To date, Philine Huizing’s career has been a nonlinear journey, but it’s one that’s united by a common thread: her passion for innovative and scaling tech. Her journey as an investor began in the Netherlands, followed by a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, a consultancy role at McKinsey & Co (NYC), then a place on Insight Partners’ Onsite team, before taking up her current position as Principal.
In her current role at Insight Partners, Philine’s day-to-day is centered around two things. The first is giving growth-stage software ScaleUps, like Knak, the support and resources they need to thrive and scale. The second is actively seeking out and evaluating new investment opportunities.
In this edition of the Unsubscribed! Podcast, Philine chats with Pierce about her career-to-date, revealing insights on venture capital (VC) from both sides of the coin — software founders and future VCs. As Philine shares her story, she offers valuable advice for aspiring VCs, including the value of building a network within an investment space, and taking an interest in end markets. In addition, Philine explores what she looks for in a founder’s pitch, from a well-structured pitch deck to the ability to be flexible and engage in a robust dialogue. For Philine, getting into a deep conversation gives both the investor and the founder the chance to evaluate each other in what is likely to become a four-to-six-year relationship.
Philine’s open and honest insights shine a light on the somewhat complex world of VCs, something many software ScaleUp founders can use to their advantage as they put together their pitch deck and prepare for future funding rounds. She offers a wealth of useful recommendations, from ensuring you fully understand your market and the problem you’re solving, to communicating who you are as a founder and your ability to attract the right talent for growth.
Whether you’re a software ScaleUp founder or a future VC associate or analyst — or if you’re just keen to know what happens behind the scenes of software funding — you’ll want to listen to this episode.
Follow Philine Huizing on LinkedIn.
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If you have any feedback, or want to chat, feel free to reach out to Pierce on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter @marketing_101.
