VC Corner Q&A: Max Mayer of Global Founders Capital
Max Mayer started his career in banking before founding a click & collect marketplace in London after his MBA studies at QueensU in Canada & HHL Leipzig. After scaling it to 20k monthly active users & 400 supply partners, he sold the company to a multi-billion dollar retail & hospitality operation.
Max is now investing with Global Founders Capital out of Berlin, covering both DACH & San Francisco. Over the last 18 months he’s invested in 8 companies together with firms like General Catalyst, Foundation Capital, and Storm Ventures.
Let’s hear more from Max on what it takes for founders to secure funding and how to make a good impression on VCs!
— What is Global Founders Capital’s mission?
We are a global seed investor that empowers gifted entrepreneurs across all stages and throughout the lifecycle. We back founders who start category-defining ventures with operations in all geographies to support them at scale. All people who write checks at GFC have been building ventures themselves, so we know what it means to be in their shoes and have designed our processes accordingly — lightning-fast & simple.
— What was your very first investment/when? And what struck you about them?
One of my first investments at GFC was in nuffsaid founded by Chris Hicken. After scaling its operations to about 500 people as the President & COO, Chris had just left UserTesting. He had launched very successful customer success & sales teams there and now wanted to build software to make these teams more effective. The team was very complimentary and it was evident to me that with such strong domain expertise and a very clear & ambitious vision for the company, they were onto something big — and I wanted to be a part of that.
— What is one thing you’re thinking a lot about right now?
My own usage of social media/my phone and the impact media/information has on each of us. I think we can all agree that the impact of these large scale platforms is tremendous — not sure if it’s positive though, in fact I believe they are very dangerous. Amazon is selling e-commerce products, Bumble is selling the chance of finding a partner, but what tik-tok, instagram etc. are selling is our own time. I recently limited mine. In that regard, it’s going to be interesting (and maybe scary) to see what role these platforms will have played in hindsight at the upcoming US election.
— Who is one founder we should watch?
There are many people who should and could be on this list. Right now I would say Petar Tsankov from Latticeflow. He’s creating a very powerful AI company. We will definitely hear from him in the future.
— What is one question you ask yourself before investing in a company?
How will the founder act if the company is not scaling according to plan and how will he/she react if the board is criticizing and/or suggesting a different route? Basically, what happens if ‘shit hits the fan.’ Because let’s face it — most things don’t go according to plan. :)
— What is one thing every founder should ask themselves before walking into a meeting with a potential investor?
“Do I have a strong vision for my company that I can clearly articulate and execute on?”
— What do you think should be in a CEO’s top 3 company priorities?
- Lead by example
- Build an organization for performance or in other words ‘Amp it up’
- Be humble & fair
— Favorite business book, blog or podcast?
I’m listening to ‘Steingarts Morning Briefing’ and the ‘Race to the White House’ on my bike commute right now. One of my favorite VC podcasts is ‘Village Global’s Venture Stories.’
My favorite book is by Ben Horowitz ‘What You Do is Who You Are.’ It’s about how to create superior culture and accordingly performance in an organization.
The Bessemer Memos are really fun to read, too. They talk about their thesis/reasons for investing in companies like Pinterest, Shopify or Yelp — BUT they also talk about their anti-portfolio , a reminder to anyone out there that everything is possible, even if the best in our game think your idea sucks!
— Who is one leader you admire?
Angela Merkel, especially in very difficult times like now.
— What is one interesting thing most people won’t know about you?
I grew up and lived 13 years in a beautiful but incredibly small town in south Germany that has about 1,500 inhabitants (growing c. 1% yoy). That’s 0,04% of Berlin’s population where I live now :)
— What is one piece of advice you’d give every founder?
Before you start a company, make sure to analyse competition in your market in-depth (because that’s what we do as well), think about the timing of your idea and what differentiates your product.
Ready to make a pitch? Startups looking for an opportunity to pitch Global Founders Capital can apply here!
