Скачать или смотреть Paul Lehair, AlbionVC's High Conviction Playbook, AI edge, and Europe’s moment

What does high conviction really look like in early stage VC? In this episode, Paul from AlbionVC sits down with host Thomas to unpack his path from Citigroup to Viagogo and Citymapper, then into venture, plus how Albion backs founders with focus and patience. 🚀

Paul breaks down what separates good from great founders, how he tests for true product market fit, and why the best software now is AI enabled or AI first. We also dig into Albion’s edge: 30 years in the game, an evergreen model, and specialist depth in fintech, data and AI, security, health and deep tech.

He shares a candid look at diligence, from avoiding over-indexing on salesy charisma to reading for self-awareness and team complementarity. There is a great case study too: Gravitee, a bootstrapped API platform that beat incumbents on product and customer love, and scaled from Europe to the US.

On life after the deal, Paul talks practical board work, WhatsApp-on-speed-dial support, and where a minority investor can materially help on hiring, US go-to-market, and fundraising.

We close on macro shifts: AI changing every workflow, how VC itself gets augmented, and a bullish take on European tech as late-stage capital deepens and ambition levels rise. 🧠🇪🇺

“ The people that will perform best going forward will be the AI native ones. ”

#venturecapital #startups #ai #europeantech #founders

Chapters

00:00 Cold open, a spicy take on US attractivity
00:36 Meet Paul, partner at AlbionVC, hosted by Thomas
01:36 Banking to operator to VC, the 15-year journey
02:54 Inside Viagogo, ops, KPIs, and scaling lessons
03:12 Citymapper at five people, finance, growth and fundraising
03:44 Why venture, craving macro after years of micro
04:41 Was VC planned or serendipity
07:18 What makes Albion different, focus and evergreen structure
09:50 What high conviction means in practice
11:07 Selectivity by the numbers
13:19 Does operator experience help in VC
16:16 Value add without overstepping as an investor
17:30 Founder traits Paul looks for
20:18 Screening for over-salesy without substance
23:08 Look at the whole team, not just the front person
24:30 Product market fit, customer love and signal
28:39 Case study, spotting and backing Gravitee
31:46 After the deal, board work and real support
35:48 Cycles in software, and why AI is now table stakes
40:09 Will AI eat VC, augmentation vs replacement
41:26 Using AI inside AlbionVC
42:10 Europe’s tech trajectory and late-stage capital
43:22 Bullish on Europe, strengths and what’s next
47:22 Wrap up and thanks