Meet robotics entrepreneur Iris Madsen
This week is Global Entrepreneurship Week, which celebrates innovation and encourages everyone who dreams of becoming an entrepreneur to make the leap. Helping startups is a key focus for Odense Robotics and Odense Robotics StartUp Fund. To inspire others to make the leap, we are putting the spotlight on role models from the industry and asked them for their advice to budding entrepreneurs. In this spotlight, you meet Iris M. Madsen, Co-founder and CEO of Hydrovertic.
Hydrovertic develops and sells a vertical farming system called HydroverticSystems™. The system is designed to make it easy for greenhouse growers to transition to vertical farming. HydroverticSystems™ is a flexible and efficient solution that can be customized to meet individual needs. It is also fully configurable, so it can be adapted to different crops and growing conditions.
Hydrovertic was founded in 2020 with the mission to reduce nutrient pollution, by making vertical farming more accessible and affordable for greenhouse growers around the world. The company’s goal is to help growers produce more plants and food with less resources and less environmental impact.
What was the turning point for you in deciding to become an entrepreneur?
I co-founded a company with a simpler product before I studied engineering. At that time, I didn’t consider that entrepreneurship could be a full-time job for me. The deciding factor to found my first company was just that I had a good idea and I wanted more people to be able to enjoy it – that was the motivation behind founding Hydrovertic.
What advice would you give people considering becoming an entrepreneur?
The best advice I can give to budding entrepreneurs is that your first company should be “the first pancake”. It doesn’t have to be the perfect idea or the perfect team to begin with, the most important thing is to START – then you can always close or sell the company, when you have gotten smarter or found a better/more interesting idea.
Helping startups bring new technologies to the market is a key focus for Odense Robotics. We offer startups help in developing their technology and business plan. Odense Robotics StartUp Fund offers incubation and mentoring for early-stage startups. To find out more, reach out to:
Nicolai Iversen
Business Development Manager, Odense Robotics:
+45 28 69 08 68
niv@odenserobotics.dk