Will Klippgen is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Cocoon Capital, an early-stage venture fund for enterprise and deep tech with a focus on Southeast Asia

He was co-founder of European price comparison site Kelkoo.com which was acquired by Yahoo! back in 2004. He has invested in more than 60 startups since 2004.

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👋🏼  How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

I buy a lot of shares from early-stage companies and give free mentorship to the founders to help them change the world (One company at a time...)

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🧐  What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

That 2 or 3 dedicated people can impact the lives of millions of people just through a bit of hard work and a bit of money.

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🏆  What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Whenever I read or hear good things about a company funded by Cocoon and I realize that it is here to stay, I feel a lot of happiness.

A big highlight was that I managed to switch from being a dot.com founder in Norway to an early stage investor in Singapore. In a number of ways, that was a big and risky transition that luckily turned into a real highlight of my life.

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🔍  What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?

I keep looking for companies that can help solve the climate crisis, so any startup committed to producing protein more efficiently or to protecting or cleaning our air, water and soil (Like our recent investment, Aprisium.com) is on my radar day and night!

That being said, being in the pre-seed and seed stage, I am more fascinated by good founders than trends or verticals.

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💼  What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

Spend a few years in a well-run, larger company. Then spend some years in a fast-growing tech startup. Then make sure you at least have an MBA or a strong financial foundation and you should be in a good spot to enter venture capital.

If you are risk averse enough and have the patience (and money to survive one or two years), you should not shy away from trying to start your own fund, that is definitely the most fun.

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🗣  What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

Unlike some of my colleagues, I am usually done in 30 minutes on most subjects, hahahaha. Life is too exciting to talk about anything for too long.

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🎥  What's your favorite movie/TV show?

My favorite movie of all time must be Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979) about how war is complete madness and moral decay.

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🍨  What's your go-to ice cream flavor?

Nothing is more classy than Mövenpick's Maple Walnut