In this episode of Work in Progress, hosts Paula Wehmeyer, Partner at General Catalyst, and Helena Meyer-Schönherr, Managing Director at Ten More In, dive into the world of venture capital. Together, they explore what it takes to be a successful investor and how VCs navigate deal-making, portfolio management, and market trends.
Their guest is Viet Le, Partner at General Catalyst and a leading early-stage AI investor. Viet shares his journey from machine learning engineering at Amazon to becoming one of Europe’s top AI-focused VCs. He breaks down the realities of early-stage investing, what makes a great VC, and how he spots and wins competitive deals.
Key Topics:
- How venture capital funds operate and what it takes to be a great investor
- The different stages of investing: finding, winning, and supporting startups
- How Viet sources the best AI founders and builds relationships in the ecosystem
- The reality of VC decision-making: internal selling, investment committees, and deal negotiations
- What makes venture capital a high-risk, high-reward career
- Practical career advice for those looking to break into VC
About Viet Le
Viet holds long monologues about his 3 Ds: design, data, and dev tools. When he's not in product deep-dives with founders, you can find him showing admiration for artists and builders on design/tech TikTok and Twitter.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/levile/
About Helena Meyer-Schönherr & Ten More In
Helena Meyer-Schönherr is an experienced leader in venture building, organizational strategy, and scaling high-growth startups. As Managing Director at Ten More In, she focuses on launching and growing new ventures, leveraging her expertise in company building and strategic development.
Ten More In is a leadership platform for women founded in 2022 by Lea-Sophie Cramer and Lia Grünhage. The company's core mission is to ensure future leadership levels reflect gender representation proportionally across economic, political, and social domains.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helena-meyer-sch%C3%B6nherr-41160955/
Website: https://www.tenmorein.com/
About Paula Hübner Wehmeyer & General Catalyst
Paula invests in technology companies that enable or rethink large industries. Paula's focus is on startups in the areas of commerce tech, i.e. digital support for trade, as well as purchasing and logistics. Previously, Paula was a consultant in the Berlin office of McKinsey, where she supported well-known consumer goods and retail companies in matters relating to e-commerce, purchasing, and internal process optimization.
General Catalyst is a US-based venture capital firm that makes early-stage and growth-stage investments. The firm has invested in global companies including Airbnb, Kayak, Datalogix, Datto, Livongo, Gusto, Buildkite, Warby Parker, Oscar, Deliveroo, Lemonade, Stripe and Snap.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulasophiehuebner/
Website: https://www.generalcatalyst.com/
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