People Ventures

As a Venture Developer my most important role is to help startups in our portfolio move fast forward. I do that as a hands-on operational guy helping founders with a variety of strategically and operationally important projects. My focus is on structured execution and efficient, numbers driven follow-up and optimization.  

Aside from helping companies out I am also a part of the team scouting for new investments and the companys lead on investments in HealthTech and digital health. I meet with early stage startups, analyse their offering and team and provide recommendations for the team back in the office on whether we should have another look at them or pass on the opportunity. If we decide to move ahead I am also part of the due diligence and - when an investment is made - onboarding.

Venture Developer | HealthTech VC | Scaleup COO

Cortrium

Helped the great team at our portfolio company Cortrium get to the next stage of their growth journey. 

Work included restructuring the business, work with the board of directors on strategy and funding, developing and launching new business model, sales and partner management, simplifying operations, recruitment and team management.

Participted in the recruitment, paved the way and successfully onboarded the companys new CEO.

COO (interim)

inQvation

As Head of Studio my essential role was to identify and develop ideas for new products and services and transform these into early stage startups using the Lean Startup playbook. 

Ideas could be our own or they could come from passionate entrepreneurs, so we spent time trying different approaches towards making the engine run. As a consequence of that we created a unique public private partnership within healthcare innovation with Region Zealand and Nykøbing Falster Hospital, and we facilitated the iQnite Case Competition Open Call for startups looking to address climate change. As part of the latter, we helped facilitate the development of 3 very promising startups. 

Using the Lean Startup approach, we also created the foundations for two companies of our own making: LT Health and HEI Therapeutics, where we build the concept, secured funding and hired the first team members.

Head of Startup Studio | Building Businesses & Teams

FURTHER

FURTHER was created as a spin-off from the digital agency Peytz & Co, as me and my partner, Lars, wanted to put more emphasis on understanding the needs, pains and gains of a clients future customers before giving them any advice on what they needed to build in terms of a solution. 

We build the business based on an ability and experience within market research and customer interviews as well of lean ways of experimenting with ideas in order to get them either validated or rejected. And we experimented with reporting formats as neither us nor our clients were particular enthusiastic about the traditional paper/Powerpoint format. 

The start was a lot of hard work, but given the time, we spent, we landed an amazing group of big name clients. 

Chief among them was Dansk Kyst- og Naturturisme which through a won tender tasked us with developing an entire innovation model for the tourism industry in some of the most popular tourism areas along the west coast of Jutland. 

Aside from that we also worked for Google, Salling Group, Linak & Ørsted just to name a few. 

I left our company as I was looking to get out of consulting and getting into focusing on building something specific instead.

Partner

Peytz & Co

Strategy, innovation and business development working for some of Denmark's largest media companies and public & private organizations with a great team of dedicated and very experienced senior colleagues.

I focus on understanding the needs of the business, identifying potential, future threats and opportunities and put everything into context of clear concepts, action-oriented plans for execution and helpful tools to deliver ongoing success to the client.

I'm always available for a coffee if you want to discuss digital business and how I can help you get the most of it in an effective, lean way.

Client Services Director

CluedIn ApS

Strategic advice and operational guidance for ambitious B2B SaaS start-up dedicated to tearing down all the information silos out there and setting information workers free to truly shine and deliver outstanding results. Only needles, no haystacks.

Advisor

SAXO.com

Strategy, ideation, roadmaps and specifications across all product lines bridging business and IT. Driving data efforts and BI towards the business becoming data driven. Responsible for bigger strategic projects.

Berlingske Media

Business development, team management, product development and business management for the majority of the digital business for Berlingske Media across all digital platforms. I coordinate digital strategy, product pipeline, revenue generating activities and manage the P&L for several business areas.

Reporting to the CEO of the company and as a part of the executive management team, I manage roughly 50 people (4 directs) divided into five teams/focus areas:

- E-commerce.
- Sweetdeal (Denmarks leading deal-a-day operation).
- Wemobilise (full service mobile agency with internal and external clients).
- Digital Business Development (Paid digital content etc.)
- Digital Business Optimization (Big data et al).

Specialties in strategy, innovation, business development team management and financial control.

Digital Director & COO

Microsoft

Managing and developing the Danish MSN business including the P&L with perhaps the best contribution margin of any sizeable online media business in Denmark.

Specialties in business development, fiscal prudence and lean team organisation.

