An AMA with one of Germany's most experienced early-stage investors on what she looks for in pitch decks, how founders should think about fundraising, and why now is the time to build in Europe.

We recently hosted Lina Chong, Partner at HV Capital — one of Germany's largest venture firms managing over $3 billion — for a candid Ask Me Anything session with our soonami founders. Lina invests at the earliest stages, from pre-seed to Series A, writing first checks of up to $15 million.

What makes Lina's perspective especially valuable is that she's been on both sides of the table. She started her career working in a family office for one of Google's early engineers, later worked under SAP Chairman Hasso Plattner, founded and sold two companies of her own — one in Jakarta (acquired by LivingSocial) and one in New York (acquired by a German company) — and helped scale ResearchGate's commercial team from zero to $15 million in revenue before moving into full-time venture at Target Global and now HV Capital.

Here are the key takeaways from our session.

It Starts with the Problem, Not the Product

When asked what catches her eye in a pitch deck, Lina was clear: it's not the solution — it's the problem statement.

At the early stage, she expects things to change. What she's really looking for is the depth of the founder's insight into the problem space. A generic problem statement blends in with the hundreds of decks she sees. A highly specific, personal take on why the world works a certain way — and why that's broken — is what creates a "wow" moment.

She shared two examples of pitches that drew her in. One was a biotech company building a synthetic data platform for T-cell therapy, whose founders articulated a compelling "why now" around world models. They pitched a platform that could run thousands of experiments at a fraction of historical cost and time. The other was a pre-seed team of three crypto hackers who didn't even send a traditional deck — they sent a Notion page with videos of themselves hacking two-factor authentication systems in real time. That visceral demonstration of the problem was enough to pull her into multiple follow-up meetings.

The takeaway for founders: don't just state the problem — demonstrate your unique insight into it. Show the investor something they haven't seen before.

How Deals Actually Reach Her Desk

Founders always want to know: what's the best way to get in front of an investor? Lina broke down how her two most exciting recent deals found her.

The authentication company came through an introduction from a credible angel investor — someone who had previously backed Auth0 and had a strong personal track record. That combination of domain credibility and demonstrated judgment meant Lina took the intro seriously before she even opened the deck.

The biotech deal, on the other hand, was outbound. HV Capital heard about a founder in London who was generating buzz in certain circles — an investment banker turned computational biologist from Oxford. They reached out proactively.

For founders without warm intros, Lina's advice is pragmatic: treat fundraising like sales. Build social proof and scarcity. Fill your round with smaller checks from micro-funds and angel investors first, then approach larger funds with a message along the lines of: "My existing investors are all doing their pro-rata, we've already committed most of the round, and there's only limited room left." That combination of validation and urgency gets first meetings.

She also recommended engaging investors when you're not actively fundraising. Investors are more interested in getting to know you when there's no pressure to commit.

Traction, Team, and the Math Behind Every "Yes"

Lina was direct: traction, team, and market are not weighted equally.

Traction is the most objective signal. If you have strong revenue growth, almost any investor will take a call. She shared benchmarks from the current AI era: companies like Peak reaching 2 million ARR in their first year then scaling rapidly, and Langdock going from 1 million ARR to 25 million in roughly two years. Before AI, a solid Series A company had 1 million ARR. Now, that's becoming the baseline for a strong seed.

But traction doesn't have to mean revenue. n8n was pre-revenue for five to six years while building massive open-source traction on GitHub. DLT Hub went from tens of thousands to millions of downloads in a single month. Foundational models raise off Hugging Face download numbers. The common thread is a step change — a signal that something meaningful is happening.

When there's no traction, it's all about team. Lina shared the example of a founding team where one member had previously sold a company to SAP for $800 million and the other had built one of Europe's most recognized consumer crypto companies. That combination commanded a term sheet even at pre-seed — though the valuation ultimately went beyond what HV was comfortable with.

And behind every investment decision is fund math. HV Capital manages a $300 million fund targeting at least a 5x return. With roughly 8% ownership at exit, every investment needs to have the potential for a $10 billion outcome. That's rare in Europe, and it shapes which categories and companies make the cut. Lina's advice: understand the fund size of every investor you pitch. A $50 million fund has very different return requirements than a billion-dollar one. Targeting investors whose math aligns with your realistic outcome will save you time.

