Our approach to
hands-on venture development

Emil Ahlanzberg, Head of Portfolio Development, explains our unique approach to hands-on venture development:

There are two parts to developing a venture portfolio. The first is building a portfolio of companies. The second is nurturing those companies to grow.

In both parts, Katalysen’s approach (what we have come to call venture development) differs from traditional venture investors. We have chosen to explain this in metaphor, starting with the journey of a company as a seed.

Illustration of a tree from seed to fully grown plant

I. Finding the right seed

Venture funding is a competitive space and most founders have been forced to learn how to pitch their companies flawlessly. We are different – we want to talk about the flaws. Our model is based on strong alignment of incentives through shared upside (options, warrants, or shares). We acquire this shared upside by deploying resources into our portfolio ventures. This is unique. Not every gardener can get paid in plants from their garden.

Early-stage ventures generally lack cash, so we don’t ask for payment in cash. They shouldn’t be spending it on us. On the contrary, cash is very often a part of the resources we invest into our portfolio ventures.

This makes our early conversations different: not only do founders pitch their companies to us – we also pitch ourselves to the founders, to ensure that our competence is a good match to the venture's needs.

II. Nurturing the plant

In the traditional model, investors expend most of their resources on finding the right venture to invest in. Once this perfect “seed” is found, the primary tool used is cash. But cash is like fertilizer. If the seed is not strong in itself, no amount of fertilizer will help.

Plants are delicate – they need light, water, humidity, protection from weather conditions, nutritional soil, and much more. Venture development is the way we nourish and grow the ventures we work with. We work with tools that most traditional investors don’t.

We are a multifaceted team that holds practical skills that support ventures to the next level. Together, we are experts within corporate governance, branding, tech, accounting, social media, cybersecurity, financing, and much more.

We are not focused on evaluating and controlling. We are specialized venture developers – niched on helping founders build their companies. Sleeves up, hands on.

Illustration of a growing tree with rain, sun and oxygen from the air

III. Growing strong together

The aim of our efforts is to turn startups into scaleups and bring tools for scaleups to become great growth companies. We want our portfolio companies to be strong enough to continue their growth independently.

When a venture is strong enough to carry itself, our task is most often done. For instance: it doesn’t need us for marketing advice, because by now a strong foundation has been set and it has a working marketing function.

For us it truly matters most that our work helps the ventures grow strong and independent. We are paid in upside, and for this reason we only get paid for our work through the success of our ventures. This is what joint success looks like – with all of our success tied to the venture’s success.

IV. A portfolio perspective

The growth journey of a venture is not determined from the outset. Our portfolio, hence, is a forest of trees, plants, and flowers. Some plants bloom early, while others take many years for the roots to take hold. We have no fund that closes, no chainsaw that will deforest the entire portfolio in 8 to 10 years.

Instead, we build continuity and a nourished community among the companies we work with. This creates the right conditions for companies to grow. It means many opportunities for cross-pollination in our network – for companies to share contacts, competencies, and learnings over time. The hands-on work we do, is not only profitable for Katalysen and the venture itself, but for other owners, employees and all stakeholders that walk in our forest.