Roland Zeller

Learn from OpenAI’s playbook: Prioritizing key projects and empowering a mission-oriented team are essential for startups aiming to make a significant impact 👇 ➡ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲: Sam Altman, CEO at OpenAI and Brad Lightcap, COO at OpenAI 🔌 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Harry Stebbings, Founder at 20VC ✏ “20VC: OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap on The Future of Foundation Models” ⭐ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲: "There are two strategies to build on AI right now: [...] (1) to assume the model is not going to get better and then you kind of build all these little things on top of it; [...] (2) to build assuming that OpenAI is going to stay on the same rate of trajectory and the models are going to keep getting better at the same pace." ⭐ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀: "At any given point in a company's life, there's only one to three things that really matter. And that spills over into how we run the team because [...] if we can align on what those things are, [...] then it helps me to translate down to the teams that I'm building." ⭐ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆: "I think people criminally underrate how important it is and how much return you really get on just giving people access to the technology. [...] Someone who used to spend two days doing something now spends two minutes doing it and is freed up to do 85 other things in their daily life." ⭐ 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆'𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: "I watched what has happened to other tech companies when they just become the place you want to work because it's a good resume item. [...] I think companies that lose their mission orientation and get taken over by mercenaries usually come to regret that." ⭐ 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀: "Find a way to make sure that there's this very flat and even playing field when it comes to how you look to the team for perspective, decision-making, judgment, and creativity." ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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HOW WE CLOSED DEALS WITH 3 BIG BELGIAN COMPANIES IN WEEKS. 🔥 (Names will be disclosed next week in our monthly update mail, send me your email adres if you want to be in that list) Tips to the founders out there thinking things aren't working. It can take some time to build trust, relations and business. (I've been there) 1. Sales cycles can be long in B2B SaaS. (with us, it's between 2-6 months) So really start selling before the product is finished. 2. All our sales came via small referrals or had seen us around with people they trust. You have to build that trust ASAP. 3. *Godfather voice* We made an offer they can't refuse. (Jolt effect) If there isn't an offer.. What can they agree to? 4. Our pricing isn't perfect, but just start selling and improve it along the way. 5. Be genuinely interested in your champion within the company and in helping him/her. 6. Be open and transparent. If you want to get a honest reaction, say something honest. "Look I am going to be totally transparent, *insert our intention* and then ask for their intentions. Being honest builds trust. Linking this experience to my vacation to Iceland, The trips are long and cold in Iceland, but they get you to the nicest places in the world. 🇮🇸 Keep on moving and enjoy the struggle. Book tips: Fast forward B2B sales (process) & Jolt effect Podcast tip for sales conversation: April Dunford content #sales #founder #startup

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🚀 AI is Boosting European VC! 🚀 In Q2 2024, AI deals doubled to €4.2B. H1 totals hit €6.3B, making AI the top sector after SaaS. 🌍 France & Benelux lead the way with the most capital raised since 2018. AI's transformative potential is attracting massive investments, reshaping industries and driving innovation across Europe. Source: PitchBook #AI #VentureCapital #Startups #Innovation

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With Altrove, Emblem is backing a clear "moonshot", a startup offering a pretty unique risk/reward profile, and... its first French/Nordic founding team! 😊 Thibaud Martin (former founder and CEO of Jubiwee, a startup acquired by Haiilo in 2022) and Joonatan Laulainen, PhD (Materials Science PhD from University of Cambridge) are on a mission to enable more efficient and faster inorganic materials discovery, using AI and lab automation. Altrove aims to help its customers address the key challenges of achieving climate goals and de-risking their supply chain (geopolitical concerns, price volatility, tariffs, etc.) by collaborating with them on designing, synthesizing, and manufacturing alternatives to their critical materials, starting with those containing rare earth elements. We are embarking on this purposeful journey next to fantastic co-investors such as Contrarian Ventures, our friends Mikkel Hesselgren and Nicklas Jensen from Deichmann Media (who are building one of the most forward-thinking European family offices), Entrepreneur First, and business angels like Thomas Clozel (CEO of Owkin) and Julien Chaumond (CTO at Hugging Face). Should you want to learn more about altrove’s specific approach in this dynamic field, you will find a link to the great article written by Romain Dillet from TechCrunch in the comments below. Cc: Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan, Rokas Peciulaitis, Robina v. Stein, Nikolaj Deichmann, Coralie Chaufour

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Earlier this year we made the call to throttle our consulting business, which generated about $1M in revenue last year. The decision to pause consulting and go all-in on our SaaS product wasn't made in haste. In fact, it came almost 9 months after a very insightful call with Melody Koh. She helped us realize that: 1️⃣ Our market insight wasn't developed enough 2️⃣ Our product wasn't good enough to thrive w/o consulting 3️⃣ The hybrid software/consulting business we were building wasn't going to yield the long-term results we all hoped for when we started PriceSmith. The call was a catalyst to squirrel away capital and hone our strategy. Now we have enough runway to forego funding (a topic for another post) and enough clarity of vision to really innovate in the aging B2B pricing software category. We're full-bore. Time will tell if we go back to the consulting well. For now it was the right call.

