Leap Takers

Episode 16: Ville Vesterinen - Lessons from a nordic serial entrepreneur - Slush, Grey Area, Swappie - becoming an Atomico angel investor & more

Episode  |  June 24th, 2020  |  36 mins 42 secs

entrepreneurship, europe, gaming, investing, nordics, podcast, startups, venture capital

Ville Vesterinen (@vesterinen) is a serial entrepreneur from Finland. He is one of the original founders of Slush - one of the world’s leading startup & tech conferences. Ville also founded Grey Area, a gaming company that was backed by Index Ventures, serves as the chairman of Swappie, a startup selling refurbished mobile phones, and he is an angel investor for Atomico.

Episode 15: Gonzalo Sanchez - Origin story of Seedtable, impact of COVID-19 on the startup ecosystem, and tips for remote work

Episode  |  April 30th, 2020  |  47 mins 14 secs

barcelona, covid-19, entrepreneurship, europe, newsletter, remote work, startups, venture capital, writing

Gonzalo (@gonsanchezs) runs and writes Seedtable, one of the leading newsletters focused on European tech. Seedtable is read by tens of thousands every week, and his work has been featured in Wired and Sifted.

Episode 14: Christian Jantzen - Path to becoming one of the youngest VCs in Europe, starting an eSports team, and Futuristic VC

Episode  |  April 7th, 2020  |  41 mins 47 secs

entrepreneurship, esports, europe, fundraising, investing, micro vc, startups, venture capital

Christian (@chrjantzen) is the founder of Futuristic.vc, a micro-fund investing in Nordic pre-seed companies. He has invested in +20 companies across the entire region and helped founders secure follow-on funding from some of the strongest investors in Europe. Christian is viewed as one of the youngest VCs in Europe.

Episode 13: Mathias Ockenfels - How to start a career in Venture Capital, from Analyst to Partner at a leading VC firm, Online Marketplaces, and Speedinvest

Episode  |  March 15th, 2020  |  40 mins 29 secs

berlin, career, entrepreneurship, europe, marketplaces, reading, startups, venture capital

Mathias (@ockenrock) eats and breathes marketplaces. He is a partner at Speedinvest, one of Europe’s leading early-stage Venture Capital funds.
Mathias started his career in VC very early and made it to partner in his early30s. In this episode he shares many of his personal insights, learnings, and tips from his career path. If you are interested in online marketplaces, startups, and careers in VC, this episode is definitely for you.

Episode 12: Vedika Jain - Hustle your way into VC, picking your boss, from Stripe to Weekend Fund, and More

Episode  |  February 11th, 2020  |  35 mins 12 secs

career, consumer product, entrepreneurship, passion economy, reading, silicon valley, startups, venture capital

Vedika Jain is an investor and Chief of staff at Weekend Fund, an early stage venture capital fund that is backing your next favorite thing. In this episode you will hear how Vedika "hustled" her way into VC, get general career advice for picking the right companies and startups to work for, learn more about Weekend Fund, Vedika’s favorite books & blogs, and much more!

Episode 11: Sebastian Wahl & Carl-Philipp von Polheim - The story of mybacs and how to start a direct-to-consumer company

Episode  |  December 31st, 2019  |  35 mins 24 secs

consumer product, direct-to-consumer, entrepreneurship, germany, health, reading, startups, switzerland, travel

Sebastian Wahl and Carl-Philipp von Polheim are the founders of mybacs.
Mybacs is a direct-to-consumer (D2C), research driven, biotechnology company for gut-health products based in Zug (Switzerland) and Munich (Germany).

Episode 10: Holger Seim - The origin story of Blinkist, growing to 11 million users, and creating a unique company culture

Episode  |  November 18th, 2019  |  48 mins 34 secs

berlin, blinkist, books, culture, entrepreneurship, germany, marketing, reading, startups, travel

Episode 9: Alisée de Tonnac - Leaving the corporate world to travel the globe and run startup competitions in emerging markets

Episode  |  October 16th, 2019  |  29 mins 54 secs

emerging markets, entrepreneurship, forbes 30 under 30, investing, startups, switzerland, travel, venture capital

Episode 8: Andri Silberschmidt - The 25 year old that sells poké bowls, manages an equity fund, and runs for national parliament

Episode  |  October 2nd, 2019  |  47 mins 56 secs

business, entrepreneurship, food, politics, startups, switzerland

Episode 7: Andreas Schwarzinger - Lessons from building Switzerland's leading student platform

Episode  |  September 10th, 2019  |  51 mins 14 secs

community building, entrepreneurship, movies, studying, switzerland, university