This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, we sit down with Ahti Heinla, Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO of Starship Technologies and one of the original engineers behind Skype!
In this episode, Ahti shares his journey from a young programmer in Estonia to building one of the world’s most advanced autonomous delivery companies. He reflects on the lessons he took from Skype into Starship, explains why last-mile delivery became the problem he wanted to solve, and explores how autonomous robots are changing the way goods move through cities.
We also dive into the human side of automation, from concerns around jobs and the evolving role of delivery workers to the importance of sustainability, regulation, an much more!
Key Points:
Ahti’s early start in programming and how it influenced his long-term approach to building technology
Key lessons from Skype that directly shaped how he built and scaled Starship
Why last-mile delivery stood out as a high-impact, unsolved problem worth tackling
How autonomous delivery is reshaping (not simply replacing) jobs in the logistics ecosystem
The balance between innovation and regulation when deploying robots in public spaces
Ahti’s vision of future cities where autonomous delivery is seamlessly integrated into daily life
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