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⛸ Don't miss the Next 12 Minutes with Antler Portfolio Company Founders! ⛸ 📆 Mark your calendars for next Wednesday, June 5th! Join us for a 12-minute session diving into the world of Legal-Tech with Immo Ait Stapelfeld, Co-Founder of NeuroSense. From lawyer to legal tech entrepreneur. NeuroSense, is revolutionizing how legal processes are streamlined, making them accessible for everyone. Hosted by Alan, we explore the stories of founders in our portfolio every first Wednesday of the month. This time, we'll explore Immo's path - from idea to building business momentum rapidly. ⏰ Time: 12:00 PM CEST – Quick and impactful, our 12-minute format ensures you get the most out of your lunch break. Don’t be late! ❕Location: Zoom – Sign up link in the comments below. 🎤 Have questions for Immo? This is a great opportunity to ask them live and get real-time insights. Peek behind the curtain, discover how to find the perfect co-founder, or learn about joining Antler as a complete founding team.

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Founders Mesh Fam!💙 Our upcoming event at Chateau Amsterdam on June 27th, 18:30 is getting close. We've sold out all our Pioneer's Privilege (Early Bird) tickets – thank you for the wonderful response.💘 Regular tickets: https://lu.ma/jxxow2q9 👥 What’s Next? We’re preparing for an intimate evening packed with insights, networking, local wine, and pitches. Join over 120 founders, VCs, and facilitators who are all about making genuine connections and sharing knowledge. If you’re in the startup scene, this is your chance to mingle, learn, and maybe even spark a new collaboration. 🌟 Special Thanks to Our Partners: A big shout-out to StartupAmsterdam and Startupbootcamp for joining forces with us. With their support, we're set to make this an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. 🎟 Still Need a Ticket? We currently sell Risk Taker Access aka Regular Tickets—grab one of the remaining tickets before they’re gone: https://lu.ma/jxxow2q9 Let's make this a night of meaningful connections and breakthrough moments. Can't wait to see you all at the wonderful Chateau Amsterdam!💙 If you have any questions, feel free to ping me!💌 Luis Galdamez Echeverria Sabina Basariyeva StartupAmsterdam Startupbootcamp Chateau Amsterdam #FoundersMesh #NetworkingEvent #StartupLife #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

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One of my projects in the last couple of years is to become the best skier I can be. In order to achieve this I’ve invested quite a lot in understanding the science of it all and to also use the Carv system (getcarv.com) to get all the data and metrics I need to understand what I’m doing. I’m still working on it and I’m pretty sure it will be a lifetime project. But one thing became clear early on. Stop listening to advice from people who ski better than you. And this is a general lesson I think. Someone being better at the thing you’re trying to get better at does not qualify them to teach you the thing. A vast majority of people give advice based on: 1. What worked for them 2. What they heard from people that they think are better than them at the thing 3. The symptoms they see of something wrong you’re doing But most things that are hard to do stem from things you do that are not clearly or immediately visible to the outside human observer. And the journey from bad to good to even better has to be made by your specific and unique set up. Trying to find the way forward by trying out advice and tips or mimicking is a very expensive and frustrating method. But you can access your personal map using good data and understanding the fundamentals. If you then enhance that by finding good teachers and investing long term in them, then great. But whether you’re trying to become a better skier or building a startup or having a career, beware of starting in the advice. Present wisdom excluded obviously. 😀😉

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Here my first article on Medium to support as business Angel investor the StonePay soft launch. I invite you to read it and join this community. #startup #investment #businessangel

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Fundraising is a long and continuous process, usually taking no less than 3-4 months to finish, and it's better to start it when you have at least 9-12 months of runway (cash in the bank divided by monthly burn rate) #fundraising #startups #investors

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What's the number? WHAT'S THE NUMBER?!? (ok nobody really asked me that, obviously) But, just for record keeping, we're now up to 245 coworking brands listed, featured and summarized. That's 245 living, breathing profiles bringing even more context into every single This Week In Coworking summary. That's 245 sets of key people of influence. That's also probably about 243 more coworking brands than people outside of the industry have even heard about, but that doesn't mean they aren't making stories, creating an impact and doing good. 🌟 See the evolving list of brands at https://lnkd.in/e_G84id8 Been featured in a newsletter and don't see your profile under the Brands section? Ping me a note, I'll send the Brand Bot out ASAP. Here's to tomorrow's jam packed newsletter dropping at 6am ET.

