Brenner: All of Creandum's best startup investments were expensive at entry
Johan Brenner · Christian Hecker & Johan Brenner: The Biggest Fundraising Lessons Having Raised $1.3BN | E1116 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Feb 16, 2024 · at 31:03
Johan Brenner is a General Partner at venture capital firm Creandum, which backed companies like Klarna, Trade Republic, and iZettle. He discusses valuation sensitivity when investing in top startups.
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“I think if we look back at all our investments and the ones that have been fantastic it's, they've all been expensive.”
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More from Johan Brenner
Brenner: Creandum does not engineer lower valuations in follow-on rounds
“Honest answer. We never think about that. I mean, if the market tells us this is the valuation, this is the round, we try to participate in the winners. That's honest, Harry. If that ever would come through and be true, we would not be in business.”
Brenner: Creandum required restructuring Trade Republic's cap table to increase founder equity
“This was actually a deed breaker for us in the end, because we really wanted to see Christian and the team own enough to be able to have, you know, sufficient as a founder to stay with the company long-term.”
Brenner: Trade Republic had just 1,000 customers during its $10M Series A
“Well, it was five, six years ago. It was cheap in today's world. I'll tell you that. But on the other hand I felt expensive at that time, given a thousand customers in an A round of ten million.”
Brenner: Great fundraising is the single top trait of successful founders
“So, so I think greater fundraising is absolutely the number one trait of great founders.”
Brenner: Most startup boards prioritize investor seat retention over company interests
“Over time boards are mostly, you know, formed by investors and not maybe what's best for the long term. A benefit of the company and very seldom, there are some companies that do it well, but have yearly evaluations of boards and with contributions and how it …”
Brenner: VCs have a duty to provide founder secondary liquidity
“But I think what investors can really do is be proactive in this matter and making sure that there is an opportunity for founders at some point to get some exit and liquidity and in order to be able to swing the whole way. And I think that's something that we …”