Venture Europe

He co-founded a company that hit a $3B valuation, then watched hackers steal $620M from it. That experience changed how Aleksander Larsen thinks about security, and it sent him somewhere almost no crypto founder goes next: defence. In this episode I sit down with Aleksander Larsen, co-founder and CEO of Stendr, the Oslo company building AI-driven interception systems for a sovereign Europe. Before Stendr he spent seven years as COO of Sky Mavis, scaling Axie Infinity into one of the most-traded games in the world. We get into the full arc: what it takes to run infrastructure serving millions of users, why the Ronin hack became the turning point, and how a gaming founder ends up building hardware for the modern battlefield. We also talk about why Europe can no longer outsource its defence, and what it means to build a Nordic defence prime from a standing start. Norway shares one of NATO's longest borders with Russia. Aleksander thinks that geography is a feature, not a footnote.

Sebastian Mallaby is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller: The Infinity Machine - Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence. He negotiated unprecedented access to DeepMind in November 2022 , a week before ChatGPT launched. He spent 30+ hours in a pub with Demis Hassabis. He interviewed Sam Altman, Ilya Sutskever, Mustafa Suleyman and Geoffrey Hinton among 100 people in AI. He's the Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. A two-time Pulitzer finalist. The author of The Power Law and More Money Than God. In this episode we discuss: ⚔️ The moment ChatGPT launched and Demis told him “they parked the tanks on my lawn” 📉 Why OpenAI has a 50% chance of failing by the middle of next year 🇪🇺 Why Bezos is opening an AI office in King's Cross and why the time to bet on Europe is now 💰 The $1 billion offer from Reid Hoffman to spin DeepMind out of Google 🚪 The Elon Musk, LA closet Skype call, that almost stopped the Google sale 🔥 Who we should actually trust with superintelligence

Chaz Englander is the Co-founder of Model ML an agentic AI platform used by 8 of the top 10 European banks, 3 of the big 4 consultancies, and tier-1 asset managers across Europe and the US. He's previously built and exited two companies: Fat Lama (peer-to-peer rental marketplace) and Fancy (sold to goPuff). Model ML has raised $100M+ from Y Combinator, LocalGlobe and QED and the last round was led by by Steve McLaughlin of FT Partners - arguably the most influential dealmaker in fintech. Chaz Englander is the Co-founder of Model ML an agentic AI platform used by 8 of the top 10 European banks, 3 of the big 4 consultancies, and tier-1 asset managers across Europe and the US. He's previously built and exited two companies: Fat Lama (peer-to-peer rental marketplace) and Fancy (sold to goPuff). Model ML has raised $100M+ from Y Combinator, LocalGlobe and QED and the last round was led by by Steve McLaughlin of FT Partners — the most influential dealmaker in fintech. This conversation covers how AI is dismantling the analyst function in investment banking, why escape velocity is the only real moat in 2026 and why ARR is a vanity metric. Enjoy!

🇮🇹 Dyiala D'Aveni is the CEO of Vento, the fund backing Italian founders worldwide. Vento is fully backed by Exor, the fund behind legendary companies like Ferrari, Juventus and The Economist. They are also the organisers of Wave, the event bringing world class speakers like Dario Amodei, Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang and Jony Ive to Italy and transforming the Italian and European ecosystems more broadly.

Thomas Cuvelier is a Partner at RTP Global, the $1B early-stage fund investing globally across Europe, US, and India. RTP Global was built on the back of one outsized bet: Datadog — a few million dollars turned into a fund-defining outcome. Thomas has invested in Lovable (pre-seed), Next Insurance, Creative Fabrica, and Stoic, among others. In this episode we discuss: Why SaaS is not dead — but mediocrity is Why first-mover advantage is gone and what actually creates a moat in 2026 How to assess founder quality before there's a product The buy vs build equation in the age of AI Where Thomas is placing his bets in the next 5 years: robotics, pharma, industrials Enjoy!

