Founder/GP @offpistecap. Previously Thiel Capital. Early investor in @Starcloud_, @enhanced_games, etc.
Norway
Joined May 2009
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Congrats on the launch @Starcloud_Inc1 @philipjohnston @ezraklein @adioltean!! 🚀
Couldn’t make it to the launch event but did the best we could from Norway
I’ve never heard a more beautiful call out:
“𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱-𝟭 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱” !!!!!!
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
@Starcloud_Inc1, @ezrafeilden, @adioltean
There is a difference between sovereignty and isolationism.
Sovereignty is about self-determination - building resilient and independent capabilities. Isolationism, on the other hand, is about cutting off economic and strategic engagement with the outside world.
Yet this distinction is often lost in conversations about the future of Europe and European tech; perhaps due in part to the commingling of personal politics and business by many European VCs.
I recently listened to a panel moderated by a European VC who persistently questioned whether European companies should allow US VCs on their cap tables. Not only is this isolationist thinking in line with the behavior that many Europeans currently criticize the US of harboring and expressing, but it goes beyond mere hypocrisy and actually disturbs progress toward European sovereignty.
@victoralazarte recently said in a 20VC interview with @HarryStebbings:
“People are just as smart in Europe [as in the US], but the big difference is that there is so much knowledge about how companies are built in the US, and when someone starts a company there, they’re able to access that knowledge.”
To push isolationism under the banner of sovereignty is to cut European founders off from decades of experience earned through trial, error, success, and failure. This approach in fact obstructs the development of technological strength in Europe. And if you believe, as I do, that technology plays a central role in shaping sovereignty as a general matter, then it undermines Europe’s ability to build meaningful independence on the global stage.
My sense of a large part of my role as an American VC in Europe is to contribute the knowledge and networks that I've accumulated in my time as a startup lawyer at Wilson Sonsini in San Francisco, and from working for, and learning from, Peter Thiel for almost a decade.
To isolate Europe is to do it a disservice. We have to leverage relationships and learnings - without unduly letting personal politics get in the way - to create a technology-rich, sovereign and resilient Europe.
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Join @piammichel and me as we explore Norway 🇳🇴, the first stop on Pia’s Grand Tour of Europe and my new home since moving from LA a few years ago. At a time when European tech criticism has reached peak trendiness, Pia is taking a defiantly contrarian stance by paying respect to the continent’s eclectic and rich legacy of innovation, and painting a bold vision of its future.
In the coming weeks, we'll start off the Tour with my long-overdue first visit to Norway 🇳🇴. To prepare, I teamed up with @jmaxsamuel to learn about the country's history and industrial context. You can read the full article here: grandtoureurope.xyz/blog/nor…
ALT The Brage oil platform in the North Sea, 125km west of Bergen. Image: David Hecker
Engineering Excellence: From taming the harsh North Sea for oil and gas operations to building the world's longest floating bridge (Bjørnafjorden at 5km), Norway has pioneered innovation in the world’s most difficult environments. The Troll A offshore gas platform remains the largest object ever moved by humans - a 1.2 million tonne structure towed across the sea for seven days.
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Let’s go 🚀
Excited to announce @LumenOrbit's $11M Seed round, which fuels our plans to build huge data centers in space🚀 We’re launching our first satellite mid-next year and are now hiring exceptional engineers, so reach out if that sounds like it’s for you!
Huge thanks to our Seed investors @NFX, @YCombinator, @fuse_vc, @468Capital, @Nebularvc, Massive Tech Ventures, Soma Capital, Ground Up Ventures, @dnxventures, Orange Collective, Sterling Road, Ventioneers, @janleike, @RichAberman, @kul, @ZaouiEmmanuelle, Joe Lallouz, Jeff Arnold, Benjamin Bryant, Prashant Suryakumar, Robin Choy, and more! 🙏🙏
@adioltean @ezrafeilden 🙌🙌
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As always, much respect and admiration for good friend, supporter and mentor @nchirls. Congrats on the launch!
Today I'm launching @asylumventures, a new venture firm dedicated to the creative act of building companies.
Asylum's first $55 million fund is an embodiment of my belief that founders are artists, not assets:
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@coinbase’s largest revenue stream in 2026 will be this…
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Fired up to be partnering with the GOAT @MagnusCarlsen, Mats André Kristiansen and the team at @Fantasy__Chess on their mission to redefine the way over half a billion chess enthusiasts (and growing!) engage with the sport and its players.
And even more exciting to be doing it alongside Peter Thiel and my old friends at Thiel Capital, Coatue, Yuri Milner and others.
We are delighted to share that we have led a $3M pre-seed round in @Fantasy__Chess (co-founded by @MagnusCarlsen and Mats André Kristiansen), joined by Coatue, Peter Thiel, Yuri Milner and others.
Read more about it here: forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/…
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Please share your wire details if you’re building
@earthaiexplore for traditional energy
@ComposerTrade for crypto
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Hot take: utility nfts will transform the fundraising process for, and retail investor access to, private tech companies
Boomer take: utility nfts will have similar functionality (and artistic value) as stock certificates and it’s only a matter of time until regulators get this
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❄️ SNÖ is hiring two Principals to join our investment team!
One in Sweden 🇸🇪
One in Denmark 🇩🇰
Apply here! sno.vc/join-us linkedin.com/posts/snovc_joi…
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Just had a pleasant, productive, 5-minute (with no hold time) phone call with the Norwegian tax office. Now what do I do with the remaining 5 hours I had allocated to the “ordeal” based on my experience with US government services?
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