This week we interview (#37) Michael Jansen, CEO of Cityzenith about digital twins of cities and infrastructure, building a software company, focusing on what really matters and practicing humility, what you leave behind for others, and more.
About Michael Jansen:
An impassioned architect, urbanist, and entrepreneur, Michael has founded and led high-growth companies in the U.S. and Asia for more than two decades.
Having studied architecture at Yale and Cambridge, and earned a Fulbright Scholarship, he worked as an architect in India and China for several years, leading the Asia practices of two major U.S. international architecture firms.
In 2004, Michael founded a major BIM services company in India backed by Sequoia Capital, which grew to over 500 employees in just four years. In 2010, Michael took the helm at Cityzenith as CEO and embarked on a personal mission to revolutionize the way we use data to transform the built environment the worldover.
Featured on CNN, CNBC, the BBC, and in several major business, government, and AEC publications worldwide, Michael has received several awards for his work, including the “40 Under 40” accolade from Building Design + Construction. In 2014, Michael was honored as a World Cities Summit Young Leader in Singapore for his life-long contribution to improving sustainability and the quality of life in cities; and recently in 2019, he received a Chicago Innovation Award for his company’s groundbreaking work in the Digital Twin Arena.
A husband and father of three, Michael speaks Chinese and Hindi, has traveled to over 90 countries, swims a lot, reads more political and science news than he should, and plays the guitar.
