Lukas Trötzmüller
Hi!
I’m Lukas and I’ve been a solo software entrepreneur since 2010.
Currently, I am open to meeting potential cofounders or joining an existing startup. I am not set on a specific idea, but prefer working with projects that have direct positive impact.
Currently living in Graz / Austria.
Education and Skills
MSc in Computer Science, specializing in Computer Graphics & Computer Vision (TU Graz, and one year at University of Bristol)
Founder with 12 years of experience. My strength is in software development and product management. I also have experience in sales, marketing, law, PR and most other aspects of entrepreneurship.
Technical skills I’m strong in:
• Computer Graphics and Game Development
• Web Scraping and Automation
• Performance Optimization
• Algorithmic problems
• General backend development
• Microsoft .NET
• Desktop Development
Technical skills in which I have some experience:
• Data Pipelines
• Network Engineering
• Computer Vision
• Math
• Software Testing
• UI Design & Usability
Other non-technical skills:
• Facilitating authentic relating workshops (I have trained as a circling facilitator)
• Making music (currently learning pipe organ)
• Filmmaking
• Photography
Work Experience
Entrepreneurship
Founder – FWsim Fireworks Simulator
(2010 – Present)
FWsim is a fireworks simulation and planning software. It’s used by fireworks companies, stage pyrotechnicians and fireworks enthusiasts in 83 countries. Videos made with FWsim have been viewed by over 40 million people.
The core technology of FWsim is a homemade 3D engine with a component-based fireworks effects simulation. The user interface makes heavy use of the Immediate Mode GUI paradigm as well as fully automatic generation of user interfaces.
I am working with freelancers, but for the most part handling all aspects of the business myself.
Founder – Copyright Hero
(2015 – 2020)
Copyright Hero was an automated anti-piracy service for authors of eBooks and online courses.
The core technology is a web crawler able to find and identify copyrighted works on arbitrary websites. The system also has interfaces to a number of search engines and social media companies, and is thus able to get copyrighted works removed fully automatically.
Like FWsim, Copyright Hero was a one-man venture. At one point, the system handled anti-piracy for more than 10.000 Spanish authors, removing over 100.000 files per year with only one part-time freelancer required to oversee the process.
Research & Nonprofit
Activism & EA Community Building
(2015 – 2021)
- President of Effective Altruism Austria in 2021
- Cofounder of EA Graz, together with Jan Beck
- Cofounder of the German “EA Sommerlager”, an unconference
- I also contributed to the climate movement in Austria and Germany from 2015-2018. Helped organize events and gatherings, did PR and got our message into some of Austrias biggest newspapers.
AI Safety Communications
(June 2022 – Present)
Currently, I am working on a short-term project for the AI Safety Field Building Hub. The aim is to create a resource for AI researchers interested to learn more about existential threats from transformative systems. This is a subject that, interestingly enough, many professional AI researchers have not spent much time looking into.
This work builds upon my earlier research on why people in the EA movement are skeptical about AI Safety..
The first stage of the project was finished in January 2023 and it’s online here.
Other Research & Writing
Lukas Trötzmüller 