Part of the management team of Consumer & Online Denmark. Working with both European colleagues and the WW MSN Exec Producers network on developing the overall MSN proposition with Microsoft Corp.

Executive Producer MSN Denmark

Right hand man for the GM of Consumer & Online Denmark responsible for operations and strategic projects. Driver of rhytm-of-the-business, business reviews and planning cycles. 

Member of Consumer & Online Denmark management team and advisor to management on all performance related matters as well as cross-functional projects (i.e. Customer Partner Experience plan etc.)

Specialties in performance monitoring and management, analytics, reporting, strategy and lean execution.

Business Operations Manager & COO, Consumer & Online Denmark

Vad NU!

Independent consultant working for major Danish and Nordic media companies on digital business development related projects incl. M&A.

Closed the company down shortly after having agreed to rejoin Microsoft, one of my clients.

Founder & Owner

Health Lead & Venture Developer @ People Ventures | COO, HealthTech

As a Venture Developer at People Ventures, I help startups in our portfolio move fast forward by providing hands-on operational and strategic support. I also scout for new investments and lead the due diligence and post-investment process for HealthTech and digital health companies, drawing on my extensive background and network in this domain.

I have over 20 years of experience in business development, product development, business management, and leadership across various IT and media organizations, ranging from large corporations to early-stage ventures. I have a passion for solving complex and ambitious challenges, applying the Lean Startup methodology, and enabling others to succeed and grow. I am a curious, innovative, and analytical person who loves to get things done, teach others, and collaborate with great people.

The whole crazy decade of building Talent Garden ♥️

Mads-Jakob Vad Kristensen

ExperimentsGPT is now available on the OpenAI store.

It is designed to assist entrepreneurs and innovators in selecting and conducting experiments for early-stage business ideas. 

Here’s an overview of what it can do:

Experiment Selection: Based on the specific context of a business idea, it recommends suitable experiments that test for desirability, viability, and feasibility.

Guidelines for Experiments: It provides structured guidelines on how to conduct each recommended experiment, helping to ensure effective and efficient testing processes.

Categorization of Experiments: It categorizes experiments according to their purpose, making it easier for users to understand the different aspects of their business ideas being tested.

A few built in prompts you can use:

"Can you suggest a quick way to test my idea?"

"How do I test my riskiest assumption?"

"Provide a table of experiments for me."

"How can I test without building anything?"


Take it for a spin in the comments below 👇 

Last week, Melissa and I were sitting on the plane back home from Stockholm and we finally had a moment to reflect on our meetings with potential new investors for Tiimo.

It was an eyeopening experience. Only a few years ago, we were spending the first twenty minutes of a presentation explaining the neurodiversity space pretty much from scratch.

What does Autism and ADHD mean and is it even worthwhile making neurodiversity more accessible and less taboo?

This time, the conversation had a whole other starting point. It wasn’t about explaining neurodiversity as a legitimate space for research, knowledge, awareness and thus, funding. This is becoming increasingly acknowledged, and the community is breaking stigma and advocating for change 👏 every 👏 single 👏 day.

We’ve definitely seen a shift in the way we talk about being neurodivergent. But — there’s still work to do. And our journey of actually enabling life for those whose brains work in a different way through cutting-edge technology is just getting started.

Right now, we are working hard at closing our next funding round. We want to do even more for a significant group of people, who have been neglected for far too long. With funding comes resources, and we have big plans for the future.

We’ll continue to knock in doors, raise awareness and empower the neurodivergent community with everything we’ve got. The conversation might be getting easier, but the actual change is still just in its early stages.

We hope you’ll join us in these conversations, and cheer for us along the way ❤️

—————

New here? Hi! I’m Helene, co-founder and co-CEO of Tiimo app, enabling life for people who think differently.

We’re a woman-founded, Copenhagen-based 1.35M ARR business with a diverse team of neurotypical & neurodivergent profiles. We’re creating awareness about, designing for, and helping the world’s neurodivergent community (that’s around 20% of us — 1.6 billion people) with tools to support, plan, learn and grow to fulfill their potential.

Our pioneering app is the no. 1 planning tool designed for neuroinclusion; now at 60,000 monthly downloads worldwide.

🚨 OPEN TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES! 🚨 

All great things come to an end. After almost 5 years of being at the forefront of living the ‘Operational VC’ model at People Ventures, I will be leaving during the coming months.

