Michiel is a Partner at Northzone, focusing on SaaS, marketplaces, healthcare and AI. He leads Northzone’s investments in Personio, Spacemaker, Kahoot!, Medwing, TIER, Disperse, Catawiki, Forto, and Aidence. Prior to joining Northzone, Michiel was an investor at Accel London. 
Originally from the Netherlands, Michiel spent the early years of his career at BCG. He then founded Digital Jones, an artificial intelligence company, in the Bay Area, which he sold to Shopping.com. 
Michiel has a graduate degree in physics from Delft University of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Making something out of nothing.
Building my first company against all odds was the hardest but most satisfying thing I’ve done. Up until that moment I had always excelled in safe environments with big brand names but with Digital Jones, I had to make something out of nothing. It was an important lesson to trust in my own capabilities rather than the system. My biggest learning and advice to founders now: listen to the market. Strategy is all well and good. But really you need to test, learn and re-test. Fast.

Up for the challenge.
I’m a sucker for personal growth, even if it is painful. Pitching to one hundred and four VCs taught me about the sheer tenacity you need for the fundraising process. It also gave me respect for it. We didn’t raise enough cash which forced us to think hard about revenue. But that, in turn, saved us from the dot com crash.

Don’t worry, be happy.
I find my zen in cooking, I love creating and sharing with friends.

WHAT I'M READING
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 
Awareness of your own mental biases and thought processes is indispensable, especially as an investor.

I'm happiest when
I’m having adventures with close friends. I love the excitement in discovering the unknown, experiencing things in the moment, and building memories for the future.