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106 sign ups over the past 5 weeks, but unlike founder communities, LearningLoop.com doesn't get noisy or quiet as more people join. 🫂 Founder-first, not investor-first We don't have LPs or an investment committee to judge whether you look successful or not. We are open to tech founders who are building full-time, going from $10k to $1mil, and want a tech CEO peer group to maximize the odds of success. Only 1 of our members is not currently building a startup, and that's because he exited his previous startup very recently and is about to start his next startup soon. Everyone else is building a globally important tech startup. 👁 Community-led vetting Every person who signs up for LearningLoop.com goes thru 3 rounds of screening calls (1 with me, 2 with existing members). This is to ensure we only accept tech founders/CEOs who meet our criteria, and ensure a certain level of openness, since our members have established a culture of maximum openness, resourcefulness and ambition that we wanna scale up. We don't care if you're a bootstrapped or VC backed tech founder, as long as you're building a technology startup. ❗ Founder-only There are no investors/employees/mentors/non-founders on LL (LearningLoop). This is severely underrated until you join LL and notice it makes all the difference in the world. LL is full of hardcore founders building the future of technology in various industries. 🫵 Get YOUR own private peer group, not a massive noisy community When you join, you get a small tech CEO peer group created just for you. Each user gets their own private peer group. We then run an icebreaking call for you and your group to build a strong relationship for you, and we put periodic catch up calls on your calendars, and give you access to a founder-only, super active online group. Sign up today if you're a tech CEO or share it with a founder that you know to help them maximize luck & minimize regrets 🍀 ❤️ 🚀

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Being an early stage founder is lonely and fundraising is a hard slog. One thing that I am constant with is that as a founder you are your presentation. It is the core of the relationship between founders and potential investors. On the other side, I think the most important thing investors have for founders is feedback. Too many investors walk away from meetings with founders without giving them real feedback. I often hear investors say there is no upside to feedback. I actually believe the opposite is true. Good founders need feedback to become great. I think it should be part of the founder seed investor bargain. Give direct feedback and make sure that feedback is what you say in private. Of course, I do not hear from the folks I may have offended, But for me, I would rather live with that then not help a founder.

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€25M, to build the one finance platform to rule them all. Proud to be partner of Pauline Glikman and Joseph A. from Day 0! When we first invested in Payflows, there were many other FinTech SaaS startups focusing on individual pain points felt by CFOs and their teams. Some of these companies try to improve accounts payable or procurement. Others tackle cash management or try to modernize the payment stack. Payflows stands apart by offering this and more as modules within an automated platform bigger than the sum of its parts. Each module can be purchased and deployed independently, but the offering becomes much more powerful when all the pieces of the puzzle are combined.   We partnered with Payflows team on their €5M Seed round, together with Ribbit Capital - all thanks to an intro from my friend Salomon Aiach, GP at Origins Fund. Their product quickly turned out to be such a customer hit that they never had time to announce the round. Fast forward one year. Customers include both public enterprise companies as well as growth-stage tech companies like Ornikar, Spendesk, and Swile and Podimo. Welcome Balderton Capital in today’s combined €25M funding round! In the comments, the story on Les Echos and an in-depth piece on why we invested. Can't wait to continue seeing the ultimate financial automation platform come together! (Photo by Samuel Sotto)

