Lessons from my conversation with Kai Zenner, and why Europe’s future depends on bold builders!
Date:
Nov 28, 2025
LuminaTalks : Season 2, Episode 2 Guest: Kai Zenner
I’ll be honest, I walked into my conversation with Kai Zenner with mixed feelings.
On one hand, I felt that familiar frustration every founder in Europe knows. When you compare us to the US, India, China… it sometimes feels like they’re playing football on a wide-open field, and we’re playing the same game inside a parking garage.
More rules. More boundaries. More “you can’t do that yet.”
But on the other hand, and this is just how I’m wired, I always try to flip that frustration into something useful. Into structure. Into opportunity. Into an advantage. So when Kai said the line:
“Regulation isn’t a cage — it’s scaffolding for innovation.”
…it didn’t feel like a policy slogan. It felt like something I had lived myself.
When structure became a competitive edge
When Summ.link was still a baby, we made a decision that shaped everything that came after it. We didn’t hire flashy office managers. We didn’t buy a fleet of company cars. We didn’t throw money at laptops people didn’t want to use anyway.
We pursued ISO 27001.
Everyone thought we were crazy. “You’re two people. Why do you need this?”
But what it gave us was not a certificate, it was a mindset.
It forced us to understand what an asset truly is. It forced us to build systems we could trust. It forced us to think long-term, not month-to-month.
And it made us operate completely differently from 99.9 percent of consultancy firms.
No unnecessary assets that depreciate from day one. A strict BYOD policy because people know what tools make them effective. Money invested where it matters: in people, not objects.
That’s the same lens I now apply to AI. To data. To the AI Act. To everything Summ.link is building, and we will build in the next decade.
“Good standards, like ISO, doesn’t slow you down. It accelerates everything that matters.”
Europe doesn’t have a regulation problem. It has a fear problem.
This is something I’ve been talking about a lot lately, especially after a question I received on LinkedIn:
“Does Europe’s social security system discourage people from becoming entrepreneurs?”
My first instinct was to reply in the comments. Then I realised this conversation deserves more space.
Because here’s my honest, slightly uncomfortable take:
“Europe doesn’t have a regulation problem. Europe has a fear problem.”
We grow up learning to play it safe. Don’t fall. Don’t fail. Don’t stand out too much. Follow the rules. Do the predictable thing. Choose stability, not risk.
By the time people hit their late twenties or thirties, this becomes the default operating system.
“Be careful is Europe’s default operating system.”
Meanwhile, in the US? The risks are higher. But the belief in taking those risks is even higher.
Failing is normal. Starting again is expected. Investors reward ambition instead of punishing it. Risk feels like part of the adventure, not the end of the story.
And all of this matters when we talk about AI, innovation, and Europe’s place in the world.
The moment with Kai that stuck with me
At one point in the recording, Kai said:
“The real competition isn’t between AI models, it’s between governance models.”
And that line stayed with me the entire week.
Because he’s right.
Europe isn’t trying to win with compute. Europe isn’t trying to win with the biggest model. Europe is trying to win with rules that create trust. Trust in data, trust in systems, trust in outcomes.
“Europe isn’t trying to win with compute. Europe is trying to win with trust.”
And maybe, just maybe, that’s our actual advantage.
Governance is a weird superpower. It’s invisible until it isn’t. And when done well, it becomes part of your brand, part of your story, part of why people choose you.
The AI Act is not about slowing down. It’s about making sure we don’t build skyscrapers on sand.
Founders see regulation as a wall. I see it as a window of opportunity
There’s a misconception I hear every week:
“The AI Act will kill innovation.”
I don’t buy that. Not even for a second.
If anything, it will separate the serious builders from the noise. It creates clarity. It defines what “good” looks like. It gives companies a common language to build with.
“Every constraint is also a design opportunity.”
I’ve seen this firsthand with Summ.link. The reasons clients trust us today are the decisions we made years ago, when they didn’t seem necessary yet.
And that’s exactly how founders should treat the AI Act.
Get ahead of it, and it becomes your USP. Ignore it, and you’ll be cleaning up your own mess in two years.
What I wish both sides understood
If I could ask something from both worlds, builders and policymakers, it would be this:
Policy makers should be much, much closer to founders. You can’t design rules for the people actually building the future if you never sit with them.
And on the flip side:
Founders should stop pretending regulation doesn’t matter.
And in Kai’s words, which cut straight to the truth:
“You can’t complain about overregulation and underprepare at the same time.”
Exactly.
The ten takeaways from this episode every founder in Europe should bookmark
These are the ideas from my conversation with Kai that matter most:
The AI Act is real law and it starts enforcing earlier than you think.
Regulation doesn’t limit innovation; it shapes it.
Risk classification is more important than the tech itself.
High-risk doesn’t mean bad or prohibited; it means accountable.
Foundation models have their own rulebook, understand it early.
Sandboxes will become the playground for real innovation.
Compliance is becoming a trust signal investors look for.
The new AI Office will centralise guidance, use it.
Agentic systems will test every assumption we have about oversight.
Europe may not be fast, but it is deliberate, and that builds trust.
So… what now?
Europe isn’t slow. Europe isn’t broken. Europe isn’t behind.
Europe is deliberate.
And there’s power in that, if we choose to use it.
My challenge for you this week: Reflect. Think. Share your perspective. Don’t let this conversation stay inside our industry bubble.
Because the moment we take this seriously, not as founders vs policymakers, but as people building the same future, everything becomes easier.
And if you want to go deeper:
🎧 Listen to the full conversation with Kai Zenner
Spotify → [insert link]
Apple Podcasts → [insert link]
📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/vtKsABAHU8c
And if this newsletter made you think, share it with someone who always says “Europe moves too slow.”
Let’s prove them wrong.
— Kevin
