The Exchanges

Q And we mentioned their founders. So in terms of evaluating founders on the two axes of, of youth versus experience and sanity versus insanity, where do you lie? What are your perspectives on this?

A I kind of think it's somewhere in between on both axes. Um, you know, we, we, you know, And there's no, there's no, there's no perfect answer to this, and we're back to all sorts of entrepreneurs and who've been successful and they don't all look the same, but it seems to me that it's often, there's a benefit of some experience because you, you know, you've, uh, you've learned some of the pitfalls of what it takes to, to build a business, but if you have too much experience, you maybe become, uh, too cynical or, uh, unable to take a leap of faith and kind of have blind ambition in building a business. And similarly, If you're completely rational, then I think it's, it can be very hard to be an entrepreneur because being an entrepreneur, it requires you convincing yourself and other people that you're going to do something which frankly is highly unlikely to succeed. And so having a little bit of a psychopathy or, uh, insaneness, uh, seems to be helpful in, in overcoming that, uh, uh, overcoming that and kind of having blind belief that you can change the world.

AI assessment note: “I kind of think it's somewhere in between on both axes.”

Q And you mentioned that you joined the industry in 2006, so obviously next year will be your 10th anniversary in venture. So in that time, how would you say you've seen the, the venture landscape change?

A Uh, and I guess specifically in Europe. I mean, I think it's, I think it's, uh, it's kind of, it's completely different, frankly. I mean, the, the actors in the industry are quite different by and large. The, um, the understanding of entrepreneurship and of venture capital is completely different. So I think we live in a world where, you know, an age where entrepreneurship is very well accepted and regarded now as a career path, whereas that maybe didn't. Happened so much 10 years ago, and entrepreneurs now understand that this is a global opportunity where they can, where they can take it to the world, not just take it to their backyard. Um, and the investors are keeping pace, I, I hope and think, uh, in terms of their mindset and ambition. And so, more capital, there's more smart people, there's more interesting companies appearing. Um, it's become, you know, it's become a bigger item on the political agenda, and, you know, different governments across Europe have done more or less to support the, the kind of venture and startup ecosystem. Um, and, uh, you know, clearly, globally, Where, uh, we're in, we're in the, you know, much further through the Shift to everything moving online and this, uh, this kind of technological cycle than we were 10 years ago, which means that the, the world is ready for the products that people are launching.

AI assessment note: “it's completely different, frankly. I mean, the, the actors in the industry are quite different”

Q And do you think it's been very important to have an operational background as a VC?

A I think it's important to have been close enough to what it takes to build a business so that you can truly, um, Empathize with entrepreneurs as they go on that journey. Now, whether you do that by having done it yourself in one particular field, one particular second circumstances, or whether you do it by having just been in enough situations and been close enough to them as a long-term investor, I think both of those things work. And so, I think in our, you know, in our own ways with our different backgrounds, we're able to give a lot of perspective on what it really takes to succeed. Um, you know, I've seen lots of different companies Uh, win and fail in how they've, how they've, uh, built their operations, um, and that, that gives me one way of helping companies who are now doing it think about it, and, you know, others of my partners have actually done it themselves in a very specific circumstance, and they can relate those experiences.

AI assessment note: “I think both of those things work.”

Q And would you say you're a very metric driven investor then, or are you slightly more of a gung-ho?

A You have to ask other people, I guess. I mean, I think I've, I've learned to be less metric driven. Uh, I think as a kind of mathematician and then as a, something I do quite a lot of finance stuff in some of my other earlier career, you become very obsessed just about numbers and, and data, and the reality is, um, that's important, but there's a lot of human stuff that impacts whether companies are successful and there's a lot of, um, Um, market dynamics and understanding of how technologies change the world becomes, becomes important. So I've actually tried to unlearn being just Numbers and metrics driven, but it's still super important because if you don't understand your business and the drivers, then you're going to struggle to be successful.

AI assessment note: “I think I've, I've learned to be less metric driven.”

Q And we mentioned their founders. So in terms of evaluating founders on the two axes of, of youth versus experience and sanity versus insanity, where do you lie? What are your perspectives on this?

A I kind of think it's somewhere in between on both axes. Um, you know, we, we, you know, And there's no, there's no, there's no perfect answer to this, and we're back to all sorts of entrepreneurs and who've been successful and they don't all look the same, but it seems to me that it's often, there's a benefit of some experience because you, you know, you've, uh, you've learned some of the pitfalls of what it takes to, to build a business, but if you have too much experience, you maybe become, uh, too cynical or, uh, unable to take a leap of faith and kind of have blind ambition in building a business. And similarly, If you're completely rational, then I think it's, it can be very hard to be an entrepreneur because being an entrepreneur, it requires you convincing yourself and other people that you're going to do something which frankly is highly unlikely to succeed. And so having a little bit of a psychopathy or, uh, insaneness, uh, seems to be helpful in, in overcoming that, uh, uh, overcoming that and kind of having blind belief that you can change the world.

