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The 10 Keys to Investing in European Startups

The 10 Keys to Investing in European Startups

European Straits #184

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Nicolas Colin
Jul 29, 2020
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The 10 Keys to Investing in European Startups
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Hi, it’s Nicolas from The Family. Today I’m sharing my personal framework for reaching sound investment decisions regarding European startups.

With Capital Call I’ve been curating a lot of writing by fellow European investors over the past two months. It made me realize that I really do have my own vision of what investing is all about, and so I thought I would share it here as a 10-point framework.

Read along for the details and reasoning 👇 But here’s the short version:

  1. There’s not just one framework for investing in tech startups. Beware any advice, including mine.

  2. Have a ‘castle’ in your head; use encounters with founders to keep building and embellishing it.

  3. Be a generalist. We’ve advanced enough in the current paradigm shift so as to see recurring patterns and draw lessons across industries. Still, mind the small differences.

  4. The qualities that make a good founder at this point in the paradigm shift are energy, velocity, rigor, and knowledge—not unlike a jazz musician.

  5. Favor founders t…

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