It only took Sebastian Becker three years to become a VC partner. In the start-up scene, he reveals how he achieved it and what he advises others to do.
Get involved in VC while you’re still studying – and become a partner there after three years. Sebastian Becker (30) did exactly that. He is now general partner at the Swiss VC Redalpine, based in Zurich. Two years ago he was appointed equity partner and is now helping to set up the London office. Gründerszene spoke to Becker about his career, deep tech and investments at SpaceX.
From working student to equity partner
Becker, who originally comes from the small village of Achern between Baden-Baden and Karlsruhe, has always had big plans. “Money was a limiting factor back then,” he says. Freedom and technology fascinated him early on, also through his father. He was a helicopter mechanic and loved technology and entrepreneurship, says Becker.
“I thought it was incredibly unfair that where you were born determined your career path,” he remembers. So he broke out: studied in St. Gallen and Stanford and came up with his first company ideas at university. Above all, he learned here how to talk to investors and which technologies were particularly exciting.
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His entry into VC was pragmatic. After internships at Project A and Rocket Internet, he started part-time at Redalpine during his master’s degree in order to finance his studies: “I was basically allowed to be a working student,” he says. After completing his studies, he went full-time and helped set up the Summit Fund, a long-term VC investment platform.
According to Becker, the founders offered him the opportunity to help build this structure as an entrepreneur. Means: He helped the founders of Redalpine to set up the new fund logic, win investors for it and then make investments using it. That was five years ago. Today he commutes between Zurich, Berlin and London, is responsible for the investment strategy and became an equity partner 2.5 years ago, with his own money at risk.
The four pillars that make partners
But how do you reach the partner level so quickly? “For me, the following things make excellent early-stage investors,” says Becker, and gives these four tips:
- Build network: Becker says you have to build a network early on that goes beyond your own level. Means: Write to senior people – with a story that benefits both sides. “I always wrote to some crass people and thought of a good story about why it might make sense for them to meet me.” So he contacted the first Palantir employee at Stanford and asked him: “Should I stay in the US and start something or go back to Europe?” This then became a regular exchange.
- Learn resilience: “Think out of the box and never give up,” says Becker. He once made long calls until he ended up with a PayPal co-founder – and asked him for a coffee. “There are probably five things that happen every day that could throw you off track, but you have to get over it. Be persistent and don’t let yourself be set back and don’t always choose the most obvious and simple solution.”
- Think entrepreneurially: Becker says he never primarily had his career in mind, but rather thought more entrepreneurially: “My intention was always to think in the interests of the company. What can we do better? What’s going wrong?” This also includes questioning existing structures – “even if I have stepped on people’s toes,” he says. “In the end, the company is the baby that needs to be managed and grown.”
- Show charisma: “Convince people personally that you are the right partner,” says Becker. Above all, clear communication is relevant: “What is very important: Can you convey your vision clearly and stringently and appear charismatic? This will help you win customers, employees and investors.”
Europe, deep tech and investments at SpaceX
And how does Becker see the future? Especially European, he says about the start-up scene. Redalpine has been investing in scientifically based deep tech companies for 20 years, long before the trend became big. It should stay that way: “The great thing is that there’s no need for a new strategy. We’ve always done it that way,” he emphasizes. Above all, it is important to him to secure European sovereignty through smart investment in technology. “We want to do everything we can to ensure that Europe becomes the leading economic power in the world again, so that we can have a place at the table of the global economy again.”
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And software? Only plays a role where AI can provide real leverage. As with their portfolio company Helical AI. This is developing software that will help pharmaceutical companies test and develop new drugs more quickly – long and expensive samples in the laboratory should no longer be necessary.
Redalpine continues to rely on scientifically based investments. The investment team consists of entrepreneurs and scientists who, when looking at potential portfolio companies, always first look at the physical feasibility of the idea. The idea behind it? To promote scientific breakthroughs that are based on intellectual property. This would not be easy to copy. In times of AI and vibe coding, this is particularly important.
An exciting investment from Redalpine is SpaceX. Back then, Becker would have called around until he got someone responsible on the phone. Then he pitched: “We are an ambitious venture fund from Europe. Half of our team are scientists and we invest in differentiated technology companies that want to change the world.”
That would have been convincing: “They said they would present this to Elon at the next investor relations meeting,” says Becker. A little later the positive feedback came. “At the end of the day, it’s a people business,” he says.