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Here is a little weekend post: Proud moment today! We placed 2nd in our "Learn to Row (Level 2) Regatta"! Ever since COVID, I’ve made it a point to learn something new every summer. 2020 was for rollerskating, 2021 for Sailing CAN1, 2022 for Sailing CAN2, 2023 for a kayak rescue course, and 2024 is all about rowing. Water sports have a magnetic pull on me, confirming that living by the sea is my destiny. So, I signed up at the Vancouver Rowing Club to learn how to row. Level 1 was an instant love affair. Sitting in that narrow long boat with 8 people felt like I finally belonged. The rhythmic movements were the perfect antidote to my screen-heavy lifestyle. Beyond the social aspect, there’s nothing like rowing along the inlet of Coal Harbour as the sun sets, its reflection shimmering on the high rises. Fast forward, today I completed Level 2 with my team of 4. Our first regatta run was a disaster. Sitting in the bow seat, I couldn’t control my oars and we totally lost. I was so frustrated. During our break, I chatted with some girls from the other team who had completed Level 1 with me. They shared their own struggles and mentioned switching to a different set of oars with better grip, though they wouldn’t risk it on race day. I thought, how could my performance get any worse? So, I took the risk and switched oars last minute before the second race. I sat up straight, focused on my breathing and my leg work, and kept pace with the crew in front of me. Before I knew it, we crossed the finish line an entire boat length ahead of our competitors. I was beyond happy. I’ve never been into competitive sports, but now I think I totally am. This feeling was the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt in any sport.🛶✨ @vancouver_rowing #learntorow #rowing #RowingLife #worklifebalance

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The findings of this Sifted survey make VCs seem they're copying consultant memes when advising the portfolio: cut costs! improve revenue! = more profits! 🙈 💸 84% of respondents said they were under more pressure to prioritize profitability or revenue vs a year ago; 66% of respondents were told to cut costs. 🤝 Nearly 44% of respondents said that their relationship with their VCs has gotten worse in the last 12 months, while 27% said it had gotten much worse 👎 When asked how helpful VCs had been with things like GTM strategy, customer contacts, and marketing on a scale of 1 (least helpful) to 5 (most helpful), nearly 44% rated them a 1. Read more 👇 https://lnkd.in/eyRtBh4E

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Whether you're a French startup founder or investing in the French tech ecosystem, this is a must-have resource: The Serena 2024 Edition of the Ultimate VC List is live! Fundraising can be incredibly time-consuming. That’s why, back in 2016, Serena created the Ultimate VC List to streamline the process for entrepreneurs in France. Now an interactive platform, it has supported over 100,000 entrepreneurs and VCs in the ecosystem. Some key trends Sébastien Le Roy and Maxime Furet spotted when putting this edition together: 🚀 The French VC ecosystem is thriving with new funds like Resonance, OVNI Capital, Yellow, and Varsity, signaling a vibrant and expanding market. 🌍 There’s increased interest from US and European funds for French startups, particularly in AI and climate tech, and a rise in non-traditional investors such as Business Angel Clubs and Family Offices (which are now covered by a new section). 🔧 Infrastructure investors are playing a critical role in funding innovative hybrid models amid global warming challenges. ♻️ The growing presence of impact VCs highlights the focus on socially and environmentally impactful investments.

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Raising funds can be tricky - It’s exhausting, and enough is enough. I am thrilled to introduce our solution - the Tech Equity Funding program, designed for impact-driven scale-ups with a tech need. Here’s how it works: 💡 Zarttech invests up to 500,000 euros in credit, helping companies reduce their tech burn and redirect funds to other critical areas.  📈 To qualify, companies simply need some revenue – whether from sales, funding, or bootstrapping. 🤝 Our partnerships are secure and dual-sided, ensuring fairness and protection for both parties. 🔄 After 12, 24, or 36 months, the investment can be converted into equity, repaid with interest, or a blend of both – all agreed upon from the start. The power of true partnerships lies in adjusting to the unique needs of each company. Together, we can create a more inclusive and innovative future. Ready to scale your impact? Let’s connect and make it happen! 🌟 #TechForGood #ImpactInvesting #DiversityInTech #Partnerships #Innovation #TechEquity #zarttech

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Grant update 3/3: 🔍 Last soft funding update from us this time around: We’re incredibly excited to announce that Klarifi has received an #Innobooster grant to help us in our mission to become the leading hub for wastewater data. Having so far built a platform using mostly structured data, the Innobooster grant will help us explore the potential of adding unstructured data (i.e., millions of pdf files) to the platform. Our Innobooster project focuses on acquiring data about compliance action, industrial pre-treatment, permit details and more from publicly available documents from this European and North American environmental protection agencies. 💡🌿 This will allow our clients to 1. Access specific compliance actions for non-compliance – e.g., which issues do a wastewater treatment plant need to address immediately? 2. Get much more information about industrial pre-treatment and industrial discharges to sewer 3. Search for facilities based on permit details for all the facilities on the platform All of this will put Klarifi in a position to enable a greater match between wastewater challenges and wastewater solutions – our contribution to addressing global wastewater challenges in the most effective way possible. Super excited to be backed by Innovation Fund Denmark once again, this time with a focus on pushing our vision and technology to the next level👏 #unstructureddata #AI #wastewater

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