Paul Murphy - Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. For over twenty years Lightspeed has been the first investor and an early backer of some of the most innovative companies in the world like: Stripe, Anthropic, Neko Health and Mistral among many others. They invest in bold founders with big ideas, from Seed to Series F and beyond. Prior to Lightspeed, Paul was an investor with Northzone, a product lead at Microsoft and a co-founder of the gaming studio Dots - best known for developing popular puzzle games like Dots and Two Dots, which achieved over 100 million downloads worldwide. During this episode we discuss how Europe has woken up and it was never a problem of talent but one of confidence and mindset of dreaming big, we discuss about the differences of building at the plaform layer vs application layer and his learnings from Microsoft looking at the similarities with whats happening right now in the market. At the end we end up by getting slightly philosophical and agree that for founders building nowadays: "The obstacle is the way”!

Bryan Kim is a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz which is arguably the most influential venture firm in the world right now, and they are practically defining the 'Application Layer' of AI. Based in San Francisco, Bryan invests invest in Consumer and AI where he led the pivotal rounds in category-defining companies like ElevenLabs, Function Health, and Slinghot AI among others. Bryan is known for his 'Momentum is the Moat' philosophy—the idea that in the age of AI, speed and product velocity is the most important defensibility During this episode we discuss the legendary story of how he boarded a flight to London in under 90 minutes to sign ElevenLabs, the importance of storytelling for founders and the form factor for AI in the near future. Enjoy!

In this essay, Dario Amodei characterizes the current state of artificial intelligence as a "technological adolescence," representing a pivotal rite of passage that will determine humanity's future survival. He outlines a "country of geniuses" scenario to illustrate how autonomous, superintelligent systems could emerge by 2027, bringing both immense benefits and existential threats. The text categorizes these risks into five critical areas: AI autonomy and misalignment, the democratization of destructive tools like bioweapons, the potential for high-tech totalitarianism, massive labor market displacement, and unpredictable indirect societal shifts. Amodei argues that while the path forward is daunting, a combination of rigorous technical safety, legislative transparency, and international cooperation can steer society toward a positive outcome. He emphasizes that the sheer speed of progress makes immediate global preparation essential to ensure that unimaginable power is wielded with maturity and compassion. Despite the gravity of these dangers, the author maintains a realistic optimism, believing that humanity's noble spirit can overcome this civilizational test.

Sara Rywe is a General Partner at byFounders. byFounders is one of Europe's best performing venture funds and focused on early-stage across the Nordics and Baltics. Based in Stockholm, she's in the heart of "Silicon Valhalla" and she lead the first round in companies like Lovable, Corti, Digitail, Skye and many more. Sara is known for her human and "all-in" approach to venture capital which is making founders rave about her. During this episode we discuss the first days of GPT Engineer which is today Lovable and how they convinced the team to partner up, we also discuss how she asses founders at the before there is proof, and how byFounders leads through transparency on the term-sheet and full based meritocracy internally, that i think more European VC funds should learn from. Enjoy!

Today, we step into the quantum frontier with Jan Goetz — co-founder and CEO of IQM Quantum Computers. From quantum physicist to deep-tech founder, Jan has built one of Europe’s most ambitious hardware companies — raising nearly $600 million to turn quantum theory into reality. We talk about what it takes to scale science into business, how IQM is the leading company selling quantum computers, and the first use probable uses case to be deploy first in only a couple of years. Enjoy!

Maximilian Kufner - co-founder and CEO of Again.Bio. At Again they are using a millennia-old bacteria to turn CO2 emissions into clean sustainable products. Last year they’ve raised ~ Eur 40m led by HV Capital and Google Ventures bringing the total raise to ~Eur 100m. They are building bioreactors that capture harmful CO2 emissions at the point source, thus producing carbon negative chemicals in an energetically efficient process. During this episode we discuss about his journey from being a venture capitalist investing in Again to joining as a co-founder, The differences between chemocatalysis and biocatalysys and why optimism and attitude is sometimes more important than skills. Enjoy!

