Bernard-Louis Roques

Why I Don't Sign NDAs for Early-Stage Founders — And Why Founders Shouldn't Ask Your idea is your baby. I get it. But for VC, asking for an NDA before sharing that idea isn't protecting your future - it's limiting it. In my latest article, I break down why NDAs create more problems than they solve for founders seeking early-stage funding. I explain why VCs structurally cannot sign them (reviewing 1,500+ decks annually makes this impossible), why they signal inexperience rather than caution, and most importantly - why your execution matters infinitely more than your idea. If you're a founder worried about idea theft, this perspective might change how you approach investor conversations forever. I explain why trust is the real compounding currency in venture capital - not legal protection.

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🌱 "Zero to One: The Pre-Seed Report" 📊 Today, Concept Ventures is excited to share “Zero to One: The Pre-Seed Report,” which reveals what we've felt on the ground for years: Europe's pre-seed ecosystem is stronger than ever before, with the UK 🇬🇧 firmly leading this charge. In a time when negativity dominates headlines, our data tells a different story - one of continued European growth and the likely home to many more of tomorrow's unicorns. Many of the UK's most iconic companies had modest and humble beginnings - all raising pre-seed rounds sub $2.5m (Wise, Revolut, Monzo Bank, Synthesia, and ElevenLabs). 🔍 Main findings from the data: • Total European pre-seed funding has nearly doubled in the last 5 years, from $263M in 2018 to $500m+ in 2024. •The UK 🇬🇧 dominates, attracting $0.33 of every $1 invested in European pre-seed funding - more than Germany 🇩🇪 and France 🇫🇷 combined. • Average UK pre-seed rounds have nearly doubled in size since 2018. • Two-thirds of UK pre-seed rounds now use SAFE instruments, giving founders greater flexibility. As the UK's largest dedicated pre-seed fund, we're bringing much-needed transparency to this critical but often overlooked stage -  Special thanks to Lauren Sauerland, who did the bulk of the work, as well as the brilliant investors who contributed to this report: Jamesin Seidel (Chapter One), Jasper Masemann (Cherry Ventures), Pietro Invernizzi (firedrop), Sam Endacott (firstminute capital), and the team at SeedLegals for their valuable data insights. Want to understand what pre-seed looks like in 2025? Curious about why the UK has established itself as Europe's pre-seed powerhouse? Read the full report in the comments below: https://lnkd.in/eZgUKDht

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🎉 Thrilled to share the first closing of our new fund Omnes Real Tech 2 at €112 million. 💡 We believe Europe’s deeptech moment is now. A new generation of world-class founders with European roots is building with speed, depth, and ambition, and more and more investors are aligning behind the conviction that Europe can lead in deeptech. We're proud to help power this movement and support the scale-up journey of the continent’s most promising technologies. 🔧 Omnes Real Tech 2 is built for the critical inflection point when breakthrough technologies must scale industrially and commercially. It builds on the journey we’ve taken alongside standout deeptech companies like Quantum Systems, The Exploration Company, Quandela, Sekoia.io, Unseenlabs and Proxima Fusion, now all widely recognised in their fields. 🛰️ We’ll continue backing ambitious companies in defense & security, quantum, new space, AI, semiconductors, and advanced materials, across Europe, with a conviction-led strategy and deep reserves to follow on over time. 🇩🇪 We’re kicking things off with a first investment in ARX Robotics, the German startup shaping the future of autonomous ground systems for defense. 📬 If you're building something bold, with pan-European ambition and industrial scale, we’d love to hear from you. Michel de Lempdes Renaud POULARD Fabien Collangettes François-Xavier Dedde Maia Falkå Paul Maurens #Deeptech #ScaleUp #EuropeTech #DefenseTech #Quantum #NewSpace

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I had the opportunity to chat with Antoine Tardif of Unite.AI on my journey as an entrepreneur and why I joined AI Squared. In the interview, we discussed one of the biggest challenges in AI today, moving from proof-of-concept stage to production where the business can extract value from AI insights. While most enterprises are still experimenting in the lab, AI Squared is focused on operationalizing AI by embedding insights directly into the systems teams already use like Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, Slack, ServiceNow, Qlik, and 50+ more. Building on our foundations from the United States Department of Defense we focus on delivering real outcomes at scale, with security, compliance, and trust built in. Backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Ansa Capital, Ridgeline, Latimer Ventures and others and trusted by the DoD, intelligence community, and Fortune 500 enterprises, we’re accelerating adoption by making AI seamless, contextual, and actionable. Read the entire interview here: https://lnkd.in/ghywWUAk #EnterpriseAI #AIDeployment #AIEnablement #AIandGov #TechLeadership #AISquared #NationalSecurity #LastMileAI

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Delighted to have an article published on Business Reporter on the challenge of breaking the €10m ARR software ceiling - and the role of leadership.     Many founders overlook the vital role of leadership when scaling a business. But a few key hires can significantly accelerate growth to €10m ARR, and beyond.     In this article I discuss why a reluctance to build out the leadership team can impact growth, and how founders can overcome common barriers to taking this critical step     Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ePF6J2SB #B2BSaaS #SoftwareGrowth #SaaSLeadership #GoToMarket #BreakThe10mARRCeiling

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Since we announced Diffusely's €11m raise, I've had the same conversation about twenty times. "Congrats on closing the round. But how did you actually pull that off with your equity history?" Fair question. We met with pretty much every institutional investor in Europe over the past year. Same pattern every time. Strong interest initially. The growth was there, enterprise traction was real, unit economics worked, path to profitability was clear. Then came the cap table discussion. Liquidation preferences stacked from multiple rounds. Restructuring documentation. Everything that happens when a marketplace that raised significant capital faces COVID, pivots to enterprise AI software, and rebuilds completely. That's where most conversations ended. Not because the business wasn't working - the metrics were there. But no fund wanted the structural complexity. The reputational risk. The explanation to their LPs, regardless of current performance. Even the funds that brand themselves on supporting entrepreneurs through tough moments, on financing complex situations (you all know who I mean) - they passed too. Venture capital. The name suggests risk-taking. But most funds we met optimized for the opposite: clean cap tables, linear growth stories, simple narratives for LP reports. Risk capital without the risk appetite. They want the upside of transformation without touching anything that's actually been transformed. The round ended up predominantly internal. Alven, Eurazeo, Prime Ventures (VC) leading, with 50 Partners as the one new addition. These were the investors who'd actually lived through the transformation. Who watched us shut down the marketplace, rebuild the team, restructure the company, and fight through every rejection. When investors who've seen the complete journey choose to double down at this level, that's different from fresh investors reading a deck. They're backing a company they've watched transform firsthand. Would a clean equity structure have made this easier? Obviously. But we also wouldn't have the same conviction from our backers. The funds that stayed chose to believe what we've built matters more than where we came from. Liquidation preferences and cap table complexity aren't just friction - they're a filter. Most investors optimize for clean stories. A smaller group looks at business fundamentals despite structural complexity. Complex equity structures reveal who's actually looking at the business versus who's looking at the structure. We learned fast who was investing in what we're building versus who needed a clean story. The right investors stuck around (or joined), because we execute. #equitystory #pivot #venture #vc #fundraising

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