Daniel Stenson Joins byFounders in Copenhagen: Seeks Gritty Founders in Untapped Markets

‍You’ll be focusing on Sweden and Denmark, what needle in the haystack are you hoping to find?

I'll be looking for founders who are noticing something so annoying in their lives that they feel they don't have a choice other than fixing it. This obsessiveness, coupled with grit and the knowledge to solve problems, is, in my opinion, the backbone of any successful founding team.

We are a generalist fund, and the team behind the companies we back is always the most important factor.

That said, I have a sweet spot for differentiated software and software-powered hardware.

For software, clear signs of differentiation are instrumental, whether through some technological IP or, in the case of AI startups, unique access to data or in-house trained foundation models. But with tools like Lovable, Cursor, and Claude Artifacts, the barrier to entry that once existed in software development is being rather quickly eradicated. Hardware and hardware development, on the other hand, have yet to see the same transformation. Going forward, I believe more obvious and defensible differentiators will lie here.

Fortunately for us, the New Nordics have a strong engineering culture, with countless success stories, from incumbents such as Volvo and Novo Nordisk to more recently founded companies such as Spotify and Pleo. The combination of historic startup success and strong engineering culture has led to Sweden and Denmark becoming a top hub for startups, and I believe that it will stay that way.

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You say that ‘grit’ is the key to success in a founder, would you care to elaborate on that?

Grit, a concept popularized by Angela Duckworth, has been shown to be an indicator of success in various fields. Having seen and worked with some excellent founders, it's obvious that it applies to startups as well.

Running a startup is a marathon of obstacles.

Every day, something new appears that could potentially throw the entire company into chaos. These problems can make it extremely hard to stay focused and keep sight of what you want to accomplish. At times, the most reasonable thing to do might be to just shut down. But the founders who can persist through these tough times, the ones with grit, are in the end the ones that have a real chance to succeed.

To some extent, I think just being able to show up every day and not give up sets you as a founder apart from the rest. As I've seen, people can come far just with a shift of mindset, and I don't necessarily think that "grit" is something you're born with. It can be developed over time, but it takes a lot of hard work and a process of constantly challenging yourself.

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You have an educational background as an engineer. How do you think that lends itself to your current profession as an investor? 

I think being an engineer provides an excellent background for an investor. Since we like to invest in technical founders, it’s easier to meet them eye to eye and to understand what separates a good technical founder from a great one.

You can also be more empathetic toward founders building technical products. As an engineer, you understand what is complex, what is realistic, and what is truly impressive. This helps not only in evaluating startups and founding teams but also in working with our portfolio companies, assisting them with product development and prioritization.

For the fund, there are additional benefits to having engineers. Since we’re a small team, having the in-house capability to build internal tools—whether data platforms or simpler automations—can have a tremendous impact on the overall operations of the fund.

Looking ahead, I hope to meet and back many excellent technical founders who are tackling the most urgent and complex problems we face as a society, with a relentless drive to succeed.

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