Mati Staniszewski, is the co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs. He shares how a pre-seed idea turned into a $6.6B AI company powering the future of voice. We talk about how they cracked adding emotion to speech, real-time dubbing, watermarking for trust, and building one of the most influential startups in AI. He also gives some info on behind the scenes of Lex Fridman’s interview with India’s PM and how ElevenLabs is giving thousands their voices back. We recorded this exceptional episode at the Italian Tech Week in Torino. Sponsored by ⁠ValueAdd⁠ - AI enrichment and search on your professional network.

Tom Wilson is a Partner at Seedcamp - the legendary seed fund, started in 2007 in Europe that has backed companies like Revolut, UiPath, Wise and wefox to name a few. During this episode we discuss about the common traits of founders that have created multibillion eur in value, his learnings as he matured as an investor over the last 10 years, and the value proposition of Seedcamp to early stage founders. Enjoy!

Dan Ariely is the bestselling author of Predictably Irrational and one of the world’s leading behavioral economists. We explore why humans consistently make irrational choices, the hidden forces that shape our decisions, and what entrepreneurs can learn about pricing, perception, and context. From his personal story of resilience after a life-changing accident to powerful experiments like the decoy effect and anchoring, Dan reveals why we’re “prisoners of our past choices” — and how to escape them. If you’ve ever wondered why smart people make irrational decisions, or how psychology can transform business strategy, this conversation is for you. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more inspiring conversations!

Des Traynor, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom, one of the most iconic SaaS companies to come out of Europe. If you've ever messaged a company through a chat widget that actually worked, chances are you've used Intercom. Des co-founded Intercom in 2011 in Dublin, and since then, the company has helped redefine how businesses talk to customers. Today he leads Intercom's R&D team based in Dublin and London, but he's led many teams within the company including Product, Marketing, Customer Support, and Content. He is also a prolific investor in companies like Stripe, Miro, Notion and Hopin. In this conversation, we dive into the moment when they realised the impact of AI on their business, the decision to build a new AI product even in the face of product Cannibalization and the importance of honest communication to the organization in face of high productivity gains, automations and potential job displacements. Enjoy!

Our guest today is Maxime Barbier, co-founder and CEO of Timeleft. They are organizing dinners for strangers. Imagine a sort of blind date with 5 other people while eating good food. Spicy! Timeleft is now live in 320+ cities across 65 countries. Every Wednesday, more than 25,000 people gather in restaurants worldwide to share a meal and experience the joy of genuine human connection and they went from 0 to 16m Eur run rate in 18 months. During this episode we discuss the return to "irl", the effects of social media and why you should go on a Timeleft experience. Enjoy!

A comprehensive guide to personal cybersecurity, emphasizing the evolving threat landscape from mid-2024 to mid-2025, marked by unprecedented data exposures like the 16-billion credential "GOAT" leak. We highlight the shift in risk from corporate servers to individual user devices, largely due to infostealer malware. The document details major data breaches across various sectors, identifying common attack vectors such as supply chain vulnerabilities, insider threats, and the sophisticated evolution of ransomware. Crucially, we outlines a modern password and authentication strategy, advocating for long, unique passphrases, the ubiquitous adoption of multi-factor authentication (MFA)—prioritizing hardware keys and authenticator apps—and the essential role of password managers as a "digital vault" for secure credential management. Finally, we underline the importance of proactive breach monitoring through services like "Have I Been Pwned?", cultivating phishing awareness, diligent software updates, and securing home and public Wi-Fi networks to build robust digital resilience.

Two weeks ago, I was in New York for the Venture Intelligence day (organised by Vestberry) moderating a panel with some pretty savvy VCs — among them Left Lane Capital a spinoff from Insight Partners with $2B AuM, Galaxy Ventures with $1.5B AuM, and Angelini Ventures with $300M AuM. The topic? Platform 2.0 — how VCs are going beyond capital to actually support founders. We talked talent, playbooks, community, business development, growth — and what it really means to be ‘value-add’ in 2025. This episode is the result of that trip. A deep dive into how the smartest firms are supercharging portfolio support — and what the future of venture capital looks like. Curious how your VC firm can provide more valueadd? Visit valueadd.network and let's have a chat.

