A venture platform is the critical next step when “smart guys with money” decide that it is not enough to just provide funds, guidance and mentorship. As they learn the VC playbook and innovate around the VC business model, they recognise the need for an operational aspect to their business to deliver on their promise, ensuring their portfolio has outstanding experiences and the best chance of a top decile outcome.

At Notion the promise is simple:-

• B2B SaaS entrepreneurs who invest in what they know - B2B SaaS.
• Proactive and supportive of their founders and teams.
• Empathetic as they have the cuts and bruises.

Deep understanding of SaaS

Notion has bottled a deep understanding of SaaS through years of experience within the team, their key relationships and from the portfolio. This is already delivered into the market and portfolio in the form of content, workshops, education, peer to peer connections and all the table stakes for VC's.

In short, the platform must deliver on this promise repeatedly and at scale.

In reality what have I signed up for?

The thing about Notion is the simplicity of the brief:

• Take this and make it your own.
• Bring the very best experts from the market into our ecosystem and work with strategic partners with deep insight and super-relevance.
• Connect them with each other to create a multiplying effect for them and our portfolio.
• Productise the stuff that really makes a difference, share it with the market and our portfolio, creating a rising tide for all.

As Chris Tottman put it to me:

If you do one more great thing in the rest of your lifetime deliver this power curve. Don’t worry about mistakes as you'll make plenty, we have lots of forgiveness but limited time for permission – we trust you.

Thanks Chris, no pressure.

What we're building

So that’s the brief and this is what my next few months look like:

• Spinning up our strategic partner programme;
• Recruiting and engaging industry and SaaS experts;
• Launching a new 100 day programme with all new investments;
• Creating and sharing our B2B Saas playbook.

As an operational leader (not responsible for deal flow, investment decisions or sitting on boards, thank you very much) this is an incredible opportunity to build a European VC powerhouse, working with outstanding entrepreneurs as they create the next generation of stand out SaaS companies.

If you’ve got this far, how can you help?

If you are seasoned SaaS professional or service provider looking to work with like-minded people and outstanding entrepreneurs, while building your network or business then please get in touch, email me here.

And if you’re a Series A or earlier B2B SaaS company, and like what you’ve read, get in touch with our investment team here.