoji! This team is on fire! Honorable Mention: Sikr - "Helps SMEs get started in cybersecurity with easy onboarding." These guys don’t listen to instructions. I asked for a maximum of 10 words - they came back with a 1,500-word description. So, either they are very smart or very dumb. So, check them out- but at your own risk! -------------- How to get one of the 5 remaining spots? Just write – in less than 10 words – why your startup is better than the rest! -------------  

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"What if you succeed?" We rarely ask this question. At Molten we asked our CEOs to project 30 years into the future with an answer. We then took their responses and created a first-of-its-kind film with generative AI to bring that world to life. Here's the vision from Tobias Hann, CEO of MOSTLY AI. 🔊 SOUND UP! 🔊 #marketing #AI

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Stress test your ideas! Founders- just because you have a problem, doesn’t mean it’s a problem that needs solving or that there is a market for it. The solution…. Test it! Survey your audience. Right size your offering. Get feedback. Then stress test again with a critical mass… and test/feedback again! This helps so much with product validation and product market fit. Otherwise… you may end up on a call with a VC (yes like me in a call today) where the investor is just looking back at you like you just had a great big helping of idiot.

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🌶 Our portfolio company Niimblr is fundraising! 🌶 In case you have not yet gotten the memo, then Niimblr is fundraising and they've announced it on their LinkedIn's 👩‍🚀 (so sharing it here as well ;) The facts; Niimblr — B2B SaaS based in Denmark 🏝 They help media production companies manage all media feedback and approval processes in one place — and have been rocking it since their first campaign launched in December 2023! 📈 800+ active users from 40+ countries and growing by the day 🔄 Their viral loop is more fruitful than they dared to dream of 💰 Their ask? $1.2 Million - with 60% already committed!🔥 And closing as soon as they find a relevant investor for the 40% ⏰ Want to buy into a founder team with 45 years of combined tech success and industry experience? CEO / CTO; Per Lohmann Poulsen CMO; Celine Fosse CPO; Mads Lyngvig Jespersen Reach out to per@niimblr.com (or me) if you'd like more information! Let's go 🌶🌶 #PreSeed #Investors #SaaS #B2BSaaS #Fundraising #ReviewPlatform #ContentCreation #CreatorEconomy #DigitalFeedback #Founder

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Emerging vs Established Managers? A lot of discussions by institutional LPs about whether to invest in emerging GPs will end just there. There are exemptions such us AlphaQ Venture Capital Fund of Funds, which actively invests in emerging GPs. Hear what Stephan Heller had to say on the topic on the EUVC 's podcast with Andreas Munk Holm ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #venturecapital #vcfundraising #lp #gp #familyoffice #fundoffunds #investors #alternatives #secondaries

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"A good COO runs just behind a CEO with urgency and picks up all the pieces that fall behind on the journey." This is Kjartan Slette's (COO & Co-Founder Unacast) description of why he and Thomas Walle (CEO & Co-Founder Unacast) have such a well-functioning partnership after over 10 years. Thanks for a great summary of the COO Summit Autumn 2024 (link to article in the comments), Joakim Birkeli Jacobsen & Shifter.no. Agnes Dyvik Clark shares some great takeaways from her fireside chat with Jon Kåre Stene and other relevant insights into the COO's role in a venture-backed scaleup. Curious to hear how Jon Kåre and Karl would agree with the Batman & Robin comparison! 😅 Great to witness another "Tandberg Mafia" story with Michel Sagen and his learnings from building Videxio and Pexip. Spoiler alert -> One common thread all the speakers come back to is the importance of culture. Something that is hard to copy or replicate but authentically crafted by the founders from early on. "Progress over perfection" - was Videxio's cultural mantra in the early days and I believe a lot of companies, both big and small could learn a lot by following that mindset. 💪🏻🔥🚀

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Founders/CMOs of Swedish tech startups, here's a great way to get a free large ad for your company in my newsletter Swedish Tech Weekly, and to reach ≈2500 key industry people: Tell me about a (stealth) tech startup from Sweden founded in 2024 or 2023 that I don't know yet. Follow these 2 steps: Step 1: Check whether I am already aware of the startup or not, by going to Swedish Tech News (see my "tagline") and type the startup's name into the search field at the top right. Step 2: If you are confident that you have something interesting and new to offer, write me a LinkedIn message (but don't name the startup you want to tell me about yet, as I first will confirm to you that your company is eligible for the free ad). P.S. if the company you are telling me about is your own, I sadly cannot offer the free ad. But you should still let me know, as I will add it to an exclusive list of new Swedish tech startups.

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When Erik Berglund, founder of The Language of Leadership, partnered with us at OutDo, he was facing an all-too-common challenge for business owners: unpredictability in sales. He was asking himself, "How much will I sell this week?" without a way to predict or systematize his growth. Here’s what we did: 1. Crafted a Social Media Strategy to build his brand and engage his Ideal Client Profile (ICP). 2. Built a CRM and a cohesive funnel to streamline communication and follow-up. 3. Created a lead magnet: a weekly webinar to nurture potential leads. 4. Launched email marketing and Downsell sequences to guide prospects toward purchasing. 5. Developed a paid ad campaign targeting the pain points of his ICP, with continuous testing of different audiences and messages. The result? Erik’s business not only hit its goals but has consistently achieved a 2x return on ad spend while freeing up his time to focus on what matters most: spending time with his family and growing his business in new ways. If you’re a business owner struggling with inconsistency, reach out to see how we can transform your marketing funnel into a scalable system that works for you just like we did for Erik.

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Unlock sales success with the world's leading #AI-powered pre-meeting platform. With Crystal Knows, gain instant insights into your prospect's preferred communication style. 👉Reach out to me or my colleague for a demo in Danish or English, and discover how AI can enhance your sales performance. Carina Herschend Crystal Knows Nordic #crystalknows #DISC #crystalknowsme

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