A venture capitalist has a peculiar problem. Before writing a cheque to a founder, someone must write a cheque to the venture capitalist. That second transaction gets less attention. It involves limited partners, fund structures, years of waiting and the awkward business of deciding whom to trust. EUVC has built much of its business around that quieter conversation.
- A European venture podcast grew into media, education, events and investment syndicates.
- The audience includes the investors behind venture funds, alongside founders and operators.
- Its useful lesson: make participation concrete, and test your assumptions before selling them.
The investor behind the investor
David Cruz e Silva and Andreas Munk Holm started The European VC in 2020. The initial format was a podcast aimed at general partners, the people running venture funds. By December 2022, Tech.eu described five podcasts, a newsletter, a WhatsApp group and live and virtual events. Conversations were accumulating into relationships. The founders were also organising syndicates that let operators become limited partners in funds.
That last detail matters. A startup operator may understand hiring, selling and surviving a difficult quarter without having an easy route into backing a venture manager. Pooling commitments offers another route. EUVC’s version brings founders, angels and operators together around fund investments. Its current syndicate description places LP investing at the foundation, with startup co-investments and follow-ons alongside it.
In December 2022, Isomer Capital appointed both founders venture partners. The relationship brought EUVC’s content and community tools closer to an established European fund investor. Here was an unusual division of labour: institutional investment knowledge on one side, the ability to get people talking and participating on the other.
The yes that did not quite mean yes
EUVC’s early syndicate notes are refreshingly specific. In a September 2022 retrospective, Cruz e Silva acknowledged that investor updates needed work. The process had two stages: an initial soft commitment, then a firm commitment after reviewing the final data room. Interest could cool between the two.
Another lesson concerned wording. Advertising commitments “as little as 1k€” could anchor people to smaller amounts. A third concerned timing: roughly a third of investors participated in several deals, making simultaneous capital calls difficult. The team learned to plan closings as carefully as openings.
“Conclusion: focus on the big tickets.”David Cruz e Silva, 2022 syndicate retrospective
The practical lesson is to distinguish attention from commitment. A listener, a subscriber and an investor have different obligations. Each transition needs its own process.
Today’s syndicate pledge makes participation explicit. Members undertake to invest in at least one deal annually, contribute, share opportunities and respect confidentiality. Membership is reconsidered each year. That is a demanding definition of community, and a poor fit for someone who simply wants another feed to scroll.
Three doors into the same conversation
EUVC also has a straightforward education business. Its Academy lists membership at €50 a month or €500 a year. Members get recorded learning and a resource library, with priority AMA access and discounts on live sessions. Cohorts require separate enrolment and payment. The distinction is useful: buying the library does not buy every classroom seat.
The teaching comes from active investors and fund managers. A March 2026 Academy update described an inaugural fund-modelling cohort already in week nine, an LP expert panel and a fund-model template becoming available to members. A Monte Carlo simulator was being tested with the cohort. These are tools for doing venture work, rather than simply keeping up with venture gossip.
Corporate venture has its own door. The Corporate Academy advertises a €1,749 annual Member tier and a €25,000 annual Fellow tier. The former combines peer learning and event access; the latter adds senior-team participation, gatherings and a content leadership programme. Companies are paying for access, education and visibility in different combinations.
Commercial partners can also work with EUVC through content, community and events. Its sales pitch centres on reaching European founders and investors. The business therefore has several customers: learners buying practical knowledge, corporate teams buying participation, and partners buying a place in specialist conversations.
A room, then a record
On April 22, 2026, the EUVC Summit brought the network together in London. EUVC reports more than 250 attendees, 30 speakers and 20 countries. Those figures describe a gathering, not its entire customer base. The programme ranged across company building, capital allocation and European technology, and the sessions were recorded for later viewing.
The accompanying awards give the network another reason to assemble. The 2026 page lists Sonali de Rycker of Accel in its Hall of Fame, Creandum and Point Nine as firm winners in their respective size categories, and EU-INC for Achievement of the Year. Winners were selected by an independent investor jury following community nominations.
The combination helps explain EUVC’s position in the market. Technology publications compete for readers; education providers compete for students; investment platforms compete for capital. EUVC participates in all three markets while organising gatherings around the same professional audience. Its claimed advantage is continuity between the activities. Whether that continuity earns repeat business depends on the usefulness of each encounter.
Steal the one-page test
The easiest way to try EUVC is also one of its most concrete. Its free Fund Canvas, introduced in September 2026, puts ten fund-strategy building blocks into a connected view. The toolkit includes a fillable PDF, editable Slides and a guide. Emerging managers can use it to examine whether fund size, portfolio construction, team and LP proposition support the same plan.
The five-step guide asks users to draft a first pass, make claims specific, check alignment, stress-test gaps and translate the result for LP conversations. The October follow-up names warning signs, including unsupported claims, team gaps and portfolio mismatches. The exercise works by making contradictions harder to hide behind polished presentation.
The Canvas has a defined limit: it does not replace legal work, a detailed financial model or fundraising materials. Still, it offers something a reader can copy today. Put the assumptions on one page. Ask where they disagree. Fix the thinking before arranging another meeting. A microphone can open the door; the work starts when somebody walks through it.