You’re Swiss, but you have an American accent. I feel like a lot of people might be wondering why that is, so let’s start with that.

I grew up in seven countries as a kid, most of them in Europe. This meant I was part of the international school system. My mom’s side of the family was also in the US and we would always go there in the summers to see them. I was in the US pretty much every summer from when I was maybe six until I was 16-17. It quickly became like a second home. It’s funny though, when I speak English, I sound American, but when I speak German, I don’t have an accent. That’s because I went to a German-language kindergarten, so I learnt English and German roughly at the same time.

Does your accent confuse people? Does it affect the way investors perceive you?

I think sometimes it’s an advantage and at other times it can be a disadvantage. For example, when I’m contacting people for the first time, some of them are like who is this guy from Verve, who is Swiss but sounds American? With existing investors, it’s a different story. Just because they have somebody that sounds American, they feel like they’re connecting themselves to the US ecosystem. Then, at other times, when I’m meeting people at events, especially because my last name is Thiel, everybody asks me if I’m related to [Palantir founder and billionaire] Peter Thiel. For the record, I am not related to him. I wish I was. I feel like especially in the startup world, the US ecosystem and startup mentality is regarded as a big strength so being associated with it can be helpful.

You first studied international relations and you also did some internships at the UN, was that a career you were thinking of pursuing?

Absolutely, I think, especially because I spent a lot of time in Geneva growing up, I was surrounded by UN people and friends whose parents were diplomats. I was always intrigued about what was happening around the world, just because of the way I grew up constantly in different cultures. I thought I was the perfect fit for a UN career. However, when you’re young and naive, you don’t realize what’s behind the scenes. The UN is a very political organization, and I didn’t like that aspect of it. I quickly realized that, even after two internships, I wasn’t sure that I could help people in this capacity. So I thought I needed to go into the corporate world and see how I could make an impact through the private sector. That’s why I left the UN essentially.

Verve Ventures is the first VC firm you’ve worked for, although you do have a lot of experience in startups. What made you decide to take this leap?

I went from construction, where three generations of my entire family had worked, to startups just because I saw construction is an old industry. In the sense that it struggles with efficiency, addressing the environment and is one of the least digitized industries in the world. Startups seemed to be the first step in dealing with these issues. I first went to a startup that went bankrupt within a year but I learnt a lot and got introduced to the whole startup ecosystem. Then I joined one of Verve’s portfolio companies, Wingtra and, after being there for about two years, they thought that I knew enough about the product, the team and our road map to be the speaker at Verve’s Investor Day. 50 Verve investors and David [Sidler] and Michael [Blank] came to Wingtra’s office and we did a pitch and demo for them there. I thought it was really cool. I’d never seen a VC bring people in to a start up and talk to the entrepreneurs before. And the questions were good, I got caught off guard. I realized just how smart these investors were. So that was my first contact with venture and I just kept following Verve after that. I later had the opportunity to interview at Verve, met the team, joined and it’s been awesome.

You also founded a startup. Is this the one that you were talking about, the one that failed in a year?

Airware was the one that failed. They very famously burned through $250 million in five years. That being said, it was an eye-opening experience for me because it showed me the real side of startups and that it’s not all what you see in TVs and movies. Then Wingtra showed me the other side of startups with a great team, opportunity and product, not to mention it being Swiss-based and in the construction industry. It was through my contact with the founders, Max [Boosfeld] and Elias [Kleimann] that I got inspired and I joined an incubator that was being run by Leonard, [construction giant] VINCI’s accelerator program. A former colleague from Airware and I  had been meeting up regularly and had formed partnerships at Wingtra and we thought to ourselves, hey, why don’t we do something on our own? We came up with Rockease, an aggregates marketplace, and it ended up actually being sold a few months ago. 

Oh, congratulations! I guess that makes you a successful entrepreneur.

It’s pretty cool although I left the company about a year ago because we needed the resources for our employees. I also wasn’t taking a salary and doing that for a year is tough. I could have kept it up, but I wanted the company to expand. So I just became a minority owner and sold my other shares to the co-founders, but it’s still nice to see that it succeeded. I think it’s important to acknowledge that you are a “successful entrepreneur” only with the support, hard work and learning from others, so I would say thank you to them that I had this opportunity.

What did this kind of experience teach you about venture?

That was my first time really interacting with venture, in the sense of raising money, of going out and talking to people. I was probably a bit naive at first, thinking that all venture was our friend. We quickly realized however that, after three or four months, some of the ventures that we initially talked to had just quickly assessed us and left. But there were others that stayed on our journey. Being an entrepreneur helped me understand that there’s good and bad and how you as a founder is different to you as an employee especially when it comes to your responsibilities to others in your team.

What is your role at Verve?

As an Investor Relations manager, my role is to connect, meet and work with potential investors that are interested in venture capital and supporting the startup ecosystem. As a former founder myself, picture me as the conductor of a symphony, orchestrating harmonious interactions between our company’s vision, the startups we work with and the rhythm of investor expectations. I also attend events, social gatherings and meetups to connect both myself and Verve to the vast networks of investors that they bring. 

What is the best thing about your job? 

I don’t know of another industry where you can talk to people that are building something from scratch and have new ideas that are addressing some of the biggest challenges we face today as a society.  While at the same time connecting with people that are investing in them. I think that I particularly appreciate the people that are a combination of both, that have successfully exited and then want to give back to the ecosystem as I am doing now at Verve. I feel like entrepreneurship, startups and investors alike are their own part of the economy.  For example, just looking at some of my favorite startups like Bcomp or Neustark and learning from them is an opportunity for learning, and growth. It’s about the exchange of knowledge, it transfers to the investors and startups alike, through us. 

What is the hardest part of your job?

I think rejection. People see investor relations in my title and think I must be sales. A lot of people have a bad impression of sales, which is fair, because there are a lot of terrible salespeople out there. However, that means a lot of people are quick to judge you. I might have an advantage in the fact that I was a founder and I’ve been on the startup side of things for a long time, so I tend to take that angle. The hardest part is to just continue to push because there are so many lows, but there are so many highs as well. When a great round goes well it’s amazing to know that you were helping to bring investors and entrepreneurs together to potentially change something big. When things don’t go well, you have to ask yourself what could I have done differently? You have to learn from the experience and just stay positive. 

What is it like working for Verve?

First of all, the diversity of the people working at Verve is amazing. I can have a conversation with Emma about quantum computing, then talk to Cristian about the architecture of our platform and discuss our investors’ journeys with Friedi. I feel like I’m always learning something new and I genuinely think there’s not a single bad bone in any of our employees.  Secondly, when you see the investment managers and the cases they bring, you can tell how much they believe in them and what we’re doing. I think that is really cool and I’m not just saying that. I’m super happy here, I wouldn’t have made this jump unless I believed in Verve and the opportunity they give to everyone to get involved in investing.