The Zurich based startup mtSystems translate C source code to Java source code. The translation is completely automatic, supports the entire C language and creates functionally equivalent Java code.

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Marco Trudel, founder of mtSystems.

The startup was founded by Marco Trudel. He took part at venturelab workshops at ETH in 2013. The so-called Startup Essentials are a perfect format for young and ambitious entrepreneurs. Loads of success have already participants from past semester courses like Clara Beck from TapTools, Tauras Sinkevicius from WedMap or Raphael Gindrat from BestMile. You want to jump into the next workshop session? It will start in the next semester at ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne. You can register now at www.venturelab.ch/se.

SUNNIE: Who are you?
MARCO: I’m an engineer at heart with a passion for programming language translation. I’m the founder of mtSystems (https://www.mtsystems.ch/), a company that turns my passion into a real business…Or at least is trying to. (Smiles)

What does your company do?
We’re the Google Translate for programming languages; we translate C source code to Java source code. You can try it out on our website (just like Google translate).

What’s the founding story behind mtSystems?
I am a recipient of an ETH Pioneer Fellowship which funded the transfer of the research results from my PhD into a market ready product. The outcome of the Fellowship is mtSystems and a translation technology that nobody else on the market currently has.

What was your proudest moment in your company’s history so far?
Getting the 150k of the Pioneer Fellowship program to build market ready technology. Or maybe getting an inquiry for a ~2M project; unfortunately that didn’t work out.

What’s the vision behind mtSystems?
My vision is to help customers update their legacy systems/projects into modern software systems and, in the process, turn my passion into a sustainable company.

What’s your biggest challenge right now?
My biggest challenge right now is finding and closing a deal with a first major paying client. The Pioneer Fellowship ended this February, so I’ve taken up a part­time job at ETH to pay the bills until I can earn money with mtSystems directly or decide to trying to get investors aboard.

On a regular basis Sunnie J. Groeneveld provides us exciting interviews with ETH Spin-offs. You find all interviews here.