• Polyweb
  • Posts
  • Startups vs. Giants: VC Tells the BRUTAL Truth About Building a Successful Startup

Startups vs. Giants: VC Tells the BRUTAL Truth About Building a Successful Startup

Author

Sara Landi Tortoli
June 03, 2024

✨ Hi, I’m Sara, host of the Polyweb podcast. On the show, we explore how we can find meaning in the Technology Era. Join conversations with global tech leaders and entrepreneurs, navigating the intersection of business, life, and technology.

Watch on YouTube or listen now on Apple, Spotify, or RSS Feed.

"If you're not obsessed with what you're building, I won't invest."

Those were the frank words from Hugo Amsellem, founder and general partner at IntuitionVC. His firm exclusively backs ambitious consumer startups across Europe and the US - but only if the founders have an intense, borderline irrational passion for their vision.

Why such an intense requirement? In my conversation with Hugo, he drove home just how excruciating it is to build a startup against the giants that dominate the market. The only way to persevere through those brutal challenges is to care so deeply that it hurts.

"As soon as it gets super hard and you want to stop, you're going to stop," Hugo explained regarding founders without true obsession. "I don't want to back people who only see this as a rational opportunity."

While the obstacles are daunting, Hugo believes we're entering a renaissance era for consumer tech - one where AI enables a new wave of wildly creative, niche products and experiences. This next frontier holds massive potential, but capturing it requires an almost delusional commitment.

Passion, clarity of vision, and profound insights into human behavior are his criteria for identifying winners. If a founder doesn't have those qualities shining through, he simply can't develop enough conviction to invest.

"When you meet amazing founders, they have incredible clarity of vision," he said. "And if that vision changes, they still convey it with total clarity every time you talk to them."

🎯 Three Key Takeaways:

  1. Hugo believes capturing cultural relevance requires an intense specialization and tunnel-vision that most founders lack.

  2. The three must-have traits are delusional passion, ability to convey hyper-clarity, and profound insights into human behavior.

  3. AI will catalyze a new era of niche yet impactful consumer startups by democratizing creation and combating loneliness.

📚 Resources:

The Loneliness Economy: How can technology help us belong?: https://hugo.pm/p/the-loneliness-economy

⏱️ Time Stamps:

00:00 Introduction

01:26 Hugo's background and rationale for focusing on consumer startups

06:57 How AI enables creation at scale

13:24 Opportunities for emerging consumer startups in the AI age

18:41 Qualities Hugo looks for in founders and startups

25:34 The three things you need to succeed as a founder

31:07 Advice for founders on getting early user adoption

37:11 Hugo's view on the "real Web3" being AI-enabled creation

44:25 Managing investment FOMO in an abundant creation environment

50:23 Technology's role in combating loneliness and cultural shifts

58:38 Details on IntuitionVC's consumer startup tour

👀 About:

Hugo Amsellem, founder and general partner at IntuitionVC, an early-stage fund dedicated to consumer and culture startups across Europe and the U.S.

👉 CHECK OUT INTUITION VC: https://www.intuition.vc/

🔗 CONNECT WITH HUGO:

🔗 CONNECT WITH SARA:

💌 Newsletter - https://polyweb.beehiiv.com/

🪢 ABOUT POLYWEB:

Polyweb navigates through the intricate nexus of technology, product innovation, and human creativity. Engage with leading entrepreneurs and experts in uncovering how we can forge impactful companies and lead lives enriched with purpose in the Technology Era.

✨ If you like this newsletter and found the content useful, please consider sharing it 🙏