Leap Takers - Episodes Tagged with “Europe”

Episode 26: Anjali Raja Beharelle - Path from academia into entrepreneurship, and how Collabree helps people to make lasting habit changes thanks to behavioral economics

Remo Kyburz — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Dr. Anjali Raja Beharelle is the CSO (Chief Science Officer) and one of the founders of collabree.com. Collabree is a Swiss eHealth / digital adherence start-up focusing on improving therapy compliance of chronically ill patients by applying behavioural economics principles. Collabree is helping patients to make lasting behavioral changes and stick to their therapy regimen by combining human engagement with scalable algorithms and using the most relevant gamification factors: fun, friends and feedback.

Anjali is responsible for the clinical track and integrating insights from behavioral economics and neuroscience into the app. Before founding Collabree, Anjali worked as a neuroscientist. Her research focused on the neuro(chemical) and behavioral components of decision making between short-term and long-term rewards (e.g. should I have a candy bar or some broccoli) and how to optimize these decisions.

We discuss:

How behavioral economics can help us to make long-lasting positive habit changes
Taking the leap from Academia into the world of startups
Why medication adherence is so important
Collabree’s mission and future plans
Tips for forming habits

Show notes:

03:41 -- Intro of Anjali
04:19 -- Why Anjali decided to leave academia and to join a startup
05:38 -- Anjali’s academic research focus and how it links to her role at Collabree
08:55 -- How Anjali joined Collabree / found her co-founders
10:45 -- What is Collabree’s mission and what problem is the startup trying to solve
15:52 -- Development status of Collabree
17:18 -- More info about the Collabree app
17:36 -- Deep dive into scientific results from behavioral economics and how it can help us to form healthier habits
22:15 -- Pricing model of Collabree
24:26 -- Broader focus of Collabree - healthy habits
25:19 -- Deep dive into what habits are and habit formation from a scientific perspective
31:11 -- Practical & actionable tips for forming positive habits
34:49 -- Future plans for Collabree and status of fundraising
37:04 -- Learnings from switching from academia to the world of startups
40:43 -- Anjali’s favorite book
42:43 -- Role model of Anjali
43:35 -- Advice to your younger self
44:28 -- What courage means to Anjali
45:09 -- How to find out more about Collabree

Please follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and my Website, where I post new episodes and share resources & tips for anyone interested in entrepreneurship in Europe.
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If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Anjali Raja Beharelle.

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Episode 25: Hugo Amsellem - The creator economy tsunami and “The Family” - building a leading fellowship for founders in Europe

Remo Kyburz — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Hugo Amsellem [@HugoAmsellem] is a thought leader covering the world of the creator economy and writes the blog “Arm the Creators”. The Creator Economy enables an entire generation to bypass traditional gatekeepers for the 1st time in history. Anyone can learn anything online, build something new and distribute it all over the world—without asking anyone's permission

In 2013 he jumped the fence and joined The Family as part of the founding team. The Family is one of the world’s leading fellowship programs for founders. Twice a year, The Family selects 50 startups from around the world. In exchange for 5% equity, they provide everything you need to build a scalable business: advice, mindset, network & a world-class investor demo day.With the Family he backed hundreds of founders across Europe.

Previously, he co-founded oocto, a decentralized music label to help artists bypass the record labels and keep ownership of their projects.

Hugo recently joined Jellysmack, a “creator accelerator” to educate & empower the next generation of ambitious creators.

We discuss:

Why the Creator economy will change everything
Lessons from startup failure
The origin story of The Family
Developments in the European startup ecosystem
Investing in creators and creator accelerators

Show notes:

03:09 -- Intro of Hugo
05:31 -- Hugo Amsellem’s path into entrepreneurship / disrupting the music business
08:32 -- Learnings and reflections from startup failure
13:00 -- Unit economics - Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer LifeTime Value (CLTV)
15:30 -- Does risk mitigation in startups work? Should you start a startup?
19:30 -- Ideas are worthless - true or not?
20:39 -- The origin story of The Family and the startup ecosystem in Europe in the early 2010’s
27:51 -- Structure of The Family fellowship program
31:52 -- Who should apply to The Family program
33:26 -- Intro to the Creator Economy and why it matters
38:43 -- Jellysmack - the accelerator for creators
43:09 -- Investing in creators
47:43 -- Hugo Amsellem’s favorite book
50:25 -- What courage means for Hugo
53:32 -- Hugo Amsellem’s contact details and outro

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Hugo Amsellem.

