#23 Jasper Masemann, Partner at HV Capital | Making It Real Podcast with Jan Brinckmann

This episode features Jasper Masemann, partner at HV Capital, one of the most iconic VC firms in Germany. HV Capital invested in more than 200 companies, including market leading companies such as Zalando, Delivery Hero and Flixbus. He shares insider tips for first-time founders, such as the dilemma of bootstrapping or initial hiring without an HR person, and reveals the main criteria that they take into consideration before making investment decisions. Our discussion also covers the recent developments in the European Venture Capital space. https://www.hvcapital.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/janbrinckmann https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmasemann 0:00 Introduction 0:50 Jasper's road to join HV Capital 3:50 Why Jasper started a venture first before joining VC 7:15 Should a first-time founder start with a scalable project which can be VC backed? 10:45 Is bootstrapping a better way to get experience at first? 12:25 Why you have to make mistakes with your startup 13:35 What is the core ingredient of a successful venture? 17:25 Why Jasper enjoys to do early investments - but why other companies need some traction so that Jasper invests 19:10 Customers have to be willing to pay for your product 22:13 The importance of customer acquisition and pricing strategies 24:25 Discussion about churn 25:40 Biggest mistakes from which Jasper learned 28:15 How to hire a great team as a founder when you do not have someone for HR 30:05 Why you should use headhunters and how to find the right one 31:20 Current developments in the EU VC space - is there a bubble? 36:40 What is sustainable for a startup - should you always listen to the VC trend projections? 38:40 Quick fire round: who you admire the most | most useful software for entrepreneurs that is underappreciated | something broken that entrepreneurs should see differently | life-long dream 42:07 Closing