An in-depth look at the complex and often turbulent relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, focusing on its historical context and a significant public dispute in June 2025. We chart the evolution from initial skepticism and pragmatic advisory roles to periods of strong public support and financial contributions, culminating in a dramatic falling out over a legislative bill. We analyze the strategic use of their respective social media platforms, X and Truth Social, as battlegrounds for influence, highlighting their differing reaches and implications. Ultimately, we explore the underlying motivations of ego, business interests, and political ambition that drive their interactions, along with the financial and broader political ramifications of their highly public conflicts.

Salar al Khafaji - founder and CEO of Monumental. At Monumental they are developing a suite of autonomous, electric robots which can work around the clock so everyone can afford a high-quality house or apartment in a beautiful city or village. Last year they’ve raise a 23M Eur round from Hummingbird, Northzone, Plural and other investors with the mission to make construction primarily software-defined and work towards a future where beautiful, bespoke buildings are built within a single day with minimal labor. Prior to Monumental, Salar built and sold the data company Silk to Palantir. During this episode we discuss about the construction market and how it is the only industry the productivity has decreased, his mistakes from his first business Silk, and the biggest current bottleneck at Monumental. Enjoy!

We provide an extensive overview of the global construction market, highlighting its significant economic impact and projected growth to over $16 trillion by 2030. We detail the substantial contribution of the construction sector to global GDP and employment, emphasizing its role as a key economic driver. We also focus on the European construction market, outlining its regional importance and growth, alongside the pervasive influence of technological innovation, including BIM, 3D printing, AI, and robotics, in transforming industry practices. Specific attention is given to bricklaying robotics startups like Monumental and FBR, showcasing their advancements in automation to address labor shortages and enhance efficiency and safety within the industry.

Trends – Artificial Intelligence - compiled by Mary Meeker "queen of the internet", Jay Simons, Daegwon Chae, and Alexander Krey of BOND. This episode reveals a data-driven picture of acceleration across multiple dimensions – technical, financial, social, physical, and geopolitical. You can find the full report here.

Jan-Hendrick Boelens co-founder and CEO of Alpine Eagle. Munich-based and backed by leading investors including General Catalyst and IQ Capital, Alpine Eagle is building the world's first air-to-air counter-drone system. Prior to Alpine Jan-Hendrick was chief engineer at Airbus, and CTO at Volocopter and Quantum Systems. During this episode we discuss how technology can help protect democracies in the face of global instability, why Europe needs and single defence market and the dependency on China in the supply chain. Enjoy!

An overview of the European defense market, excluding Russia, highlighting a significant and accelerated increase in investment driven by the changed geopolitical landscape, primarily following the conflict in Ukraine. We detail the current size and projected growth of defense spending by EU and key European NATO nations, emphasizing the commitment to and achievement of NATO spending targets as a percentage of GDP, with several countries exceeding the 2% benchmark. We also outlines the key drivers of this transformation, including geopolitical imperatives and strategic alignment within NATO and the EU, alongside emerging trends like technological advancements in AI, cybersecurity, and advanced platforms, as well as industrial and procurement dynamics aiming for greater collaboration and strategic autonomy. Finally, we discuss investment opportunities in leading European defense companies and attractive market segments, while also addressing the strategic considerations and risks for investors, such as production scalability, supply chain vulnerabilities, fiscal sustainability, and evolving ethical concerns.

Explore the transformative force of Artificial Intelligence (AI), outlining its historical evolution from foundational concepts to modern advancements like generative AI and large language models. We detail the primary drivers fueling AI's growth, including technological enablers like increased computing power and big data, as well as economic and societal factors. Furthermore, we analyze the vast opportunities AI presents across key industries such as healthcare, finance, and transportation, alongside its potential to drive economic growth and offer societal benefits. Finally, we critically examine the significant threats and challenges accompanying AI, emphasizing ethical considerations, potential socio-economic impacts, security vulnerabilities, and inherent technical limitations.