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Links:

Jellysmack - The Global Creator Company
The Family - Building Ambitious Startups | — The Family is a fellowship of founders. Twice a year, The Family selects 50 startups from around the world. In exchange for 5% equity, we provide everything you need to build a scalable business: advice, mindset, network & a world-class investor demo day
Arm The Creators - Researching & Investing in the Creator Economy
Spotify
YouTube
The Creator Economy Explained: How Companies Are Transforming The Self-Monetization Boom - CB Insights Research
Steve Blank
Income-Share Agreement (ISA) Definition
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility" (Incerto) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (Incerto) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life (Incerto) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Episode 24: Patrick Gobonya - Building a sustainable eSports organization with Ovation eSports to deliver the next-generation fan experience

Remo Kyburz — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 06:45:00 +0200

Patrick Gobonya is one of the co-founders of Ovation eSports. Ovation was founded in Zurich / Switzerland in February 2020, and is the first sustainable eSports organization. Ovation is "a lit, young & dynamic pioneer which combines professionalism and fun in one team. A network platform of champs and eSports enthusiasts."

Ovation accompanies and develops athletes on their journey to become leading eSports players. The company is committed to provide their athletes with support to protect their mental and physical well-being and offers an environment to master a successful future following a career in eSports. Ovation eSports AG is a Swiss team consisting of players from the DACH region and with partnerships all over Europe. Ovation is one of the fastest growing and up-and-coming esports teams in Europe and currently competes in the games of Fortnite and Valorant.

In March 2021, Ovation announced that it has raised a seed round investment from billionaire twin brothers Maurice and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.

We discuss:

The origin story of Ovation
Tips for starting an eSports team & scouting talent
Sustainability in eSports and gaming as a career track
Fundraising advice

Show notes:

02:23 -- Intro of Patrick Gobonya
03:12 -- What is eSports and why is it relevant
05:54 -- Ovation’s fundraise from Maurice und Kyril Louis-Dreyfus
06:56 -- How the investment from the Dreyfus twins in Ovation came to be
11:06 -- How Patrick for the first time got the idea to start his own company and the origin story of Ovation
15:52 -- How Ovation came up with the name for its team
17:16 -- How to start an eSports team, recruiting players, getting into the community
19:50 -- How to scout talent in eSports
22:18 -- Progress of ovation in 2020
24:55 -- Stats and further info about Ovation
28:15 -- Revenue streams of Ovation and eSports teams - how the sponsorship model works
31:48 -- What sustainability means in the context of eSports
34:01 -- Patrick’s learnings from building an eSports brand
35:22 -- Trends in the eSports space
36:58 -- Patrick’s favorite game
37:42 -- Patrick Gobonya’s advice to younger self
38:22 -- Open browser tabs
39:20 -- What courage means to Patrick

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Patrick Gobonya.

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Links:

Ovation eSports — A lit, young & dynamic pioneer which combines professionalism and fun in one team. A network platform of champs and eSports enthusiasts
Fortnite | Free-to-Play Cross-Platform Game
Valorant
Clan (video games)
Twitch
Riot Games
League of Legends
Rome II - Total War
FIFA Video Games - Official EA Site
Call of Duty
Real Madrid CF
Ovation eSports (@ovationesports) - Instagram
Ovation eSports (@OvationEsports) - Twitter
Ovation - Twitch
Patrick Gobonya

Episode 23: Arman Anatürk - Food trends and the founding story of FoodHack - a global platform for the FoodTech industry

Remo Kyburz — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 06:30:00 +0100

Arman Anatürk [@ArmanAnaturk] is the founder and CEO of FoodHack. FoodHack is a community-driven platform that inspires, highlights and connects food entrepreneurs and innovators. With FoodHack Arman is is building the 21st century media / events company for the foodtech industry. The platform's offering includes a weekly food & food tech newsletter, ambassador run meet-ups, an annual FoodHack Summit, as well as a newly launched Food Discovery board (think of the “Product Hunt of Food”) where innovative food tech startups are featured.

