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Mar 25, 2025 · 15m · tbpn

Harry Stebbings Talks About Reviving European Tech and Finding the 1% Founders

Harry Stebbings · 7m spoken
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Venture capitalist Harry Stebbings discusses the resurgence of European tech through Project Europe, shares metrics behind AI startup Lovable, and examines the discipline, grit, and valuation math shaping modern venture capital.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →

The hosts as informed peer 3.8 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.5 The hosts pushing back 0.8
05100:0010:000:00–4:36 · The hosts as informed peer 4/10 Welcoming Harry Stebbings and Extreme Walking Habits The conversation opens with lighthearted rapport regarding daily step counts and cold outreach tactics. The host praises Harry's persistent outreach style, and Harry passionately emphasizes the need to change the pessimistic narrative surrounding European entrepreneurship.4:36–8:06 · The hosts as informed peer 5/10 European Patriotism, De-Globalization, and Project Europe's Surge The host probes the rise of European patriotism and asks whether regional divisions hinder pan-European investing. Harry explains that Europe is behaving as a unified block and details the overwhelming demand for Project Europe.8:06–14:44 · The hosts as informed peer 5/10 Identifying 1% Founders and the Rapid Rise of Lovable Harry walks through Lovable's retention and revenue growth before analyzing the broader SaaS landscape, including private equity traps and endowment policy shifts. The hosts pose clarifying questions on public sell-offs and venture fund mechanics.14:45–15:02 · The hosts as informed peer 1/10 Concluding Remarks and Final Goodbyes A brief, warm conclusion where both sides exchange compliments before signing off.0:00–4:36 · Guest teaching 2/10 Welcoming Harry Stebbings and Extreme Walking Habits The conversation opens with lighthearted rapport regarding daily step counts and cold outreach tactics. The host praises Harry's persistent outreach style, and Harry passionately emphasizes the need to change the pessimistic narrative surrounding European entrepreneurship.4:36–8:06 · Guest teaching 4/10 European Patriotism, De-Globalization, and Project Europe's Surge The host probes the rise of European patriotism and asks whether regional divisions hinder pan-European investing. Harry explains that Europe is behaving as a unified block and details the overwhelming demand for Project Europe.8:06–14:44 · Guest teaching 6/10 Identifying 1% Founders and the Rapid Rise of Lovable Harry walks through Lovable's retention and revenue growth before analyzing the broader SaaS landscape, including private equity traps and endowment policy shifts. The hosts pose clarifying questions on public sell-offs and venture fund mechanics.14:45–15:02 · Guest teaching 0/10 Concluding Remarks and Final Goodbyes A brief, warm conclusion where both sides exchange compliments before signing off.0:00–4:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Welcoming Harry Stebbings and Extreme Walking Habits The conversation opens with lighthearted rapport regarding daily step counts and cold outreach tactics. The host praises Harry's persistent outreach style, and Harry passionately emphasizes the need to change the pessimistic narrative surrounding European entrepreneurship.4:36–8:06 · Guest disagreement 2/10 European Patriotism, De-Globalization, and Project Europe's Surge The host probes the rise of European patriotism and asks whether regional divisions hinder pan-European investing. Harry explains that Europe is behaving as a unified block and details the overwhelming demand for Project Europe.8:06–14:44 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Identifying 1% Founders and the Rapid Rise of Lovable Harry walks through Lovable's retention and revenue growth before analyzing the broader SaaS landscape, including private equity traps and endowment policy shifts. The hosts pose clarifying questions on public sell-offs and venture fund mechanics.14:45–15:02 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Concluding Remarks and Final Goodbyes A brief, warm conclusion where both sides exchange compliments before signing off.0:00–4:36 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Welcoming Harry Stebbings and Extreme Walking Habits The conversation opens with lighthearted rapport regarding daily step counts and cold outreach tactics. The host praises Harry's persistent outreach style, and Harry passionately emphasizes the need to change the pessimistic narrative surrounding European entrepreneurship.4:36–8:06 · The hosts pushing back 1/10 European Patriotism, De-Globalization, and Project Europe's Surge The host probes the rise of European patriotism and asks whether regional divisions hinder pan-European investing. Harry explains that Europe is behaving as a unified block and details the overwhelming demand for Project Europe.8:06–14:44 · The hosts pushing back 2/10 Identifying 1% Founders and the Rapid Rise of Lovable Harry walks through Lovable's retention and revenue growth before analyzing the broader SaaS landscape, including private equity traps and endowment policy shifts. The hosts pose clarifying questions on public sell-offs and venture fund mechanics.14:45–15:02 · The hosts pushing back 0/10 Concluding Remarks and Final Goodbyes A brief, warm conclusion where both sides exchange compliments before signing off.

speaking balance: gold is the hosts, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%0:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%3:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%3:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%6:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%6:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%9:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%9:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%12:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%12:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%15:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%15:00 · the hosts 0% · guest 100%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 11:32 Harry halts vague market sell-off framing

Harry sharply halts the host's broad question by directly demanding clarification on what specific sell-off is being referenced.

