The Super Angel Podcast: Recent Episodes
The European VC
Dann Bibas is the GM International at Public.com, the US-based investing platform where members can build a modern portfolio of stocks, ETFs, crypto, collectibles, and more. Dann oversees the platform’s expansion into new markets. Prior, Dann was the Head of Expansion at Wise and currently he is an active angel investor, mainly in early stage FinTech.
"Insights shared on angel investing are not a reflection of the guest’s employer, Public.com, and this is not financial advice".
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today, we're happy to welcome you to Bjarke Klinge Staun, a founder turned VC turned angel. Bjarke co-founded an algorithmic trading company before startups were cool, then worked at Creandum where he invested in Pleo, Bolt and Trade Republic. For the past 3 years he has been an active angel investor with a portfolio of 30 companies in fintech and SaaS across Europe.
What you'll learn:
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Bjarke's reflections and learnings from going from founder to VC to angel
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The story behind Trade Republic, why Bjarke's investment was so contrarian and how a non-hot, non-typical deal turned out to be one of Europe's big hallmark VC successes
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Reflections on deciding between being geo-focused vs more broad
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How Bjarke thinks about managing and growing his angel portfolio beyond 30 companies
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The importance of relationship & expectation management in venture investing
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today, we're happy to welcome Pranav, currently EMEA General Manager at Airwallex, a $5.5B global payments and financial platform for modern businesses. Prior to joining Airwallex, Pranav spent 5 years at UK fintech GoCardless in a variety of roles including Strategy, International Expansion and running the global SME business. Since starting angel investing in 2021, Pranav has invested in around 25 primarily B2B fintech & SaaS businesses and as an LP in one fund.
In this episode you'll learn:
* How Pranav got started investing, his thinking behind building towards a 50-100 investment portfolio and deciding on verticals, geo and ticket sizes
* Reflections on investing globally and how Pranaav thinks about sourcing and winning international deals
- How Pranaav’s angel Investing connects to his work as an operator and what it's given him both personally and professionally
- Why distribution is one of Pranaav’s core focus areas when diligencing deals
- How Pranaav thinks about balancing own conviction and signal investing
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today, we're happy to welcome you to Francesco Simoneschi, Co-Founder and CEO at TrueLayer. He is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has founded and grown a number of successful tech companies in the US and Europe, including analytics platform Staq.io which was acquired by Playhaven, and mobile marketing platform Upsight.
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today, we're happy to welcome you to Eduardo Ronzano, a Spanish tech entrepreneur and angel investor. He founded KelDoc, one of the top online booking platforms for hospitals in France and sold it to NEHS insurance group. Eduardo is the managing director of Secret Fund - an undercover entrepreneur fund based in Paris.
In this episode you’ll learn:
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How Eduardo’s mom got him into angel investing following the sale of his first company
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How to stay aligned with your entrepreneurs and the importance of being authentic
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How Eduardo follows a strategy of only doing initial investments and what this gives him as an angel
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Why reputation is the number one thing in angel investing
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The importance of asking yourself why you are angel investing and how connecting with founders has been the biggest personal take-away for Eduardo
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Why angel investing is like being a boxing coach, not a football coach
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today, we're happy to welcome you to Charlie, founder of ComplyAdvantage, an AI-driven financial crime risk and detection technology powered by Complydata. They have raised $100m from Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, OTPP and Goldman Sachs with global hubs in London, New York, and Singapore.
In this episode you’ll learn:
-The importance of being part of a strong angel community with peers you trust and whose opinion you value
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How Charlie thinks about activating his network as part of his diligence process
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Why Charlie is going from a more international strategy to a more nationally focused one
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Why Charlie believes it’s important to impose systematic professional processes on himself when angel investing
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today, we're happy to welcome David, angel investor, CEO & co-founder of Sennder, a digital truck freight forwarding business. Together with his co-founders, David has built up a team of over 1,000 employees across eleven offices in Europe. In the process, they have been supported by strong investors such as Scania, Accel and Project A, and have secured over €300 million in funding. They are quite active angels, particularly in the German ecosystem.
In this episode you will learn:
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Why David considers his investments into Gorillas and Cargo 1 his most memorable angel deals
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How angel investing can yield learnings around managing the board
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Why David has two different, yet synergistic, investment strategies: investing early in logistics & supply chain startups and co-investing with VCs in opportunistic deals
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How LP investing can complement your angel activities, specially if you want to do more international investments
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How angel investing makes you a better, more experienced business leader
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today we're happy to welcome Anna and Noor, angel investors, board advisor and board member of Invested. They accelerate growth through consulting and investing, being focused on the Future of Work, specifically when Fintech meets HR Tech.
