Building Between Intuition and Evidence - Entrepreneur in Residence

How Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) Fabian Schmidt at Next Mobility Labs narrowed 100 problem spaces to an investable venture—through go/no-go gates, investor feedback, and a Demo Day.

The workshop room is full—seven, maybe eight people. Whiteboards, Post-it notes grouped by verticals. Under “Maritime,” one case looks great on paper: retrofitting older container ships with new technology. Then comes the sentence that kills it: “Ninety-nine percent of shipyards are booked out for the next eight years.” Fabian nods and pulls the note. Retrofit would be right—just not financially viable. It’s a live example of turning assumptions into evidence: clarify the problem, break hypotheses, end dead ends early—and move on. 

About the Entrepreneur in Residence 

Fabian’s year in the Entrepreneur in Residence program at Next Mobility Labs is a case study in evidence based company building. Instead of chasing an idea, he starts with a map of ~100 problem spaces, runs hard reality checks (expert panels, industry feedback), and moves through clear go/nogo gates. Only when the evidence holds does an MVP follow with a customer and a business case, not in a vacuum. The story shows how a venture studio can combine speed and risk reduction—especially for safety critical, capital intensive topics. 

Starting point & motivation 

Fabian Schmidt, 25 years old, has been founding since he was 19—some wins, some “learning” attempts. He chose the EiR position for three reasons: freedom to explore within a clear frame, early market access via the venture studio’s network, and close sparring with experienced operators, board members, and advisors. The program salary isn’t the point; what matters are early, credible signals from the market—without having to bootstrap two jobs at once. 

“I wanted as much early access to the market as possible—and that’s exactly where the studio helped.” 

Inside the machine room: the process  

1) Problem scouting. Starting from Next Mobility Labs’ verticals. Hype areas like micromobility get cut early—too little tailwind. Fabian built an AI helper to scan recent reports, papers, and market notes. Result: around 100 problem spaces—intentionally framed as problems, not solutions. 

2) Coarse filter & ranking. Roughly 50 topics fail the motivation filter (“don’t found what you don’t care about”). The remainder is ranked by several people against a short set of criteria: economic impact, market size/unicorn potential, financial viability, sustainability. ~30 make the cut. 

3) Expert workshop. Interdisciplinary, vertical by vertical—with crosschecks. Cases that look great on paper collapse in reality. The containership retrofit example fails because shipyards are booked for years—no viable economics. 

4) From problem to solution. For the ~7 finalists, onepagers with solution hypotheses are created and mirrored with the right industry players—not generic SMEs, but representative stakeholders. One case, predictive maintenance for trucks, is dropped: large OEMs already serve the market broadly; the remaining space would be small and highly pricedriven. 

5) Validation threshold. Moving forward requires repeated expert confirmation that the problem exists as framed, the hypotheses fit, and the solution looks plausible. Only then is an MVP worth it. 

 “If multiple conversations validate it positively, it’s a real opportunity.” 

6) Demo Day—market view & selection. At Demo Day, Fabian pitches three developed ideas to investors and industry experts from NML’s network. The cases are mirrored and sharpened—with concrete input on risk, pricing, access, and timing. Outcome: all three are considered spinout-ready. Fabian deliberately chooses the theme he’s most drawn to professionally and personally; NML will look for founders for the other two cases. 

Building the next venture 

No “build first, ask later.” The order is reversed: first model a business case that aligns customer value and investor logic, then develop a paid MVP with an initial customer—designed for a specific industry, not a generic product built in the abstract. Next steps: limitedliability company (GmbH) incorporation, early nondilutive funding, then seed preparation. 

We’ll disclose the venture’s name and scope after the spin-out is notarized. What we can say today: it’s focused on sensor health, addressing degradation and reliability in systems where trust in the sensor stack matters most.

Risk, financing, decisions 

The toughest phase starts after validation: shape the product, price by vertical, plan the team, structure financing—and balance shareholder interests. Fabian describes three parties at the table and contract drafts cycling until they’re “fair.” The studio’s role is double: co-negotiator and co-builder. 

“Our first pass at the financials was not robust. The feedback from Göran and Armin made clear what investors really look for: runway logic, smoothed cash flows, and removing red flags.” 

On risk posture, Fabian uses the oneway vs. Two-way door lens: don’t rush decisions you can’t reverse—e.g., handing over significant voting blocks too early. Where possible, turn a oneway into a two-way door; if not, be deliberate about when to do the irreversible. 

People, team, culture 

Fabian sums up the culture he wants to build in simple terms: radical honesty and an owner’s mindset. It’s not about heroic hours; it’s about accountability down to the P&L—people know what they own and make decisions for impact and resource use, not for titles or silos. 

That mindset sets the tempo: speed beats perfection. When data is thin, intuition can kick off a hypothesis—then the market tests it. As Fabian notes:

“I believe data can tell you a lot. But when you’re selling to a customer, data only gets you to the point where emotion is the last thing that convinces. Early on, a customer buys if they trust you and like you—they’re taking a risk. So yes, data is an extremely important foundation, but data isn’t everything.”

In early sales, a warm intro lowers the first hurdle and speeds up the learning loop better than cold outreach: faster to the meeting, faster to a signal, faster to a decision. 

What is next?

When asked about the next EiR, his answer is simple: He doesn’t want a copy of himself in the next EiR, but an original voice. What matters is resilience when clarity is scarce,  mental flexibility when shifting between problem and solution space, and measured risk appetite—bold but not reckless. 

“At the beginning you go 80/20—and then you jump into executional excellence.” 

Outlook 

The near-term roadmap is clear: GmbH incorporation planned for September 2025; set up a paid MVP with a pilot customer (pilot in selection); secure grants; then prepare the first external round. The crucial proof remains the intersection of utility, willingness to pay, and regulation. If it clicks, a studio project becomes a company—with software that makes safety-critical systems measurably more reliable. If not, the learning flows back into the machine room.