Sebastian Hjarne - founder and CEO of Talentium. At Talentium they are building the search engine for talent and creating an end-to-end platform for hiring. €3.5m pre-seed round led by EQT ventures, with participation from some exceptional angels like Sebastian - the CEO of the giant Klarna, Joel - CEO of Sana Labs and Fredrik - CEO of Voi Technologies. During this episode we discuss about the how Talentium was built from the frustration of finding top talent in machine learning, the challenge with boolean search and the more human future of hiring. Enjoy!

A comprehensive overview of the global recruitment market, describing its significant current size and projected growth, driven by factors like increased job vacancies and technological advancements. We segment the market by staffing type (temporary dominating), recruitment channel (online leading), end-user industries (IT & Telecom prominent), and service types (RPO and Executive Search growing). The research also highlight key drivers such as SME growth and evolving workforce dynamics while outlining challenges including skill gaps, market competition, and data privacy concerns. Finally, we discuss major market trends like the pervasive influence of AI and the continued rise of remote work, along with the competitive landscape dominated by large global players but also featuring specialized niche firms.

Jakob Sons is one of the co-founders and Managing Partners of Cansativa. Cansativa is building the largest medical cannabis platform in Europe and are offering the most desirable products and brands yummy. In 2022, they've raised the 15 million round from Snoop's dog, Casa Verde, and they generated 35M Eur in Revenue in 2024 and projected 90M Eur in 2025. During this episode, we'll discuss Jakob's transition from being a lawyer to founding a medical marijuana startup together with his brother, the hyper-personalisation trend in medical cannabis, and the importance of curiosity, focus and speaking up.

An overview of the global medical cannabis market, highlighting its rapid growth driven by legislative reforms, increasing research, and patient acceptance. While North America currently leads, Europe, particularly Germany, is identified as a major growth engine due to recent law changes significantly boosting patient access and imports, despite challenges like reimbursement, physician education, and supply chain complexities. The analysis details market size variations, evolving product preferences (favoring extracts and precise dosing), primary therapeutic uses, and the significant hurdles posed by regulatory fragmentation, banking restrictions, and competition from the illicit market.

This overview analyzes David Allen's "Getting Things Done" (GTD) methodology, a widely recognized system aimed at achieving stress-free productivity by externalizing mental clutter. The episode explains how GTD addresses cognitive overload and unmanaged commitments through a trusted external system, contrasting it briefly with other approaches like Alice Boyes' work. It details the five core stages of GTD—Capture, Clarify, Organize, Reflect, and Engage—along with key techniques like the "Next Action" concept and the "Two-Minute Rule." While highlighting benefits such as reduced stress and increased clarity, the text also examines challenges and criticisms, including the significant maintenance burden and potential for focusing on "shallow work," concluding that GTD remains a relevant framework for managing complexity, often complementing other systems. Copy and use the framework here: https://www.notion.so/Get-Things-Done-Framework-49c2a7e04b0741189b75b97f8ebf0365?pvs=4

Ioan Jacob is the CEO and Founder of FlowX.AI. The FlowX platform fundamentally changes how large banks build mission-critical products and modernize applications systems and infrastructure. They are the first-ever multi-agent AI platform bringing enterprise-grade AI that is robust and safe to use for large financial services organizations. Ioan has been working together with the same core team of founders and engineers for over a decade, having a previous successful exit together. In 2023 FlowX AI has raised the largest Series A globally in enterprise software, a 30M Eur round led by Dawn Capital and based on its traction and growth, lets say the future is bright for them. During this episode we discuss how a meeting with the Revolut team in London sparked the creation of FlowX.AI, why the ego is the enemy of the entrepreneur, and how does the multi-agent AI platform works in practice, beyond the buzzwords. Enjoy!

