In this episode of the EUVC podcast, Andreas discusses with Christoph Klink, a Partner at Antler.

He draws on his background as a Business Angel and Partner with McKinsey & Company. Before joining Antler, he served a range of leading technology organizations, amongst others in the mobility and transportation space, on disruptive strategy and building innovative business models. Building and nurturing top-talent organizations is one of his key passions and a great source of inspiration for Christoph.

Christoph is at the forefront of early-stage investing, and we're thrilled to have him share his insights with us. Christoph is investing out of Antler's first Continental European fund, which has an impressive 60M EUR AUM. What sets Antler apart is their focus on investing and supporting startups from "day zero" to Series C.

In today's episode, we're diving deep into a topic that Cristoph has studied recently: The Rise of the European Technical Founder. Christoph will share some insights from their recent report, and why Antler is doubling down on this area and how it could be a game-changer for European tech.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀

Chapters:

• 00:02 Meet Christophe Klink from Antler Continental Europe
• 00:13 Antler's Investment Focus and Portfolio
• 00:44 The Importance of Technical Founders in Europe
• 03:12 Christophe's Recent Study on Technical Founders
• 04:15 Challenges in Building European Tech Giants
• 06:54 The Rise of Technical Founders in Europe
• 21:30 Antler's Approach to Founder Team Composition
• 26:09 The Role of Generalists and Specialists in Startups
• 28:53 Finding the Right Co-Founder
• 29:13 Recap of Core Learnings
• 29:48 European Tech Giants Dilemma
• 29:54 Rise of Technical Founders
• 31:14 Meet Christoph: The Investor
• 33:23 Antler's Work Ethic and Culture
• 36:48 Challenges of Building Antler
• 38:24 Olympic Medalists vs. Unicorn Founders
• 40:35 Top Lessons in Venture Capital 47:16 Advice for Emerging VCs