This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Marcin Lewandowski sits down with Rebecka Löthman Rydå, General Partner at Norrsken Evolve. Rebecka calls herself a nerd at heart passionate about supporting early stage founders building transformative companies that tackle meaningful problems. She's an investor in over 30 companies like Truecaller, through Zenith (IPO $2b), Funnel (series C $66m), TrusTrace (series B $25m), Formulate (exit to Relex) and Zound Industries (now Marshall exit at $1b). Norrsken Evolve is a new €57M oversubscribed pre-seed fund backing founders building Europe’s resilient and sustainable future. It’s an evolution of Norrsken Accelerator—since 2021 they’ve backed 80 startups—now doubling down with €250k upfront + follow-on, a world-class in-person sprint, and a top-tier advisory network.We dig into:• Europe’s “defining moment” and the courage founders need now• What Evolve looks for at pre-seed (problem-obsession, resilience, honesty)• Why storytelling + direct feedback beat vanity metrics at day-zero• Hiring truths (why a Founder’s Associate / Chief of Staff early can 10x output)• How “resilience” gets real across energy, logistics, cities, food, health & societyTakeaways:– Pre-seed is courage + clarity: narratives matter more than noisy metrics.– Back problem-obsession, not just credentials.– Resilience = real-world stress-tests, not buzzwords.– Hiring a Founder’s Associate early saves the CEO from context collapse.– Direct, fast feedback compounds founder learning.Chapters:If you haven't already.... Subscribe to the EU-Startups Podcast on YouTube! Or follow along on your other favorite podcast platforms... Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4QU85dN... / Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast...Follow EU-Startups on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/eu-startups-menlo-media/ Visit our Website:https://www.eu-startups.com/Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://www.eu-startups.com/newsletter/#startup #funding #sustainability #business #technology