Seedtable Podcast | European Tech, VC & Startups

Hey everyone, this is your host Gonz, and welcome to another episode of the Seedtable podcast, where we try to make sense of what is going on in European technology.

My guest today is James Clark.

James is a London-based marketer with a somewhat unorthodox job: marketing director for a publicly traded VC fund, Draper Esprit. 

Before joining Draper, James worked in the London Stock Exchange as the Head of Tech and Lifesciences, helping entrepreneurs all around Europe successfully launch their IPOs. 

And before I get into my usual run-down of the topics we discussed — first, a small disclaimer:

James and I are not a financial advisor, and don’t play one on the internet. What we talk about does not constitute in any way shape or form as financial advice.

And now that that is out of the way—Today’s conversation was absolutely riveting. James and I cover a whole bunch of topics, including: Why James took a marketing job at a VC firm; the importance of having an outsider’s perspective; the key advantages and disadvantages of a publicly traded VC fund; why VCs should look at themselves as businesses, not just investors; how Covid impacted Silicon Valley, and drove investment to Europe; and much much more.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.  

Hey everyone, this is your host Gonz, and welcome to another episode of the Seedtable podcast, where we try to make sense of what is going on in European technology.

My guest today is Pietro Invernizzi.

Pietro is an investor at Stride, the London-based venture capital firm, investing first checks in pre-seed alongside Fred Destin and Harry Stebbings.

Before joining Stride, Pietro entered the startup world 4 years ago through The Family, where he spent most of his time helping founders raise money from top angel investors and VCs. He has also made several angel investments himself. 

In today’s conversation, Pietro and I talk about: why Twitter is two social networks and not just one; How to use writing as a decision-making tool; How Pietro evaluates potential investing deals; body language, humility and rabbit holes; Tips & Tricks for people who are thinking about trying to get into VC; Pietro’s advice to pre-seed founders looking to raise their first round; and much much more.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.   

My guest today is Philippe Botteri.

Philippe is a partner at the venture capital firm Accel, and a co-creator of one of my favorite yearly reports on European tech, the Euroscape. 

Philippe’s career as an investor is nothing short of breathtaking. From hits like Ui Path to Doctolib, he is one of the most renowned investors in Europe today, so it was an absolute pleasure to sit down with him and talk.

Our conversation is a bit shorter than usual, but don’t worry—Philippe delivers. 

In just thirty minutes, we covered a whole bunch of topics: Luck and why everyone creates their own; what made Philippe realize, back in the early 2000s, that Europe was the place to be in for tech investment; The Euroscape report origin, and how it evolved over time; the decentralization of European tech hubs, and why that matters; what Philippe looks for in founders before he invests; and much much more. 

I hope you enjoy this conversation, as much as I did. 

My guest today is Erika Batista. Erika is the Head of EMEA at On Deck, previously founding team & Director The Family, an incredible connector and one of the kindest humans I know.

I’ve been meaning to get Erika on the podcast for a while and I finally found an excuse. Today we’re doing something different – we’re jamming for an hour on Atomico’s State of European Tech report.

So instead of doing a long intro, we’re going to dive straight into it. Enjoy!

My guest today is Matt Helt.

Matt is a Growth & Development Coach who works with startup founders and other leaders to help them navigate their way back to what really matters, both in their life and their work. 

Before that, he was the program director of Techstars Startup Week, where he helped catalyze startup ecosystems in cities and countries around the world. 

Matt was introduced to me by my friend Ian Hathaway, and I’m so glad we made this happen. He is one of the most thoughtful people I know, so it was an absolute pleasure to have him on the podcast. 

Our conversation revolved around a whole bunch of topics. We covered Matt’s Life story and how he became a coach for founders and leaders; why mental health awareness matters; the dangers of self-medicating when in pain; why Matt calls himself a ‘serial empathizer’; How and why develop a mindfulness practice; Matt’s work running start-up week; and much much more. 

I hope you enjoy this conversation, as much as I did. 

My guest today is Natalie Novick, a sociologist and quantitative social scientist working on research to understand the social aspects of a startup community.

For the past five years, she has been conducting fieldwork with entrepreneurs and community builders, starting in Santiago, Chile in 2015. Since then, she has lived and worked in 27 different countries and experienced the startup community firsthand.

In this conversation we discuss the global startup ecosystem, startup visas, working with early-stage founders, the role of government in innovation, and much, much more.

Having worked with thousands of entrepreneurs, the European Comission, national governments like Startup Estonia and organizations like Tech.eu and Startup Boost, Natalie has a VERY unique perspective on the European technology so I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Hey everyone, this is your host Gonz, and welcome to another episode of the Seedtable podcast, where we try to make sense of what is going on in European technology.

Today I’m doing things a bit different and bringing you two guests instead of one: Fabrizio Rinaldi and Francesco Di Lorenzo, founders of Mailbrew; a Milan-based company that compiles all your favorite feeds, writers, and newsletters in a daily email digest. 

I’ve been a fan of the Mailbrew team for some time now, so it was an absolute pleasure to sit down with these guys to talk. 

We cover absolutely everything: Fabri & Fran’s origin story, and the path that led them to build Mailbrew; Why an obsessive focus on design matters so much; the Italian tech ecosystem, the advantages of running a bootstrapped company; why Fabri & Fran decided to raise money from Earnest Capital and much, much more.

Though our conversation was a bit shorter than my usual episodes, Fabri & Fran absolutely delivered. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Hey everyone, this is your host Gonz, and welcome to another episode of the Seedtable podcast, where we try to make sense of what is going on in european technology.

My guest today is Julian Lehr. 

Julian is a friend, a writer and a thinker, currently working as a Startup Partnership Lead at Stripe. 

For the past few years, he has been writing incredible essays on the intersection of technology and social norms, with some of my favorites being Signaling as a Service, Proof of Work and Is this real life. 

Julian is one of the most intriguing thinkers I know, and this conversation turned out to be even better than I expected. 

During the episode, we discuss: The difference between social-media Julian, and real-life Julian; Julian’s writing process; the notion of American entrepreneurs as celebrities, and why in Europe that isn’t the case; Julian’s insightful ‘Signaling Theory’; Why Julian tracks and measures pretty much everything he does on a given day, and much much more. 

I hope you enjoy this conversation, as much as I did.