Never Let Age Define Your Future
Kairos Europe unites Europe’s most ambitious young entrepreneurs to rethink broken industries and tackle society’s greatest challenges. Sebastian, one of those change-makers, is helping student entrepreneurs secure their first funding.
Zoe Barry, the founder of ZappRx once said: “Don’t wait until you have all the answers because you will never have all the answers.” Indeed, sometimes initiative trumps wisdom. And Kairos Fellow Sebastian Böhmer’s story is a prime example of when this holds true.
When he and his friends were in their early 20s, they decided to follow their ambitious dreams of creating a venture capital firm that focuses on funding university talent. The motto: The ideas and potential of promising young talent deserve capital and venture support. First Momentum Ventures was born in 2017 and has been helping students with their first funding ever since. No idea is too big to start. Anything goes.
Raising a 5 million euros fund with a one-of-its-kind business concept is no mean feat; especially if you are in your early twenties and simultaneously studying industrial engineering at one of Europe’s top universities. Yet, Sebastian pulled it off. We had the chance to chat with him about his entrepreneurial journey, his ideas, and his vision.
What was the idea behind launching First Momentum Ventures?
“We saw incredible entrepreneurial potential coming out of universities and research institutions. I was involved in one of Germany’s largest student initiatives, PionierGarage, which focuses on advancing entrepreneurs and their startups. The student club allowed me to understand entrepreneurial ecosystems and I enjoyed being a part of something great. My co-founders and I noticed that many entrepreneurial minds were unable to reach their full potential. Some of the reasons are: Lacking access to capital, having an underdeveloped network, experiencing issues with the founding team, and being unable to bring the product to market. We wanted to create an organization that allows students to build infrastructure, establish companies, and raise funds. Ultimately, we created First Momentum Ventures to grow entrepreneurial talent and scale companies.”
What challenges did you face in the process of launching First Momentum Ventures?
“We bootstrapped completely in the beginning. It was a challenge to cover all costs from our own pockets. As students, we didn’t have high living costs, but nevertheless bootstrapping a fund out of university was a challenge. We were building a venture capital firm in our early twenties with all odds against us. But we never let that hold us back. We also knew that we needed to work hard to build a track record. Within the venture capital industry, people need to trust you with money and their wealth. We were therefore required to pick companies that are full of purpose and have a powerful reason for being. At the same time, we needed to make sure our decisions lead to financial returns. Conveying this message was not always easy. Additionally, we needed to prove to founding teams that looked promising that we can add more value than just money. This is where our prior experience of leading a student-run accelerator initiative came in.”
Did you always know that you wanted to start your own VC firm?
“Not at all, as an undergraduate, I studied industrial engineering and management. I was always fascinated by aviation and built my very own model planes in school. During my schooling, I also had found out that my other interests were in economics and politics. At this time, I was also introduced to stock market investing. Through these experiences, I learned that just focusing on engineering was not an option for me. I needed to learn business skills as well and began focusing on statistics, finance, and economics.”
“The community is full of individuals who genuinely want to solve problems. This is fascinating and unique about Kairos. I have been fortunate enough to meet many curious and ambitious people through the organization. Kairos members are executors with a purpose that motivates them.”
Would you be able to speak upon your experience with Kairos?
“Foremost, I think it is very important to build ecosystems around entrepreneurial talent and that is the core of Kairos. The community is full of individuals who genuinely want to solve problems. This is fascinating and unique about Kairos. I have been fortunate enough to meet many curious and ambitious people through the organization. Kairos members are executors with a purpose that motivates them. Within the community, we met investors, advisors, and founders for First Momentum Ventures.”
How did you become part of Kairos?
“I was invited by a colleague of mine, who co-founded an AI startup which prepares training data for autonomous driving applications. He actually sold his company last year. He introduced Kairos to me as being like the student initiative we’ve built locally but with a global scale and much more support systems in place.”
How do you see the venture industry handling COVID?
“We see a lot of misbehavior from many stakeholders in the industry. Funding rounds were cancelled even though term sheets had already been signed, valuations were pushed to a minimum, and less capital was available during the first lockdown. I believe this will happen especially in ‘hot markets’. Simultaneously, venture capitalists are getting worried about their current portfolio companies. They are crunched from both sides. Portfolio companies want more money and LPs want their money back.”
Do you have any advice for entrepreneurs who are looking to start a project in the coming months?
“The travel industry will change a lot. Monopolies will be built as the recession will lead to market consolidation. But there will also be huge opportunities for entrepreneurs. There is a lot of uncertainty due to the pandemic, but this is the best time for founders to be proactive. Reflecting on the last financial crisis, we saw the creation of powerhouses such as Uber and Airbnb. Everyone with an entrepreneurial mindset has the ability to identify market gaps. If founders seize these opportunities during a crisis, we will see great start-ups come to life over the next few years.”
Any last advice?
“To all entrepreneurs: Don’t let the crisis drag you down. Stay strong. The crisis will help you build up resilience and experience. Investors value and appreciate this. If you have the guts to withstand these challenging times, both you and your company will come out of it stronger.”
Sebastian Böhmer has been a member of the Karlsruhe chapter since 2018. He’s been engaged in Kairos and supported us ever since. You can follow him on LinkedIn here.
Thank you for reading this article from the Kairos Society Europe. We bring together Europe’s most ambitious young entrepreneurs to tackle society’s greatest challenges. Visit www.kairos-society.eu to learn more about us.
