Every month, during a Coffee Break, we dive into the stories of EIC innovators and get a glimpse of the people behind the start-ups. Today’s guest is Isabell Kunst, co-founder & CEO at Xephor Solutions and selected participant in the 1st cohort of the Women Leadership Programme (WLP). The research & development company created the first fully operational Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – a system that allows to build hypotheses and can test them by using empirical deductivism via AGI worldwide. Find out more about it in this month’s EIC Coffee Break.
Tell us how the idea for your innovation started. Was it something that was bouncing in the back of your head for a long time?
I have to say it was part of a longer process. I come from the financial sector, and before we founded Xephor Solutions, we were already working in that field. After creating the company, we were working again in the banking sector, but this time with robotic software. At the same time, around 2013 the hardware became more powerful and attractive for AI – which meant creating an AI system.
Afterwards, we investigated the market (what technologies were out there, etc.) but couldn’t find anything to fit our needs. So, this was the starting point where we decided to build a new technology from scratch and worked on it for five years.
How did your family respond to your ideas/innovation?
My family and friends have known me for a long time and know that I usually make well-considered decisions. In this case, however, the information came in bits and pieces. First, I told them that I work in a start-up, then that we were expanding our robotics system, and finally, that we were building our own AI system. At that time, no one could estimate how many years this would take. Perhaps the reaction would have been different if I had said in advance that we would first spend five years developing something that no one knows whether it will ever work.
Who or what has shaped where you are?
I think it’s a mix of experiences and people I met during my life. But when it comes to Xephor Solutions, I must mention my co-founder Konstantin Oppl. We met at a business event and talked for hours. He mentioned his previous work experience and the software he had developed. I was then invited to see the work he was developing and was able to check it first-hand. It was a process that lasted several months, but in the end, it was clear to us that we wanted to work together and develop something new.
Can you tell us about a tough moment you had at your company and how you pushed through?
There were several – in particular, we went through a period where everything wasn’t going our way. For example, at one point our most important development server broke down, then one of our core employees had a serious accident, an important customer went bankrupt, a corporate partner we had invested a lot of time in suddenly disappeared, and we lost a tender we had worked on for a long time.
During this difficult period, the trickiest thing to cope with was the psychological lows. But we were able to overcome them due to our most amazing, strong, positive, and resilient team who always believed in what we were doing. It showed me that having a good team is valuable.
What advice can you give to people who are currently playing with the idea of starting a company?
A simple one, do what you set out to do because there’s no reason not to do it. Plus, exchanging ideas and experiences with people who have done it before you is also important, and helps you leave out potential mistakes.
What are you currently reading and what book inspired you the most?
Now, I’m reading tedious contracts (laughs!). But the book that inspired me the most is called ‘Winning Ugly’ by Brad Gilbert and Steve Jamison. It’s a book that impacted me when I played tennis and was part of tennis competitions, and it shows you how to be mentally strong in sports. Later, I could use that knowledge in my business life. Often, I'm asked how I stay so calm in difficult situations and never seem nervous, and it’s because of the techniques I learned from reading the book – e.g., how to focus, how to stay calm, how to handle yourself when the audience is against you, and so on. In retrospect, this book has helped me a lot.
If you could talk business over lunch with a large corporate CEO or global leader, which one would you choose and why?
I would choose Larry Ellison from Oracle. His idea of the relational database from the 80s is similar to our realisation of a human-related artificial brain because they are general-purpose systems, and customers can use them in all domains and fill them with their knowledge.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.