Earlybird Welcomes Laura Waldenstrom

Meet the newest Principal for Earlybird Digital West

We are thrilled to welcome Laura Waldenstrom as a new Principal on the Earlybird Digital West team! Laura embodies our pan-European approach: she hails from Stockholm and will cover the UK ecosystem — bringing a great track record of investment experience from Amsterdam.

Get to know her via this Q&A:

1) You are no stranger to VC, having previously worked as a Principal at Inkef. What attracted you to the role at Earlybird?

The number one thing was definitely the team; everyone’s extremely smart, driven, and hardworking, yet kind, humble, and fun. It’s the kind of environment I thrive in. Moreover, I love that, despite being one of the oldest and most established funds in Europe, with a strong brand, Earlybird is constantly innovating and ever-evolving, and has big visions for the future. There are exciting initiatives going on such as implementing a data-driven deal sourcing, and multiple office locations in Europe. Lastly, the thesis-driven approach to investing and hands-on portfolio support very much aligns with my own investment style. It’s a fund that doesn’t only look at the current hype cycle but dares to double down on emerging tech sectors such as food, space, and climate.

2) You have served as a Board Member or Observer at many startup tech companies. What are your biggest learnings from that experience, or advice to management teams and others who wish to join a board?

First of all, to make the most out of the board meetings and have meaningful discussions, it is important that all board members come prepared, having read all materials and asked any clarifying questions in advance. That way, you can reserve the time during the actual meeting for strategic topics and discussions.

It can be helpful to align among the non-executive board members before or after each meeting, to communicate with one voice and avoid giving confusing and contradicting messages to the executive directors and management team.

Transparency from the management team to the board is critical. Don’t try to hide anything or paint a shinier picture than what reality looks like. The earlier you bring up issues or concerns, the quicker they can be fixed and you can leverage the board’s combined experience to solve them. Providing transparency is important in building trust — and trust is a cornerstone of a good partnership. Don’t forget that you are in this together and it is in everyone’s interest to make the company succeed.

3) Today much attention is on AI; you’ve done a number of investments in ecommerce infrastructure. In what way do you think these two areas intersect, or how will AI shape the e-commerce industry in the coming years?

We are currently experiencing how AI is becoming the next platform shift following the internet, mobile, and cloud.​ As in previous platform shifts, every company will eventually become AI-enabled. This goes for the commerce software category as well. Additionally, there are a number of macro events affecting the e-commerce industry and key challenges merchants are facing that create plenty of opportunities for AI startups to disrupt and capitalize on.

For example, many events over the last years have led to supply chain disruptions. Today, more than ever, brands and retailers must mitigate increasing risks related to the fragility of global supply chains. In the long run, this could lead to redesigning the whole supply chain to become more demand-driven, agile, and sustainable. In this movement, I foresee that incumbent, market-leading software providers will become disrupted by next-gen AI software.

Another painful challenge, closely linked to the supply chain complexity, is inventory management. A poorly managed inventory results in lower margins and lost revenues. Many retailers will look into upgrading their inventory technologies, such as demand forecasting tools, in the next couple of years. AI can play a huge role here.

A dominating trend in the e-commerce market is the move towards D2C (direct-to-consumer). In this wave, marketplaces are taking over, and as a consequence, a rapid fragmentation of the marketplace landscape is currently taking place; brands and retailers need to make required investments in online marketplace technologies. Managing multiple sales channels, in turn, leads to increased pricing complexity, as it requires managing the prices of millions of SKUs across channels. I believe we will see more innovation in AI-powered price management in coming years.

4) Having lived across Europe, what commonalities do you detect across different startup ecosystems that you have been involved with?

In my experience, there are quite big differences between the startup ecosystems across Europe, and I see, for example, that many US investors make the mistake of approaching Europe as one market. In fact, it’s important to be aware of, and humble towards, these differences – ranging from culture to corporate governance, and the digitalization level.

I believe the startup ecosystem in most European countries to a large extent reflects the commerce history and business climate of that country. For example, in smaller countries, like the Nordics, startups with big ambitions need to go global almost from day one, to reach a large enough target market. When done successfully, this can serve as an advantage over competitors from larger home markets. Another example is the Netherlands’ central location in Europe and longstanding history of global trading, which makes the Dutch very open and used to working in an international arena and with foreign people, which also facilitates companies’ international expansions.

Thanks for sharing such deep insights from the start. We are very excited to have you join our team. Welcome to Earlybird, Laura!

Edited by Elisheva Marcus. To read more from the team, visit Earlybird’s View.