Arman’s goal with FoodHack is to make it easier for impact driven food founders to access the resources, network and knowledge they need to successfully launch and grow their Food (tech) business. The FoodHack newsletter has over 100+ editions sent and over 5k+ happy readers.

Arman also hosts "The Secret Sauce" Podcast, where he provides insights from food industry leaders.

We discuss:

How Arman founded and grew a 21st century media company focused on food & technology
Cold outreach tips
Newest trends in the FoodTech space
Tools to run an emerging startup / platform
The origin story of FoodHack

Show notes:

02:33 -- Intro of Arman
03:20 -- How Arman Anatürk got interested in startups and food tech
07:04 -- Next steps after working for a coding school
08:16 -- Cold outreach tips
13:17 -- How Arman got his first client
14:50 -- Description of FoodHack and its mission
17:50 -- Sources of revenue for FoodHack / a 21st century media business
20:13 -- The story of FoodHack and its different products
23:51 -- Stats of FoodHack
25:33 -- Arman’s favorite tools to run FoodHack / a media startup
28:05 -- Tips to grow your newsletter
30:31 -- Latest trends happening in the FoodTech space
37:30 -- Book with the biggest impact for Arman
37:54 -- Area in FoodTech that Arman is most excited about
38:27 -- Lessons for other (aspiring) entrepreneurs
40:44 -- What courage means for Arman

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Arman Anatürk.

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Episode 22: Job van der Voort - From first employee at GitLab to founding Remote.com and shaping the future of work

Remo Kyburz — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 08:30:00 +0100

Job van der Voort (@Jobvo) is the CEO and one of the founders of Remote.com.

Remote makes it possible to employ anyone, anywhere in the world. Their mission is to simplify how companies employ the best talent globally and to help remote organizations do their best work. They offer services such as international payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance for businesses big and small - so that they can hire anyone in the world - while outsourcing all the admin & legal work to Remote. Remote's vision is to become the "stripe for (remote) work".

Remote is also among the fastest growing startups globally and is backed by some of the best venture capital investors in the world, such as Index Ventures, Sequoia, General Catalyst, Two Sigma, and many more very accomplished angel investors. Remote recently raised their Series A financing round of $35M.

Before founding Remote, Job worked as neuroscientist, and he was one of the first engineers that joined GitLab. In his role as VP of product, Job was responsible for GitLab's product development and he helped grow the company from 5 to 450+ employees. Today GitLab is one of the largest distributed companies in the world.

We discuss:

How Job entered the world of tech at GitLab
The advantages of remote work
Second order effects of remote work on the world
Best practices for working from home
The origin story of Remote.com
Tips for aspiring entrepreneurs and much more

Show notes:

00:50 -- Intro
03:49 -- Personal intro from Job van der Voort
06:59 -- How Job started as one of the first engineers at Gitlab
07:37 -- Background to Gitlab - What is Gitlab?
08:05 -- Job’s first touchpoints with working for a fully distributed / remote company
10:07 -- Insights into Job’s role at Gitlab as VP of product
11:37 -- Gitlab’s growth and scaling up
12:40 -- Collaboration tools
14:06 -- Advantages of remote work
16:33 - The shift to remote-first from employers perspective
17:56 -- Second order effects of shifting to remote work
20:30 -- Best practices for remote work
24:59 -- The origin story of Remote.com - How remote.com was started
27:45 -- Introduction to what remote.com does
30:35 -- Remote.com’s venture capital fundraise
32:00 -- Customers of Remote.com
33:23 -- Remote.com as stripe for remote work
36:09 -- Job’s vision for remote.com in 5 years
37:19 -- Job van der Voort’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and leaptakers
40:39 -- Labor market and demand for remote roles
42:36 -- Book that had biggest personal impact
43:08 -- Job’s favorite remote collaboration tool
44:42 -- Advice to younger self
45:03 -- What courage means to Job

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Job van der Voort.

