On October 9, 2014 David Rosskamp, Investment Professional at Earlybird Venture Capital and Dr. Sascha Leske, a partner at Noerr LLP and proven start-up expert, provided the first Studium Professionale event of the fall trimester with a presentation about venture capital firms and their roles.
It was made clear from the activities of Earlybird Venture Capital just how international some aspects of venture capital business activities are: In Europe, venture capital firms are looking to successful business models especially in Stockholm, London and Berlin. The major competitors for European firms are English Venture Capital Funds. As a venture capitalist at Earlybird, Rosscamp concentrates on the identification of investments with a high probability of success, management of portfolios and the representation of the Fund to the stakeholders.
Dr. Sascha Leske has specialized as an attorney in venture capital transactions. He has classified the "players" in the start-up scene as either Founders (i.e. self start-ups) or Industrial Start-ups, i.e. those founded by incubators. Behind the incubators are often so called "strategists", for example, telecommunications companies who outsource innovation. The presentation closed with an examination of how start-ups are funded by venture capital funds whereby the type of contract chosen is always a trade-off between the freedom of the founder and the security of investors.
The presentation led to a lively discussion with fellow students of the Bucerius Alumni together with Rosskamp and Leske and accompanied by pretzels and wine.
