Meet the Team: Kenneth, Principal — A life-long interest in company building
Meet Kenneth Dambo who has joined the Investment Team at Dreamcraft. Kenneth’s interest in building companies started at an early age. Now, he has joined the other side of the table. Kenneth takes a particular interest in founders tackling problems in analytics, FinTech, and games industries and covers Sweden, Finland, and UK. Keep on reading to learn more about Kenneth’s journey from selling a raincoat to VC.
Growing up in his parent's bike shop, Kenneth developed an interest in entrepreneurship at an early age and made his first sale at the age of six. It was an elderly lady buying a raincoat. In middle school, he bought candy in bulk and sold it at a profit to his classmates during the lunch breaks.
At the age of 12, Kenneth started scripting websites and web applications. He honed his technical skills by starting several businesses during his high school years including a platform teaching others basic coding skills. He later established his own web agency when he graduated from high school in 2009 where he developed web applications for clients full-time.
“I developed a site in 2005 where anyone could learn about basic front-end scripts. And most readers were using the content to style their social media profiles. It was a great way for me to internalize my knowledge. The site eventually got so popular that the hosting company shut it down because the site was accounting for about half their traffic.”
Kenneth’s early interest in crafting ideas into businesses has also guided him in his professional path. He holds an MSc in Finance and International Business from Aarhus School of Business and for the past 8 years, he has been working in venture capital as an investor and operator. Kenneth started his career in advisory at Tofte & Company and later became an investor, first as an Associate at Northcap responsible for sourcing in Sweden and Finland and later as Investment Manager at Jimmy Maymann’s personal investment office.
“Advisory was a great way to get exposure to many different technology businesses and get the basic training but it was very transaction-focused. The investor role offered a refreshing opportunity to support companies over an extended period of time and do value-creating projects for the portfolio with tangible business impact in addition to the investment.”
Gaining operational experience has been key for Kenneth. Before Dreamcraft, he was part of the AirHelp team as Chief of Staff acting as the right hand to the CEO and serving on the executive team. He led business-critical projects across departments and was responsible for both the data and finance departments with 25 team members during his tenure.
Most notably, he spearheaded the COVID mitigation strategy and the fundraising efforts to finance it, which led the company to resume high growth at sustainable unit economics. Kenneth took on several interim roles, including CFO, and conducted interviews for 12 key recruitment processes for C- and VP-level roles across departments.
“I recall the flight activity falling by 96% in two weeks in March 2020. There were no new customers in the market then. Zero. So, we launched a company-wide program to focus on maximizing value for existing customers, revisiting all past claims, and redefined the product roadmap. I’m particularly proud of how the teams came together, took ownership and executed diligently on this.”
It is not only in the office Kenneth enjoys rolling up his sleeves and taking a hands-on approach. When he is off the clock, you will find him in the dojo training karate, snowboarding off-piste in the Alpes, or enjoying the wonders of marine life by scuba-diving. That is definitely the dreamer side of Kenneth!
At Dreamcraft, Kenneth will be expanding our geographical footprint in Sweden, Finland, and UK as well as be responsible for the continuous improvement of our investment process. He takes a particular interest in founders tackling problems in analytics, FinTech and games industries.
He will leverage his combined operator and investor experience to help founders accelerate growth through, navigate difficult situations and raise subsequent financing.
If you wish to get in touch with Kenneth, you can reach him at kenneth@dreamcraft.vc or connect with him on LinkedIn.
