Lakestar partner Enrico Mellis wants to get started with Animal Syndication – and connect founders with business angels. What he plans to do and advises young people.
From marketing lead at Rocket Internet startup to intern at Project A – and now partner in VC and self-employed: Enrico Mellis is 33 and a venture partner at Lakestar. Because he has always enjoyed “tinkering around entrepreneurially,” he says, he is now building his own company on the side: Animal Syndication. Instead of mega funds and management fees, he relies on angel syndicates that connect founders with top angels in the respective area.
What exactly does Mellis mean by that? Angel syndicates are groups of business angels who invest together in a startup. Instead of putting money into a large fund, they decide individually in each startup whether they want to invest. This is organized by Mellis, who selects the deals, brings together the group of angels and then co-invests with them and provides strategic advice to the founders.
From the delivery hype to the VC business
Before getting into venture capital, Mellis started at delivery service startup Foodora at Rocket Internet. At that time, Rocket Internet copied business ideas from the USA, scaled them quickly and then sold them again. Mellis worked at Foodora as offline marketing lead for Germany, leading an entire team and developing advertising campaigns to attract users. This gave him an impression of a fast-growing startup. After Foodora was taken over by Deliveroo, he needed something new, he says: “At some point I thought to myself: Why stay if it gets boring?”
At that time, a friend made him aware of an internship at Project A. He dared to take the risk – despite Melli’s previous leadership role with the team and budget. “When Project A offered me an internship, I didn’t think twice. Zero airs,” he says. From now on he was able to take a bird’s eye view and sat on calls with Project A partners and founders, even though he was an intern. He learned all about ratings and round sizes. “That blew me away. From inside the engine room – like before at Foodora – you can’t see any of this. To do that, you have to sit in these meetings. Either as a CEO or an investor. That’s when I knew: I’m in the right place.”
Klaus Hommels, founder of the VC fund Lakestar, eventually brought Mellis in to lead the early-stage team. Today Mellis is a venture partner there.
Animal Syndication: Network as a business model
In his work, Mellis was always interested in how a VC’s business model works, he says. What value-add does a VC offer founders in addition to capital? How do you do marketing? When he made a deal at Project A and Lakestar, he brought in suitable angels and built a “syndication package” around the founder. What does that mean exactly? He introduced the founders to operational managers, industry experts and celebrities who were able to open doors and provide support with tips.
“That was always the part of the job I enjoyed the most,” says Mellis. Now he’s doing exactly that with Animal Syndiaction – separate from Lakestar. Animal is not a classic fund. There is no office, no management fee. Melli’s approach? If he is enthusiastic about a founder – personality counts for more than a perfect business model – he matches the right angels.
Neither founders nor angels pay; Mellis only receives a share of the profits if the startup is successful. In this way, he wants to convey security to the business angels and founders. “I put my own money into it, I don’t earn a management fee, I’m aligned with everyone,” says Mellis.
Startup investments and chats with Mario Götze
Which startups does Mellis invest in? He doesn’t have a clear line. He invested in Holy Energy, for example, without having an opinion on energy drinks. But the team had convinced him: “Many of the big companies that are so celebrated today didn’t look obvious back then,” he says. He also almost didn’t invest in Trade Republic because he “did too much smart thinking at his desk.” He says: Theses are a great way to convince yourself that you are smarter than the founders, but you have to be careful not to stumble over your own confirmation.
To ensure that this doesn’t happen, Mellis likes to exchange ideas with other investors. Same with footballer Mario Götze. “We met through my work at Lakestar. We were co-investors in a deal.” What he immediately noticed was how seriously Götze takes the topic of investing, says Mellis. “He is an athlete who has really professionalized his angel investing – does his own homework, is ambitious, has real discipline.” But Götze neither invests through Animal nor is he part of the syndicate, emphasizes Mellis.
Building a completely independent investment company takes an enormous amount of time and capital and requires a lot of experience. “Many investors want to invest directly in startups, but not full-time, rather only part-time.” For them, a syndicate like Mellis is the better way. According to him, it offers verified deals, professional management and the opportunity to make individual decisions for each investment.
What Mellis advises the new VC generation
But how do you even get into venture capital? Mellis has a clear opinion on this: “Don’t start in VC.” Or at least not as a first job, he says. Too many young people are interested in working directly in venture capital to be part of successful tech start-up stories. But according to Mellis, this is a problem. “You are generally more useful as a founder if you have done something else before – built a company, worked operationally, immersed yourself deeply in an industry. And I would also argue that you then make better investment decisions.” So, first startup, then VC. If you want to take the plunge, he offers three tips:
- Find your edge – and sharpen it obsessively: Become the first person people call in a niche, says Mellis. Whether industry, network or tech expertise. Visibly build expertise, connect people and share your knowledge publicly, he advises.
- Focus on the right finds: According to Mellis, VCs vary greatly in culture and focus. That’s why he recommends regularly sending exciting startups to the funds that might suit you and briefly explaining why you find them interesting.
- Leverages modern tools and AI to deliver more value: Mellis says that many VCs still work in a surprisingly old-school way. Those who master AI, automation and new workflows can find, analyze and stand out deals faster, he says. “I work with it a lot myself and I have to say: it’s fun and worth it.”
