DealMakers: Entrepreneur | Startups | Venture Capital

In the heart of a quiet French village, a young girl stared at the night sky, dreaming of the stars and the mysteries of space. That girl, Eloa Guillotin, would grow up to co-found Beyond Aero, a groundbreaking company building hydrogen-electric planes, redefining the future of aviation. Beyond Aero has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Bpifrance, Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, and Female Funders Found.

Mark Heynen has successfully navigated the startup ecosystem several times, running the entire gamut from building, scaling, and funding companies to exiting them. His journey demonstrates the power of resilience, learning from failures, and successfully pivoting to adapt to market conditions.Mark's latest venture is Knapsack, and he reveals what it means to build a rocket ship in the current environment. The company has Alphabet, Ascend Venture Capital (Seattle), FiDi Ventures, and Gradient Ventures.

In the fast-paced world of tech entrepreneurship, Daniel Lee stands out with a remarkable story of resilience, innovation, and vision. Co-founder of Nooks, an AI-powered platform transforming the productivity of sales teams, Daniel recently announced a $43M funding round, bringing the total raised to $70M. Nooks' top-tier investors include Kleiner Perkins, Lachy Groom, Stifel Venture Banking, and Tola Capital.

In the entrepreneurship world, stories often begin in predictable places: classrooms, tech hubs, or corporate boardrooms. Casper Henningsen’s tale, however, takes us to the soccer field.As a former professional soccer player in Denmark’s top league, Casper pivoted from the high-stakes world of elite sports to the equally demanding landscape of business and startups. His startup, GetWhy has attracted funding from investors like PeakSpan, Arbejdernes Landsbank, Stig Holledig, and SwiftScale.

Sverre Dueholm’s entrepreneurial journey traces his remarkable successes and resilience in building and scaling not just the company but also the product and people. He talks about flying solo and prioritizing work over a social life, eventually learning to create the optimum balance. Sverre's latest venture is Comundo, where he successfully instituted a four-day workweek, achieving higher productivity and creativity levels. It has attracted funding from top-tier investors like People Ventures and Likeminded.vc. 

Mary Lou Jepsen is an award-winning, trailblazing technologist, entrepreneur, and creative thinker whose career has spanned some of the most groundbreaking technological advancements–from building holographic video systems to creating the world’s first $100 laptop. Mary Lou's latest company, Openwater, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Bold Capital Partners, Khosla Ventures, Plum Alley Investments, and Collab Fund.

Thomas Laurent's story is one of resilience, adaptability, and learning through experience. From his early days in Lyon, France, to leading Micropep Technologies as a pioneer in sustainable agriculture, he has gained valuable insights into entrepreneurship, leadership, and innovation. Thomas' latest venture, Micropep, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Corteva Agriscience, Sofinnova Partners, Denis Lucquin, and Sparkfood.

Sergio Fogel’s entrepreneurial journey is a testament to the power of adaptability, resilience, and innovation. Born in Uruguay and later traversing the world for education and business, Sergio has built and scaled multiple ventures. The latest venture is dLocal, a fintech unicorn valued at $18 billion at its peak. It has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Alkeon Capital, General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management, and D1 Capital Partners.

In the world of entrepreneurship, visionaries like Bradley Bostic repeatedly navigate the challenges of building, scaling, financing, and exiting companies. His story is about relentless innovation, learning from setbacks, and a deeply personal mission to revolutionize healthcare. This interview traces Brad’s journey to building Health Cloud Capital and the challenges he handled along the way. The company has invested in companies like DecisionRx, hc1, 3Aware, and Covance.

Shawn Weidmann’s story is one of transformation, resilience, and thoughtful decision-making. He is a fantastic operator-turned-entrepreneur who successfully raised $90M+ for his company, Zephyr, and scaled it to 300 employees. In this insightful interview, Shawn explores the key moments that shaped his career, the lessons he’s learned along the way, and raising funding in challenging markets from investors like Elda River and The Pritzker Organization.