AI assessment note: “I kind of think it's somewhere in between on both axes.”

Q And you mentioned that you joined the industry in 2006, so obviously next year will be your 10th anniversary in venture. So in that time, how would you say you've seen the, the venture landscape change?

A Uh, and I guess specifically in Europe. I mean, I think it's, I think it's, uh, it's kind of, it's completely different, frankly. I mean, the, the actors in the industry are quite different by and large. The, um, the understanding of entrepreneurship and of venture capital is completely different. So I think we live in a world where, you know, an age where entrepreneurship is very well accepted and regarded now as a career path, whereas that maybe didn't. Happened so much 10 years ago, and entrepreneurs now understand that this is a global opportunity where they can, where they can take it to the world, not just take it to their backyard. Um, and the investors are keeping pace, I, I hope and think, uh, in terms of their mindset and ambition. And so, more capital, there's more smart people, there's more interesting companies appearing. Um, it's become, you know, it's become a bigger item on the political agenda, and, you know, different governments across Europe have done more or less to support the, the kind of venture and startup ecosystem. Um, and, uh, you know, clearly, globally, Where, uh, we're in, we're in the, you know, much further through the Shift to everything moving online and this, uh, this kind of technological cycle than we were 10 years ago, which means that the, the world is ready for the products that people are launching.

AI assessment note: “I think it's, uh, it's kind of, it's completely different, frankly.”

Q Absolutely. And you said there that there was, uh, obviously a significant increase in capital over the last 10 years. Do you think ever that there's too much capital chasing too few deals?

A I don't think, you know, I think, I think, uh, I think in Europe it's, the, the balance is not too far out of kilter. I think, you know, if we look today, there's probably A little bit more seed capital than potentially is there to find the great deals. Uh, you know, a lot of people have Decide they want to do seed investing, or there's some very small venture firms coming up that are doing kind of small checks. You know, where we spend our time, which is primarily series A and a little bit of series B, it's, it's pretty balanced. But then perhaps at the moment, but maybe the market changes, the growth phase is getting more, more intense, and there's maybe too much capital chasing the few really high quality deals.

AI assessment note: “in Europe it's, the, the balance is not too far out of kilter”

Q And do you think it's been very important to have an operational background as a VC?

A I think it's important to have been close enough to what it takes to build a business so that you can truly, um, Empathize with entrepreneurs as they go on that journey. Now, whether you do that by having done it yourself in one particular field, one particular second circumstances, or whether you do it by having just been in enough situations and been close enough to them as a long-term investor, I think both of those things work. And so, I think in our, you know, in our own ways with our different backgrounds, we're able to give a lot of perspective on what it really takes to succeed. Um, you know, I've seen lots of different companies Uh, win and fail in how they've, how they've, uh, built their operations, um, and that, that gives me one way of helping companies who are now doing it think about it, and, you know, others of my partners have actually done it themselves in a very specific circumstance, and they can relate those experiences.

AI assessment note: “whether you do that by having done it yourself... I think both of those things work”

Q Absolutely. And you said there that there was, uh, obviously a significant increase in capital over the last 10 years. Do you think ever that there's too much capital chasing too few deals?

A I don't think, you know, I think, I think, uh, I think in Europe it's, the, the balance is not too far out of kilter. I think, you know, if we look today, there's probably A little bit more seed capital than potentially is there to find the great deals. Uh, you know, a lot of people have Decide they want to do seed investing, or there's some very small venture firms coming up that are doing kind of small checks. You know, where we spend our time, which is primarily series A and a little bit of series B, it's, it's pretty balanced. But then perhaps at the moment, but maybe the market changes, the growth phase is getting more, more intense, and there's maybe too much capital chasing the few really high quality deals.

AI assessment note: “there's maybe too much capital chasing the few really high quality deals”

Q Do you, do you think VCs then with operational experience? So, you know, Boston, you've got obviously, uh, it's about fifty-fifty, isn't it? Operational versus more career style VCs.

A Uh, yeah, I guess so. I mean, look, at the end of the day, we're, we're operating our own firm as well, so I think to a degree, we've all, we've all, we've all had some different levels of operation experience, but, um, you know, one of the things I love about where I am and the partners I work with is we have that diversity because the reality is, Um, to build a successful venture firm and to be able to help entrepreneurs takes all sorts of different types of skills at different times, be it, um, you know, building our own firm, being advising entrepreneurs on how to scale firms, helping them raise money, helping them think about the exit, thinking about portfolio management. There's a whole bunch of different disciplines required, and there isn't actually one person who can do that, I don't think. Uh, and so it's great to have actually all those perspectives, and we, you know, we try very hard to give our Companies, the portfolio companies we've invested in, the ability to tap into all those different types of expertise, not just the person who sits on their board, because each of us brings a different, uh, different set of things to the table.

