By Emma Hung
Rickard Wahlström didn’t set out to become a founder or a visionary. Yet today, as co-founder and CEO of a Swedish startup named Emsense, awarded as one of the EU’s 50 most promising start-up companies in mobility, he is building something that can save your life. Emsense’s device uses radar and biosensing technology to monitor drivers’ vital signs in real time. The idea is simple: prevent accidents before they happen. And, when crashes do occur, it instantly provides emergency responders with vital information. It’s a small device with a big mission, and it’s rewriting the future of safer roads.
In this interview, Rickard speaks candidly about his unexpected path to entrepreneurship, the cultural contrasts between Taiwan and Sweden, and a moment in Silicon Valley when an American investor told him to stop being “so f*ing Swedish”. He offers insights on choosing the right co-founder, pitching without posturing, and why replying to emails quickly can mean the difference between opportunity and silence in Taiwan.
But more than anything, this is a story about learning to own your voice, not by becoming someone else, but by understanding and embracing who you already are.
Becoming an Entrepreneur
Growing up, Rickard was a quiet, analytical kid who was interested in understanding how things worked. That curiosity eventually shaped his path as an engineer, someone drawn to the details, always trying to solve the next problem. But school didn’t always match that pace. By the time he reached middle school, he was ahead in most subjects and increasingly bored. “Eventually, the teachers run out of books for you”, he said. “You just sit there looking out the window while waiting for everyone else to catch up”. That lack of stimulation had consequences, because without anything to engage him, he lost interest. “I was probably the worst student at the time. I had no aspirations. I just thought, I’ll work, make some money, whatever. I didn’t care what I did.”
He didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur. But when he stumbled across a problem no one had solved, and realized he could, he stepped in. “Entrepreneur by chance,” he said. “That’s probably the best way to describe it.”
If he could talk to his younger self, he wouldn’t offer advice, just reassurance: It’s going to work out.
What changed wasn’t the ambition to become the next big in tech. It was a purpose. The technology Emsense began developing could save lives, tens of thousands, maybe more. That clarity made the long hours and hard choices feel not only necessary but urgent.
“If I stopped now, I’d feel like I have failed,” he said. “Once you know what this tech can do, how do you walk away from that?”
Silicon Valley Culture Shock
The road to building Emsense included a defining moment early on. Rickard had just pitched onstage in Silicon Valley. After, he’d casually mentioned to an investor that one of Asia’s largest consumer electronics firms had expressed serious interest in partnership: “So that’s pretty good news,” he said.
The investor cut him off:
“Stop talking. Nobody here is going to invest in you. Don’t be so f***ing Swedish”
The words stung, but it also stuck. Though the news was remarkable, his casual delivery masked its importance. He wasn’t insecure; he was just being Swedish. The kind of cultural reflex that might serve you well in Gothenburg, Rickard argues, could cost you in Palo Alto. In the U.S., bold self-promotion is expected. If you don’t declare yourself the best, you might as well not exist. But in Sweden, success is met with quiet modesty, people say they’re just getting by, even when they’re excelling. That moment taught him something he’d return to again and again as Emsense moved into new markets: engineering alone isn’t enough. The story matters, and the story has to adapt to its audience.
Breaking Into Taiwan
That lesson became especially important when Emsense first started establishing itself in Taiwan. For Wahlström, the cultural shift was noticeable, but not hard to overcome. If anything, he found the Taiwanese business ecosystem refreshingly direct.
“If they send you an email, you reply within 48 hours. If you don’t, they’ll lose interest. That’s it,” he said. “You have to show them that you want it.”It sounds simple. But behind that advice is a bigger message: relationships, especially cross-cultural ones, require emotional fluency.
Emsense got its break in Taiwan through GaragePlus, which is run by the Epoch Foundation. Within twenty minutes of his first meeting in Taiwan, Wahlström was asked if he wanted to work together. There was no posturing, no endless chain of pre-meetings and internal referrals, just clarity.
“I’d never seen that level of preparation and professionalism before. They already knew everything about us before we walked in.”
How to Network
Rickard doesn’t consider himself a natural networker. But he knows what makes a first impression stick. Be human, be interested, know why you’re in the room. Still, for young professionals, especially those new to entrepreneurship, the idea of putting yourself out there can feel paralyzing. Wahlström remembers that anxiety too. His advice is straightforward: “Everyone is there for a reason. Investors want to find companies, and startups want to find customers or partners. So don’t hold back. No one’s going to get offended if you talk to them. That’s why they’re there.”
He also cautions against over-preparing. When someone delivers a TED Talk-style intro that’s too polished, it often falls flat. Better to keep it simple: say who you are, what you do, and why it matters to you. Authenticity, he says, is what really connects.
A Technology Born to Save Lives
Emsense’s origin traces back to a simple but urgent problem: how to prevent dogs and children from being left alone in hot cars. Rickard recalls the early realization that the automotive industry needed a reliable way to detect if someone remained inside a locked vehicle, especially infants exposed to dangerously high temperatures. Traditional camera systems, he explains, weren’t up to the task, they had blind spots and couldn’t provide consistent coverage. Instead, Emsense developed a radar-based technology capable of sensing life through materials like seats or blankets. Collaborating with Swedish rescue services and SOS Alarm, the team quickly saw the potential to do much more than just detect a child left behind. By monitoring heart rate, breathing, and their subtle variations, the technology can provide detailed, real-time biometric data. This data is critical in emergencies, where first responders often arrive without any information about passengers’ conditions. Rickard believes the future of vehicle safety will extend beyond child detection, with regulations expanding to include comprehensive monitoring of drivers and passengers, precisely what Emsense is building today.
Building the Right Team
But technology alone doesn’t build a company. Teams do. Rickard met his co-founder, Thomas Wingate, through mutual contacts, just as the concept for Emsense was beginning to take shape. The timing was right, and so was the fit. Wingate brought a strong research pedigree from the National Research Institute of Sweden. Wahlström, by contrast, came with years of experience from industry giants like Saab and Volvo. Their skill sets complemented each other almost intuitively, research depth on one side, practical market insight on the other. It was, as Rickard describes it, “a collaboration from the very beginning.”
For him, the key to a strong founding team isn’t sameness, it’s contrast. “You need people who complement each other, not clones,” he says. A founding team made up entirely of engineers, for instance, might overlook the business fundamentals. What matters more is balance: someone focused on innovation, and someone who understands how to bring that innovation into the real world.
Just as important is autonomy. In a startup, there’s no time for hand-holding. “You need people who will challenge each other,” he adds, “and who can work independently.”
Learning to Launch, Raise, and Grow
Starting a company, Wahlström believes, isn’t about polishing a product until it’s flawless, it’s about knowing when it’s ready enough to matter. In the startup world, waiting for perfection is a luxury few can afford. “If you wait too long, you lose time. And if you lose time, you lose money. Eventually, you have to close,” he says. What matters more is reaching a stage where you can begin meaningful conversations with partners, collaborators, or investors who can take the idea further. Emsense’s journey with investors has been quite unusual. They were found early by a US-based venture capital firm with an extensive global network of corporate partners. Still, being found doesn’t mean the path is easy. Choosing when to accept investment and how much equity to give up requires delicate negotiation. How much equity to give up, what kind of partner you want at the table, and whether that partner brings more than just money, these are questions with no obvious answers.
“You can’t expect anything for free,” he says. “If you want investment, you have to give something in return.” And sometimes, the most valuable thing an investor offers isn’t capital at all, but knowledge, networks, and hard-won industry insight.
Motivation
What keeps Rickard going is his belief that what Emsense does can save lives. For him, that conviction, that a small device can make a life-or-death difference on the road, is what fuels every late night and every decision. It’s the reason why, despite all the challenges of startup life, he keeps pushing forward.
“You don’t have to shout to be heard,” he told me.“You just have to say something worth listening to.”
In the end, it’s not about the noise or the spotlight. It’s about building something that matters. And for Rickard Wahlström, that means saving lives, one sensor, one signal, one driver at a time.