In this episode you’ll learn:
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How to think about joining forces as angels, what it takes and the superpowers it can give you
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Why Anna & Noor pick their investments based on the problem the startups target, the disruption they can bring about and the connection, belief and match they have with the founding team
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How Anna & Noor think about scaling their investment activity and what it takes from them as a team and individuals
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Reflections on having invested through the boom and the bust cycle
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How the team think about working with the European Venture ecosystem and to optimize their role in it
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today we are happy to welcome you to Alexandre Berriche, one of Europe's absolute premiere Super Angels and Sequoia scout with more than 80 seed investments under his belt. Alex is also the CEO and co-founder of Fleet, a french B2B startup focused on simplifying the equipment, management and renewal of computers and cellphones for startups and SMBs.
In this episode you'll learn:
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How Alex has leveraged Fleet in his angel investing and vice versa
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How humbly Alex, as one of Europe’s very top angels, present himself, his investing and thinking. Truly remarkable!
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The role of round leads, trust, networks and trends in Alex’s investing
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Why Alex is finding himself more focused on founder ambition level, and the ability to attract the best of the best, articulating their vision and thinking.
This episode is sponsored by Vauban. Vauban makes it easy to launch your angel syndicate or VC Fund, check them out at www.vauban.io/euvc
Today, we're happy to welcome you to Julia Morrongiello, an ex VC, turned operator, turned angel investor. She is the Head of Growth Europe for Zero Hash, a crypto-as-a-service provider who's clients include the likes of Stripe, Moonpay, Curve and Interactive Brokers. Julia spent most of her career working as a VC investor at Point Nine and GFC and now continues to invest in fintech and crypto as an angel and scout for Accel. Since starting her career as an angel investor a little over a year ago, she's invested in 10 companies and 1 fund.
In this episode you’ll learn:
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Julia’s journey from VC to Operator to Angel & the value it brings to her both professionally and personally
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How investing in women can be a better investment on both the hard and soft metrics
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Why angel investing is the most giving hobby in the world!
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Reflections on power law investing, upside maximization and why you can only get as much as you give
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The importance of paying attention to unconscious biases and how to create processes that protect you
Today, we're happy to welcome Joe Cross, early stage angel investor, with a portfolio of around 25 companies so far, and LP in Cocoa. He focusses on companies with the potential to make a positive impact at scale, and helps founders on growth & marketing challenges across a whole mix of sectors. Previously, he was employee #12 at (Transfer)Wise, where he wore various marketing & growth leadership hats from 2012-2020.
In this episode you’ll learn:
* How Joe thinks about applying his ex-operator skill set to add value to founders & why it’s often operations and tactics over strategy!
* Why Joe’s investment thesis is centered around Good, Big & Fast and how he thinks about impact investing.
* Why Joe is changing strategy from having done 25 investments in just 2 years to doing fewer more concentrated bets in the time to come
* How Joe thinks about building valuable networks to access and win the best deals
Today we are happy to welcome Keith Grose, Head of International for Plaid, an open finance platform and data network that powers over 3,000 digital financial apps and more than 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Keith leads the strategy and operations for Plaid’s international products.
In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Keith thinks about solo founders and why he believes having angels & VCs around you is even more important for these
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Why Keith thinks grit is the number one thing to look for and how he tests for it
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Why establishing trust and psychological safety is so important to angel investing
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Why Keith prefers Whatsapp and email to regular reporting and how that can save communications from going bad
Today, we're happy to welcome you to Roxanne, Director of Station F, a startup campus in Paris, where she is recognized as one of the most influential figures in the French startup ecosystem. French media have called her the "young empress of startups", the "queen of tech", and "the new pope of high-tech and startups in France." Roxanne is an Iranian-American who grew up in Silicon Valley, was formerly a journalist and startup ambassador before being personally selected by Free founder to spearhead the development of Station F.
Welcome to the Super Angel Podcast - a podcast dedicated to angels backing the next generation of European unicorn founders. Whoever they are and wherever they may be.
If you’re an angel wanting to take your investing to the next level and get connected with the best in Europe, I hope this pod will become part of your weekly routine.
We wanna share the stories and thinking of the super angels of Europe and make it actionable and relatable so that you get under the skin of the best.
What got them into investing?
What core learnings have they made?
What moments turned out to be absolutely pivotal and how did they incorporate that into their thinking as investors?
With our podcast you'll hear from founders, operators, and executives who have been part of the journey behind Europe’s biggest tech success stories and how they’ve leveraged that to become European Super Angels.
How can you leverage your super power to deliver value that founders are desperate for? How do you even find these founders? And how do you go beyond borders to new geos and new verticals? Should you even?
Ultimately we wanna see if this podcast can help us connect with more amazing people across Europe.
We’re here for you, ready to connect and take it to the next level.