The company is making some structural changes, and as a result of that, my position as Venture Developer has been terminated. And I will be looking for a new exciting opportunity to ‘help great people succeed’ 🚀. 

It has been a great ride with some amazing people at People Ventures 🙏 , and I will always be grateful to Jan Ankjaer Jensen and Claus Zibrandtsen for welcoming me in 2019 as Head of inQvation Studio. We have been through a lot together, and I am a big believer in the hands-on operational model, we built and live together in the People Ventures team - it is truly unique. I wish all my great colleagues all the very best on the journey from here 👏 . You will continue to rock, and I will definitely be cheering for you 🙌 😊 .

The same goes for the founders in our portfolio, I have been so lucky and honored to get to know and work with ❤️ ❤️  . We have had many amazing moments and achieved great things together. You have been and you continue to be a source of inspiration and awe to me Astrid Gyllenkrok Kristensen, Sandra Wirström, Helene Lassen Nørlem, Melissa Würtz Azari, Michael Juhler and Erik S. Poulsen, and I am eternally grateful to you for letting me into your teams and the trust you have placed in me to let me help you play a small part in realizing your vision 🤗 . Thank you from the bottom of my heart 😀.

As for what is next for me 🔮 , I would love to continue to help awesome people build something within health 💊 🏥 . Whether the right opportunity for us to do great things together is a hands-on leadership role in a startup, as an investor or in some other capacity in the ecosystem remains to be seen. But I am also openminded about other purposeful areas, where I can help you and the team and put in a massive shift utilizing my 25 years of experience in building and managing digital businesses, products and teams 🤝 📈 🤓 .

My calendar is open and ready for lots of interesting coffee meetings and conversations in the coming weeks about what we could achieve together 👋 ☕ .  Reach out through the DMs or at mads@madsjvk.com / +45 2628 1976.

I hope you will share this message with your network and connect with me 👍  .

Many heartfelt thanks in advance 🙏 ❤️ . You’re awesome! 🎉 🙂

#healthtech #opentowork #letsconnect


Big DTx news: Otsuka and Click Therapeutics' digital treatment for major depressive disorder cleared by FDA. 

* Interesting new way of targeting brain plasticity that isn't just CBT.
* Solid trial design
* As with other products, expect the data to be controversial
* Can pharma succeed in building a business around digital therapeutics where digital health companies have failed?

Read my article and let me know what you think!
https://lnkd.in/dbcqUXMK

"Startups and scaleups with boards generally perform better, as research shows. Therefore, at DTU Board Education, we teach the specific competencies board members need to create value.

"Board work is about much more than attending board meetings. It's about being part of the journey and bringing the relevant skills into a company in the right way," explains Anne Malberg Horsager, DTU Board Education.""

Above quotes are part of an article of the magazine #TheGuide, created Heyfunding and TechSavvy Media. 

DTU Entrepreneurship, DTU - Technical University of Denmark
Anne Malberg Horsager, Bjarne SchønCarina Lomberg, Danny Grydholt-Jantzen, Erik Bisgaard Madsen, France Bourgouin, Francesco Rosati, Hanne Breddam, @henrik  Jes Broeng, Julie Hagenow, Kurt Gammelgaard Nielsen, Lasse Feldt-Rasmussen, Loris Spasojevic, Martin Stenfeldt, Max Vellguth, Michael Kai Petersen, Mikkel Brun Naesager, Nicklas Viby Fursund, Per Thau, Rikke Esbjerg, Thomas J. Howard, Torben Andersen, Sara R. S. Jensen, Thor Rigtrup Larsen, Toke Malm, Troels Keldmann                                      

dk.linkedin.com • 1 min read

TechSavvy Media på LinkedIn: På DTU uddanner man i kunsten at være bestyrelsesmedlem: ”Det vigtigste er…

Wow! I am so grateful for all the warm messages and comments, the announcement about me leaving People Ventures in the coming months has created 🙏 .

The comments made me reflect a bit about what makes a good operational VC in terms of helping founders succeed. From my personal experience two things have made all the difference:

First of all it's about going into the work with founders with a 'low ego/high capability' attitude. Many founders have healthy egos - as they should have and definitely need to succeed - and there must never be any doubt that you're a guest in THEIR business. You're there to help any way, shape or form, you can. 

Second, you need to 'earn the right' before you can help to your full potential. The greatest relationships I have built with founders have been because I rolled up my sleeves and helped them with this and that, which was important at the time - no questions asked. And then got asked for more. And more after that.