FT Partners Research published a March 2025 report outlining key FinTech trends to anticipate in the coming year, alongside a recap of 2024 FinTech deal activity. The report offers insights on AI, crypto, and the IPO market. Key trends highlighted include the rise of AI agents, expanding crypto infrastructure, the resurgence of B2C FinTech, and increasing consolidation within the sector. The analysis also spotlights opportunities in emerging markets, the impact of the great wealth transfer on WealthTech, and the growing role of AI in insurance.

W. Timothy Gallwey's Inner Game framework distinguishes between the conscious "Self 1" that instructs and judges, and the unconscious "Self 2" that performs. The core argument is that internal interference, primarily from Self 1, hinders optimal performance by causing tension and self-doubt. The Inner Game methodology focuses on techniques to quiet Self 1 through non-judgmental awareness, focused attention, visualization, and trust in Self 2. Ultimately, the aim is to achieve harmony between these two selves to unlock potential, enhance learning, increase enjoyment, and redefine success beyond mere outcomes.

Dirk Sahlmer - Head of origination at Saas.group. During this episode we discuss about how to prepare the exit of your company to get the best deal, how to focus on sustainable growth if you are a VC backed founder and you are considering an exit, and we cover top 3 mistakes founders make when selling their business Ciao!

Tom Wehmeier - Partner and Head of Insights at Atomico the 1B Eur fund, founded by Niklas Zennstrom the famous founder of Skype, one of the first tech breakthroughs from Europe, and Yoram Wijngaarde - Founder and CEO of Dealroom - the source of record and insights on startups. During this episode we discuss how well did tech Europe do in the last 10 years and why so many people were bashing Europe despite positive facts and trends, we discuss what we did well and what we can do better, and the current mood shift and the tech optimism in Europe. Enjoy!

Daria Saharova Founding partner at WorldFund. Worldfund is a 300M Eur leading European Climate tech fund investing in startups that decarbonise the global economy. They support startups from early to growth stage, focusing on Energy, Food and Agriculture, Manufacturing, Buildings, and Mobility. During this episode we discuss how Climate change isn't theoretical—it's already disrupting supply chains, insurance markets, and infrastructure and The cost of inaction is becoming far greater than the cost of investing in solutions, we also discuss how they asses the decarbonization potential of different technologies through the CCP - climate performance potential to combine the climate crisis with the venture capital model. Enjoy!

Christian Rebernik - co-founder and CEO of Tomorrow University. Tomorrow university is the first ed-tech scaleup to receive accreditation in Europe that offers bachelors, masters and MBA programs reimagining education starting from first principles. Previously, Christian was the CTO of several multibillion Euro companies like N26, Scout24 and Awin Global. During this episode we discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of building in regulated environments, how brand and positioning are paramount in education and the failed startup on meeting transcriptions that he never added on LinkedIn. Enjoy!

Anna Brandt has close to 20 years experience in talent acquisition at some of the most iconic tech companies of our generation like Uber, Zalando, Mollie and N26 to name a few. She is the co-founder of Invested a consulting and investment firm and she is a Venture Partner with EQT Ventures, Insight Partners and Fidelity. During this episode we discuss about the importance of marrying business strategy with organisational design, why hiring A-players without context doesn't really work, and the tradeoff between speed, quality and cost when recruiting. Enjoy!

Winston Churchill's 1931 essay, "Fifty Years Hence," contemplates the rapid acceleration of human progress driven by science and technology. He notes the vast improvements in living standards and the potential for future scientific breakthroughs, particularly in energy. However, Churchill cautions that humanity's moral and spiritual development has not kept pace with its material advancements. He expresses concern about the immense power that future societies will wield and the potential for both utopian advancements and dystopian outcomes, including the manipulation of human nature. Ultimately, the essay questions whether material progress alone can fulfil humanity's fundamental needs and emphasises the crucial role of virtue and spiritual understanding in navigating the future.

