Learning Goes Both Ways
7 Reflections with an Earlybird Intern, Benedikt Rudloff
Venture capital should evolve based on fresh perspectives. To that end, our internship program brings in unexpected views to the firm as well as offers interns a first-hand look at how VC works, exploring what impact they can personally bring to the ecosystem. We believe this exchange benefits all.
In late 2020, Benedikt Rudloff interned at our Berlin office. Originally from Germany, Benedikt brings experience from working across three continents. He earned support from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation while studying International Business at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. Before interning with us, Benedikt gained work experience within the areas of finance and consulting. His interests include investing, strategy, and social impact. In his spare time, you’ll find Benedikt traveling, volunteering, and playing field hockey.
We found a moment to chat with him before he wrapped his time with us.
1)Welcome Benedikt! How did you get interested in venture capital? What inspires you about it? How can VC best benefit founders: is it just about funding or are there other equally important aspects?
BR: In a previous investment banking internship, I was fortunate enough to work on a FinTech private placement that introduced me to the VC world. More research showed me that early-stage investing is very attractive because it provides the chance to work both quantitatively and qualitatively, and offers extensive exposure to great founders, even when still on a junior level.
“Early-stage investing is very attractive because it provides the chance to work both quantitatively and qualitatively, and offers extensive exposure to great founders, even when still on a junior level.”
What inspires me most are VCs that provide not only monetary fuel for innovation but also act as an active passenger, helping the most-driven founders on their route towards impact and growth. In this way, I find the idea of the investor’s network to be a key asset in the industry and especially appealing. Being trusted to support ambitious founders in achieving the extraordinary is — in my view — one of the most powerful opportunities to help shape the global economy of the future.
“…the investor’s network (is) a key asset in the industry.”
2) What’s a day in the life like for an intern in the investment team? What catches your attention?
BR: No day is quite the same as there are always a range of projects going on. But in general, you can classify most tasks of an intern in three pillars: deal flow, deep-dive, and due diligence.
Deal flow includes the initial review of all inbound opportunities. Interesting deals are then discussed with the team. Interns then participate in calls (or meetings in a post-COVID world) with founders, collect references from industry experts to support the investment committee meeting preparation. Also, strategically interesting deals for Limited Partners are flagged and shared with LPs.
Secondly, every intern is asked to work on a deep-dive together with an investment professional. It includes more academic research on a topic or technology to help the whole team build up expertise. I, for instance, worked on payment infrastructure, digging deeper into possible next-generation solutions fueled by changes in regulation.
Lastly, interns are supporting the due diligence on live deals. If part of a deal team, due diligence is — of course — the priority and is also the reason for no day being identical to another.
What catches my attention are unusual solutions to enormous pain points in large markets that are — even in the base case — 10x better than the existing solutions.
“What catches my attention are unusual solutions to enormous pain points in large markets that are — even in the base case — 10x better than the existing solutions.”
3) From what you have seen, how can venture capital be innovated in new ways? How can VC be emboldened by young people? What’s missing in the culture?
BR: I believe venture is also going to evolve with technology, as seen by US-based funds who already apply technology-based sourcing strategies. Earlybird is also pushing towards AI-supported sourcing strategies to discover more opportunities. (Read Earlybird Principal Andre Retterath’s piece👇🏽 ).
Besides, the ability to support founders with the same incredible speed of some teams continues to be of importance for every active investor, in my view. I also believe in more stage-agnostic investing in Europe: As competition intensifies, more and more funds will try to get their hands on deals at the earliest stage. Strategies to identify the most promising deals at the earliest moment are consequently vital in the future. For consumer businesses, one approach could be to involve more young people to help spot the consumer trends of the future.
“For consumer businesses, one approach could be to involve more young people to help spot the consumer trends of the future.”
4) How can venture create social impact? In what ways is that working well or in what ways can outcomes be improved?
BR: Venture capital can first and foremost make use of its network to create social impact. Supporting knowledge-sharing on social impact practices and initiatives in and beyond the portfolio, is certainly one option to help create impact. (See a perspective from our Earlybird Partner, Fabian Heilemann in conversation with Blue Future Partners👇🏽. )
Helping startups to make their offices sustainable and inspiring others to do the same, for instance, works very well in my experience. However, venture can certainly create a social impact beyond that. In this way, VC must embolden increasing consumer demands for social impact, treating ventures as an integral part of the society, and to hold them accountable.
Specifically, VC can help empower those that are underrepresented in receiving funding, for instance, by promoting diversity. For that reason, I strongly support Earlybird’s VisionLab program. Since economic efficiency is a top priority of most startups, investing fresh funding in projects that may accelerate social impact inside a venture may not be the first choice. Thus, I would also love to see more VC commitments, such as the one of Felicis Ventures (to give an additional 1% of invested capital to support the founder’s personal development), in regards to social impact.
“VC can help empower those that are underrepresented in receiving funding, for instance, by promoting diversity.”
5) What’s one insight you gathered so far that might be useful to founders?
BR: Something I have noted is that one can really see the difference when founders have done extensive research and understand the markets they are tackling very well. Pitches that show a clear understanding of the market from a new perspective continue to inspire me.
6) What core skills are important to bring to work in the VC space?
BR: On a “hard-skill” level, I believe focus and pattern recognition are most important: learning to identify the best opportunities by starting to look through “early-stage investor goggles,” and then prioritizing the areas that matter most for the big problem the venture aims to solve. This helps to ensure operational efficiency and enough resources to make deep-dives on critical topics. A key quality here is not being afraid to ask questions until something is completely understood.
On the “soft-skill” level, network certainly is a key asset for being a successful VC investor. Thus, not necessarily bringing one but being able to build mutual trust with founders and the VC environment is vital — EQ matters a lot! Furthermore, one must be able to work and drive projects independently. Deal teams are very small and processes may be lonely sometimes.
Last but definitely not least, humility is essential since moonshots are not always obvious: Being able to identify the best opportunities ultimately means constantly challenging your own beliefs.
“Being able to identify the best opportunities ultimately means constantly challenging your own beliefs.”
7) Where and how do you see yourself growing into new roles?
BR: Broadening my perspective on the VC world and early-stage investing as a whole provides many options both in investing and beyond.
On the investment side, I see options to grow into other investing roles. In this way, many also choose to work for incubators and accelerators to help founders at the earliest stage.
To gain more operational experience, I see a lot of personal growth potential after a VC internship in working in a startup or even starting one. Knowing what it takes to be of interest for investors, will be incredibly helpful when setting up an idea that may require VC funding. The skills learned at Earlybird (such as the ability to manage multiple projects and prioritize efficiently) are transferable and provide a strong basis for a successful career in many fast-paced environments.
Thanks, Benedikt! We appreciate your perspective and wish you all the best ahead. Keep up with Benedikt’s journey via Linkedin.