The Most Common Pitch Mistakes

Two things make Lina's eyes glaze over.

First, a pitch she's heard ten times before. As an early-stage investor, she's looking for the new and novel — the unexpected insight that makes a founder stand out from everyone else working on a similar problem. If your pitch reads like a category summary, you haven't found your edge yet.

Second, building in a category that doesn't pencil out for a fund of HV's size. It's not the founder's fault, but if the market can't support the kind of outcome the fund needs, it's a structural mismatch. Lina encourages founders to be strategic about this: don't spray and pray across every Tier 1 fund. Shortlist investors where you can realistically paint a compelling return story.

From First Call to Term Sheet: Two to Three Weeks

For founders wondering about the timeline, Lina shared that HV typically moves from a first call to a term sheet in two to three weeks. That process involves getting to know the team over a couple of calls, reviewing the data room, conducting reference calls, and then presenting to the investment committee. The term sheet usually goes out the same day or the day after committee approval.

The speed, she noted, depends heavily on round size and how competitive the process is. A larger, more complex round may require more diligence. A competitive one might accelerate timelines even further.

What a "No" Really Means

Lina was refreshingly honest: most of the time, a no is a no. Done.

But there are exceptions. If her pass is because the category is large and she doesn't want to conflict herself out of it at the pre-seed stage, she'll leave the door open. Similarly, if a company has some traction but isn't at a clear inflection point yet, she'll tell the founder what milestones would make the conversation worth revisiting.

Europe Is Having a Moment

On the question of Europe versus the US, Lina is genuinely excited about what she's seeing across the continent. She pointed to a broader trend of excellent talent — some of it driven by brain drain from the US — choosing to build in Zurich, Madrid, Munich, and beyond. Even US companies are setting up AI teams in European cities. She shared the example of a small team in Tübingen (a small town in southern Germany) that was just acquired by Epic Games to become their core AI team.

Some founders and investors are making deliberate choices to keep things European, motivated by a vision of sovereign AI. But Lina noted that market dynamics still rule: if a US investor offers a better term sheet, most founders will take it.

Her advice on going global: unless your business has local constraints, go global from day one. She pointed to Freshia, a company with New Zealand founders, a Dubai headquarters, and a Warsaw engineering team, that reached 30 million ARR with zero marketing spend by selling across every English-speaking country. Think creatively about your go-to-market.

How Winning Founders Build Early Traction

Lina broke down the playbooks behind some of the fastest-growing companies she's worked with:

Langdock leveraged founder-led sales and a strategic angel base. The CEO's angel investors were founders of mid-to-large Berlin tech companies — natural first customers. The product insight was disarmingly simple: enterprises were paying $20 per seat for individual AI licenses. Langdock bundled all models into one compliant layer at $5 per seat. A no-brainer value proposition that got the flywheel spinning.

n8n played the long game with community building and developer experience. Over years, they cultivated an ecosystem where consultants built businesses around n8n workflows, evangelizing the product on LinkedIn and in the developer community. When they finally turned on monetization, the machine was already built.

Luminous (Lagora) and others timed their go-to-market to moments of maximum buyer urgency. Every law firm in the world is making purchasing decisions about AI right now. The companies growing fastest aren't necessarily the ones with the best technology — they're the ones selling into segments that are under acute pressure to adopt.

A Parting Thought: Venture Isn't the Only Path

Lina closed with advice that might surprise founders in an accelerator setting: venture capital isn't always the right answer. Having been a founder twice herself, she emphasized that many excellent businesses are better served by alternative financing. Not every company needs to chase a $10 billion exit to be valuable and successful.

But for those who do choose the venture path — and for those building right now — her message was clear: it's the time to build. The quality of what's coming out of Europe is real, and the opportunities are enormous.

This post is based on an AMA session hosted by soonami.io with Lina Chong, Partner at HV Capital. The session was moderated by Diksha Dutta, CGO, soonami and Christian Sauer, CEO, soonami.

‍