VC Corner Q&A: Beatrice Aliprandi of Talis Capital
Beatrice joined Talis Capital in 2018 after spending three years working at Jefferies in their Investment Banking division, where she has been involved in several transactions primarily in the Technology, Media, and Telecoms space with a combined value of c.$4 billion.
Beatrice holds a MSc in Risk and Finance from The London School of Economics and a BSc in Business Administration from Bocconi University. She speaks three languages and loves travelling, mindful meditation, pilates and wine tasting.
Beatrice sits on the board of Construyo and supports several portfolio companies including Ynsect, Medbelle, Bleach London, Kimaï, import.io & The Plum Guide.
— What is your Talis Capital’s mission?
Talis Capital is a venture capital investment firm that takes smart money from some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and business people and invests it strategically in early-stage technology companies with global potential.
— What was your very first investment/when? And what struck you about them?
The first deal I brought to IC was Medbelle — the world’s first digital hospital. It struck me that they could create an equally winning scenario for every stakeholder in the health ecosystem (patients, surgeons, hospitals), while making a good chunk of revenue themselves — the kind of marketplace every investor loves. They can also add on multiple verticals quickly, and really scale the business to a $10bn+ company.
— What is one thing you’re excited about right now?
Construction Tech. I know it’s not necessarily the sexiest sector out there, but exactly for that reason the potential for disruption is extremely high. It’s also a challenging environment where standardization (and hence, machine learning) is not always possible, and the stakeholders’ incentives are not always aligned. I find it fascinating and in the very early stages of the tech revolution.
— Who is one founder we should watch?
Leonhard Jeub and Fabian Mueller, founders of Construyo. They are hyper focused on high ROI activities and have a strong determination to disrupt the construction industry across the whole value chain.
— What are the 3 top qualities of every great leader?
- Admits where their weaknesses lie, and hires people to compensate.
- Is as obsessed with detailed metrics as they can see the big picture.
- Ambivert.
— What’s one question you ask yourself before investing in a company?
Does this really disrupt the status quo, or is this just a nice layer on top of practices that remain intrinsically inefficient?
— What’s one thing every founder should ask themselves before walking into a meeting with a potential investor?
Are your incentives generally aligned with the investor’s? Not all companies should raise venture capital.
— What do you think should be in a CEO’s top 3 company priorities?
- Customer satisfaction
- Hiring / Culture
- Growth will be a natural consequence of the first two
— Favorite business book, blog or podcast?
Book: “Tools of Titans” by Tim Ferris
Podcast: How I Built this with Guy Raz
Blog: Everything that Sarah Tavel writes :)
— What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
Reading, meditating, practicing pilates, drinking a good glass of wine with my friends, endlessly scrolling my TikTok feed.
— Who is one leader you admire?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
— What’s one interesting thing most people won’t know about you?
I am obsessed with clean tech and persuaded my father to install solar panels on our house at 10 years old. I distinctively remember arguing about the economic advantage of that too. My dad still thanks me.
— What’s one piece of advice you’d give every founder?
Know where your skills end, and hire someone to do that for you.
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