Sia Houchangnia on building relationships that empower founders

Starting as an intern in 2014, it took less than four years for Sia Houchangnia to work his way up to partner at Seedcamp. It was a match made in heaven for the firm with a unique 17-year track record. As one of Europe’s leading seed funds, Seedcamp cultivates deep, lasting relationships across its extensive network. It has backed over 500 tech-driven startups, including Sorare, Revolut, UiPath, Wise, and Synthesia, and supported many more founders through its Expert and Talent Networks.

In this episode of Capital Conversations, we focus on Houchangnia’s specific approach to providing effective advice and support to founders. Along the way, we’ll learn about the importance of empathy in investor-founder relationships, and how Houchangnia balances this with the need to provide honest and potentially difficult feedback.

Authors

Karl Schmedders

Professor of Finance at IMD

Karl Schmedders is a Professor of Finance, with research and teaching centered on sustainability and the economics of climate change. He is Director of IMD’s online certification course for structured investment and also teaches in the Executive MBA programs and serves as an advisor for International Consulting Projects within the MBA program. Passionate about sustainable finance, Schmedders believes that more attention needs to be paid to on the social (S) and governance (G) aspects of ESG to ensure a fair transition and tackle inequality.

Raphaël Grieco

Research Associate at the IMD Venture Asset Management Initiative

Raphaël Grieco is a former Research Associate at IMD for the Venture Asset Management Initiative, drawing on over 15 years of leadership experience at the intersection of cross-asset wealth management and technology. Raphael specializes in early-stage venture investing, multi-support educational content creation spanning written and audio formats, as well as building entrepreneurial ecosystems focusing on technology (including crypto and web3).