EU-Startups Podcast | Episode 140: Laura Modiano, Startups EMEA at OpenAI

Oct 16, 2025 - 11:00

This is the best time to build in the history of humanity. To young people wondering whether to start something, start now.

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, Laura Modiano, Startups EMEA at OpenAI, shares her “love letter to European founders” and turns it into a build-now playbook. She explains how OpenAI’s latest advancements are empowering founders to move from idea to prototype faster than ever, using AI tools that shorten cycles, reduce costs, and boost productivity across the board.

The conversation also explores the newest platform updates, including Apps in ChatGPT and the Apps SDK as a new distribution channel, AgentKit for more capable agents, Codex (GA) for developer speed, Sora 2 and Sora 2 Pro via API for high-ROI video creation, and GPT-5-pro for higher-stakes reasoning. You’ll also learn how to use these tools effectively: from turning ideas into prototypes at weekend-level speed, preparing your app listing before launch, and integrating AI into your workflows without slowing teams, to identifying where dynamic video and advanced models truly deliver impact!

Video version of episode 140:

Audio version of episode 140:

Key Takeaways:

Speed is a moat: Scaffold with GPT-5-pro, then optimise to cheaper models.
Don’t “add AI”, remove steps; redesign the workflow and eliminate friction instead of adding it.
Apps in ChatGPT = new distribution: 800 million weekly users across the EU and UK. Prepare your app listing, onboarding, and pricing now.
Agents vs. endpoints: With AgentKit, combine state, tools, and guardrails to deliver outcomes, not demos.
Codex (GA) is not a novelty: It enables pair programming, repository refactors, and documentation hygiene without slowing PR velocity.
Sora 2: Use it where dynamic video outperforms static formats, such as product demos, instructionals, and simulations.
Europe’s edge lies in talent density and research depth; the bottleneck is belief and shipping cadence, not brains.

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