E549 | EUVC Summit 2025 | Sarah Drinkwater (Common Magic) and Anthony Danon (Rerail): The Path to Success for European Micro Funds

Aug 16, 2025

At the EUVC Summit 2025, a riveting debate unfolded over the merits of solo GPs versus larger funds. Anthony argued that solo GPs are uniquely positioned for success due to their focus and speed, while Sarah emphasized the importance of performance over sheer scale. They discussed navigating the evolving European investment landscape and the critical balance between specialization and overall strategy. The conversation highlighted how personal connections and tailored fund sizes could redefine venture capital dynamics.

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INSIGHT

Pure Alignment Of Solo GPs

Solo GPs offer pure alignment with founders through personal, speedy relationships.
That alignment positions them as complementary, sought-after partners in mature ecosystems.

INSIGHT

Founders Pick Relationship Over Size

Founders choose investors based on the strength of the founder-investor relationship and specific value add.
Small funds win when they communicate a clear, differentiated proposition founders actually want.

ADVICE

Clearly Communicate Your Right To Win

Promise a focused value add and deliver on it to attract founders.
Make your right-to-win explicit so founders know why to include you on their cap table.

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At the EUVC Summit 2025, Anthony and Sarah took the stage with what turned out to be one of the most intellectually charged exchanges of the day.

The topic? Solo GPs, specialization, and the hard choices that define fund performance.

Let’s just say—no consensus was reached. But the tension? That’s where the insight lived.

Anthony came in strong:

“Being a solo GP is the purest form of interest alignment.”

To him, solo GPs aren’t a stepping stone or niche play—they’re a category in their own right. The advantage? Focus. Speed. Zero overhead. And most importantly: a differentiated product founders want.

He highlighted what he sees as the compounding edge:

No IC.
No coordination cost.
Vertically integrated workflows.
A position as a complementary node, not a competitor, in the ecosystem.

And yes—there’s scale in solo too.

“I just had coffee with two solo GPs managing over a billion in AUM. You don't need to ‘scale up’ to be credible.”

Sarah offered a more grounded lens: focus on performance over scale.

“You don’t win on good ops alone—but you can lose on bad ops.”

Her point: it’s not about copying what works in another market. It's about right-sizing your fund to what your strategy and your market can actually sustain.

Especially in Europe, she argued, the path isn’t about chasing a 10x in AUM—it’s about finding the zone where your edge sings.

“If I think about the funds I admire, they got really good at finding the fund size that matched their true strategy.”

And for emerging managers, the key is still figuring out what the market needs now, not just what worked last cycle.

As the session wrapped, one line captured the spirit of it all:

“The test of a great intelligence is holding two opposing ideas at the same time.”

At EUVC, we didn’t just hear those ideas.
We saw them—sitting side by side on stage.

And if we’re smart about it, we won’t choose one or the other.
We’ll connect the dots.

The Case for the Solo GP: Pure Alignment, Compounding AdvantageThe Performance Perspective: Ops, Fund Size & Market FitTwo Views. Both True.