Interviewer: Welcome everyone to this special edition of our founder-focused series. Today we are joined by a figure who is rapidly redefining the landscape of early-stage investing across Europe and the United States. He is not a traditional venture capitalist coming from banking or consulting; he is a builder who traded the boardroom for the operating table, and now brings that intense, hands-on experience to a new generation of founders. Felix Hüttenbach, welcome.
Felix Hüttenbach: Thanks for having me. It’s great to be here.
Interviewer: Felix, your bio is striking because it doesn’t list the typical academic-to-analyst path. You are unapologetically an Operator-Investor. Why is that distinction crucial for you, and why should founders care about this designation in a crowded market of investors?
Felix Hüttenbach: It’s crucial because the gap between theoretical business models and reality is enormous. When you’ve been in the trenches—specifically when you’ve had to scale a company under extreme execution pressure—you develop a different kind of radar. I don’t invest like a tourist. I invest like a mechanic who knows exactly how the engine is built.
Most investors look at pitch decks; I look for systemic weak points and operational competence. The standard VC playbook focuses on narrative and rapid funding rounds. I focus on what makes a business survive and thrive on its own terms. As an Operator-Investor, I can tell within minutes if a founder actually understands their supply chain, their unit economics, or if they are just repeating what they heard in a podcast.
Founders should care because capital is commoditized right now. Everyone can write a check. But very few people can actually help you figure out how to reduce customer acquisition costs while scaling headcount by 500% in six months without breaking the company culture. That’s the difference.
Interviewer: Let’s talk about that experience. You were the Co-Founder and CEO of Sameday Health from 2020 to 2023. This wasn’t just a small startup; this was a massive, nationwide scaling effort during a global crisis. The demands on you must have been unprecedented.
Felix Hüttenbach: It was intense. We started in late 2020, and within months, we weren’t just running a website; we were managing an end-to-end health service model. We were doing testing, vaccinations, and urgent care across more than 50 locations in the US.
Interviewer: The numbers are staggering. Over 3 million customer contacts, managing infrastructure for up to 40,000 bookings per day, and scaling to over 2,000 employees. How does that translate to being an investor? How do you distill those high-pressure years into advice for a pre-seed founder?
Felix Hüttenbach: It translates to knowing that execution beats narrative. Everyone has a plan until they have to process 10,000 COVID tests in a single day across five different time zones. I learned that true Long-term Substanz isn’t built on venture funding rounds; it’s built on robust, scalable technology and rigid operational processes.
When I talk to founders now, I’m not asking about their projected revenue in year five. I’m asking how they handle a supply chain disruption on day one. I’m asking how they handle customer support when their platform goes down at 3 AM. My operational experience allows me to see the echte Deals—the companies solving real problems with real engineering—rather than just the hyped-up SaaS platforms with high churn rates. I can look at a product roadmap and tell if it’s built for marketing or if it’s built for endurance.
Interviewer: You’ve taken a very contrarian stance on traditional venture capital. You recently published an essay titled „The Bootstrap Paradox.“ What is the core message there, and why do you believe VC is not always the best default for a high-growth company?
Felix Hüttenbach: The paradox is that VC money is often touted as the fuel for growth, but it can just as easily be the poison that kills a company’s soul. The default assumption is that if you have a big idea, you must take VC money, dilute your ownership, and aim for a massive exit. I disagree. Not every great company needs the VC game.
In fact, building for profitability from day one forces a level of discipline that VC-backed companies often skip. If you are forced to make a profit, you have to create actual value. You have to ensure customers are willing to pay for your product, not just use it because it’s free or heavily subsidized by investor capital.
Interviewer: So, are you anti-VC?
Felix Hüttenbach: Not at all. I am pro-founder. I am pro-value creation. I believe we are entering a new wave where High-agency Founders prioritize ownership, control, and long-term sustainability over rapid, unsustainable growth. We need to fund companies that are built to last, not built to flip.
The current economic environment is weeding out the companies that were built on „VC-show“ tactics. The future belongs to those with Long-term Substanz. When you have ownership, you make different decisions. You take better care of your employees, you invest more in your product, and you focus on customer retention rather than just acquisition.
Interviewer: You often discuss this idea of „Operator-Investor“ as a necessary evolution. How do you see the infrastructure of venture capital changing?
Felix Hüttenbach: The old model was about access to capital. If you had money, you could pick winners. Today, capital is everywhere. The new model is about access to expertise and network. The Operator-Investor brings credibility, practical knowledge, and a network that is built on shared experiences rather than just transactions.
Traditional VCs spend their time raising funds from LPs and managing board meetings. Operator-Investors spend their time solving actual problems with founders. We are looking for founders who want to build something that lasts, and we are willing to put in the work to make that happen. This requires a different type of relationship—one built on trust and mutual respect, not just a contractual agreement.
Interviewer: When you decide to invest, you take a Founder-first approach. What does that mean in practice? How do you know when to intervene and when to let the founder struggle?