Tatiana Shalalvand - Venture Investor at Kinnevik and leads the Nordic early-stage strategy. Kinnevik is a multi-billion-dollar investment firm writing checks from 5M to a 100M Euro, from early-stage to post-IPO, and even into the public markets. They invested in the likes of TravelPerk, Spring Health, Pleo, and Zalando to name a few. During this episode we discuss about Kinnevik's capabilities to invest from the early stages to post IPO, why a money is not enough for a VC to impress a founder and the importance of  remaining curious and open minded as an investor. Enjoy!

Pär-Jörgen Pärson - general partner at NorthZone, a 1B Eur multi-stage venture capital fund partnering with founders from Seed to Growth. Across Europe and the US. With more than 20 years of VC experience, PJ is a legend in the VC industry and has led the investments in some of the greatest startups coming out of Europe like Spotify, now listed on the NYSE and valued at $123B, the online classifieds giant Avito, sold to Naspers for $ 2.7 billion and the payments company iZettle, sold to PayPal for $ 2.2 billion among many other tech companies coming from Europe and as of lately New York. During this episode we discuss the common traits of category defining entrepreneurs like Daniel Ek, why we need to change the narrative for tech Europe and keep the talent here and what heavy metal can teach you about management. Enjoy!

Vadim Fedotov, co-founder and CEO of Bioniq. Having raised a total amount of over $30M with backers like HV Capital and Cristiano Ronaldo - Bioniq is changing the world of personalized health with a data-driven wellness platform that’s redefining how we approach our health. From playing professional basketball to leading one of the fastest-growing e-commerce giants, Groupon, across 48 countries, Vadim has never shied away from a challenge. In this episode, we’re going to explore Vadim’s journey—from the discipline of sports to the high-stakes world of business, his leadership philosophy, and how he’s leveraging technology to change the future of health optimization. Get ready for an inspiring conversation packed with insights, resilience, and a glimpse into the future of wellness. Enjoy!

Dario Amodei is the CEO of Anthropic. Valued at $60B, the company focuses on AI research and products that put safety at the frontier and it is the company behind Claude. Dario Amodei's essay, "Machines of Loving Grace," explores the potential positive impacts of advanced AI, despite the risks. He believes AI's upside is vastly underestimated and details how it could revolutionize biology, neuroscience, economic development, peace, and the nature of work. Amodei anticipates AI accelerating progress in healthcare, mental health, poverty reduction, and governance while improving the baseline of human experience. He acknowledges challenges like inequality, societal constraints, and the potential displacement of human labor, but maintains a hopeful outlook. The author envisions a future where AI could lead to unprecedented economic growth, the prevention of most diseases, and a strengthening of liberal democracy. He advocates for proactive efforts to ensure AI benefits are widely accessible. Link to essay: https://darioamodei.com/machines-of-loving-grace

Max Junestrand - CEO and co-founder of Legora. They recently raised $35M from investors including Benchmark and Redpoint to empower exceptional lawyers everywhere through collaborative AI. With a team of engineers and lawyers from Google, Microsoft, McKinsey, and top law firms, Legora curently serves several thousands users across 200 clients in 15 countries, including some of the world's largest and most prestigious law firms. The team has scaled from 10 to 60 in 9 months – and they have opened up new offices in London and NYC to complement the HQ in Stockholm. During this episode we discuss how they initially got rejected by YC and how they made their way back to get accepted, how they cleverly mapped the pain points and potential aha moments for specific roles of their customer segment and why they chose Benchmark as a lead investor. Enjoy!

Daniel Keiper-Knorr - one of the co-founders and Managing partners at SpeedInvest, a leading European early stage VC. Daniel role is  capital formation, capital markets and investor relations. Starting in 2011 as an angel fund, today Speedinvest is a 1B euro European powerhouse investing in startups at the earliest phases. With 5 specialized investment teams with 40+ investment managers they offer founders a deep understanding of their space and a broad network in their target industries. Some of their flagship investments include wefox, schüttflix, goStudent, coachhub and primer. During this episode we discuss why every deck has a magic slide, why we don’t have more growth funds in Europe and the mechanics that prevent VCs from innovating. Enjoy!