Florian Hagenbuch

PSA: if you're curious about what careers in VC can - and do - look like, and how to get started, check out the Careers in VC collection on the Blume Ventures website which has a great compilation of written and video content specifically about this topic. Based on regular inbound requests by many young professionals that our team has received over the years, we've created what I believe to be best-in-class learning content about what working in VC is really like, how you can get started, and more importantly, how you should shift your mindset to ready yourself for a long and rewarding career in this industry. I recommend starting with the Youtube playlist Careers in VC followed by reading Venture Capital: A Deep Apprenticeship, Breaking Into VC: A Rough Guide and Compounding Careers in VC. Questions welcome in the comments below! https://lnkd.in/gviGfm3r

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We're excited to participate in the $26.5mn Seed round of Inversion led by Dragonfly alongside Faction VC, VanEck, Mirana Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Metalayer Ventures, Volt Capital, HashKey Capital, Race Capital, Portal Ventures, Moonrock Capital, Breed, Topology Ventures, Bodhi Ventures, Lvna Capital, Escape Velocity (EV3), Folius Ventures and leading angels Inversion is pioneering a unique private equity-style model to make blockchain technology "invisible" to the end user. The company's strategy focuses on acquiring traditional, low-margin businesses and integrating blockchain solutions to enhance their efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness. This innovative approach aims to de-risk institutional investment in the crypto space by offering a familiar private equity product with a clear "margin of safety." The newly secured capital will be used to establish Inversion Capital, a separate fund of at least $500 million, which will finance future acquisitions. Inversion has initially targeted South American telecommunications companies and has submitted several acquisition bids, as blockchain could allow these companies to lower their data purchasing costs, among other improvements. The company's plans to target both private and public companies with large user bases, particularly in sectors such as payroll services, supply chain management, and consumer financial services. The company's first acquisition is expected to take place within the next year, paving the way for a new era of mainstream crypto integration. More here: WSJ: https://lnkd.in/dDWvKm-s Ventureburn: https://lnkd.in/dQ9efYfh

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Me: What’s the hardest part of raising capital? Vitor Asseituno 宋伟明: You don’t just raise money from VCs — you build a pipeline and convert it like sales. Most founders approach fundraising backwards. They blast pitch decks to hundreds of VCs, hoping someone will bite. This spray-and-pray approach fails because it ignores a fundamental truth: fundraising IS sales. Just like you wouldn't sell to unqualified leads, don't pitch VCs who don't invest in your stage, sector, or geography. Study their portfolio companies, recent investments, and thesis. A VC who just backed a competing startup isn't your prospect. Start conversations 6-12 months before fundraising. Share updates, ask for advice, get introductions to their portfolio CEOs. When fundraising time comes, you're not a cold email—you're a known quantity. Handle Objections Like a Pro. When a VC says "it's too early" or "the market isn't ready," don't just accept it. Dig deeper. Understand their real concerns and address them with data, analogies to successful companies, or strategic partnerships that de-risk the investment. Follow up systematically. Track every interaction, follow up on commitments, and keep momentum alive. VCs see hundreds of deals—staying top of mind requires intentional effort. The founders who master this raise faster, at better terms, and from investors who truly understand their vision. Stop hoping for luck. Start building your conversion funnel. 👉 Swipe through for more of insights from my conversation with Vitor Asseituno 宋伟明, founder at Sami 🎧 Search The J Curve podcast with Olga Maslikhova on Spotify or YouTube for the full story. 🗞️ Read the most tactical and practical insights from this interview in this week's Insider (link in comment)

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2009: The financial crisis had crushed fundraising. Barely any new capital went into venture funds. Yet the vintages from those years went on to deliver some of the strongest returns in history. Fast forward to today (2024/2025): Venture capital fundraising is at its lowest point in more than a decade. What does that mean? - ⁠Less money will be available to startups over the next years - The bar for raising capital goes up again: quality matters - ⁠Entry valuations will reset to saner levels --> Funds raised now are likely to outperform, just as history shows The paradox of venture: the best time to commit capital is exactly when most people hesitate. Investors (Limited Partners) should lean in now, not when the next boom makes it easy.

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BREAKING: Nubank's Q2 results make them the most profitable bank in Brazil. Fintech companies can deliver - better products - at lower cost - and higher profitability Doesn't seem like it should be possible, but if you've ever worked inside a large bank, it's not hard to imagine why. Nubank has done a phenomenal job in Brazil growing from a single product (Credit Cards) into a large multi-product financial brand and they a tremendous amount of greenfield to explore. For example: Insurance They recently launched some insurance lines and for 80% of their customers, this was their first ever policy. Nubank is a unique company and Brazil (and Latam) is a different market, but I think there are lessons here for FIs in the US. Fintechs are coming and they are going to offer better products at lower cost (disrupting both the experience and the business model). Watch out!

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After raising your seed, the biggest driver of whether you’ll raise a Series A is the speed at which you iterate. Seed capital buys you time, but not much. For most founders, you have about two years of runway before the money runs out. Here’s the math: scaling after you’ve hit product-market fit typically takes about a year. That means if you want to be in a position to raise an A, you need to have found PMF with at least a year left to show traction. Which leaves you with less than twelve months to figure out what customers really want. Iteration speed is the biggest lever you control. The faster you cycle through hypotheses, ship experiments, and incorporate customer feedback, the more “shots on goal” you get. Double your iteration speed and you double the number of experiments you can run. That directly increases the odds of discovering the right wedge, the right GTM motion, and the right product features before time runs out. Best founders embrace this urgency. They focus on short feedback loops, ruthless prioritization, and a willingness to kill ideas quickly when the data doesn’t support them. They lean into customer conversations, quantify results, and don’t let ego slow them down. Seed to A isn’t about polish or perfection, it’s about velocity, learning, and evidence of traction. The founders who internalize that math and operate accordingly give themselves the best chance of getting to the next round.

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