Interview with APEX Managing Partner, Christoph Kanneberger

I recently had a chance to sit-down with one of the APEX Venture’s Managing Partners to talk about his professional career, how APEX Ventures was founded and things he look for in a founder team.

Hi Christoph, tell us about your professional journey and how you found yourself in the venture capital industry?

I studied business administration where I was able to specialize in financial markets and banking. Right thereafter I landed a job at UBS Warburg and after three years I moved on to JP Morgan. In total I spent more than 10 years in Frankfurt and London, but at some point I wanted to do something new, something where I was in charge of developing a business strategy. Initially I wanted to start up my own company, eventually ending up being a member of the management board of large HR service provider. It was just in hindsight that I realized how important this has been for my personal development of management skills. My time in the banking industry taught me everything about markets, cash flows, analyzing business models and finance, but only thereafter I learned so many other important things, like how important and difficult it is to pick and manage a decentralized and international team. At the same time, roughly four years ago I did my first investment in a startup and what shall I say, I simply got hooked and many more were to follow. It didn´t take me long to figure out that I finally found the destination of my journey. I certainly had a bit of luck with everything I was doing, but if you add up all the experiences I have made so far it makes perfect sense to me what I am doing now.

Personally speaking, how does APEX differentiate from other funds out there?

I am sure my partners will let you know about our key differentiators, which by the way are really quite unique. But the one thing I like about us, is that we are the only fund that didn´t want to become a fund (laughing). For us it has always been about working with founders and company building. But as more people and potential investors got interested in what we were doing we said, hey, why not, let´s make something out of it. Setting up a fund registered with the financial authorities was simply the most transparent and reputable way.

What do you like the most when working with startups? What excites you the most?

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is all about finding the right founders. It is their tremendous energy and motivation. This unbending will towards changing the status quo to the better. How can you not get carried away by this? On top of that you learn about the most incredible ideas and new technologies on a daily basis.

What are the factors that you look at while evaluating a startup?

Besides all the usual metrics, which are at the end of the day secondary, I personally look out for two things in the founders: a) what was their motivation to start up this company and b) what is the one big strength that separates them from others. An Idea — transformed into a product — can be successful or not. But as we all know it is rarely the very first idea that breaks through. Hence the founders must be capable of adapting to market developments. If the right idea or product respectively is found, it also needs strong skills to implement it properly. This is where the wheat gets separated from the chaff.

Personally speaking, what do you like (don’t you like) to see in startup founders?

There are always two sides of the same coin. I really like bold and confident founders, who fight for their ideas with great passion and don´t throw in the towel too easily. But I can’t stand when it´s crossing the border to arrogance, ultimately diminishing the will to learn from others. Apart from that it certainly helps if a founder has founded another company previously already. But it is not a prerequisite aspect to be considered by APEX.

What is the most valuable thing or two that you can provide startups with?

Firstly, our experience. By this I mean that we have been able to resolve specific problems many times, which founders, on the other hand, might face for the very first time. Sometimes, without any external help, this can result in making wrong decisions. Ultimately some of these hurdles could even pose life-threatening risks to a newly founded company. An example would be that startups usually tend to worry about their next financing round too late. Secondly, quite simple, the money to finance the realisation of their dreams.

In conclusion, Christoph wants to convey a very important message for startup founders to never give up and pursue their goals till the end. He ended up the conversation with the famous quote from Rocky Balboa: “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward!”.