Last Thursday we gathered with over 30 inspiring people on the rooftop terrace of "Frau im Mond" in Munich — enjoying great conversations and sharing a passion for innovation.

Angela De Giacomo, author of The Venture Capital Playbook and one of Capital’s “Top 40 under 40” and Focus’s “100 Women of the Year,” often introduces herself with the phrase “Made in Germany by Italians.” We were excited to welcome her, her charismatic wit, and profound insights on venture capital which won the audience over in an instance. During her talk, she shared her extensive experience in startup investments for family offices, highlighting why many investors eventually find that a combination of fund investments and co-investments makes a more sustainable and strategic approach. Thank you, @Angela, for this great insight!

Angela shared three key challenges that a lot of Families face when getting into Venture Investing:

👉 Families think that if they can invest big, they can also invest small—but venture capital (VC) works differently from private equity (PE) because it relies on diversification and the power law. In venture capital, the power law means that only a few investments bring very high returns, while most fail. That's why diversification is important—to spread risk and catch the big winners.

👉 Families often keep too much equity in a startup to reduce risk, but this makes future funding rounds difficult and creates the wrong incentives.

👉 Families mistake "patient capital" for "unlimited capital." They keep adding money to the startup or link investments to milestones. A risk here is that milestones can change often in the early stages of a company and founders might forget to build a strong investor network because they are relying solely on the family capital.

Thank you to everyone who made this event so special!

We look forward to the next edition.
Axel, Sandro & Susanne