The Edventure Brief

Astranis is building the next generation of internet satellites, improving access to internet connectivity by making smaller and more powerful satellites at a fraction of the cost. Join their Chief of Staff, Christian Keil, who after having been in San Francisco for a while, has made it one of his goals to share the advice that he wishes he had when he was trying to break into startups. Spoiler alert: you don't have to start a startup to have an impactful career in entrepreneurship. 

Read more about Astranis at: https://www.astranis.com/   

Check out Christian's 'Silicon Valley Outsider': https://svoutsider.substack.com/  

And here are his thoughts on joining us at Edventure Emerge: https://svoutsider.substack.com/p/when-in-doubt-it

Join Business Insider's Candy Cheng in her discussion with Deena Shakir, Partner at Lux Capital. They cover Deena's non-linear path into VC, from aspiring to be an anthropologist, subsequently entering in politics, working at Google, and eventually landing her role at Lux. Deena shares her thoughts on how the Arab Spring influenced her view of technology as a an enabling force for social impact, leading to her fascination with the nexus of technology and healthcare. Deena and Candy dive into the underserved and underinvested area of women's health, challenging people's assumptions about societal taboos on important issues from IVF to postpartum depression. Deena highlights the need for cap tables to be more representative of the world that we live in and how investing in underrepresented founders is not about charity or philanthropy, rather it is fundamentally a better business practice. Finally, they touch on the unglamorous parts of venture and the importance of brand building.

Read more about how Lux is investing in emerging science and technology changing the future at: https://luxcapital.com/

Steve O’Hear, VP of Strategy at Zapp, talks about his journey from writing about startups, at Techcrunch, to actually running one. In this episode, he shares his thoughts with Zara, co-founder of Edventure, on the importance of multidisciplinary teams for disruptive technologies and the false dichotomy of arts and STEM. He reveals how Zapp are carving out their niche in the on-demand delivery scene, requiring entirely new types of supply chains. He also explores the delicate balance of journalism’s duty to hold power to account but to not lose sight of nuance, or forget the humans behind a story.

Check out Zapp at: https://tryzapp.com/

Join Venture Souq's Lola Fernandez in her discussion with Kate McGinn (Seedcamp), Pascual Cortes-Monroy (Northzone) and Nicholas Shekerdemian (The Venture Collective) to hear about their different paths into Venture Capital.   Venture Souq is a GCC-based An investment firm focused on early-stage technology businesses. https://www.venturesouq.com Seedcamp is a European seed fund that identifies and invests early in founders attacking global markets. https://seedcamp.com Northzone is an early-stage venture capital fund built on experience spanning multiple economic and disruptive technology cycles. https://northzone.com The Venture Collective is a transformational, early-stage venture firm backed by world class entrepreneurs and business leaders. https://www.theventurecollective.com

Matt Clifford, co-founder of Entrepreneur First, talks about the three biggest lessons he has learnt through helping founders raise a billion dollars. He covers the importance of getting the co-founder relationship right, dreaming bigger and determining your competitive edge.

You can read more about and apply to Entrepreneur First at: https://www.joinef.com/

This episode is brought to you by our event sponsors: Edinburgh Innovations and Vonage. 

Maximilian Fleitmann, Partner at Richmond View Ventures, talks about how to raise a round in 2021. Whilst there may be more VC money in the startup ecosystem than ever before, make no mistake, fundraising is still hard. From his background as both an entrepreneur and now a VC, Max shares his insight and advice on how to make that process easier and maximise your chances of receiving funding for your startup. 

Check out his website for more information: https://www.maxfleit.com/

This episode is brought to you by our event sponsors: Edinburgh Innovations and Vonage.