Plenary Session,

The Assembly

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Christina was invited to speak on the plenary session at The Assembly at TNW, an initiative at the TNW Conference that brought together an exclusive curation of business leaders and policymakers to discuss actionable tech policy that balances regulation and innovation.

The plenary panel conversation set the tone and topics for subsequent roundtable sessions, debating a bold statement posed by moderator Lucien Burm (Chair, Dutch Startup Association): ‘The Next Big Tech Will Not Come From Europe’! Joining Christina on the panel were:

- Michiel Scheffer, President of the Board of the European Innovation Council
- Quinten Selhorst, Co-founder of Felyx
- Maxime Ricard, Policy Manager, Allied for Startups

In her remarks, Christina was asked to share her opinion, considering the funding opportunities available to scale up (Series B+) founders in Europe. She presented counterpoints to the debate statement, including some best practices for founders and governmental investors / instruments to ensure success, e.g.:

1) Founders need to choose their first investors carefully, since fundraising is a relay race and that first selection has a domino effect. Does investor philosophy match your own? What will the investor bring to the table besides capital? Will it unlock industry / client / geography to accelerate your growth (tip to founders: seek out portfolio founder references to validate investor value-adds)

2) Governmental investment vehicles are a great option, especially for our most innovative and industry changing startups (e.g., deeptech), though overly cumbersome and time/resource intensive for founders, in not only the application process but also the oversight and reporting phases.

On the second point, Christina shared some suggestions with fellow panelist Michiel Scheffer, President of the Board of the European Innovation Council:
-> Leverage technology to cull the non-qualifiers right off the bat
-> Engage a broader spectrum of entrepreneurs to serve in board member roles during the governance phase

Some impressions of the event:

If you would like Christina to speak at your event, feel free to contact her directly or via her speaker bureau, The Next Speaker.

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