Max Niederhofer's guest appearances

Max Niederhofer

Ethical Machines

fail_succeed

The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing I Brands

Ray Dalio

Elon Musk

Quentin Tarantino

Jennifer Garner

Adam Savage

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Paul Hsiao

Nicole Quinn

Michele Romanow

Andrew Dudum

Eamonn Carey

Elizabeth Yin

Chris Evans

Mike Ghaffary

OwlTail

Thank you Marc Nathan for the intro to our guest today Max Niederhofer. Max is a Partner at Heartcore Capital. Heartcore Capital is europe's consumer tech VC focusing on investing in happiness investing in seed and Series A. Some of his investments include Italic, LastFM, and One Fine Stay. Previously Max was an investor at Accel and founded MyBlog. In this episode, we focus on investing in communities, the meaning of consumer, and some of the differences when investing in Europe vs. U.S. Without further ado, here's Max.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to sign up.And there you have it. It was pleasure having Max on the show, highly recommend following him on Twitter @maxniederhofer.Some of the questions I ask Max:What was your initial attraction to startups and innovation?Internet in 98 became part of your life?Interested in sub communitiesWhat are some of your learnings since when you founded Myblog and Qwerly?What does consumer investing mean to you and why did you choose to focus on it?What are some of the regions punch above their weightExcellent talent in Europe, it is raw.Way you build talent organicallyAfter you sold your companies, why did you decide to become an investor?Why do you enjoy investing at the early stages vs. growth stages?How do you analyze foundersFor American investors who want to invest in Europe - especially consumer focused companies - what have been some of the biggest misconceptions?How has the European startup ecosystem evolved since you began investing?Are there certain regions that have grown faster than others?What are some of the hurdles when investing in European consumer focused companies?How should European based companies think about growth expanding to other parts of the continent?What makes Europe complex?There's been alot of influx from American VC money into Europe. Do you think there's going to be a rise of more domestic based funds.Has Brexit changed anything so far related to the startup landscape?What are categories and markets that you think are big opportunities in technology that haven't come online?When you think about trends, do you think about what is exciting and interesting in other parts of the world that could be translated and work for Europe?What's your approach to analyzing consumer behavior and habits?How do you analyze founders?What's one thing you would change about venture capital?What's the best piece of advice you have for founders?What is next in consumer, what are you excited about

Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/marc1919" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Marc Nathan</a> for the intro to our guest today <a href="https://twitter.com/maxniederhofer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Max Niederhofer</a>. Max is a Partner at <a href="https://www.heartcore.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Heartcore Capital</a>. Heartcore Capital is europe's consumer tech VC focusing on investing in happiness investing in seed and Series A. Some of his investments include Italic, LastFM, and One Fine Stay. Previously Max was an investor at Accel and founded MyBlog. In this episode, we focus on investing in communities, the meaning of consumer, and some of the differences when investing in Europe vs. U.S. Without further ado, here's Max.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up <a href="https://gorgias.grsm.io/consumerVC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.<a href="https://gorgias.grsm.io/consumerVC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Click Here to sign up.</a>And there you have it. It was pleasure having Max on the show, highly recommend following him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/maxniederhofer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@maxniederhofer</a>.Some of the questions I ask Max:<ol><li>What was your initial attraction to startups and innovation?</li><li>Internet in 98 became part of your life?</li><li>Interested in sub communities</li><li>What are some of your learnings since when you founded Myblog and Qwerly?</li><li>What does consumer investing mean to you and why did you choose to focus on it?</li><li>What are some of the regions punch above their weight</li><li>Excellent talent in Europe, it is raw.</li><li>Way you build talent organically</li><li>After you sold your companies, why did you decide to become an investor?</li><li>Why do you enjoy investing at the early stages vs. growth stages?</li><li>How do you analyze founders</li><li>For American investors who want to invest in Europe - especially consumer focused companies - what have been some of the biggest misconceptions?</li><li>How has the European startup ecosystem evolved since you began investing?</li><li>Are there certain regions that have grown faster than others?</li><li>What are some of the hurdles when investing in European consumer focused companies?</li><li>How should European based companies think about growth expanding to other parts of the continent?</li><li>What makes Europe complex?</li><li>There's been alot of influx from American VC money into Europe. Do you think there's going to be a rise of more domestic based funds.</li><li>Has Brexit changed anything so far related to the startup landscape?</li><li>What are categories and markets that you think are big opportunities in technology that haven't come online?</li><li>When you think about trends, do you think about what is exciting and interesting in other parts of the world that could be translated and work for Europe?</li><li>What's your approach to analyzing consumer behavior and habits?</li><li>How do you analyze founders?</li><li>What's one thing you would change about venture capital?</li><li>What's the best piece of advice you have for founders?</li><li>What is next in consumer, what are you excited about</li></ol>

Max Niederhofer (Heartcore) - Investing in happiness and the differences scaling in Europe vs. U.S.