When we start to experience the results and impact, we can create together, trust in each other grows. And when trust grows, strong relationships are formed. And when relationships are strong, you get asked to help - and hopefully have the ability to do so - where it truly matters for the success of the company. 

It is a lot of hard work, yes. But it is also super fun and really fulfilling getting the feeling to your core that you're truly helping and playing others better. For me it is probably the most fulfilling feeling of all, and why my big heart truly beats for Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.

#founders #startups #helpingentrepreneurssucceed #operationalvc

If you’ve taken a peek around our in-app ‘Learn’ tab, you might’ve seen that we now offer body doubling - yay! 🪩

Why? Over the last few months, we’ve explored what tools and resources our community is missing and found that many Tiimo users were craving a space to co-work and hold one another accountable. We listened and started hosting body doubling sessions, or virtual focus sessions, across five slots a day.👂

Hosted by our Inclusion and Belonging Lead, Beaux Miebach, as well as our fantastic facilitators Zariah C., Emil Novák-Tót, Neely Kimey 🪩, and Amy Luckey, MA, ACC, we now host sessions Monday through Friday at 10 am CET (3 am EST), 3 pm CET (9 am EST), 6 pm CET (12 pm EST), 9 pm CET (3 pm EST), and 12 am CET (6 pm EST) - with plans to expand our session offerings. 

Want to join a future session? Download Tiimo and sign up for body doubling today! 

#TiimoApp #Community #BodyDoubling #FocusSession

Introducing our body doubling facilitators

Yesterday I had the great pleasure to be invited to BioInnovation Institute to meet with their new cohort of HealthTech startups and share some do's and don'ts when it comes to dealing with professional investors and pitching to them. 

The founders had a lot of really thoughtful questions about how to get funding and relationships with investors right, and there was a couple of points, I thought it would be good to repeat to a wider audience:

Make sure you have a funding strategy. Figure out how much you need to finance the journey, get as much of that as you can from grants, and then make sure you ONLY need to raise once before entering the market. 

Why? Because I have seen SO many otherwise interesting companies crash at the second fundraise before market entry, because their early backers can't and future backers won't back them, that I have it a mission to tell every founder I meet not to put themselves in that position, if they can at all avoid it. 

Second, I think it's crucial to think and act commercially from day one and run the market research and GTM modelling in parallel to product development, so you're ready to roll with a strong plan, once the product has passed all its certifications. 

Why? Because knowing the market and how it works in your niche is absolutely key to driving any sales. And successful sales is what builds the success of any company and also ensures investors the returns they're looking for. If we can't see the plan for how that's going to happen, you will become very hard if not downright impossible to back. 

Agree in the above? If not, do please let me know why.

#healthtech #founder #fundraising #venturecapital #tipsandtricks

Exciting News! Denmark is stepping into the spotlight as a partner country at health.tech Conference from 5 - 6 June! 
 
Denmark, highlighted as a leader in modern healthcare, proudly stands as a focal point at health.tech. Join Innovation Centre Denmark - Munich and our partners Danish Life Science Cluster and Health Tech Hub Copenhagen as we highlight Danish solutions and the Danish ecosystem, emphasizing visibility and promotion.
 
✨ Here's why you shouldn't miss out:

Discover Denmark's outstanding contributions to healthcare, including:

• Meeting influential Speakers and Thought Leaders: Julian Springer (Trifork, Senior Digital Health Advisor), Helen Schierbeck (Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin), Mads-Jakob Vad Kristensen (People Ventures)

• Exploring cutting-edge innovations presented by Denmark’s most promising startups like Corti, the AI Co-Pilot for Healthcare
 
• Connecting with Danish entrepreneurs, investors, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical groups, insurers, researchers, and universities
 
Don't miss the chance to be a part of our programme. There are still places available. Contact Lotte Lundø Nørgaard at lotnor@um.dk or Marlis Erichsen at marerc@um.dk to register, or reach out to them if you have any questions.

I have always had a fondness for doing things the hard way - at least when starting out on a new journey. 

I don't think you will find anyone who have tried venturing into building something new ground up, who have done so with a full ready recipe at hand. It simply goes against the nature of entrepreneurship.

Having said that I do however also think that as soon as you get over the first messy hurdles, and you start seeing something that works, you will benefit from trying to get some simple, repeatable processes in place. Those will come in very handy for you, when you're looking to scale.

