The Super Angel Podcast

Dann Bibas is the GM International at Public.com, the US-based investing platform where members can build a modern portfolio of stocks, ETFs, crypto, collectibles, and more. Dann oversees the platform’s expansion into new markets. Prior, Dann was the Head of Expansion at Wise and currently he is an active angel investor, mainly in early stage FinTech.


"Insights shared on angel investing are not a reflection of the guest’s employer, Public.com, and this is not financial advice".

In this episode you'll learn:

– How to keep relationships that matter, be that an old or new one, and why reputation is everything


– Why you need have a certain conviction when investing early stage, but if you hold too hard to them, you’ll be in hot water

– The reasons why portfolio should be a reflection of the way you think your industry or the world will be


– The importance of mental health models and the greatness achieve by being humble



This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Bjarke Klinge Staun, a founder turned VC turned angel. Bjarke co-founded an algorithmic trading company before startups were cool, then worked at Creandum where he invested in Pleo, Bolt and Trade Republic. For the past 3 years he has been an active angel investor with a portfolio of 30 companies in fintech and SaaS across Europe.

What you'll learn:

- Bjarke's reflections and learnings from going from founder to VC to angel

- The story behind Trade Republic, why Bjarke's investment was so contrarian and how a non-hot, non-typical deal turned out to be one of Europe's big hallmark VC successes

- Reflections on deciding between being geo-focused vs more broad

- How Bjarke thinks about managing and growing his angel portfolio beyond 30 companies

- The importance of relationship & expectation management in venture investing


This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today, we're happy to welcome Pranav Sood, currently EMEA General Manager at Airwallex, a $5.5B global payments and financial platform for modern businesses. Prior to joining Airwallex, Pranav spent 5 years at UK fintech GoCardless in a variety of roles including Strategy, International Expansion and running the global SME business. Since starting angel investing in 2021, Pranav has invested in around 25 primarily B2B fintech & SaaS businesses and as an LP in one fund.

In this episode you'll learn:

- How Pranav got started investing, his thinking behind building towards a 50-100 investment portfolio and deciding on verticals, geo and ticket sizes

- Reflections on investing globally and how Pranav thinks about sourcing and winning international deals

- How Pranav’s angel Investing connects to his work as an operator and what it's given him both personally and professionally

- Why distribution is one of Pranav’s core focus areas when diligencing deals

- How Pranav thinks about balancing own conviction and signal investing


This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Francesco Simoneschi, Co-Founder and CEO at TrueLayer. He is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has founded and grown a number of successful tech companies in the US and Europe, including analytics platform Staq.io which was acquired by Playhaven, and mobile marketing platform Upsight.

In this episode you will learn:

- How Francesco thinks about being the first check-in versus following a larger group of co-investors that he already trusts. When he does one, and when he does the other

- Why Francesco sees his investments as an ecosystem play more than just financial investing

- His reflections on going from running his own VC firm to becoming an angel investor

- How he manages his time as an angel investor running TrueLayer and doing his angel investing only in the evenings


- His thoughts about bridge rounds and follow-ons as an angel


This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Eduardo Ronzano, a Spanish tech entrepreneur and angel investor. He founded KelDoc, one of the top online booking platforms for hospitals in France and sold it to NEHS insurance group. Eduardo is the managing director of Secret Fund - an undercover entrepreneur fund based in Paris.

In this episode you’ll learn:

- How Eduardo’s mom got him into angel investing following the sale of his first company

- How to stay aligned with your entrepreneurs and the importance of being authentic

- How Eduardo follows a strategy of only doing initial investments and what this gives him as an angel

- Why reputation is the number one thing in angel investing

- The importance of asking yourself why you are angel investing and how connecting with founders has been the biggest personal take-away for Eduardo

- Why angel investing is like being a boxing coach, not a football coach



This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Charlie, founder of ComplyAdvantage, an AI-driven financial crime risk and detection technology powered by Complydata. They have raised $100m from Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, OTPP and Goldman Sachs with global hubs in London, New York, and Singapore.

In this episode you’ll learn:

-The importance of being part of a strong angel community with peers you trust and whose opinion you value

- How Charlie thinks about activating his network as part of his diligence process

- Why Charlie is going from a more international strategy to a more nationally focused one

- Why Charlie believes it’s important to impose systematic professional processes on himself when angel investing


This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today, we're happy to welcome David, angel investor, CEO & co-founder of Sennder, a digital truck freight forwarding business. Together with his co-founders, David has built up a team of over 1,000 employees across eleven offices in Europe. In the process, they have been supported by strong investors such as Scania, Accel and Project A, and have secured over €300 million in funding. They are quite active angels, particularly in the German ecosystem.


In this episode you will learn:


- Why David considers his investments into Gorillas and Cargo 1 his most memorable angel deals

- How angel investing can yield learnings around managing the board

- Why David has two different, yet synergistic, investment strategies: investing early in logistics & supply chain startups and co-investing with VCs in opportunistic deals

- How LP investing can complement your angel activities, specially if you want to do more international investments

- How angel investing makes you a better, more experienced business leader



This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at [www.vauban.io/euvc](http://www.vauban.io/euvc)

Today we're happy to welcome Anna Brandt and Noor van Boven, two amazing angel investors, co-founders of Invested. They accelerate growth through consulting and investing, being focused on the Future of Work, specifically when Fintech meets HR Tech.

In this episode you’ll learn:

- How to think about joining forces as angels, what it takes and the superpowers it can give you

- Why Anna & Noor pick their investments based on the problem the startups target, the disruption they can bring about and the connection, belief and match they have with the founding team

- How Anna & Noor think about scaling their investment activity and what it takes from them as a team and individuals

- Reflections on having invested through the boom and the bust cycle

- How the team think about working with the European Venture ecosystem and to optimize their role in it



This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today we are happy to welcome you to Alexandre Berriche, one of Europe's absolute premiere Super Angels and Sequoia scout with more than 80 seed investments under his belt. Alex is also the CEO and co-founder of Fleet, a french B2B startup focused on simplifying the equipment, management and renewal of computers and cellphones for startups and SMBs.

In this episode you'll learn:

- How Alex has leveraged Fleet in his angel investing and vice versa

- How humbly Alex, as one of Europe’s very top angels, presents himself, his investing and thinking. Truly remarkable!

- The role of round leads, trust, networks and trends in Alex’s investing

- Why Alex is finding himself more focused on founder ambition level, and the ability to attract the best of the best, articulating their vision and thinking.


This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc

Today, we're happy to welcome you to Julia Morrongiello, an ex VC, turned operator, turned angel investor. She is the Head of Growth Europe for Zero Hash, a crypto-as-a-service provider whose clients include the likes of Stripe, Moonpay, Curve and Interactive Brokers. Julia spent most of her career working as a VC investor at Point Nine and GFC and now continues to invest in fintech and crypto as an angel and scout for Accel. Since starting her career as an angel investor a little over a year ago, she's invested in 10 companies and 1 VC fund.

In this episode you’ll learn:

- Julia’s journey from VC to Operator to Angel & the value it brings to her both professionally and personally

- How investing in women can be a better investment on both the hard and soft metrics

- Why angel investing is the most giving hobby in the world!

- Reflections on power law investing, upside maximization and why you can only get as much as you give

- The importance of paying attention to unconscious biases and how to create processes that protect you


This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc