38 | Laura / KeyPitt: Told There Was No Founder Seat, She Took the Job Anyway

Episode Overview

When Laura Katzensteiner joined Keypitt, she asked whether there was room for another founder. The answer was "not currently." She took the job anyway. She had worked out that she adds the most value once a product exists and there are real problems to solve, not at stage zero with nothing but an idea. Today she's co-founder and COO, and she's leading the company's first fundraise.

Keypitt was founded in Copenhagen by Karla Pitt Winther, with CTO and co-founder André Bergan. It replaces paper cloakroom tickets with the KeyPass, a reusable digital pass for nightclubs, concert venues and conferences. It sounds simple, but investors can't put the company in a box: it's not quite SaaS, not quite fintech, not quite hospitality. We get into what it took to grow from employee to co-founder, how Laura is preparing to raise DKK 2.5–3M from angels, building tech simple enough for her mother, and why AI is making every brand look the same.

🔑 In this episode, we talk about:

Asking for a founder seat, hearing "not currently," and growing into the role anywayWhy she didn't want to join a startup at "stage zero"Growing up between two very different parents, and a father who offered to work for free to prove his valueLearning from Karla's pivots from NFC to QR codes and from tablets to phonesBuilding a product that's deliberately "not so high tech" so her mother can use it tooWhy Keypitt doesn't fit neatly into SaaS, fintech, e-commerce or hospitality, and what that means for fundraisingRaising DKK 2.5–3M from angel investors, and why they're looking for "smart money" with payments experienceWhy AI is making every brand look the same, and how to put the human back in

🧠 Key Takeaways

Join where you add the most value, not where it's most glamorous. Laura knew she wouldn't add the most value at the idea stage, so she looked for a startup where her skills would count from day one.

Simple beats impressive when your users are everyone. A product used across a whole society has to work for the 70-year-old concertgoer as well as the tech-savvy one.

Being hard to categorise is a pitching problem, not a product problem. Investors think in verticals, so if you don't fit one, you first have to convince them you're close enough to talk to.

Pitch the vision, not only the proof. Laura noticed she tends to talk about what exists today, while research suggests men pitch what's coming. Founders need both.

Raise for brains as much as money. With paying customers already