EU-Startups Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with Hanno Renner, co-founder and CEO of Personio, Europe’s leading all-in-one HR software platform, to reflect on a decade-long journey from near-bankruptcy to building one of Europe’s most influential SaaS companies.

Hanno looks back on Personio’s earliest days, including the moment when the company had just a few hundred euros left in the bank. We explore what truly changes when a startup moves from survival mode into scale-up mode, what doesn’t scale as expected, and how founder alignment evolves as roles diverge in a company of more than 1,800 people serving over a million employees.

A central and timely part of the discussion focuses on EU Inc and the proposed 28th regime. Hanno makes a strong case for deeper European integration. His pro-European stance highlights why regulatory harmonisation, capital mobility, and a truly unified market are not abstract policy debates, but goals for Europe’s next generation of scaleups.

Beyond business, Hanno reflects on leadership lessons from his time as a yacht skipper, how those experiences shaped his approach to responsibility and decision-making, and how he thinks about long-term societal impact through the Personio Foundation, which has committed 1% of the company’s equity to climate action and education.

Key Points
- From near-zero cash to multi-billion valuation: the least visible but hardest phases of Personio’s growth
- What breaks - and what surprisingly holds - when scaling from startup to European scaleup
- Personio’s evolving role at the centre of Europe’s HRTech ecosystem
- Why EU Inc and the 28th regime are critical for Europe’s ability to build global tech champions

In this episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, recorded during Leonard’s 2026 Launch Day in Paris, we speak with Dag Wirdenius, CEO & Founder of SiteAssist, one of the startups supported by Leonard, the innovation and foresight platform of the VINCI Group.

Together with Leonard, we spotlighted selected startups from its incubation and acceleration programmes, showcasing solutions tackling real-world challenges in construction, infrastructure, energy, and mobility.

In this conversation, Dag explains how Site Assist improves day-to-day support on construction sites, focusing on efficiency, safety, and practical operational needs. We discuss the realities of innovating in complex on-site environments.

This interview is part of a five-episode Leonard series, recorded live during Launch Day, with new episodes released weekly.

Key topics discussed in this episode:
- The challenge Site Assist is addressing on construction sites
- How the platform supports on-site teams and operations
- Why construction remains a difficult sector to innovate in
- Lessons from deploying solutions in real construction environments

In this special episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, we continue our five-part interview series in partnership with Leonard, the innovation and foresight platform of the VINCI Group, recorded during their Launch Day in Paris

Leonard supports startups and internal projects shaping the future of construction, infrastructure, energy, and mobility, and during Launch Day we sat down with five companies from its 2026 cohort for in-depth conversations.

This episode features Julien Bec, CEO of Cold Pad, an engineering company delivering patented, cold-installed composite bonding and fastening solutions. Cold Pad enables structural repairs and reinforcements without drilling, welding, or hot works, even during live operations. Its technology improves safety, reduces downtime, and allows maintenance to be integrated directly into an asset’s normal operation - particularly in harsh or high-risk environments.

We discuss why maintenance and repair are often overlooked compared to new builds, the hidden safety trade-offs of traditional repair methods, and how cold-installed solutions can extend asset life while minimising operational disruption.

This episode is part of our Leonard Launch Day series, with one interview released each day this week (Monday to Friday).

Key points in this episode:

- Why “no drilling, no welding, no hot works” matters in live environments
- How cold-installed composite repairs improve safety and reduce downtime
- Real-world use cases where shutting down infrastructure is not an option
- The role of maintenance in extending asset lifespan and sustainability
- Why deep engineering solutions still matter in a software-heavy ConTech market

In this special episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, we continue our five-part interview series recorded during Leonard Launch Day in Paris, in partnership with Leonard, the innovation and foresight platform of the VINCI Group.

Leonard supports startups and internal projects shaping the future of construction, infrastructure, energy, and mobility, and during Launch Day we sat down with five companies from its 2026 cohort for in-depth conversations.

This episode features Philippe Rival, CEO of Enlaye, a ConTech company building an AI-native Risk Lifecycle Management platform. Enlaye helps builders, developers, and infrastructure owners identify, compare, and manage risks across the entire project lifecycle - from bid to delivery - reducing cost overruns, claims, and delays.

We discuss how risk is often underestimated or ignored in early project stages, where AI can surface hidden liabilities humans miss, and why better risk management can change how teams collaborate when things go wrong.

This episode is part of our Leonard Launch Day series, with one interview released each day this week (Monday to Friday).

Key points in this episode:
- What “Risk Lifecycle Management” means in practice
- How AI helps surface construction risks earlier and more accurately
- Why risks are often visible long before projects break down
- The challenge of managing risk across multiple stakeholders
- How better risk data changes accountability and decision-making

In this special episode of the EU-Startups Podcast, we kick off a five-part interview series recorded during Leonard Launch Day in Paris, in partnership with Leonard, the innovation and foresight platform of the VINCI Group.

Leonard supports startups and internal projects shaping the future of construction, infrastructure, energy, and mobility, and during their Launch Day we sat down with five companies from its 2026 cohort for in-depth conversations.

The first interview in the series features Ryan Luke Johns, CEO of Gravis Robotics, a Swiss ConTech company enabling autonomy in heavy machinery. Gravis retrofits existing excavators and loaders with advanced robotics and software, transforming them into remote-controlled, semi-autonomous, or fully autonomous machines.

We discuss why autonomy is becoming critical in construction, the challenges of deploying robotics in unpredictable environments, and why retrofitting existing equipment is key to real-world adoption.

This is episode one of five, with one interview released each day this week (Monday to Friday).

Key points in this episode:

- Why autonomy in heavy machinery is becoming a necessity, not a luxury
- The safety benefits of removing humans from high-risk machine operations
- Retrofitting existing equipment versus building autonomous machines from scratch
- The realities of deploying robotics on live construction sites
- How human operators’ roles are evolving alongside autonomous systems