The Linz startup Presono has come up with its own solution for presentations in a crowded market. Three years after its foundation and a million investment in 2017, the start-up has even convinced a Microsoft manager of the Powerpoint alternative. Lukas Keller was most recently a member of the executive board of Microsoft Austria, where he worked for 15 years, and now moves to the top of Presono as CEO.
Internationalization and new customers
“In this presentation solution, I see a real one revolution”, Keller is quoted in a broadcast. The limitations of available presentation solutions had been “always an eyesore”. With the new boss Presono wants to drive the internationalization and expand the customer base strongly. The 50-year-old manager worked for Microsoft primarily in the areas of sales, marketing and business development.
It’s not uncommon for managers to switch from big corporations to startups. Recently, Anyline has repeatedly wooed at IBM. Keller is irritated, “that everything is faster, more dynamic, more active and without the tight specifications and structures of a group. It will allow us to respond much faster and more effectively to the real needs of our customers for further development”.
Red Bull and KUKA as customers
Presono’s customers include Red Bull and the robot manufacturer KUKA. In 2017, three investors joined HMG Invest, MF Group and A & S Beteiligungsgesellschaft with one million euros – the valuation is therefore around 5 million. A new round of financing will be completed soon, it says in a release.
Founder in new roles
Presono was founded in 2015 by Martin Behrens, Hannes Freudenthaler and Martin Luftensteiner. The software has been on the market since 2017. The three founders have also found new roles in their company: Freudenthaler joins the Advisory Board, Behrens becomes COO and Luftensteiner relinquishes the role of CTO to developer Sebastian Gierlinger and focuses on the further development of the tool.
Centralized data management at Presono ensures that all slides for each employee are always in the same state-of-the-art and that there is no risk of outdated information being disseminated (for example, at customer appointments). “We re-think the topic of presentation and combine professional, intelligent presentation, cooperation and management in one”, says Keller.