Why Antler focuses on individual entrepreneurs, not teams

This article is from an episode on Asia VC Cast, a podcast hosted by Daniel Song. This is heavily revised from the original show transcript. For the full interview, go here.

Jussi Salovaara is the managing partner and co-founder of Antler, an early-stage venture capital firm and a “startup generator.” On January 9, the company had its first Southeast Asia demo day, where it unveiled its 13 portfolio companies.

Before Antler, Salovaara was vice president at Nokia’s headquarters in Helsinki. His background includes working with well-known international firms such as McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, and Morgan Stanley.

In this interview, Salovaara shared how Antler develops founders and his advice on finding the perfect business idea.

Tell us about yourself and how you established Antler.

I’m originally from Finland. I started my career in finance, particularly in investments on the institutional side, and then I soon ventured into consultancy.

I realized that I wanted to build my own business, but I struggled to find a co-founder. I reconnected with my old colleague, Magnus Grimeland, who I had worked with at McKinsey. We started talking about Antler and the idea of building companies and helping founders find co-founders.

I also wanted to come to Southeast Asia and set up the headquarters here. So I relocated and the rest is history.

Antler takes a unique approach: it accepts applicants as individuals rather than a team. Can you share your thesis behind this?

The thesis is built on the notion that there’s a lot of talent trapped in different places – be it in universities, corporations, or startups – and that there are a lot of barriers to entrepreneurship – opportunity costs, social pressure, etc. And as I experienced myself, finding a co-founder can be very difficult.

So our thesis is that we can help individuals or entrepreneurs with all of the barriers – from raising funds to finding a co-founder – by taking them into a two-month program.

What qualities do you typically look for in a co-founder?

Let me first start with explaining what we look for in a founder who joins the program. We look for those who are self-starters, persevering, more driven than anyone else, and uniquely skilled at doing something.