This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Rebecka Löthman Rydå, General Partner at Norrsken Evolve.

Rebecka calls herself a nerd at heart passionate about supporting early stage founders building transformative companies that tackle meaningful problems. She's an investor in over 30 companies like Truecaller, through Zenith (IPO $2b), Funnel (series C $66m), TrusTrace (series B $25m), Formulate (exit to Relex) and Zound Industries (now Marshall exit at $1b).

Norrsken Evolve is a new €57M oversubscribed pre-seed fund backing founders building Europe’s resilient and sustainable future. It’s an evolution of Norrsken Accelerator—since 2021 they’ve backed 80 startups—now doubling down with €250k upfront + follow-on, a world-class in-person sprint, and a top-tier advisory network.

We dig into:

• Europe’s “defining moment” and the courage founders need now

• What Evolve looks for at pre-seed (problem-obsession, resilience, honesty)

• Why storytelling + direct feedback beat vanity metrics at day-zero

• Hiring truths (why a Founder’s Associate / Chief of Staff early can 10x output)

• How “resilience” gets real across energy, logistics, cities, food, health & society

Takeaways:

– Pre-seed is courage + clarity: narratives matter more than noisy metrics.

– Back problem-obsession, not just credentials.

– Resilience = real-world stress-tests, not buzzwords.

– Hiring a Founder’s Associate early saves the CEO from context collapse.

– Direct, fast feedback compounds founder learning.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Evolve & AI Bubble Discussion

03:08 How Evolve Works

06:04 Courage in European Innovation

08:58 Founder Traits: Problem-Obsession & Grit

12:02 Hiring & Early Team Dynamics

15:06 Fundraising & Metrics at Pre-Seed

17:56 Radical Candor: Feedback & Transparency

20:58 Resilience & Sustainability in Practice

23:03 Sector Impact & What’s Next

24:02 Final Thoughts & Rapid Fire

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