Post by Martijn Hamann

The Team behind the product, and why that leads to our best Deals. After 20 minutes of a founders’ pitch, it’s usually clear whether an investment will be a good fit. That was the subject of my conversation on the BNR podcast ‘De Deal van je Leven’. It began with Endemol’s major exit in 2000 -> €5.5 billion. But the conversation focused mainly on what nearly 30 years of dealmaking has taught us, and what we still apply every day at Endeit Capital: → The founder Team over the product. Companies with an excellent team can still pivot to a rock-solid product even after a deep crisis. That’s why we invest heavily in diligence on the team, not just on business metrics and figures. → Minority stake, full Collaborative partnership. We work passionately alongside founders and their teams, through the ups and downs, right up to the exit.  → A VC deal must be Fair to both parties. The real work only begins after the capital injection. A good start builds the trust and energy needed to achieve something great together, right through to the actual exit optimisation. → Disruption is always an Opportunity, for every company. Business models are changing non-stop. And AI is now the key opportunity for growth and renewed entrepreneurship. Are you building a Series B scale-up with 50–100% annual growth? Then it pays to raise venture capital, because every Euro you put in scales faster into value creation than organic growth. Thanks to John van Schagen, David Sluis, Virtual Vaults and BNR Nieuwsradio for the insightful discussion. Listen to the full episode now [in Dutch]👇 [https://lnkd.in/evyXRfmr]