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Episode 18: Heidi Lindvall - From documentary filmmaker to investing in ClimateTech startups with Pale Blue Dot VC

Remo Kyburz — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0200

Heidi Lindvall (@HeidiLindvall) is one of the founders and a general partner at Pale Blue Dot. Pale Blue Dot is a seed stage ClimateTech VC investing in reducing and reversing the effects of climate change and preparing for a new world. They invest tickets of €200k - €2M, in pre-seed and seed-stage companies based in Europe and US.

Heidi Lindvall previously co-founded Storygami, an online video company that increases viewers engagement & helped monetize content. She also founded CODOC, an award winning video production company. She has a background in Media and Human Rights and has studied for two degrees in the field in London.

In this episode you hear how Heidi made her way from being a documentary filmmaker into the world of Venture Capital (VC). We also discuss her learnings from being an entrepreneur and what areas in ClimateTech she is most excited about to help save the planet. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Show notes:

01:48 -- Introduction of Heidi Lindvall
02:21 -- Description of Pale Blue Dot and the goal of the VC fund
04:26 -- How Heidi got in touch with the world of startups & tech
07:16 -- Documentary movies created by Heidi Lindvall
07:54 -- How Storygami - a online video SaaS product - was born
10:20 -- What is the right moment for a startup to start looking for investors
11:33 -- From Storygami to joining accelerators, becoming an investor, and the origin story of Pale Blue Dot VC
19:15 -- What is ClimateTech and in what areas does Pale Blue Dot invest in
22:35 -- Investment target & fund characteristics of Pale Blue Dot
23:50 -- Public investments of Pale Blue Dot VC
24:41 -- The role of regulation in the ClimateTech sector
26:27 -- Learnings from raising a VC fund in Europe
29:35 -- Heidi’s advice and tips for (aspiring) entrepreneurs
32:03 -- Book that had a big personal impact on Heidi’s life
33:07 -- Resources for people interested in the climate & tech space
34:17 -- Heidi’s most worthwhile investment
35:24 -- Advice to your younger self
36:10 -- What courage means to Heidi

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Heidi Lindvall.

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Episode 17: Anne-Laure Le Cunff - Mindful productivity - How Ness Labs became the leading learning platform that empowers makers to do their best work while keeping their sanity

Remo Kyburz — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 07:00:00 +0200

Anne-Laure Le Cunff (@anthilemoon) is the Founder of Ness Labs, an award-winning productivity & learning community and venture studio building products that focus on mindful productivity, wellness, creativity, and culture. She is an ex-Googler, MSc of Applied Neuroscience candidate at King's College, member of the Society for Neuroscience, and certified Mental Health First Aider accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health.

Her work has been featured in WIRED, Forbes, FT, Rolling Stone, and more. Every week, she sends a newsletter to thousands of mindful makers with practical content at the intersection of neuroscience and entrepreneurship.

She is half-French, half-Algerian. Anne-Laure was born in Paris, sold French wine in New York, studied in Tokyo, worked at Google in San Francisco, and started her company Ness Labs in London.

In this episode you will hear the origin story of Ness Labs, we discuss fascinating topics such as the concept of time anxiety, and you hear Anne-Laure’s advice for anyone that wants to start & grow a content community. I found this episode incredibly interesting and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Show notes:

01:54 -- Intro of Anne-Laure Le Cunff
02:42 -- Anne-Laure’s personal background and travels
04:49: -- How Anne-Laure became interested in the human mind and neuroscience
07:12 -- Ness Labs: What is it and who is it for
11:18 -- The origin story of Ness Labs. How Anne-Laure Le Cunff built a learning platform for mindful productivity
14:34 -- Lessons learned from a previous startup failure
18:41 -- Tips on growing your audience and community
20:43 -- Working with the garage door open
22:03 -- Positive highlight of Ness Lab’s journey so far
23:28 -- Ness Labs as a remote-first company
26:13 -- Time Anxiety. What is it and how do we best counteract it?
31:22 -- Top recommended articles on Ness Labs
32:12 -- Key learnings from starting an online learning community
34:19 -- Ness Lab’s newest product
35:37 -- Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s favorite book
35:55 -- Anne-Laure's best personal investment
37:08 -- Anne-Laure’s advice to her younger self
38:17 -- What courage means to Anne-Laure

Please follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and my Website, where I post new episodes, share interesting articles I found, and blog occasionally about cool startups!
Sign-up for the mailing list to stay in the loop!

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Anne-Laure Le Cunff.

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

Remo Kyburz — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 16:30:00 +0200

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, that attracts around 25'000 attendees every year to Helsinki. He also founded Grey Area - a gaming company that was backed by Index Ventures, LVP, Lifeline Ventures.
Ville also serves as the chairman of Swappie, an ambitious young company selling refurbished mobile phones, which just raised $40M in June 2020. He is also on the boards of Maria 01, a 70 000 m² campus for tech companies in the heart of Helsinki as well as on the board of Startup Foundation, the organization that owns various initiatives supporting the Nordic startup ecosystem, among them Slush.

Most recently Ville joined Atomico, one of Europe's leading venture capital investors, as an angel investor to support new aspiring entrepreneurs. Ville also just started his own podcast - The Long Map, where he explores how to live an interesting life.

In this episode, we talk about the origin story of Slush, Grey Area, and Swappie. We cover Ville's learnings from being a serial founder and investor, as well as his tips for other aspiring entrepreneurs in Europe.

Show notes:

02:07 -- Intro - Who is Ville Vesterinen
03:11 -- How Ville became interested in entrepreneurship & tech
04:59 -- Retelling the experience of becoming an entrepreneur in the 2000’s
07:08 -- The origin story of Slush, Europe’s leading tech conference
10:24 -- Ville’s learnings from starting Slush and tips for founding a conference
13:27 -- Major milestones and projects that Ville worked on so far
15:38 -- Location-based games & Shadow Cities
17:57 -- Swappie, refurbishing and selling second hand iPhones
20:04 -- Learnings and advice for future startup founders
24:46 -- Atomico Angel programme and Ville’s investing focus
28:48 -- Ville Vesterinen’s new podcast - The Long Map
30:32 -- Ville Vesterinen’s favorite book
31:38 -- Ville Vesterinen’s best personal investment
33:06 -- Advice to your 25 year old self
34:13 -- What courage means for Ville

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Ville Vesterinen.

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

Remo Kyburz — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 07:30:00 +0200

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. Gonzalo's writing always provides unique perspectives of developments in technology in Europe and its impact on society. Seedtable is one of my all-time favorite newsletters and I'm super excited that Gonzalo decided to come on the LeapTakers Podcast.

In addition to Seedtable, Gonzalo is Head of Growth at Jobbatical, an Estonian Relocation Service for Tech companies, and he is mentoring startups. His previous experience includes having founded two startups, being a Content Specialist at Piktochart, growing EVELO from $1.2m to $4m as Director of Marketing, and helping to bring The Martec from 2,000 to 50,000 monthly visitors.
Gonz likes to read and to fly. He speaks 4 languages and lifts heavy things, plus he seems to be into the occasional burger or ramen.

In today’s episode we talk about practical tips for remote work and working from home, how Gonzalo started Seedtable, what makes a successful newsletter & advice on how to grow your own content, the impact of Covid-19 on various startup sectors, and more.

Show notes:

01:53: Who is Gonzalo & introduction
04:52: Is a certain personality type required to be able to work remotely?
06:25: Tips & tricks for remote work
10:08: Gonzalo's favorite city to work from remotely
12:22: How did Gonzalo become interested in technology and entrepreneurship?
15:40: How does website flipping work
16:53: Learnings from his experience as a founder & failed startups
19:11: How to pick and find your co-founder
22:21: The beginnings of Seedtable
24:09: How Seedtable got traction
27:18: Tips to produce good content and to grow your audience
30:19: How to separate a job and a side project
33:30: Key facts about Seedtable
36:32: Gonzalo's predictions for 2020 and the impact of COVID-19
39:18: Discussion of startup sectors that are positively or negatively affected by COVID-19
44:20: Gonzalo's understanding of courage
45:14: Wrap-up

Remo's Favorite Quote of the Month:

“Discipline equals freedom”

Jocko Willink

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Gonzalo Sanchez.