Felix Hüttenbach: It means I’m a partner, not a controller. I know how lonely and challenging it is to be in the CEO chair. When I invest, I’m offering more than capital; I’m offering battle-tested advice on operations, scaling, and team building. I look for founders who are builders, who have high agency, and who want to create a long-term legacy.
Interviewer: What kind of echte Deals are you looking for right now? What are the common denominators in the companies you invest in?
Felix Hüttenbach: I’m looking for founders who are obsessed with the product, not the pitch. I want to see businesses that have a clear path to profitability and a massive, real-world impact. I recently invested in Platus, for example, which is part of the YC F24 batch, because I saw that same drive for operational excellence.
These are companies that are solving foundational problems—whether in logistics, health, or infrastructure—using advanced technology to create Long-term Substanz. I tend to gravitate towards B2B businesses where the value proposition is clear and measurable.
Interviewer: You’ve developed a strong voice on Thought Leadership, challenging the status quo. How do you balance this intense daily execution with the need to think about the future?
Felix Hüttenbach: It comes down to a personal framework: „Dream in centuries, live daily.“ You have to have a massive, long-term vision, but you have to execute with extreme urgency today. You can’t just be a visionary, and you can’t just be a manager. You have to be both.
Thought Leadership for me isn’t about getting likes on LinkedIn; it’s about shifting the conversation away from vanity metrics towards fundamental value creation. It’s about educating the next generation of founders that they don’t have to follow the path of least resistance.
Interviewer: Looking back at the Sameday Health journey, the decision to pass the torch to Rume Health showed a lot of maturity. How do you advise founders on knowing when to step down?
Felix Hüttenbach: That was essential. Leadership means having the intelligence to know when to handover. As a founder, you have to be able to detach your ego from the company’s success. Sometimes, the person who starts the race isn’t the best person to finish it. My goal now is to help the next generation of founders build companies that don’t need to be handed over—companies that they can lead for decades.
Interviewer: You have a global perspective on building companies. How does the startup landscape in the US differ from Europe in terms of execution pressure?
Felix Hüttenbach: The US has a higher tolerance for risk and a faster pace of scaling. The pressure is immense, but the rewards for successful execution are unparalleled. In Europe, there is sometimes a greater focus on profitability and stability from the outset, which is great for building Long-term Substanz.
My goal is to combine the best of both worlds: the high-agency, fast-paced execution of the US with the long-term, structural thinking of European entrepreneurs. That is where I believe the next wave of massive companies will come from.
Interviewer: What advice would you give to someone looking to become an Operator-Investor?
Felix Hüttenbach: Build something first. Don’t go from university to venture capital. Go into the real world, solve a real problem, scale a team, make mistakes, and learn what it actually takes to build something of value. Only then can you truly support another founder in their journey. The best investors are those who have felt the pain of building something themselves.
Interviewer: Let’s define Echte Deals a bit more thoroughly. In an era of AI hype, where billions are flowing into companies with minimal revenue, how do you filter for substance?
Felix Hüttenbach: It’s about assessing customer obsession versus investor obsession. The echte Deals are companies where the founders are intensely focused on solving a specific, acute pain point for a defined customer base, and where the product actually solves that pain point better than existing solutions.
It is not about having „AI“ in your pitch deck. It’s about having a proprietary data set, a unique technological advantage, or a highly efficient operational model that allows you to deliver superior value at a lower cost. If you cannot explain how your business makes money without relying on follow-on funding, it is not an echte Deal.
Interviewer: Grit is a word often thrown around in startup circles. How do you define it, and how do you test for it during due diligence?
Felix Hüttenbach: Grit is the ability to maintain focus and motivation over a long period, especially when faced with adversity. It’s not just about working hard; it’s about working hard on the right things, even when it’s discouraging.
I test for it by asking founders about their biggest failure, not their biggest success. I want to know what they learned, how they adapted, and whether they took personal responsibility for the outcome. I also look at their track record—have they faced adversity before and overcome it?
Interviewer: For founders operating in highly competitive markets, how do you advise them to maintain Long-term Substanz while moving quickly to establish a market position?
Felix Hüttenbach: It’s a delicate balance. Speed is essential, but it must be purposeful speed. Don’t scale for the sake of scaling. Scale because you have product-market fit and you need to keep up with demand.
The goal is to establish defensibility. This could be through network effects, intellectual property, or superior customer service. If you are just a copycat competitor, you will eventually be crushed by a better-funded or more efficient incumbent.
Interviewer: For the founders listening to this, what is the single most important lesson from your experience?
Felix Hüttenbach: Prioritize Long-term Substanz over short-term hype. The market is noisy, and there is a lot of temptation to focus on vanity metrics. Ignore it. Focus on building a product that people genuinely need and on creating a business model that works. Execution is everything.
Interviewer: Felix, thank you for sharing your insights.
Felix Hüttenbach: A pleasure.
