Jamie Macfarlane is the founder & CEO of Creator Fund, an early-stage VC fund that invests in student-led companies with student investment partners.
Having studied both in the UK and in the USA, he started Creator Fund based on the observation that some of the world's most successful technology companies —like Facebook and Google— have been started in the dorm rooms and laboratories of American universities. Europe has universities of equal caliber but these have not yet managed to spin out as many tech champions. With the Creator Fund, Jamie hopes to support more student-led innovation and the creation of tech-driven companies across the continent. To do so, he has also designed a very unique student-focused model.
In this episode, we talk to Jamie to learn more about how their model works, what are some of the most exciting companies currently being built in universities across Europe, and what Europe can do to encourage more DeepTech companies.
Topics:
00:23 — Introduction with Cindy Yang
01:07 — How Jamie first started investing in students
02:29 — Creator Fund's investment model (and its secret sauce 🌶)
03:50 — How they recruit their student investment partners
05:02 — Why they're not called \"ambassadors\" or \"scouts\"
07:16 — The difference between investing in students in the US vs. in Europe
08:20 — What Creator Fund looks for in companies
12:16 — The advantage of getting investment from Creator Fund: talent network and follow-on investment
15:34 — The ideal founding team and the example of Touchlab
19:56 — Trends and companies that Jamie is excited about: Baseimmune and RecyclEye
23:44 — The technology behind vaccine company Baseimmune
28:10 — The limits to Creator Fund's investment model
31:44 — How IP works in universities
33:16 — What Europe can do to encourage more DeepTech companies
37:00 — Jamie's piece of advice for student entrepreneurs
This episode is hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre.
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