On episode 4 we talk to Max Niederhofer, general partner at Sunstone Capital, a European venture capital fund managing more than $500 million. Prior to Sunstone, Max founded and sold Myblog.de, Germany’s largest blogging platform and Qwerly, a kind of Cambridge Analytica 1.0. He’s invested in some of the best known European start-ups including Last.fm, Onefinestay, Skimlinks and Dubsmash. I really enjoyed talking with Max – on the face of it, his story is one of huge successes, but as is so often the case the truth is somewhat more complex. Max tells me about his biggest regret as an entrepreneur, how a dream job turned out to be a mistake, and how therapy helped him realise that he’d spent his 20’s chasing things that didn’t make him happy. We also discuss Max’s thoughts on the start-up scene in Europe, and the opportunities in the direct to consumer market. I’m thankful for Max in being so open – it makes for a great listen and will be inspirational to many people chasing their dreams.  Enjoy!You can find Max’s thoughts at his blog http://blog.maxniederhofer.com/ and on Twitter https://twitter.com/maxniederhoferRUNNING ORDER:PART 1: Dom introduces Max, who tells him his journey hasn’t felt like the success it appears to be (02m 30s)PART 2: Max tells the story of Myblog.de, Germany’s biggest blogging platform (03m 20s)PART 3: Max reveals the advice he wished he got when deciding to call it quits with Myblog (10m 10s)PART 4: Max tells us how a terrible car crash turned into one of his best successes to date…the true story behind his Last.fm investment.  But there’s also a cautionary tale of how that early success can ruin you (20m 35s)PART 5: Max explains how that early success led to one of the most embarrassing moments of his career (26m 00s)PART 6: We discuss Max’s next venture, Qwerly (Cambridge Analyica 1.0), and how it would turn out to be a financial failure (29m 33s)PART 7: Max tells us about the lowest point in his professional life, and how seeing a therapist, and the realisations he came to regarding his life and career, were a new beginning – “the failures that preceded that are all opportunities for growth” (35m 20s)PART 8: We talk about how Max’s current role came about, and his views on the pressures and benefits of working in London (44m 35s)PART 9: We wrap things up with a quick overview of Max’s views on the opportunities for entrepreneurs in the direct to consumer space (52m 30s)Music credit URL: freemusicarchive.org/music/Tours/En…s_-_Enthusiast

On episode 4 we talk to Max Niederhofer, general partner at Sunstone Capital, a European venture capital fund managing more than $500 million. Prior to Sunstone, Max founded and sold <a href="http://Myblog.de" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Myblog.de</a>, Germany’s largest blogging platform and Qwerly, a kind of Cambridge Analytica 1.0. He’s invested in some of the best known European start-ups including <a href="http://Last.fm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Last.fm</a>, Onefinestay, Skimlinks and Dubsmash. I really enjoyed talking with Max – on the face of it, his story is one of huge successes, but as is so often the case the truth is somewhat more complex. Max tells me about his biggest regret as an entrepreneur, how a dream job turned out to be a mistake, and how therapy helped him realise that he’d spent his 20’s chasing things that didn’t make him happy. We also discuss Max’s thoughts on the start-up scene in Europe, and the opportunities in the direct to consumer market. I’m thankful for Max in being so open – it makes for a great listen and will be inspirational to many people chasing their dreams. Enjoy! You can find Max’s thoughts at his blog <a href="http://blog.maxniederhofer.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://blog.maxniederhofer.com/</a> and on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/maxniederhofer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/maxniederhofer</a> RUNNING ORDER: PART 1: Dom introduces Max, who tells him his journey hasn’t felt like the success it appears to be (02m 30s) PART 2: Max tells the story of <a href="http://Myblog.de" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Myblog.de</a>, Germany’s biggest blogging platform (03m 20s) PART 3: Max reveals the advice he wished he got when deciding to call it quits with Myblog (10m 10s) PART 4: Max tells us how a terrible car crash turned into one of his best successes to date…the true story behind his <a href="http://Last.fm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Last.fm</a> investment. But there’s also a cautionary tale of how that early success can ruin you (20m 35s) PART 5: Max explains how that early success led to one of the most embarrassing moments of his career (26m 00s) PART 6: We discuss Max’s next venture, Qwerly (Cambridge Analyica 1.0), and how it would turn out to be a financial failure (29m 33s) PART 7: Max tells us about the lowest point in his professional life, and how seeing a therapist, and the realisations he came to regarding his life and career, were a new beginning – “the failures that preceded that are all opportunities for growth” (35m 20s) PART 8: We talk about how Max’s current role came about, and his views on the pressures and benefits of working in London (44m 35s) PART 9: We wrap things up with a quick overview of Max’s views on the opportunities for entrepreneurs in the direct to consumer space (52m 30s) Music credit URL: <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tours/En…s_-_Enthusiast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">freemusicarchive.org/music/Tours/En…s_-_Enthusiast</a>

Ep 4, Max Niederhofer - Dom talks to Max Niederhofer, venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur