A few months in
Two months ago we launched Operator Exchange, a group of founders and operators that invest in startups together.
Since then we’ve doubled in size, made another investment, and reviewed countless pitch decks. Here’s what happened.
New members
Most of our group members are Dutch. The default language quickly changed to English with the addition of Daniel Pourasghar (AirBnB, Siilo), Ebi Atawodi (Uber), and Holly Habstritt (DuckDuckGo) to the group.
Also coming in from outside The Netherlands are Anke Huiskens (Pebble, Willow), Jobert Abma and Michiel Prins (HackerOne), Lucas Meijer (Unity), Sanne Manders (Flexport), and Wouter Kneepkens (Sntmnt, Blauwpark Partners).
They were joined by two of the best homegrown founders Amsterdam has to offer: Alexander Klopping (Blendle) and Mark de Lange (Ace & Tate).
That brings the number of people in our group to 26. We’re still looking to add operators who want to invest or already do. We’re especially putting in extra effort to diversify the group, so don’t hesitate to get in touch.
More startups
When you say you give away money on the internet, you tend to get a lot of responses. Who knew?
So far we’ve received over 100 submissions of pitch decks on our site. Jelle, Micha, Stef, and I read each one and ended up sharing 10 of them with the larger group.
I’m proud that so many founders approached us and thought we were worth adding to their cap table. We’re forced to be strict on where to spend our time and choose the startups that we have a certain connection with.
Fortunately for us, Tella also found their way to our inbox. They just graduated from Y Combinator and we’re happy to have joined their seed round.
Tella has been investment number 6 made by some of our members together, since February 2020.
Lessons learned so far
While reviewing decks and talking to founders, we also came across three things I wanted to share:
- Investors are still failing founders
Boy are some Dutch investors greedy! In one instance, a startup with an un-launched product ended up giving away 40% of its pre-seed shares to 5 investors.
That’s 5 new members of our Founder Unfriendly list. They honestly might not know about the damage they’re doing to a seed round in this way. It’s shocking that this is still possible when there are so many resources for founders and investors on this topic.
2. Founders need to think more globally
One in five decks we’ve received focused on a small market, like The Netherlands or the UK. They described or analyzed only a single local market, or the product was only made for that region.
That’s unfortunate because these markets are too small for a startup to operate in. By the time they can scale, a company from the US with five times the funding would already land on their shores. If Facebook, Airbnb, or Classpass have taught us anything, it’s that.
3. Fewer platforms, fewer investors
One of the most annoying facts of being an angel syndicate in Europe is that you can’t start one using Angellist. Or at least, not a syndicate compatible with local law. We can’t start a Rolling Fund either, even though there is interest to invest alongside us in that way.
It’s the sort of stuff that keeps European startups from thriving. Like many other angel groups on this side of the Atlantic, we’re exploring how we can deal with this.
Or Angellist could launch here already. We’d appreciate it!
Up next
Besides good startups, we’re also keen to talk to more policymakers, potential LPs, and other investors. Get in touch if that’s you.
We’re just getting started so it’s been great to have founders and other investors support us already. Thanks to all who did, and stay tuned.
