Smile because it happened ❤
I’ve recently made the personal decision with my family to relocate back to the US. I’m cutting both my London and Kindred chapter far shorter than I’d ever envisioned. While any big decision like this is never easy and carries many feelings, the primary feeling for me when I think about leaving Kindred right now is sadness. What I’ve been trying to remind myself is that wherever you feel a sense of sadness when leaving something, it’s because there was so much to hold onto there in the first place and it means a great deal to you. I’m also sad because when I think about the future that lies ahead for Kindred, I’m just so damn excited for what I know is yet to come.
In the past three years, I’ve gotten to witness an incredible moment in the European ecosystem and also be on the inside of a truly unique firm in the venture industry, so I wanted to share some reflections on both.
Reflections on Kindred
Ambition & Heart — What wows me every single day about the people I get to work with at Kindred is the unique combination of ambition and heart that is present in each one of them. It’s a place where everyone pushes each other for excellence and a higher bar constantly and yet still manages to bring warmth to every interaction.
Independent Thinking — In an industry that can often find itself wrapped up in FOMO and herd mentality, it’s refreshing to have a team that has its own discipline and conviction about how to back incredible founders and teams to generate returns for LPs. Whether that means investing in truly deep technology companies years before it’s obvious or giving the firm carry to founders, each decision is approached from first principles and tied back to strategy and values.
Consistency & Discipline — As any professional athlete can reassure you, there can never be excellence without consistency and discipline. In 2021, we didn’t get caught up in insane valuations or deploy our fund three times faster, and we didn’t slow our deployment this year. We do what we say we will do consistently. It’s also important for founders to be there the same way time and time again whether the company is crushing it or struggling. In my time at Kindred, I’ve seen both of these traits appreciated and respected (even in some cases rewarded) by both LPs and founders.
Small Can Be Powerful — At Kindred we have always defined an aspiration to be the best European pre-seed/seed fund in terms of return multiple, not fund or portfolio size. There is a commitment to stay small and do early stage the way we think it serves founders best at the beginning of the journey- a partner only, high-conviction model, and the way we think it delivers the best returns for this stage.
Focus on Founders & People — Those of you that know Kindred know this goes without saying, but I left this for last as I think some of the points above such as Ambition and Consistency may be less visible from the outside of the firm. I believe this one is visible externally but whether it’s a founder we just met or someone in the ecosystem, everyone in this firm places so much emphasis on the people and trying to help where we can and it really changes the way the day to day feels for the better.
Reflections on the European Ecosystem
It’s been an incredible few years to be steeped in the European tech ecosystem as it exploded. I’m very bullish on the future of European tech and here are just a few reasons why:
Follow the Talent — The talent market has definitely hit a maturity and tipping point that creates fertile grounds for company building. I have never seen better operator-turned-founder talent than I’ve seen this year everywhere from London to Paris to Zagreb. There are more serial founders than ever before and also an influx of good talent from abroad. More talent is moving from the US to work in European tech than European talent is moving to join the US tech scene (source: Atomico State of European Tech 2023).
No Career Alternative to Tech — Regardless of background, the best talent will keep going to tech in Europe. In negotiation philosophy there is a term called BATNA which stands for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. In thinking about best alternatives, I’m long on the best talent in Europe gravitating to tech over time because their BATNA is worse than in the US. If you are a talented young person in Germany or France, traditional industries only offer you a linear, predictable career path, which is not what the best talent wants. Talented professionals today want to be challenged, promoted into different functions, and pushed to scale their leadership styles across many teams. I recall a woman I spoke to this year who was moved into three different functions as the startup she was at scaled, and that autonomy and career flexibility only happens in startups here. The best talent also wants to work for companies tackling important missions like climate change and healthcare. There is no better place to be challenged and work on important visions & missions than in tech startups.
Deep Tech & Deep Science Combo — If one of the US’s greatest strengths is the ambition/positive/Get Shit Done mentality, then one of Europe’s is the depth of education, especially in the hard sciences. When I think about the future of AI, the AI and science combination is where there is a lot of defensibility in startups and that talent combination exists better in Europe than it does anywhere else. You can teach a lot of things overnight with on-the-fly learning, but science isn’t one of them.
What’s Next?
We just made this decision for personal reasons, so I don’t know what’s next for me professionally yet. We will do the Kindred transition properly over the next few months as we relocate to the Bay Area. I’m so proud of what Kindred has built thus far and count myself lucky to have been part of this journey for a number of years.
As I think about my own time at Kindred coming to a close, I think the most fitting thing I can come up with is a Dr.Seuss quote:
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
