Arthur CEO Christoph Fleischmann Explains How He Became a Metaverse Entrepreneur

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Christoph Fleischmann is the founder and CEO of Arthur Technologies. Arthur enables organizations to meet, collaborate and manage work in the metaverse using augmented and virtual reality.

What is Arthur Technologies?

We built an extended reality or mixed reality collaboration platform for the enterprise. You can think of it as a video conference—just in 3D.

We use virtual reality headsets… to bring people into the same digital space to work together and enjoy meeting as if they’re in the same space physically—just everything is going to be fully digital.

What inspired you to create a metaverse company?

I always wanted to live in a world where geography didn’t matter so much.

I come from the south of Austria, and if you grew up there… it’s really difficult to find other people physically close to you that also like and enjoy tech.

And so for me having this moment [with a] VR and AR headset on my head… I [thought] wow, okay… this technology can deliver on a promise the Internet has [where] physical distance doesn’t matter anymore. And I think it’s an important topic to work on.

Because I think right now, [despite] all of the major tech we have available, distance really still matters. Your location still matters. Where you grew up still matters a lot. And I truly believe that augmented… and virtual reality can change this.

This is the type of technology that is so intense, so immersive, that you really don’t need to travel physically anymore, for at the very least work, but also in many other areas of your life. You will not be confined by [the] physical [world].

Being a self-taught technical founder

Personally, in my last startup and pretty much every project I was involved in, I was definitely technically hands-on. But… I never had a job as a software engineer. I actually didn’t study computer science.

[I was] self-taught [from] some courses… [and] pair programming with other people who are excited about the technology [augmented and virtual reality].

I think the… message here [is] if you really stay persistent long enough, and you find a way to stay on this topic, you will eventually figure out a way to start your company.

… If you’re a software engineer working at a big tech company… you might actually have a much faster start. We were a bit more brute force, I would say, but it was a lot of fun at the same time.

Why perseverance is crucial as a founder

… As an entrepreneur, it’s a constant stream of everybody telling you no, not because they don’t like it [but] just because it’s normal—your product isn’t there yet, maybe the market isn’t there yet, maybe the investors aren’t there yet.

I think the exciting thing is [that] you don’t need that many yeses to be successful.

You need maybe just one great person that joins your team, maybe just one investor who really believes in you, [or] maybe just one client who buys a bunch of licenses from you… But the few yeses you get in this job will propel you forward… These yeses… outweigh all of these nos.

The importance of location and proximity in tech

We thought we [were] a startup. Tech is global. We’re part of this group, [but] everyone [thought] you’re not really from here. You don’t know anyone? How do we know whether you’re serious about this?

You get a lot of nos and a couple of people who sit down for coffee with you. A couple of people then listen to your story and then actually make another introduction… Suddenly, you [have] this social network… [and] they introduced me. This is how you slowly build it up.

How to raise capital as a startup founder

Unless you’re in a really great financial situation as a startup, which [in] the early days, you almost never really have because you don’t need to have a product, you should… always be talking to investors.

Even though it’s… going to be super hard to convince anybody to write a check, you should always be talking [and] always updating folks about your progress.

It’s annoying because everybody would like to spend more time with your clients and your product, but it’s part of your job to make sure that when you hit that moment… [that] they [investors] might already know you [and] have already tracked your progress. This builds a lot of credibility.

What it’s like as a startup founder

I… think you should… always spend some time on fundraising, particularly if you’re the CEO of your startup.

Now, for all the other 70 hours you have in a week or so, you can pick how much [time] you spend… You need to crazily obsess about your product and the first couple of users… You should build [your first users] a shrine [because the] product is probably pretty crap. It’s so hard to build a product that is even just decent, right, let alone a good product.

The first people to talk to you… are enduring something that’s pretty bad, and they’re giving you feedback. You better listen to every single move they make and every single word they say because that is the kind of currency that allows you… to build a better product.

Your reference group necessarily changes as your startup matures

As soon as you get one of these yeses, you don’t consider yourself… as part of the pack of startups… hoping for their seed investment, for example… You’re now looking at all the series A and series A and beyond [startups].

Write [your goals] down. For me, success is having a company with 30 full-time employees, having a Fortune 500 company as a client, raising a seed round from a great [investor].

I think it’s good to write these things down because you forget them so quickly. Your previous self would have killed to have this, and you have it right now… It’s good that you’re chasing the next thing, but you shouldn’t become a slave to this mentality. [Otherwise], you’re eternally dissatisfied… [and it] will drive you… to become bitter and probably make bad decisions for the company.

… Be very precise about what I think is success [at each stage]. If [you] read through them [later], remind yourself that you’ve reached these goals… It helps to self-reflect…