62. Sasha Astafyeva (Atomico) - Growing a Real Estate Tech Company in Brazil, Series A Consumer Landscape in Europe, and How She Thinks About International Expansion

Our guest today is Sasha Astafyeva ( https://www.atomico.com/team/sasha-astafyeva/ ) , Partner at Atomico ( https://www.atomico.com/ ). Atomico invests in Europe’s most ambitious tech founders at Series A and beyond. Some of their investments include Farmdrop, Habito, and teatime games. Sasha leads new investments in consumer. Previously, she was a Principal at Felix Capital and VP of Finance and Business Intelligence at VivaReal. A couple of books that inspired Sasha personally and professionally are The Cost of Living ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/163557353X?camp=1789&creativeASIN=163557353X&ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) by Deborah Levy and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007D6EW8U?camp=1789&creativeASIN=B007D6EW8U&ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&tag=theconsumervc-20 ) by Jeanette Winterson. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb ( https://twitter.com/MikeGelb ). You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc ( https://twitter.com/ConsumerVc ). Some of the questions that I ask Sasha are - * What initially attracted you to venture capital? * Talk to me about the European landscape when it comes to the startup ecosystem, what makes you excited about it? * What's your definition of Series A? How do you think about that stage? * What are milestones that a startup has to achieve in order to raise a Series A? * What are some qualities you like to see in founders? * Since the United States is such a big market, you can create a massive business in the United States alone. I imagine it must be harder to scale in Europe since you're dealing with many countries. * What are some consumer trends that you are excited about? * Has COVID changed some of your thesis' around certain trends? * Has it been harder establishing conviction amongst founders since you have to meet with them remotely? * I recently had on Ezra Galston, who runs Starting Line, a VC fund out of Chicago. He mentioned that deals are getting done really quickly, almost at pre-COVID pace. Is this the same in Europe? * What's one thing that you would change about venture capital? * What's one company you had an opportunity to invest in, didn't and in retrospect wish you did? * What's your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it? * What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally? * What's one piece of advice that you have for B2C founders? Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands