‘Do I have a pension? I don’t know, my CFO does that ‘

At 28, Harry Stebbings is already a well -known name in European risk capital. He began his business podcast, 20 VCIn his adolescence from his family’s kitchen, before leaving the university in the first period to follow his full -time adventure. The podcast, which now houses some of the most important names in Venture Capital and Tech, would eventually lead him to the world of investments. In 2021, he launched his solo company firm (also called 20VC) and last year collected $ 400mndoing it one of the greatest in Europe VC funds.

You started very young. Where does your interest in business come from?
I was always quite an entrepreneur. At school, I would buy phones in Eastern Europe on eBay, then it would resell them. My study notes would also come on Amazon and get a few hundred pounds every month for them, I still do it!

I was very driven to earn money. That has changed now: I am driven to win. But when I was younger, I was running away from having No money. My immediate family felt comfortable (I went to private school), but I saw my grandparents entering financial difficulties. They lost their home. That is incredibly challenging.

I was also lucky to have parents who trusted me and cultivated that impulse. When I said I was abandoning the university (after a month) to concentrate on a small podcast without followers, they supported me. Anyway, I never liked school; I had to remit my levels A.

In terms of my age, I think that is the secret to adolescents: it begins young. Use Internet and don’t go to university. You will learn anything and borrow. Unless you want a vocational career like medicine, I think it is the most useless in the world; It is absolutely poisonous.

I think the university is mainly for people who do not know what they want to do, or need structure. The same for MBA: I don’t think it’s a useful way to spend your time, I don’t want to see it in a CV. If you want to invest, it only invests. Even if it’s small.

How did you wear the podcast? Did anyone invest in you?
I have never taken money seeds for the podcast. I still lived at home, and all I needed was to buy the microphone and domain of the website.

We do not earn money for the first 100-150 episodes. Then, after two years of making the podcast, we obtained our first sponsor: they agreed to pay £ 25,000 for six months of the program. That was the richest I’ve felt. I was 19 years old. I have had much more money since then and nothing has felt like this.

From there, I could finance the podcast (and move from my mother). I got a work at (VC Fund) atomico as an entrepreneur in residence, with a six -digit salary. I stayed for six months, before quitting smoking. I was like, “My God, stinks to work for someone!” It was terrible to take notes. I am the worst employee in the world. It was then that I went to raise my first background, stride.vc with Fred Destin.

Today, we have exceeded around 65 million visits on social networks, and many of them return and become subscribers.

All risk companies are now doing means and I don’t mean this arrogantly, but good luck. We have 23 people working in the podcast. I’ve been doing this for 10 years.

Where are you more frivolous with your money?
My rent: I’m not going to tell you how much it costs me. I also have some shoes obsession, I have 50 to 60 pairs of Nike trainers, and I have occasionally dropped £ 1,200 in a couple of designers. In addition, Sashimi: like every night.

But, otherwise, I am quite modest. I would describe myself as a great risk with my own finance. I spend around £ 6,000 per month (excluding rent). I don’t like watches or cars (I can’t really drive legally), I don’t drink, I don’t have expensive hobbies, I mainly enjoy walking walks. I don’t take vacations either.

What sacrifices have you made when building your business?
You have to be comfortable being alone. I remember clearly when I did my first million, I was 20 or 21 years old and I was on my balcony drinking tequila, and I realized that I really had no friends or anyone who will hang out. And I was like: this is not what I thought it would be.

Now I don’t have time to be in a relationship, but one day I would like to have a family. Maybe in 10 years.

What is the biggest challenge for your business?
Ego. The ego kills you. You will think you have achieved it, you think you’ve finished. You’ve never finished. What leads you to where you are? It will not take you to the next step.

Beyond that, if Europe does not produce companies defined by the generation, it would kill us. If negativity around Europe turns out to be true, that is not good.

And I believe that the current state of Europe in terms of risk capital is depressing and outdated. The quality of the VC is not high enough. In addition, there is too much money in risk capital, so the offers are too expensive. We are seeing that big companies get too much money in them and destroying what would otherwise be good outings.

How good have their previous funds done?
It would not publicly reveal what multiple we did in the last funds. But let’s say that if it’s not good, you don’t grow again. To justify our position in the book of a limited partner, we need to be at least 3 times.

As for the podcast, the annual income is millions. We reserve [sponsorship] a lot in advance.

Now I spend about 20 percent of my time in the podcast and the rest in my background. I just read my team’s notes, appear and do the interview. I have had people who want to buy the 20VC podcast, but it is not on sale

How do they pay you?
I take a salary from the fund. The other four partners are paid more than me, but equity is mainly mine. In terms of numbers, I have tweeted that personally pays $ 2 million (USD) in taxes annually.

I think it is really important that people are paid well, because I hope you work very hard. I will call you at 10 pm; I will call you on weekends.

Do you have a pension?
I don’t know. My CFO does that.

And I don’t have a mortgage, since I don’t have a house. I think it’s useless. Why would you buy? Simply block your money. Instead, I put my money in the public stock market.

What are your financial ambitions now?
My main ambition is to build the best risk fund in Europe in the next 10 years. I would like to deliver a multiple or more 5x. But the multiple is not the point. I want to remodel how Europe is built.

In truth, I feel that I only have 0.5 percent of the road. I’m still this insecure child. There are people like Alex Wang at scale, who directs a much larger background and he is my age.

So I still care what people think of me, in the sense of: Am I respected? I really don’t care if I like it so much.