AI assessment note: “we have that diversity because the reality is, Um, to build a successful venture firm”

Q And would you say you're a very metric driven investor then, or are you slightly more of a gung-ho?

A You have to ask other people, I guess. I mean, I think I've, I've learned to be less metric driven. Uh, I think as a kind of mathematician and then as a, something I do quite a lot of finance stuff in some of my other earlier career, you become very obsessed just about numbers and, and data, and the reality is, um, that's important, but there's a lot of human stuff that impacts whether companies are successful and there's a lot of, um, Um, market dynamics and understanding of how technologies change the world becomes, becomes important. So I've actually tried to unlearn being just Numbers and metrics driven, but it's still super important because if you don't understand your business and the drivers, then you're going to struggle to be successful.

AI assessment note: “I think I've, I've learned to be less metric driven.”

Q And then I'd also love to delve into AI, and you also led the investment in Curious AI and Thread. Uh, obviously it uses machine learning to augment its stylist approach. So, what makes you so excited about the developments in AI, and how do you see the sector developing then over the next 20 or so years?

A Yeah, look, I, uh, when, I also did an investment in a company called Trademark Now, which is using machine learning for doing a real-time trademark analysis. Um, and so, you could, Trademark Now and Thread, you could put in one cam, which is, um, And this kind of goes, that's my really early career when I, in my first job when we were doing what used to be called operational research, which is basically how do you solve difficult nonlinear problems to find out the best answer. And every company now is sitting on complexity in what they know about their user and the data points they have. And in Thread's case, you know, how do you abstract all the The insights they have on people's tastes and then provide great recommendations to them, and, you know, they're, they're obviously, ah, that's a real problem. If you solve it, you provide a significantly better customer experience, and so there's a, that's a great, that's a great computer science problem to solve. Um, trademark now, if you, if you're trying to understand whether you can use a trademark, it's not very easy. You have to go to a, Uh, trademark attorney who will spend quite a lot of time sifting through all the trademark databases to try and look if there's anything similar, and that's really fuzzy logic because you have to be able to match, um, phonetics, uh, words that are spelt similarly but not exactly the same. Uh, …

AI assessment note: “those two things are real problems, really difficult to solve where it's, it's not a linear solution”

Q Do you, do you think VCs then with operational experience? So, you know, Boston, you've got obviously, uh, it's about fifty-fifty, isn't it? Operational versus more career style VCs.

A Uh, yeah, I guess so. I mean, look, at the end of the day, we're, we're operating our own firm as well, so I think to a degree, we've all, we've all, we've all had some different levels of operation experience, but, um, you know, one of the things I love about where I am and the partners I work with is we have that diversity because the reality is, Um, to build a successful venture firm and to be able to help entrepreneurs takes all sorts of different types of skills at different times, be it, um, you know, building our own firm, being advising entrepreneurs on how to scale firms, helping them raise money, helping them think about the exit, thinking about portfolio management. There's a whole bunch of different disciplines required, and there isn't actually one person who can do that, I don't think. Uh, and so it's great to have actually all those perspectives, and we, you know, we try very hard to give our Companies, the portfolio companies we've invested in, the ability to tap into all those different types of expertise, not just the person who sits on their board, because each of us brings a different, uh, different set of things to the table.

AI assessment note: “to a degree, we've all, we've all, we've all had some different levels of operation experience”

Q And then I'd also love to delve into AI, and you also led the investment in Curious AI and Thread. Uh, obviously it uses machine learning to augment its stylist approach. So, what makes you so excited about the developments in AI, and how do you see the sector developing then over the next 20 or so years?

A Yeah, look, I, uh, when, I also did an investment in a company called Trademark Now, which is using machine learning for doing a real-time trademark analysis. Um, and so, you could, Trademark Now and Thread, you could put in one cam, which is, um, And this kind of goes, that's my really early career when I, in my first job when we were doing what used to be called operational research, which is basically how do you solve difficult nonlinear problems to find out the best answer. And every company now is sitting on complexity in what they know about their user and the data points they have. And in Thread's case, you know, how do you abstract all the The insights they have on people's tastes and then provide great recommendations to them, and, you know, they're, they're obviously, ah, that's a real problem. If you solve it, you provide a significantly better customer experience, and so there's a, that's a great, that's a great computer science problem to solve. Um, trademark now, if you, if you're trying to understand whether you can use a trademark, it's not very easy. You have to go to a, Uh, trademark attorney who will spend quite a lot of time sifting through all the trademark databases to try and look if there's anything similar, and that's really fuzzy logic because you have to be able to match, um, phonetics, uh, words that are spelt similarly but not exactly the same. Uh, …

AI assessment note: “those two things are real problems, really difficult to solve where it's, it's not a linear solution”