By definition, businesses are reflections of their founders, their investors and shareholders, and their employees. That, says Nicole Junkermann, the founder of venture capital company NJF Capital, is why you should look at founders and their teams closely before investing in them.
Junkermann’s perspective
In her experience, Junkermann explained “what really makes a great investment is the founders themselves and their teams. When I invest, I am primarily investing in people. Great entrepreneurs have a clear vision, are open to collaboration, accept challenge and different points of view and, crucially, can adapt and learn from mistakes or failures along the way.”
This adaptability is something that Junkermann learned herself while sitting on the other side of the deal table as an entrepreneur when she founded online sports gaming platform Winamax in 1998, and when raising her first fund, United In Sports. Today, she invests from her own resources, which she says “offers me a great advantage; I am not a traditional venture capital fund run for the benefit of LPs. Instead, I have the flexibility to choose the right investments at the right time, without any external pressure as to the number of investments I make or the timeline for returns.”
Young investor’s insight on good investment
When investing, Junkermann says, she looks for companies with a bold vision and the potential to shape and define their industries. “This is where historically we have had real success — nurturing and guiding early-stage companies which are disrupting traditional business models by doing things differently and challenging norms.” And, of course, for a company to have that sort of ambition, it needs the right individuals at the helm: people with the vision and drive to truly achieve something in the world.
Nicole Junkermann is an international entrepreneur and investor, and the founder of NJF Holdings, an international investment company with interests in venture capital, private equity, and real estate. Through NJF’s venture capital arm (NJF Capital), Nicole oversees a portfolio similar in size to a small venture fund across Europe and the US, including in healthcare, fintech, and deep tech.