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

Remo Kyburz — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 07:15:00 +0200

Christian (@chrjantzen) is the founder of Futuristic.vc, a micro-fund investing in Nordic pre-seed companies. He made his first investment at age fourteen when he bought shares in his favorite football club. He later started his first company, a real estate company, in 2011, which he grew while studying at university. Following his masters degree in Finance from Aarhus University , he co-founded another startup “Reunited Esports", which was a player-owned Esports organisation with teams competing in Overwatch and Rocket League.

In 2017 he founded Futuristic VC, an early-stage VC fund investing initial capital into the next generation of Nordic founders. 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.

If you’re interested in starting your own company while studying / after graduating, or if you’re interested in the world of Micro VC’s, I’m sure you will find this episode very interesting and valuable. We talk about Christian’s path to starting Futuristic VC, his experience from starting an eSports company, fundraising advice, his best investment, and more!

Quote:

“He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.”

Jean-Luc Godard

Show notes:

02:43: Who is Christian & Intro
03:46: How Christian became fascinated with company and startup investing
06:40: Christians favorite football club
07:18: How Christian got into startups
10:01: Christians first experience as a founder
12:20: Christians startup company “REUNITED e-sports”
15:23: Christians approach to find an e-sports team and collaborate with them
16:42: Business model of an e-sports company
17:56: Christians decision to start a VC fund and the origin story of Futuristic
21:13: Fundraising and LP base of Futuristic VC
24:46: Overview of Futuristic VC
28:05: How Futuristic VC built up its deal flow and identifies startups to invest in
32:44: Learnings for startup investors
34:59: Learnings for startup founders
37:34: Best Investment of Christian Jantzen
38:52: What does courage mean to Christian
39:58: Wrap-up

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Christian Jantzen.

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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

Remo Kyburz — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 14:30:00 +0100

Mathias (@ockenrock) eats and breathes marketplaces. He is a partner at Speedinvest, one of Europe’s leading Venture Capital funds. The fund has it’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria and just recently raised its latest fund of €190m. Mathias runs Speedinvest x, a focus fund investing into network effects and marketplaces.

Previously he was a General Manager for the German market at Uniplaces, an international marketplace for student accommodation. Before that, Mathias built out the marketplace-practice at Berlin-based Point Nine Capital, an early stage fund focusing on SaaS and marketplaces, where he was a Principal for 4 years. Previously, Mathias led the M&A-department of Ricardo Group, then a subsidiary of South African Naspers, that operates several online marketplace, classifieds and auction businesses across Europe. Earlier, he started his career as an Investment Manager at Mountain Partners in Zurich where he lead early stage investments in companies such as Lieferando or reBuy.

Mathias holds a German-French double-diploma from European School of Business Reutlingen and Neoma Business School Reims. Knowing Germany’s capital city like the back of his hand, Mathias now leads Speedinvest's Berlin office as a Partner at Speedinvest x.

Show notes:

03:08 -- Who is Mathias Ockenfels
04:40 -- How Mathias got interested in the Venture Capital industry and how he landed his first job in VC
08:44 -- Tips for getting a job in Venture Capital
13:56 -- What are the most important skills and abilities to work in VC
16:30 -- Mathias’ path from Analyst to Partner at a VC firm
22:27 -- Intro to Speedinvest and what kind of companies Mathias is interested in and is investing in
25:51 -- Key investment criteria to get an investment from Mathias / Speedinvest
28:48 -- Books and Resources for (aspiring) entrepreneurs and VCs
31:55 -- Mathias’ best financial and personal investment
33:28 -- Advice to younger self / someone starting out their career
35:23 -- Mathias’ favorite books and movies
37:23 -- What does courage mean to Mathias

If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.

Special Guest: Mathias Ockenfels.

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