 Hardest push from the hosts ▶ 6:44 Host challenges pan-European unity

The host challenges Harry's optimistic view on European solidarity by asking if nationalistic bias prevents cross-border deals.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:12 Harry details the SaaS growth chasm

Harry educates the hosts on a neglected segment of $50M-$200M ARR companies that are too slow for IPOs and too unprofitable for PE acquisitions.

 The host holds their own ▶ 9:47 Host frames SaaS evolution from Webflow to Lovable

The host provides a sharp synthesis of website builders evolving through four-year cycles from Webflow to Framer to AI-native tools.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicThe hosts as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementThe hosts pushing backWhy
Welcoming Harry Stebbings and Extreme Walking Habits 4210 The conversation opens with lighthearted rapport regarding daily step counts and cold outreach tactics. The host praises Harry's persistent outreach style, and Harry passionately emphasizes the need to change the pessimistic narrative surrounding European entrepreneurship.
European Patriotism, De-Globalization, and Project Europe's Surge 5421 The host probes the rise of European patriotism and asks whether regional divisions hinder pan-European investing. Harry explains that Europe is behaving as a unified block and details the overwhelming demand for Project Europe.
Identifying 1% Founders and the Rapid Rise of Lovable 5632 Harry walks through Lovable's retention and revenue growth before analyzing the broader SaaS landscape, including private equity traps and endowment policy shifts. The hosts pose clarifying questions on public sell-offs and venture fund mechanics.
Concluding Remarks and Final Goodbyes 1000 A brief, warm conclusion where both sides exchange compliments before signing off.

Statements from this episode (7)

Opinion
Stebbings: Defense AI startup Helsing is the European equivalent of Anduril
“It's funny you said there about like the Andrew of Europe, it's Helsing. And my favorite thing is when you see defense funds and you're like, no, no, I don't quite know if defense is quite the category. It's more like Andrew and Helsing.”
Harry Stebbings Mar 25, 2025 ▶ 5:26
Opinion
Stebbings: The European tech ecosystem is fully united as a block
“I would say that Europe has solidified completely. There's definitely not this kind of isolationist element of like, oh, Spanish versus Italian versus whatever. And Jesus, even the English and the French are getting on these days. That goes to show just how mu…”
Harry Stebbings Mar 25, 2025 ▶ 7:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stebbings: AI coding startup Lovable adds $2.5 million in ARR weekly
“They're growing, you know, 2.3 to 2.5 million ARR per week.”
Harry Stebbings Mar 25, 2025 ▶ 8:44
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stebbings: Lovable maintains over 85% retention, beating ChatGPT
“Their retention is better than chat GPTs at over 85%.”
Harry Stebbings Mar 25, 2025 ▶ 8:48
Opinion
Stebbings: Peak PE buyouts like Anaplan and Coupa will struggle returning value
“I'm really looking at a lot of the PE board assets, your Anaplans, your Coopers of the world thinking, wow, you were bought at the height of the market. You don't have the founder as the CEO. You've lost product centricity. This is going to be a really tough s…”
Harry Stebbings Mar 25, 2025 ▶ 10:31
Insight
Stebbings: Unprofitable $50M–$200M ARR SaaS growing in the teens are completely trapped
“Fifty million to two hundred million ARR SaaS businesses that are growing in the teens. And they're not profitable yet, or they're barely profitable. They are not acquisition targets for PE. Those are not good enough numbers. They're not good enough to IPO.”
Harry Stebbings Mar 25, 2025 ▶ 10:57
Prediction Held up
Stebbings: Endowment pullbacks will severely reduce new VC fund managers in 2025
“When I speak to a lot of endowments today, they're simply not adding new managers, and they're even trimming their existing, and so I think that's bluntly gonna really impact the amount of new managers that we see this year.”
Harry Stebbings Mar 25, 2025 ▶ 12:34
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