Events such as TechBBQ can play an important role in the journey from research to company. Researcher and founder Emil Zanchetta Ulsig is using the event to build closer relationships with investors and gain a better understanding of the value of what his team has created.
It is the calm before the storm at the Bella Center in Copenhagen on Thursday morning.
After a hectic Wednesday, where people networked with new contacts, presented their next big thing and moved back and forth between the many sessions and talks, TechBBQ seems to be slowly waking up again while staff make the final preparations for the last day of the event.
For Emil Zanchetta Ulsig, it is an opportunity to sit down for a moment and reflect on what Wednesday actually brought.
‘I caught a train from Aarhus at 3 a.m. on Wednesday to be here for the opening, and I did not finish the final side events until around midnight,’ Emil says.
He is the CEO and co-founder of QVersion – a spin-out from Aarhus University. Emil is at TechBBQ with his co-founder and CTO, Mikkel Torrild Hansen. The team have applied for, and secured, a place in the Life Science x Deep Tech area, where they are showcasing their invention.
TechBBQ is a two-day summit in Copenhagen that brings together founders, investors and members of the wider startup and innovation ecosystem. The event combines talks and exhibitions with networking and matchmaking opportunities and attracts more than 10,000 attendees.
‘The main reason we came is the investors. We are in the middle of an early funding round to push the prototype to the market, and when raising you spend a great deal of time in online meetings. When we speak to investors, many of them ask: “Are you coming to TechBBQ? Then we can actually meet and get a sense of one another,”’ says Emil.
Pitch. Pitch. Pitch
QVersion develops tunable mid-infrared lasers for use in precision gas sensing and building secure free-space communication. Its compact, energy-efficient technology enables real-time monitoring for environmental, industrial and healthcare applications.
Their stand was busy throughout Wednesday, giving the team a valuable opportunity not only to showcase the technology, but also to practise explaining it.
‘Because many different types of people stop by you must find different ways of explaining the technology. At first, you have one elevator pitch that you want everyone to be able to follow. But gradually, you learn to recognize whether people have a technical background and how deeply you should go. Then you develop several different versions,’ says Emil.
Pitch training is an important part of the learning Emil has taken from his time in the Spin-outs Denmark programme, where he was part of cohort 5. An entire week is dedicated to refining participants’ pitching skills. Skills he can use at events like these.
‘You may have used the same words so many times that you start to assume everyone else understands them. Here, you get the opportunity to rethink the words you use. It is a very useful learning experience,’ he says.
A rewarding start-up environment
But investors are not the only people Emil has spoken to.
TechBBQ also gives him the opportunity to meet start-ups and spin-outs at different stages and exchange experiences about both what succeeds and what goes wrong.
‘It is great to hear the success stories, but also the stories about what went wrong. There are plenty of those in start-ups. That is the world we operate in. I think the learning curve is steep, and you do not only learn from your mistakes, but you certainly learn most from them,’ Emil says.
QVersion was established in 2025, but Emil has previously founded another company. He draws on those experiences in the new company and is also happy to share them with others.
He sees the start-up environment as more collegial than competitive, with participants curious about one another’s work and willing to pass on their experience.
‘When you have spent a great deal of time on something, you also have a lot to pass on. Especially if you are already part of the same ecosystem, because the base recipe is often the same.’
The value of valuation
The most important item QVersion’s agenda at TechBBQ, however, is to speak with as many relevant stakeholders as possible before raising its next round of capital. TechBBQ also offers an opportunity to understand the value of what the company has created, precisely through encounters with investors and other spin-outs.
‘Valuation is a very difficult exercise. You may have worked on your company for two years. If you were to sell it, what would it be worth? Almost everyone when starting out will estimate far too low. It can be difficult to see the value in yourself and in what you have created,’ says Emil.
QVersion’s next seed round is therefore important, both in terms of the company’s valuation and in finding the right investors.
‘If we bring in a sufficiently large investor, that person will probably also join our board. We need to be able to have a dialogue with them, and it needs to be a good dialogue. You have to be on the same journey to some extent, because you are in it together. That is why I think you need to look one another in the eye and know who you are bringing on the journey, so that you can work well together,’ says Emil.
With the new capital, QVersion hopes to have a product ready within 18 months.
Spin-outs Denmark is a unique program that invests in researchers who create more impact by starting research-based companies.