20VC: Why Price Sensitivity is BS | Why "Portfolios" are Merely a Construct to Make LPs Happy | Why the Best Investment Never Happen in "Fundraising Rounds" | What Europe Needs to do to Become a Superpower Again | Klaus Hommels, Lakestar
Description
Klaus Hommels is one of Europe’s leading start investors of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Spotify, Airbnb, Facebook, Coinbase, Revolut and more. Among his many responsibilities, Klaus is the Founder of Lakestar, his own venture fund and chairs the board of directors of the NATO Innovation Fund.
In Today’s Episode with Klaus Hommels We Discuss:
1. The Investing Rules that are BS:
Why does Klaus totally reject the idea of price sensitivity?
Why does Klaus hate the idea of “building portfolios”?
Why does Klaus believe the best investments are made when there is not a fundraising round in motion?
Why does Klaus believe that capital concentration limits on a per company basis are BS? How concentrated is Klaus happy to be?
2. Europe: What The F*** is Going On:
Why is Europe underfinancing innovation by a factor of eight?
Why is Europe unable to send satellites into space for six years?
What should Europe do to become a global superpower once again? What needs to change?
Why should European pension funds be forced to invest in venture capital?
3. The Stories Behind the $BN Returns:
How did a dinner with Klaus’ son lead to his investing in Revolut?
How did Klaus analysis of Friendster and MySpace lead to his buying Matt Cohler @ Benchmark’s Facebook shares?
How did a small investment in a Swedish company, Stardoll, lead to Klaus investing in the seed round of Spotify?
How did a conversation with Madonna’s manager lead to Klaus investing in Airbnb?
Nik Storonsky is the Co-Founder and CEO of Revolut, one of the fastest-growing companies in the world with a $45BN valuation and 50M customers around the world. In July 2024, Revolut posted a whopping $2.2BN in revenue with $545M in pre-tax profit in 2023. To date, Nik has raised $1.8BN for the...
Published 12/04/24
George Arison is the CEO of Grindr. The app that results in 40% of lesbian and gay marriages, the average user uses the app for 1 hour per day and sends more messages on Grindr than they do Whatsapp. The company will do over $300M in revenue in 2024 with a 40% EBITDA margin. One of the insane...
Published 12/04/24