Inside the Startup: CELUS

When CELUS was founded in 2018, one of their first event experiences occurred at electronica fast forward 2018, powered by Elektor. Now, 4 years later, and after raising €25M in series A funding, they’re not newbies anymore when visiting trade fairs such as electronica: This year they have their own booth (Hall C4.459).

We’re looking forward to seeing them there in November, so we caught up with Tobias Pohl, who’s been at CELUS since the beginning, for a behind-the-scenes look at running a startup. 

Hi, Tobias. How has your company’s focus changed since its launch in 2018? 

We have broadened our scope, and, with the input and support from our partners, we connect even deeper into the value chain. So, our focus hasn’t actually changed much since then – we’re still pursuing our vision of accelerating and simplifying electronics engineering.  

What is your typical workday like? As a founder, do you still get any hands-on time, or are you in meetings and delegating all day? 

At least one third of my time is operational activity, such as engaging with customers and yes, even a bit of hands-on time every now and then, soldering demo boards, for example. About another third I spend in meetings — both internal meetings and external meetings with partners, investors, and press, for example.  

So, how many hours per week do you typically work? 

On average, 50 to 80 hours, but that depends on many factors and can vary quite a bit.  

How did you choose to establish your business in Bavaria? 

We happened to have grown up in Bavaria and studied in its capital, the deep tech startup hub of Munich, so moving away never really was an option for us. 

You’ve raised a considerable amount for your next growth phase, yet you’re still supporting partnerships with, for example, Slash Hackathon in Berlin. How important is it to bridge the gap between multimillion-dollar corporate enterprise and technology enthusiasts just starting out? Do you find it challenging to dedicate resources to these community-building endeavors? 

We work with major corporations on the customer and partner side, while at the same time we continuously keep networking with startups and academia to grow the team and hear new ideas. 

On top of that, stay tuned for a new solution making CELUS technology available for everyone in the electronics community – from hobbyist to professional designer in a large corporation! 

Where did you develop your skillset? 

Technology is in our family – my brother and co-founder Alex and I all studied engineering, but the curiosity and interest in anything technical is a trait we’ve always had, and the major learnings we’ve had since starting the company came about by “figuring it out” – learning on the job. 

Do you have any advice for an engineer who's thinking of launching a company? 

Find co-founders – don’t try to go it alone. And if you really believe in your idea, just try. 

What was the main problem you wanted to solve, and what’s the core technology you built as a solution to that problem?

Electronics engineering is most often a manual and tedious process, and we wanted to automate it to free up time for the engineers to be more creative and innovative.

What will your next step be, now that you’ve gotten buy-in from investors so successfully? 

We really want to scale up the company, work with more partners and get our solution into the hands of as many engineers as possible. Again, stay tuned for something new! 

We certainly will! Do you have any surprises in store at electronica 2022 in November? 

We have our own booth this year and look forward to presenting our platform to as many engineers and component manufacturers as possible. 

And where does that take you in 2 years’ time? 

With CELUS technology in the hands of thousands of engineers, we’ll have integrated the majority of component manufacturers into our platform. 

CELUS has come a long way in a few short years. For more background, take a look at this wrap-up of productronica Fast Forward 2019, which includes an interview with CELUS (then named Contunity):
 

Did you know that this year at electronica 2022, we’re celebrating fast forward’s 6th anniversary? Visit the electronica fast forward booth at Hall B4.440 and get to know the next generation of startups that are about to change the world of electronics. Who knows – you might be able to see and talk to the next CELUS!