#startup #founder #tipsandtricks

digitaltonto.com • 6 min read

Why The Right Way Is Usually The Hard Way

Are you going to the health.tech conference this year? I certainly am. 

One of the things that really stood out for me last year was the opportunity to meet a lot of the movers and shakers that are defining the future of HealthTech and Digital Health in Europe. 

Some of the inspiring conversations, I had, I still think very fondly off, and some of the connections, I made in Munich, I have kept in regular touch with since then. 

I am sure you could experience the same awesome benefits, if you choose to go there. 

If it sounds interesting, feel free to use my discount code in order to save 20% on the ticket. And do look me up, when you get there. 

See you in Munich!

#healthtech #HT24 #networking #opportunity

Researchers have everything they need in order to build great companies.

That was one of the messages, I brought to the School of Health Innovation, when I was invited to give a talk to top researchers from the Nordics about what it means to do proper market analysis, when you're trying to create a startup. 

The reason I said it was that market analysis at its core is about all the things, the researchers already know how to do from their labs: 

Be ambitious, be curious, set up your hypothesis, run your experients to validate and learn - and repeat the process until you have something that works. 

It's the same thing you do, when you do market analysis: You're ambitious, you're curious, you set up your hypothesis, and you run a series of experiments to validate or reject your hypothesis until you have something that seems like it could actually work. In a business context. 

The only question is whether you are willing and comfortable in rolling your sleeves up and getting the work done.

(Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash) 

#healthtech #startup #marketanalysis  

One of the most amazing things working with HealthTech is all the opportunity out there to not just transform a healthcare system struggling with the pressure to cope with demand but also to bring mindblowing innovation to the table. 

This list is a really good set of examples of some of the transformative work going on, and why I am bullish on keeping my sights set on helping great people succeed within this challenging yet also super exciting sector going forward.

#healthtech #healthcare #innovation #opportunity #helpingentrepreneurssucceed #opentowork

medicalfuturist.com • 1 min read

8 Mindblowing Examples Of Technology Innovation In Healthcare

When exploring opportunities to reinvent healthcare with digital tools, it makes a ton of sense to get as much inspiration from what has worked digitally in other sectors. 

Of course healthcare comes with it's own expansive set of rules and regulations, but first of all I think it is entirely possible to navigate that successfully, and second I just don't see the point in insisting on reinventing the wheel, when we have +25 years of digital experience to fall back on. 

What do you think?

#healthcare #digitaltransformation #inspiration #success

medcitynews.com • 5 min read

Search, Click, Enroll? What Clinical Trials Can Learn from E-commerce - MedCity News

Clinical trials and recruitment for them is one of those areas within health that is ripe for disruption for greater efficiency, better outcomes and lower costs. And there is a lot going on in this space. 

The idea of digital twins is super interesting, as recruitment for clinical trials remain a field that is bogged down by biases and challenges in getting the perfect representation enrolled.

#healthcare #clinicaltrials #digitaltwins #innovation

drugdiscoverytrends.com • 4 min read

Unlearn's digital twins cut timelines for clinical trials by 25%-plus

I have great belief in the potential for wearables in healthcare, but I still think we need to cross the barrier in terms of making these devices desirable enough to wear. 

Sure, Apple has done a lot with the Apple Watch, and the Oura Ring is as close to having something truly wearable in every sense of the word as there is out there. But I still think there is a major design play to be won in this space, before the real opportunity in wearables can be unlocked. 

What do you think?

#healthtech #wearables #design #opportunity

medcitynews.com • 4 min read

A Wearable Tech Gives Pharmas & Therapists Better Feel for Changes in Mental Health - MedCity News

One thing is to build a great product that delivers value to its end users. Another is to get someone to pay for it. Especially if that someone is not the user herself. 

Nowhere is that challenge more present than in HealthTech and Digital Health. And in fact it is even more challenging, since the number of payers - those who would be required to end up paying - is a fairly limited group. Strike it out here, and you have a problem. 

This is why we need to reinvent and revitalize not only the healthcare sector but also the entire health payer system, whether it is public healthcare and reimbursement rules and rates or it is private health insurance, before we can truly realize the potential of healthcare innovation for better outcomes AND lower costs. 

Daunting? For sure. But a great challenge for ambitious people.

#healthcare #digitalhealth #healthtech #payer

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