It’s been a while since we had an investor story on the #StartupShow. We recently had the pleasure of hosting Dani Gutenberg, the Early Stage Angel Investor at VI Partners - and let me tell you, it was worth the wait. If you are curious to learn about his early investment in Facebook 11 years ago and how he recognized its potential, don’t miss the super inspiring interview below!

Coming from the world of engineering, Dani Gutenberg began investing in startups in the mid-‘90s. At the very beginning of his career, he started a company that distributed products and services from the USA to Europe. Most of them took part in building the internet as we know it today, such as NetScape and AltaVista. For the past 15 years, Gutenberg has been supporting startups as an early stage investor at VI Partners AG. He still enjoys working with very young, innovative, and energetic people.

VI Partners gathers 10 large Swiss investors around the idea of providing the seed stage companies with capital, coaching and networks. They mostly invest in Swiss startups and collaborate closely with ETH in Zurich. Regarding their industries of interest, the main focus of VI Partners is in two fields: healthcare and technology. Watch the video to hear Gutenberg’s main criteria when selecting startups.

Website: https://vipartners.ch/

In this episode, Gutenberg also tells the story of the biggest mistake he made as an investor, the importance of industry expertise and why you, in particular, should be building a unicorn.

Watch the previous episode: Adrian Walker – Boataffair

In the upcoming show: Phil Lojacono – Advanon

Skip to Questions:

1:01 Who is Dani Gutenberg?

1:50 What did your early days in Hawaii look like?

3:26 How do you handle the feeling of taking the risk and starting a business by yourself?

5:18 What’s VI partners? Where is your focus? Stage?

6:41 How did you discover Facebook in December 2017? What was the indicator for success back then?

9:11 How do you deal with a negative feedback?

10:07 What excites you the most about the investment process?

10:44 How do you cope with “the importance of industry experts” - why is this important during the investment process?

11:15 You are both a private investor and a board member of vipartners. How do you distinguish between those two?

12:24 How do you allocate the time you dedicate to different types of startups?

13:29 What’s the feeling of fulfilling a goal with a startup and having to let them go after all?

14:50 What trends do you see in the VC industry?

16:05 What are the industry verticals (or startups) that are going to be big in the next 10 to 15 years?

18:07 What makes the local VC/Startup ecosystem so unique?

Quick Fire Q&A

18:34 What’s your best valuation method for early-stage startups?

19:35 What are some tips for balancing work and life?

19:54 What’s your best advice for starting a VC/raising a fund?

20:14 My biggest mistake as a VC was…

20:41 Who is your role model in the VC world?

Expert Advice

21:24 Expert Advice from Dani Gutenberg

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Get in touch: https://goo.gl/forms/7zqfBX9ctwH8Nu4I2

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Cédric Bollag is an aspiring venture capitalist. Cédric decided to turn his passion about “Startups, Tech & Innovation” into a blog. He releases video interviews with entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders in innovation. For any questions, suggestions and inquiries feel free to connect and reach out.

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