Post by TUM Venture Labs

"A startup is not a lifestyle." Our CEO, Philipp Gerbert, was the first guest on Dr. Luiza Avetisyan, PhD, PMP®'s "The Ecosystem Code podcast." And he is very direct about what amount of hard work and perseverance building a company actually requires ❗ On the other hand: in a well-functioning #ecosystem, the personal risk has also shifted. A failed startup used to mean five wasted years. Today, in the right environment, those years count double - also in the view of corporate recruiters later in life. The personal experience compounds irrespective of the ultimate success of the company. Philipp's take on ecosystems is just as confident. A longtime believer in hub-and-spoke over either decentral approaches or complete concentration, his philosophy is simple: build from anywhere, but connect to a hub with the infrastructure, capital, and talent density to match your ambition. It's why TUM Venture Labs supports many #startups across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and more, but also invests in deliberate ties to the strongest global hubs in each field. MIT and Stanford for climate tech and biotech , the Netherlands for semiconductors, quantum and food, Japan and New York/Boston for robotics, to make sure every local founder knows what is expected to become world class, but also builds the right connections from day one. The road ahead for Europe gest the same 'positive energy' - building on amazing talent and ecosystem support. Irrespective, a joint capital market,  true common market for product and services and less regulation would help. Few people can speak to #AI's arc with this much authority. PhD from MIT, postdoc at UCLA, years leading digital transformation and AI work as a senior partner at BCG. Gerbert has been in this field since the 1980s, when AI meant playing chess. He watched its cycles of progress and hibernation for decades, to finally explode in 2012 and beyond. His advice for anyone starting out: "Go after knowledge. Go after technical skills. And focus on getting things done in a constrained world." Watch the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/e2zx8uAV

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